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

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are well and truly in the swing of term!

Our Year 3 campers had fantastic weather for camping and enjoyed their time away from home and school. Thank you to the parents and staff who gave up their own time to attend and make it such a special occasion for our students.

Our Year 5 and 6 students have participated in Interschool sports with our AFL team making it through to the District division which they attended and won last week. We are now off to the Regional division next week, which is the first time we have been this far into the AFL competition whilst Mr. Liston has been here at OGPS. We wish them all the best for next week!

Our Foundation students celebrated their 100th day at school on Tuesday and a fun day was had by all! They had a special day starting with a buddy disco and finishing with biscuit decorating.

We have also had swimming, incursions, and dress-up days over the past two weeks, so there is always something fun and exciting happening here at school! Thank you to all the staff who have organised the fun events over the past two weeks and to our whole school community for getting into the spirit of the different activities.

On Monday we sent out offers of acceptance for Foundation 2024. This year there was a state-wide timeline, similar to how Year 7 places are allocated. We have now started forward planning to 2024, and as part of this Kathy has sent out a Compass notification around letting us know if you are leaving OGPS at the end of the year. This just helps us begin the work around class sizes and structures for 2024.

We also received our 2023 NAPLAN data. Andrew Moore has included some of our results below for you all to look at. The reporting has changed this year - from bands of attainment to 4 levels of proficiency. We are happy with our results overall, with most of our students being either at or above the expected levels of proficiency.

There are also a few surveys to draw your attention to - Andrew Moore is looking into our Reporting to parents (portfolios, written reports, and 3-way conferences) and will release a series of short surveys over the coming weeks. There is one currently open which asks for a general overview and there will be specific ones relating to all 3 areas over the coming weeks. They are short surveys and we really would appreciate your input.

The other survey is the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education. This survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. The survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

We also have a whole school Professional Practice Day this term for teachers, which is in addition to our set curriculum days. The Department of Education allows us to have one of the two days allocated for this as a whole school date, which we will have on Monday 28th of August. We will have on-site supervision available for the day, but students are not required to be at school. Please look out for a Compass notification next week if you require onsite supervision.

Finally, we have a working bee this weekend (Sunday 1 pm - 4 pm), and if you have any spare time to volunteer this would be greatly appreciated. We will prioritise mulching the play equipment to ensure we have adequate soft fall coverage, so the more people we have the easier this job becomes!

Till next time.

Michelle Ogilvie

Principal

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