Principal's Report
Returning to On-site Learning
Once again, as we return from remote learning (for the third time this year!!), I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support, empathy and support throughout this time. Lockdowns are challenging for all members of our community and we appreciate that supporting your child in keeping on track with their learning adds another major complexity. Hopefully we can stay out of lockdowns for an extended period of time and get back into a sustained routine of learning here at the school.
Final Curriculum Day for 2021 Rescheduled
Our final Curriculum Day for 2021 had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday 21st July. However as you know, this was during lockdown and we made the decision to postpone this. With the learning being extremely important to our staff in progressing our consistency of practice, we have now rescheduled this Curriculum Day to take place on Wednesday 11th August.
The focus of this day’s learning will still be around deepening our understanding around best practice in teaching our students numeracy. Kayla Campbell and Alana Sutherland, our Learning Specialists who are leading our involvement in the Primary Maths Specialists Initiative, will be facilitating this day of learning with all of our staff.
TheirCare have whole day care available on this day. Bookings can be made through their usual systems.
The Resilience Project Parent Session Reminder
Just a reminder that the new date for our Resilience Project Parent Session is Monday 6th September at 6:30pm. We hope by this time we will have further easing of COVID restrictions and we are able to go ahead with this highly anticipated event in Term 3. For now, pop the date on your family calendars and stay tuned for further information.
Parent Enrolment Information Session
It was wonderful to be able to welcome our potential future parents along to our 2022 Prep Information Session, which was run on the first day of this term. We were able to share with families our vision, mission and school values, whilst also talking about all of the rich learning experience students at Orchard Park Primary School experience on a daily basis. Families also had all of their questions answered and finished their session with a tour of our first class facilities.
Many families had booked in for a school tour to see the school in action during the school day. Unfortunately we have not been able to facilitate these tours due to the most recent lockdown. However we will most certainly reschedule these as soon as restrictions ease and families are welcome back on-site. If you have already registered for a tour you will be the first to receive information regarding these new dates once they are made available.
2022 Enrolments and Prep Transition
Just a reminder to any families who are yet to enrol their younger siblings who are beginning their schooling with us in 2022 to please fill out the Google Form through the following link https://forms.gle/QmLV8U75v9Fmu65Q6
We are now finalising our Prep transition program which will begin later in Term 3. We will distribute this information to families once they have returned all of their enrolment forms.
Somers Camp
It was such an incredible experience at Somers Camp for our Year 3-6 students. They were able to push themselves in so many ways through the wide range of activities and the independence of being away from home. We were so lucky to be able to attend such a highly regarded camp with such supportive, considerate and professional staff.
A huge thank you to all of our staff who made such a massive commitment away from their families to make this camp happen.
The staff at Somers Camp were so high in their praise for the way our students showed such respect to everyone, empathy to each other and incredible support and encouragement to their peers. I could not have been prouder of the way they conducted themselves throughout the camp.
Staff are now in the midst of planning what our Prep-2 experience looks like in lieu of not being able to attend Woorabinda for the day.
Book Week
Each year, schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators. Classroom teachers and public librarians develop activities, offer competitions and tell stories relating to a theme to highlight the importance of reading. We will be celebrating Book Week at Orchard Park Primary School from the 21st - 27th August.
This year’s theme is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’. Students will participate in a range of literacy activities throughout the week focusing on exploring a wide range of texts which fit within this theme.
Our Book Week celebrations will culminate on Friday 27th August with our very first whole school Book Parade! We are encouraging all of our students to dress as their favourite book character for the day, with a special parade assembly taking place in the morning. Students are not required to wear school uniform if they dress up.
We are asking for each child who dresses up to donate a new book for our school library. A certificate will be attached to the inside of each donated book to commemorate and recognise the family who donated the book to our school library.
The specifics of the when, where and how we will run the actual parade will be shared with the community closer to the date in line with the most recent COVID restrictions/guides. For now, we encourage you to start preparing your dress ups. Mr Forster has already started talking about how amazing his dress up outfit will be! Which he claims will be the best one at Orchard Park Primary School. The challenge is set!!!
Nathan Jagoe
Principal