This Week At OOPS
Healthy Harold is back at Old Orchard!
Our students are enjoying their Life Ed sessions with Healthy Harold this week, and more classes will get their turn next week.
Through fun, interactive and age-appropriate activities, students are learning about health, wellbeing and making positive choices. Across the different year levels, sessions explore important topics such as looking after our bodies, understanding our emotions, building positive relationships, staying safe, making healthy choices and developing skills that support both physical and mental wellbeing.
The sessions give students plenty of opportunities to ask questions, share their thinking and practise strategies they can use in everyday life. Of course, a visit from Healthy Harold always makes the learning that little bit more memorable! There was also a very special meeting this week when Ginger met Healthy Harold for the first time; Ginger was very curious about her rather tall new friend!
A big thank you to the Life Ed Victoria team for another engaging visit to Old Orchard!
STEM Engineers
In STEM, our Year 5 & 6 students have been learning how engineers design earthquake-resistant buildings, exploring examples from earthquake-prone countries such as Japan. Students then took on the challenge of designing and building their own earthquake-proof structures using only scrap paper and tape. They put their designs to the test in a simulated 10-second earthquake shake to see which buildings could withstand the tremors!
Celebrating Youth Fest at Old Orchard
In the final week of Term 3, we’ll be celebrating Youth Fest 2026 at Old Orchard! Thanks to funding from the Victorian Government, we’re putting our usual lunchtime clubs on pause for the week and replacing them with a special program designed by our Year 6 Wellbeing Captains, Zoe, James, Maya and Arie.
Our captains have planned a week of activities that celebrate the power of youth, student voice, creativity, connection and belonging at Old Orchard.
From 14 to 18 September, students can join activities including Bubble and Belong, Clay Creations, Sock Puppet Playhouse, Friendship Bracelets, Ginger’s Cuddle Club, Pebble Pals and Glitter Jars.
Students can help us get ready for some of our Youth Fest activities by bringing along a few simple items from home. For Sock Puppet Playhouse, bring a clean sock you’re happy to transform into your own puppet. For Pebble Pals, bring a small pebble or rock to decorate and turn into your own pet rock. And for Glitter Jars, bring a small, clean jar with a secure lid to create your own calming glitter jar. Please remember to check with an adult at home before bringing anything to school. You can leave it in your tub or bag until the last week of term.
We can’t wait to see students from across the school getting involved, meeting new people, expressing themselves and having fun together as we celebrate the contribution young people make to our school community. You can find the timetable below.
Father's Day Stall
Our Father’s Day Stall was a hive of activity, with students excitedly choosing a special gift for their dads and special father figures . We hope all our dads enjoy their thoughtful gifts and have a wonderful Father’s Day this Sunday!
A huge thank you to our fantastic parent helpers — Aman Kaur Wood, Jo Fernando, Leah Delany, Kristie Leung, Lisa Donnini, Meg Jones, Elise Copsey, Veronica Gunn, Gen Walsh, Nicole Li and Sarah Alligan — for giving up their time to help run the stall. A special thank you also to Easton for his help!
We really appreciate your support in making the Father’s Day Stall such fun for our students.
Hats Are Back!
Next week students will need to have their sunsmart hat at school each day.
Students who do not have their hat will be restricted to the "No hat no play" shaded areas, in line with our Sun Smart policy. Please ensure hats are clearly labelled.
Thank you for your support.
