Principal's Message
School Philosophy
Orchard Grove Primary School is committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment that engages curiosity, promotes learning, personal growth, and well-being for all students. We strive to develop adaptability and resilience so students can become valued members of the local and global communities and be prepared for future life experiences.
From the Principal
Welcome to the last full newsletter for 2024 - where has the year gone?
Firstly - A big thank you from myself to our amazing OGPS community, from our students, and their families to our teachers and support staff. We have had an amazing year with wonderful learning opportunities and experiences, particularly for our students. From camps to productions to excursions and carols, our students have had so many opportunities to shine this year.
I would like to start by acknowledging the hard work of Mrs Lichtenaer and Miss Jasinski for our Carols at the Grove this week. They were supported by our hardworking teachers (shout out to the BBQ crew!) as well as Chris Lockhart on sound. Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event. Our fundraising efforts - mostly the raffle and BBQ - raised $2933.50 which we will use to continue to grow our speaker system to make the sound at future events even better. I would also like to thank the PTFA for their work with the raffle, which had some fantastic prizes!
Now to wrap up the school year with a few thank you's. Thank you to our students for their hard work, engagement and enthusiasm here at school. A special thank you to our 2024 Student Leaders who will depart us, along with the Year 6 Cohort. We will miss all of our Year 6 students, but know that they are ready to head to the exciting world of high school.
Thank you to our teachers, who work so hard to ensure our students have the most engaging lessons and experiences here at OGPS. Thank you to our support staff for all that they do, from working in the Administration team to supporting children across the school in various roles. We are very lucky to have such amazing support.
Thank you to the parents who volunteered their time to help us here at OGPS, as well as to our wider community. The support you give us helps us to be the school we are. I would also like to thank our departing families, who have their last child leaving via Year 6, for all their support of the school over the years. Also, for those families leaving us for different schools, we wish you all the best in your new schools and locations to those leaving the area.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our departing staff. Bec Bird, Maggie Spillane, David Simpson, Alex Syposs, Amanda Tebb and Suzi Warton. We are so very grateful for their input here at OGPS and wish them all the best in their next ventures. I would also like to thank Caroline Coady, Jac Holzer, Cecilia Ton and Suzanne Lichtenauer for coming in at various times of the year to support our school and students. It is always difficult to step in during a year but we are very grateful that you did and we wish you all the best for 2025. We also have departing education support staff - Mia Annesley, Jess McKinley, Rafid Merogi, who we wish all the best for 2025.
I would also like to acknowledge Jane Timms, who has been an education support staff member here at OGPS for 28 years! Her support of our students has been outstanding and we will miss having her here with us. Jane is taking leave before her well-deserved retirement commences. We wish her all the best for the many adventures she has planned!
Have a safe and happy holidays and I look forward to seeing you all in 2025.
Michelle Ogilvie
Principal