Principal's Report

Professional Practice Day Monday 20th June - STUDENT FREE DAY

On Monday 20th June, all staff at Orchard Park Primary School will be involved in their termly Professional Practice Day. Professional Practice Days (PPDs) are a day where teachers are released from their teaching duties to further develop and strengthen their teaching knowledge and practice. Usually these days are spread across the term and teachers are covered by relief teachers to be released. Given the current challenges schools are facing around sourcing relief teachers, the department have approved schools taking their PPD collectively as a whole school and making it a student free day. As such, no students will be required at school on this day. Our teachers will be using this day to further explore effective implementation of phonics, spelling and grammar within their literacy block each day. Full day care arrangements will be available through Theircare for families who require this service. 

Safe and responsible use of technology at school and home

I find myself often speaking to parents about the challenges they are facing in ensuring their children are using technology in a safe, balanced and responsible way. The world our children are growing up in is very different to the one I grew up in. The internet didn't exist for me as a child (know I am showing my age!!!), we had an Atari game console (google it, it's a long time ago haha) and technology just wasn't something that was accessible to us. Fast forward to the many devices and access to content today's children have and they are two very different worlds. Finding that right balance between building trust with our children yet also ensuring they are safely using the technology is the constant challenge we have as parents. However it is also something we can't avoid and is essential to ensure our kids are safe. I have attached 2 really helpful documents from the esafetycommissioner website to this newsletter as a great starting point for parents to read and consider. I encourage all parents of children at OPPS to check in, open the lines of communication with your children about how they are using technology to ensure they remain safe in these developing years of their lives. 

Division Cross Country

Today I had the pleasure of taking 8 of our students who had progressed to the Division stage of this year's cross country competition. All 8 of the students (Rishabh, Lenny, Seth, Jacob, Harley, Koby, Holly and Anannya) did such an incredible job against some super tough competition. They all showed grit and determination in very cold conditions to give their absolute best. I congratulate them all on the way they once again represented our school with such positive energy and respect. We managed to pop in at Maccas on the way home for a little treat to celebrate their collective efforts in reaching this stage of the competition. An extra congratulations to Jacob who finished 6th in his race and will now progress to the Regional stage. We wish Jacob the very best at this stage. 

Staff car park REMINDER

I know I have placed this reminder in our newsletter before but I kindly remind all of our families that the staff car park is not a pick up and drop off location for parents and students. We ask parents to please not use this space to do so. We have now had a couple of close calls with students walking through this area after exiting their cars in the mornings. We want to ensure that all students remain safe during these times. Our staff car park is not designed for this purpose and creates unnecessary risk for our students. There is ample locations around the school boundaries to not have to use the staff car parks for drop offs and pick ups. Thank you for your understanding on this matter. 

Student Leader events

In the past week I have had the pleasure to attend 2 events with our Student Leaders. Last Friday all of our School and House Captains walked down to the Cardinia Shire Offices to be a part of the Reconciliation Week flag raising ceremony. Our students listened to Aunty Di Summers speak of the significance of the land on which Cardinia Shire sits and then lead a smoking ceremony for all in attendance. Reconciliation Week has been an opportunity for our whole school to learn about our shared histories and cultures and how we can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. 

Earlier this week, 4 of our School Leaders were able to attend a student leaders lunch at Berwick where they met with other Student Leaders from neigbouring schools and explored what it truly meant to be a leader. 

Both events were great experiences for our students and they once again represented our school incredibly well. 

ART SHOW - Wednesday 15th June

Don't forget we have our whole school Art Show happening on Wednesday 15th June. This first time event for our school is taking place in the administration building from 4pm through to 7pm. This is a chance for all families to come along to the school and gain a first-hand insight into the incredible artwork of our students from Prep all the way through to Year 6. Mrs Searles and all of the students are working incredibly hard to finish their masterpieces in time for this event. We look forward to seeing our whole school community at this exciting event.