Ellen Hurley

Many of our school families will have children who have been taught by Ellen Hurley. Yesterday was Ellen’s last day at school for 2023 as she is undergoing surgery today following a recent breast cancer diagnosis. I know you will join with me in wishing her all the very best for the surgery and for the recovery to follow.

Should you and/or your child wish to pass on a card or similar to Ellen, please drop it into the front office in the next few days and we will ensure that it finds its way to Ellen.

We look forward to welcoming Ellen back for the commencement of the 2024 school year.

Year 6 Graduation

Our Year 6 students, staff and families enjoyed a wonderful evening on Monday, celebrating the students’ graduation from primary school and reflecting on their primary school journey. Graduation is always a special event and this year was no exception - the students looked terrific, enjoyed a lovely meal together and did a fantastic job speaking about their memories, highlights and funny moments.

Carols

Although it was disappointing that we were unable to proceed with our Carols on the Green on Wednesday, our students still managed to perform their item to the rest of the school and had a fantastic time doing so. Thanks as always to Rhiannon for her flexibility in reorganising the Carols at short notice; a link for parents to watch the performances will be sent home.

Internal Transition

The 2024 classes and teachers were announced to students yesterday and students met their new teachers. Despite a few tears, our students are to be commended on how positively they approached the process. Thank-you to our school families for your role in building resilience and flexibility in our students.

Semester 2 Reports

The Semester 2 Student Reports will be published to the Sentral Parent Portal this afternoon (December 15th) between 4.00pm and 5.00pm.

Arrangements for the end of 2023 and commencement of 2024

2023 Arrangements

Friday 15th December - Reports live on Sentral (4.00 - 5.00pm)
Wednesday 20th December
- Final Assembly in the Gymnasium (12.40pm - 1.20pm)
- Prep to Year 5 students dismissed from classrooms at 1.30pm.
- Year 6 students dismissed from the gymnasium area.

2024 Arrangements

School office will be staffed (at reduced hours) the week commencing Monday 22nd January (excluding Australia Day)
Monday 29th January - Staff resume (students do not attend)
Tuesday 30th January - Pupil free day (students do not attend)
Wednesday 31st January - First day of Term 1 for all students (Preps attend 9.00am - 1.00pm)

Stationery Orders (Book Packs)

The stationery orders (book packs) are now available for collection from the office. Please be patient, particularly if the office is busy.

Staffing

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we have several staff leaving Old Orchard at the end of this year.

Alisha Lee

Alisha has been a terrific acquisition to our staff across the past two years, in a combination of CRT roles as well as sharing classroom teaching duties in 2022 (Year 5) and 2023 (Year 4). Alisha is a wonderful teacher who knows her students extremely well and sets high expectations in all areas. Alisha is stepping away from a regular teaching role next year, but we very much hope and expect to welcome her back as a CRT and other roles as they arise.

Claire Campbell

Claire commenced her teaching career in 2022 as a Year 2 teacher and continued in this level again in 2023. Claire is a fabulous young teacher, much loved by her students, with a commitment to their learning and wellbeing. Claire has made the decision to travel to the UK in 2024 to teach and this will no doubt be a fantastic experience. We thank Claire for her contribution to our school and wish her well for the adventures ahead.

Janet Russell

Janet has had a remarkable impact on Old Orchard across more than 20 years. She started here as a parent in 2002 and continued in this role over the next decade or so while her three boys attended Old Orchard as students. Janet was an enthusiastic library volunteer for many years, before commencing formally in the role as our school librarion in 2010.

During the past 13 years, Janet has made an incredible contribution to our students with her passion for books, literature, reading and everything else related to the library. Her Book Fairs are renowned and eagerly anticipated by our students each year. Janet has the reputation of having read every book in the library (or at the very least, being familiar with the author and genre) so that she is able to assist all students and staff to source suitable reading material. The library displays that Janet has prepared over the years are quite incredible and a great attraction to all library visitors. There is no doubt that Janet has played a key role in inspiring reading in many of our students, a habit that will remain with many of them for their entire lives - what a fantastic legacy.

