Principal's Report
UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAY
Just a reminder to all families that on Monday 31st of October, the staff at Orchard Park will be engaging in their final Teacher Professional Practice Day for the year. This is a Student Free Day.
On this day, the staff will be here at the school reviewing and reflecting upon the Inquiry units taught over our first two years of operation. The team will then work together to build upon these units in preparation for 2023.
PUBLIC HOLIDAY - MELBOURNE CUP DAY
The students will have an extra-long weekend with Tuesday 1st November being a Public Holiday. Students will then return to school on Wednesday 2nd November.
YEAR 6 CELEBRATION DAY AND GRADUATION
As the end of the school year draws closer, we are beginning to make plans for our Year 6 Celebration Day and Graduation. The Year 6 students will be celebrating their final year of primary school by spending the day with each other and their staff at Gumbuya World on Monday 12th December. A Compass permission form will be distributed to families in the near future.
The Graduation Ceremony for our students will be taking place on Wednesday 14th December. More details about how the evening will run will be communicated with families soon. For now, mark this date in your calendars so everyone is able to join us on this special night.
YEAR 6 FUNDRAISING
A tradition we commenced last year is to conduct some fundraising for our Year 6 Graduation and Celebration Day. As a school we want to continue to run this fundraising annually to ensure our entire student body supports the departing Year 6 cohort. We will again be selling Zooper Doopers in coming weeks. Before we begin selling the Zooper Doopers, we are seeking donations of Zooper Dooper packs from any families or businesses to minimise outlay. If you are able to support with this, please drop off your donations of Zooper Dooper to the front office area.
SCHOOL REVIEW
Over the past 2 weeks, Orchard Park Primary School has conducted our very first School Review. A School Review allows for schools to reflect on their past achievements, celebrate these successes and then create a new Strategic Plan to guide our school improvement endeavours for the next four years. The school was appointed a School Reviewer in Wendy Larcombe who led the review over two days. We also had 2 other principals Sharon Mitchell (Lang Lang PS) and Jacqui Cutler (NNG PS) join the review panel as critical friends. Wayne Chester, our Senior Education Improvement Leader as well as Lucas Hainsworth made up the remainder of our team. Throughout the 2 days the panel heard from student and staff focus groups, spent time with some of our parents, ventured into the Learning Communities and analysed the many data sources our school collects. The Review was completed in a very positive and genuine way, which has allowed for the development of an authentic and purposeful Strategic Plan to drive our future improvement efforts. In a future newsletter I will share some of these specific goals and some of the ways we intend to achieve these in the future. A big thank you to the parents who were able to join us for the parent focus group and provide such valuable perspectives on their experiences at OPPS.
STUDENT EXCELLENCE PROGRAM
There are a number of programs and experiences that continue to run throughout the school in a variety of curriculum areas. Providing opportunities for students to explore and extend their learning in areas of strength is something we want to continue to develop. Last week a group of our students in Year 3-6 took part in an online Maths Enrichment Challenge. Whilst the students had to adapt back to a remote learning platform, they engaged in the learning with a very positive mindset.