Orchard Park News

Principal's Report

Welcome back

It was great to welcome all of our students back to school on Wednesday after our Easter holiday break. I hope all of our families enjoyed this holiday time. Whilst staff returned on Monday and engaged in a really valuable day of learning, I walked in to school on Wednesday with an extra pep in my step after such a ripping match of AFL football the day before!! As well as enjoying the football in the afternoon, I was also grateful to be able to honour and recognise the sacrifice of our ANZACs by attending my local dawn service. It was so amazing to see so many young people at the service. 

Students have returned in an incredibly positive mindset and are striving to give their very best in all of their learning. This is so fantastic to see!

 

Recommencement of official OSHC services

We are thrilled to have Camp Australia now up and running here at Orchard Park Primary School with our OSHC service. As we transition to our full time coordinator in a few weeks time and as staff get to know all of our families, staff will ask for identification from parents on pick up if they do not recognise you. I am sure you would agree, we would much prefer to take a precautionary approach in this initial period to ensure all students go home with the right person. In time, as staff build positive and strong relationships with our families, these measures will not be required. I thank you for your understanding around this. Please don't hesitate to reach out to discuss any concerns you may have at any time. Until we know about any concerns, we are unable to respond to them. 

 

Year 5/6 camp

Our Senior School are super pumped to be heading away on our Senior School Camp to Golden Valleys Adventure Camp, situated in Flinders. Students will participate in a wide range of outdoor challenges and activities that will challenge them and engage them many rich and different ways to the traditional learning environment at school. Our Senior School are leaving on Monday 8th May and return on Wednesday 10th May. Stay tuned for updates about their adventures in upcoming newsletters and through our Facebook page. 

 

The Resilience Project  - Connected Parenting

We are so excited to have Lael Stone visiting Orchard Park for a parent workshop. Lael Stone is an author, TEDx speaker, counsellor and parenting educator who specialises in navigating trauma and disconnection in families. She has spent the last 17 years working with families, as well as running programs in Secondary schools for teens on relationships and Well-being. She is a mother of three grown up children and the co-founder of Woodline Primary School - a new innovative school focused on supporting emotional intelligence in children.

DETAILS:

Date: Monday 15th May

Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm (90 minutes)

Location: Orchard Park PS- Please complete the quick tentative RSVP link on our Facebook page so that we can organise location and adequate seating. 

 

This Connected Parenting Workshop offers a valuable set of tools for parents and carers aiming to raise children through positive connections and communication. Tips for parents and carers will include;

  • Guiding our children to become resilient adults.
  • Practical strategies to build stronger connections with your children.
  • Ideas to support your children when they are frustrated or going through challenging situations.
  • Simple ways to create co-operation.
  • Dealing with our own triggers as a parent.
  • Understanding big emotions and feelings and assisting your kids in becoming emotionally resilient.

Car parking

Please read through the following reminders around parking at pick up and drop off times to ensure all members of our school community arrive and depart safely. It is unnecessary for myself or other staff to need to remind families of their obligations around ensuring these measures are followed. I encourage all families to please work together and ensure these steps are followed.

  • Stop and Drop Zones. The closest 6 car parks at the front of the school on Pink Hill Boulevard are a dedicated stop and drop zone for families from 8:00am-9:30am and 2:30-4:00pm. This means that parents should not park in these areas if they plan to walk in to drop their children off or walk in to pick their children up at the end of the day. This will allow for the traffic in these parks to be flowing throughout these busy times. 
  • Parking on the median strip on Pink Hill Boulevard. We have noticed that in particular in the afternoons that some cars have been parking on the median strip. This is area is a no parking zone and the council have warned me that if this continues, fines will be administered to the offending drivers. This is the last thing I want to see happen to our families, so I ask that you find alternative locations to park. 
  • Staff car park. I have noticed that the staff car park is being used for some drop off and pick ups. The staff car park is not to be accessed by parents for this purpose unless you are utilising the disabled car park. In my previous experiences at other schools I have seen some near misses in staff car parks and as I outlined earlier, safety of everyone is our key priority. 
  • Consider other entry and exit points. We are very lucky to have indented parking on our eastern and northern boundaries to the school. Whilst the Pink Hill Boulevard is the entry/exit point that most of our families use, we encourage you to consider the other gate entry/exit points on Barnsley Road and Grant Parade where there is lots of parking available.

School photos

This coming Thursday 4th May, our students will be having their official school photos taken. This includes individual and class pictures. Payment for the photo packages can be made directly through Compass. If you need support in locating this on the portal, please don't hesitate to contact the office. We ask that you ensure all students are in full school uniform for our photos.