As Janet departs to spend more time with family, travelling, relaxing (& reading!), we thank her sincerely for her amazing contribution to our school and wish her well for a long, happy and fulfilling retirement, where I am sure there will always be a novel or two on the go.

Janine Ceola

Janine joined Old Orchard mid 2022 and has been a terrific member of the Year 1 team over the past 18 months. She cares deeply about the students in her care, both in terms of their learning and their wellbeing and she has been a fabulous member of the Year 1 teaching team and the broader school staff. Janine’s life and teaching experience has been of great value to many of our younger staff.

We are sad to be bidding Janine farewell, but know that she will be a great acquisition to Bundoora P.S. We thank Janine sincerely for her contribution to Old Orchard and wish her every success and happiness for the future.

Sam Kirby

Despite his youth, Sam has had a very long association with Old Orchard. He was a student here from 2001 - 2007, before returning as an Education Support Integration Aide in 2014.

Sam has been an incredible Aide, caring for and supporting many, many students throughout his tenure where his calmness and genuine care has consistently come to the fore. This was evident as recently as our November swimming program where he returned from leave to honour a promise he made to attend the swimming program. Sam has worked across all year levels and attended numerous camps to support our students. In addition to his work with our students, Sam has utilised his artistic skills, creating murals around the school, assisting with a Year 6 Art Project and being our ‘go to’ on site tech guru for assistance with a wide variety of software applications.

A feature of Sam’s work in all areas has been his calm, understated manner, always going about his work with a minimum of fuss and always with a focus on what is best for the students. It was no surprise that Sam chose teaching as his career; he has had some days recently at Old Orchard as a Casual Replacement Teacher and will commence his teaching career in 2024 at Mt. Pleasant Road PS.

Thank-you Sam for all that you have done for our students, staff and community - we will miss you but know that you have a great career ahead of you and wish you well for the future.

Sherin Vazifdar

Sherin is another of our young Education Support Integration Aides and she has made a fantastic impact in two years at Old Orchard. She has a bright, vibrant personality and this is consistently on display when she is working with our students. In any conversation with Sherin, it is quickly evident that she cares deeply about the students in her care and consistently seeks to make a difference in their lives. Sherin is heading to Canberra in 2024 to commence a new career - we will certainly miss her but wish her evry success and happiness for the years ahead.

Best wishes also to Kim Dellevergin and Hanna Whatley who will be on Maternity Leave from the commencement of next year. We wish them well for the exciting times ahead.

Thanks to students, staff families

Finally, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to everyone in the Old Orchard community for their support, flexibility, understanding and positivity this year.

Our students have continued to be the fantastic young people that we know they are and it has been wonderful to observe our students engage so positively with their learning and connect with their friends and staff. They are an awesome bunch!

Our staff (all of them!) have been absolutely incredible - as Principal, I could not be any prouder of them and I know how incredibly privileged I am to lead such an amazing team. They care genuinely and deeply about the students and put in an immense amount of work to ‘make a difference’ in their lives. In particular, I must acknowledge the team I work most closely with in Clare Murray, Jen McCann, Ellen Hurley, Craig Gooding as well as our sensational Admin team, Fiona Kirby, Sheree Knight, Lisa Alfredini and Facilities Guru, Pip Cariss - we are all extremely fortunate to have these wonderful people at our school.

Finally, to our parents / carers and broader school community. You play an incredibly important role in the success of our school, firstly in the care and support of your children but also in the support you provide our staff, the contributions you make in many areas and also, importantly, in the respectful and constructive manner in which you communicate, even when there is a level of disagreement. I know that I am incredibly privileged, fortunate and grateful to lead such a community. To the families leaving Old Orchard for the final time, thank-you sincerely for everything you have done. I have known many of you for a very long time and I will miss our friendship and your support and the relationships that are such a special part of our school community.

To our Year 6 students, I thank you for the significant contribution you have made to our school and bid you a very fond farewell as you head off to secondary school. It is a huge step in your lives but I know that you are well and truly ready for the move and what lays ahead. We will miss you.

May you and your loved ones enjoy the festive season and holiday break and take time to rest and spend time with those you value most. Take care and stay safe.

Kind regards,

Duncan

The Harvest

2023/39 · 15 Dec 2023

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