Wawa, Wominjika.

Here at Old Orchard Primary School, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we visit each day, the Wurrunguri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nation. We acknowledge and respect the elders and leaders past and present and the elders and leaders of all of the cultures and nationalities that are part of the Old Orchard Primary School community. We express our gratitude towards the orchards that were kept in place by the peoples on this land before us. We thank the traditional owners for sharing this beautiful land that we all love, and for keeping the land, sky, waterways and animals all in great condition for thousands of years, not only for themselves but for all the generations to come.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and Year 5 students have been working hard on their NAPLAN testing throughout this week. There have been reports from schools of connection issues to the online testing however, we were fortunate not to experience any of these problems at Old Orchard.

Today is the Language Conventions testing, with Mathematics to follow on Monday and a few catch-up tests next week for students who were absent during the testing sessions. We commend the students on their committed and diligent approach to the testing and look forward to receiving the results later in the year.

School Council

We held the first meeting of our 2025 School Council this week. The meeting covered a significant amount of content, including the election of office bearers, mandated finance recommendations, tabling of the draft 2024 annual report, tabling of the 2025 annual implementation plan as well as other standard reports. A final list of the 2025 School Council membership is included below.

Tim Ness

(President)

James McGhie

(Vice President)

Shaun Ganguly

(Treasurer)

Helen Carr

Christy Wilkinson

Jade Baker

Rhys Coulson

Jess Hazlett

Clare Murray

Liz Jackson

Michelle Chen

Duncan Cant

Prep & Year 6 Buddies Program

Our Prep & Year 6 buddies program structure for the year has now been finalised and the students were very excited to meet each other this week for the first time in a formal session ahead of the Teddy Bears’ Picnic next week. The buddies program plays a significant role in well-being at Old Orchard, with Year 6 students supporting their prep buddies in a myriad of different ways and in simple terms being that special friend for the prep children to look up to. The Year 6 students love the responsibility of their role and develop some wonderful mentoring skills throughout the year as they demonstrate care and kindness towards their younger buddies.

Parent teacher chats

Over the next two weeks, parents and carers have the opportunity to meet their child’s classroom teacher for a 10 minute chat about how the year has started for their child, to share pertinent information and to help address any potential concerns. We encourage you to take up this important opportunity. The home-school partnership is incredibly important in ensuring a positive and successful year for our students and we have always been very fortunate at Old Orchard to have a culture of positive and supportive connections between home and school.

PFA - Barefoot Bowls

Our Parents and Friends Association (PFA), is off to a great start in 2025 under the leadership of president Sarah Alligan with many new members. The first exciting event for school parents, carers and friends is Barefoot Bowls at Blackburn North Bowls Club on March 22nd. We are really hoping to see a fantastic turnout for this event so please endeavour to come along and support the school with your friends - attendees can be extended family members or other friends with no association to Old Orchard (adults only).

Ramps works around the school

The VSBA (Victorian School Building Authority) is undertaking works on ramps around the school to ensure that all ramps are compliant and meet appropriate standards. These works will continue throughout the rest of this term and into the upcoming school holidays. The works have and will continue to have a disruptive impact on aspects of school operations, however, we will endeavor to keep these disruptions to a minimum and communicate these to the school community in advance whenever possible to ensure minimum impact. For those requiring ramp access, please touch base with our admin staff who will be able to assist you.

On a separate but related matter, we are investigating the construction of a ramp at the main entrance. This would be a great acquisition to our school and we hope to have further updates as the year progresses.

Warmest regards

Duncan

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