Principal's News

Last Monday afternoon we celebrated 2017 with our Year 5 and 6 Awards Assembly. It was terrific to see a large number of parents, grandparents and other visitors in attendance to hear some special musical performances and acknowledge a number of our students for their contribution and achievements throughout 2017.

The major award recipients were:

Year 6 Awards

Year 5 Deakin Awards

The 2018 School Captains and Vice Captains were also announced at the assembly – congratulations to the following students:

The 2018 teacher placement has been finalised and is detailed below. Students will meet their 2018 teacher on Tuesday December 19th.

Please note:

Tania Hosken joins us as a full time classroom teacher. Tania has worked extensively at Old Orchard in a number of support roles and as a CRT and we are delighted to welcome her aboard.

Laura Champion De Crespigny returns to Old Orchard after two years teaching in the U.K.

Curtis DeWitt will commence his teaching career at Old Orchard, having previously completed placement here and assisted with a range of extra-curricular programs.

Heidi Kelly makes the move to the Art Program.

The following staff will be departing Old Orchard at the end of the year for a variety of reasons – we will acknowledge them in more detail over the next week or so:

Julie Hobson will finishing up at the end of this year, following a long and very successful career.

Jacinta Barrett has already departed on Maternity Leave.

Jackie Ellul has been appointed to Donvale Primary School.

Deb Strike will be on leave throughout 2018, before returning to Old Orchard in 2019.

Kirsten Burrows has been appointed to Wandin Nth Primary School for 2018 and we hope to see her return in 2019.

Neil Butler has been appointed to Marlborough Primary School (Heathmont) as Assistant Principal and will not be returning to Old Orchard.

Unfortunately the extreme weather and heavy rain last week resulted in the abandonment of the Great Vic Bike Ride. Our Old Orchard team journeyed to Bairnsdale on Thursday and completed the 86km ride to Maffra on Friday. At 7.00pm on Friday, the decision was made by Bicycle Victoria to abandon the event. A few members of our group were able to be travel back to Melbourne on the Friday evening, with the remainder travelling home on Saturday. Despite the disappointment of not completing the event, it was still a memorable experience for all involved with one full day of riding completed, 1 or 2 nights under canvas (if slightly damp!) and all home safely. Congratulations to all involved and thanks once again to Kevin Purvis and Wendy Scott for their organisation.

Well done to our Prep team (Ellen Hurley, Andrea Peters and Claire Mitchell) on a terrific Transition Program and a very successful Prep Information Evening last night. The turnout was excellent with very positive feedback. Our Prep & Year 6 students also starred with their presentation at the start of the meeting.

Our Choir has been busy this week performing at a number of local kinders and pre-schools. It’s a fabulous opportunity for our students to perform and serves a dual purpose of promoting Old Orchard in the local community. Thanks to the students, staff and parent helpers for their assistance.

We have a couple of important events next week. On Wednesday evening is our Carols on the Green, which has become a feature of the Old Orchard December calendar. We hope to see all our school families in attendance for a relaxing evening of celebration and goodwill.

On Thursday we hope to see many of our parents and others at the Helpers’ Morning Tea where we acknowledge the terrific and invaluable support from our parent community throughout the year. If you are able to drop in, we would love to see you.

A Homework Story: In closing, an amusing story that brought us all a laugh. Year 6 student, Chad Johnson had completed his homework prior to leaving school and was travelling home by car. As it was a warm afternoon, he and his sister both wound down the car windows and suddenly, Chad’s completed homework flew out the window, never to be seen again! We’ve all heard of the dog eating homework, homework being destroyed by younger siblings or even being stolen by martians, but none of us could recall hearing of homework flying out of the window of a car! The good news is that Chad had his seatbelt on and remained securely in his seat and even managed to re-do his homework once he arrived home! (Lucky it wasn’t a $50 note!!)

Warm regards

Duncan