Principal's Message

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 Acting Principal

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2022!

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for the wonderful support you have given the Principal Team this year and, in particular, the support given to me. It has allowed us to keep Orchard Grove moving in the right direction as we went through our first full year back on-site after lockdowns. Thank you!

On a personal note, I am so excited to have the opportunity to remove the 'acting' title for 2023 and take the role of the substantial principal of OPGS. I look forward to working with the students, staff, parents, and the wider OPGS community to ensure our school continues to be a high-achieving school, valuing the academic and wellbeing needs of each and every student.

Staffing News

Thank you to...

I would also like to say thank you and good luck to the following staff as they continue their teaching careers elsewhere or take on new challenges in their lives. Each has value-added to our school, the students, the staff, and our wider community in ways for which we will always be grateful: Dale Bateup, Stephanie Bouterakos, Amanda Buivids, Lisa Burns, Nathaniel Caddy, Tessa Canning, Caitlin Conroy, Ellin Fulford, Claudia Hart and Aidan Quinn. I am sure you will join me in wishing them all the best. Suzanne Lichtenauer is also taking leave before retiring and we will have a special farewell for her in Term One of 2023.

Hello to...

We would like to welcome our new staff for 2023: Danielle Calvisi, Patricia Coy, Shay Jayewardene, Elizabeth Padman, Abbey Tiernan, Stephanie Vawser. 

We also have some familiar faces returning in 2023: Bec Bird, Jo Fellowes, Abbey Papailiou, Hayley Sheridan, Georgia Syme.

We have a late vacancy to fill, so there will be one more new teacher. We hope to have this process finalised as quickly as possible. 

End-of-year awards

Our end-of-year awards celebrate the achievements of students across the year. These are Citizenship Awards; one student from each cohort of students achieves this by displaying all the school values consistently over the year.  These are shared at the final assembly and the recipients are listed below.

Foundation: Holly S

Year One: Sam M

Year Two: Tianxiang X

Year Three: Mia T

Year Four: Athena V

Year Five: Orlando A

Year Six: Charlise M

The other awards are our Graduation awards, awarded at Graduation to students in a range of categories. We are very excited to share a huge congratulations to the following students, who took out the following awards:

Literacy Award: Oliver B         

Maths Award: Deb S               

Art Award: Terry Z

Performing Arts Award: Harper H

Physical Education Award: Elle C

Spanish Award: Nate H             

Library Award: Piper H            

Forest Hill Endeavour Award: Maria A

Rotary Award: Maya F       

Academic Award: Zachary H

Graduation Awards: Chloe M and Tilly B

Congratulations to our new 2023 Student Leaders

Our Student Leadership process is now finalised. A huge shoutout to all the Year Five students (about 80 students) who put their hand up for one of the 24 roles. To see this much enthusiasm within our student group is amazing and something of which to be very proud. 

The following students were successful in gaining one of the 24 positions on offer.

School Captains: Alyssa T and Harry B

House Captains - Killara: Emee L and Jeremy T

House Captains - Mirrabooka: Jayden Y and Holly S

House Captains - Warrawong: Ivy W and Charlie F

House Captains - Wurundjeri: Darcy M and Ruby T

Junior School Council Leaders - Charlie G and Claire M

Community Leaders: Dhimahi S and Maya C

Sustainability Leaders: Sophie R and Callum E

Technology Leaders: Ethan C and Alexander L

Performing Arts Leaders: Kirri M and Zoe C

Peer Mediator Leaders: Nate E and Vasiliki K

Visual Arts Leaders: Josh T and Olivia M

STEM Leaders: Rebecca H and Dihein K

Library Leaders: Cooper W and Alice L

Year Six Graduation

On Thursday, we had our Year Six Graduation and it was a fabulous night. The evening went beautifully and it was lovely to celebrate the achievements of a wonderful group of students. Thank you to the staff and parent graduation committee for all the work put into making sure the evening was a memorable one. As part of the evening, we acknowledge the outgoing families who have their youngest (or only) child leaving the school, thus ending their affiliation with the school. We would like to say goodbye and good luck to the following families:

2023 Class Teachers

Finally here is a list of all the classes for 2023. 

Foundation: Bianca Seymour, Caroline Coady, Luisa Hill, Elizabeth Padman, MJ Ryan Bennett, Stephanie Vawser

Year One: Melissa Crozier, Alexandra Phillips, Brigette Roberts, Alexandra Syposs

Year Two: Toby Keen, Tara McLeod, Abbey Papailiou, Hayley Sheridan, Abbey Tiernan

Year Three: Charlotte Pemberton, Ellie Buchanan, Pierre Douvartzides

Year Three and Four: Tam Shama

Year Four: Erin Ward, JoAnne Frances, Karen Horvat

Year Five: Shay Jayewardene, Tahnee Ramsay, Glenn Tooth, TBC

Year Six: Amanda Jeeves, Matt Anthony, Danielle Calvisi, Amanda Tebb

Learning Specialist Cover: Kate Jackson

Visual Art: Susan Tate

Performing Arts: Buni Hasvong and Jo Fellowes

LOTE - Spanish: Patricia Coy

Library: Georgia Syme and Kerry Todkill

PE: Jarrod Liston

Enjoy the holidays - hopefully the sun stays here and the rain stays away, and quality time can be spent with family and friends.

See you all in 2023.

Cheers

Michelle

Michelle Ogilvie

Acting Principal