Staff Farewells
Special Edition Newsletter
Staff Farewells
For a variety of reasons, we have a number of staff departing at the end of the year. Rather than our ‘farewells’ being lost in the newsletter, we thought we would publish a special edition newsletter to share with the community. To all of the staff mentioned below, we extend sincere and genuine appreciation for their contribution to our school and wish them every happiness and success for the future.
Hanna Whatley & Sarah Penaluna
We have already written about Hanna and Sarah as they each headed off on Maternity Leave recently, so I won’t repeat that information here. I am delighted to announce the arrival of Ollie Penaluna, born last Friday - Sarah and Ollie are both doing well and Jono is smitten!
Olivia Curtis
Olivia has had a long association with Old Orchard, with her four boys attending here until 2015. Olivia commenced as a teacher at Old Orchard shortly afterwards and has worked in a variety of year levels during that time. Olivia is an incredibly caring teacher who has high expectations of all of her students. She has been a passionate supporter of numerous school events and programs, including our bike program, camps, School Council and many more. Olivia is making a tree-change in 2022 and is very excited about the times ahead.
Sarah Faella
Sarah joined our staff in 2018, moving across from Laburnum Primary School. She has consistently impressed with her capacity to develop strong and positive relationships with her students, whilst maintaining the highest expectations of their behaviour and schoolwork. Sarah has made a very positive contribution to a variety of our school teams and loved the opportunity this year to teach an all-boys class. Sarah is making a sea-change in 2022 and we are certain that she will continue to make an extremely positive contribution to the education of the young people in her care.
Sally Bentley
Sally commenced her teaching career as a Graduate Prep teacher at Old Orchard in 2020. Her commitment to her students and her bubbly, engaging and caring demeanour has been evident from Day 1. To have the first two years of your teaching career during COVID, with extended lockdowns, would have challenged many young teachers but Sally’s positivity and enthusiasm has never wavered. Sally is moving to a school close to home in 2022 and while we are very sad to see her leave, she leaves with our blessing and best wishes.
Sam Snow
Sam commenced at Old Orchard as a Graduate teacher in 2016 (having previously attended here as a student.) Her contribution during the past six years has been extremely impressive. Our P.E. & Sport program has evolved into one of very high quality and the introduction of the Sports Academy for Year 5 and 6 students has been a wonderful innovation. Additionally, Sam has played a significant role in the development of our student wellbeing and School Wide Positive Behaviour approach. Sam has been offered the opportunity to undertake a Ph. D at Deakin University and this was an opportunity too good to pass up. We are all very proud of Sam and look forward to her return at some stage in the future.
Jacinta Barrett
Jacinta has been teaching at Old Orchard for a number of years, interspersed by Family Leave. She has been a creative and passionate art teacher and more recently, providing support as part of the Year 5 team. In 2022, Jacinta will return to the Art Room at another school, where I’m sure her skills will be utilised to the fullest extent.
Lisa Scotti
Lisa has been a CRT (Replacement Teacher) over the past couple of years and in 2021 has undertaken the role of one of our Tutors. This has involved her working closely with students requiring additional support following the extended lockdowns in 2020 and again in 2021. Lisa is a highly skilled and passionate teacher who really connects with her students and we will miss her skills when she explores other opportunities next year.
Michelle Harris
We also bid farewell to one of our amazing Integration Aides. Michelle has a beautiful, gentle nature and intuitively understands the individual needs of some of the students who require additional support. Michelle retires from her role to travel with her husband, Rob and again, will be sadly missed.
We have been very fortunate in Term 4 to have Shelly Nugent and Tanya Stansfield as highly capable replacements for Hanna Whatley & Sarah Penaluna in the Year 6 team. Shelly & Tanya have settled in beautifully to the team, with Shelly in particular making a fabulous contribution is assisting with the Senior Production and the Year 6 Graduation.