STUDENT EXCELLENCE

Over the course of the year, we have celebrated students excelling in many areas of the curriculum through mini-incursions and excursions. These include our Writing Workshop held last term, where Author Belinda Murrell ran workshops with our excelling writers, and our recent online seminar for students excelling in Mathematics.

A priority of our school is to ensure we celebrate students excelling in all areas of the Curriculum. We have several upcoming events to celebrate students excelling in our Specialist areas of the Curriculum.

PE - Cricket Blast Day

We have some students in the Year 3-4 area who have excelled in their recent PE unit on Cricket. On Friday, the 11th of November, these select students will be heading to Toomuc Reserve in Pakenham, where they will compete against other local schools in the T20 blast.

STEM

On Tuesday 8th of November, we have selected students to attend an excursion to the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. The excursion is a part of the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series 'Designed by Nature Biomimicry Program'. During this event, students will:

learn examples of bio-inspired inventions and come face-to-face with the plants and systems that influenced them
Identify the tried and tested biological strategies of nature through guided nature observation
Come up with their own nature-inspired ideas
Utilise design thinking and STEM skills to apply the practice of biomimicry in a Design Challenge

Victorian Coding Challenge

Throughout Semester Two, some of our Senior School students have been participating in a series of fun and engaging coding challenges which required them to apply coding and algorithmic thinking to solve interesting problems.

Some of our Year 5/6 students have been identified to participate in the Victorian Coding Challenge. This state-wide coding competition will be a face-to-face event held in the Docklands, Melbourne. In this competition, students will compete in groups of 2-4 in various challenges and games. This promises to be a fun-filled day, with challenge, excitement, friendly competition, and prizes for the winning teams.

YEAR 2 SLEEPOVER

On Thursday the 17th of November, OPPS will be having its first Year 2 Sleepover. The sleepover aims to create a mini camp-like experience to support students when they go on camps in 2023 and build upon their resilience and responsibility skills.

All students in Years 1 and 2 will participate in a series of activities at school on Thursday 17th, and Friday the 18th of November. However, only the Year Two students will return to school on the evening of the 17th for their sleepover experience.

Further information about this event can be located on Compass.

ZOOPER DOOPERS

Our Year 6 students are raising money for their Graduation celebrations at the end of this year. The Year 6s are selling Zooper Doopers for $1 each lunchtime out of the canteen. All proceeds are going towards their end of year celebration day.

PICK UP AND DROP OFF TIMES:

It has been fantastic to see our students arriving to school promptly each morning. Just a reminder that Learning Communities open at 8:35am each morning, giving the students a 10-minute window to come in, unpack their belongings and prepare themselves for the day ahead. This time is extremely important for our students as it allows students to be settled and ready for the learning to begin at 8:45am.

Please remember that we have staff on yard duty from 8:30am-8:45am and between 3:00pm and 3:15pm. There is no yard supervision outside of these hours. Families are able to access our before and after-school care program if they need to drop off or pick up their children outside of these hours. Details about our OSH club can be located on the school website.

Orchard Park News

Going Further Together

Issue 15 · 04 Nov 2022

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