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 wellbeing 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 Principal

Well, it has been another exciting week here at OGPS, with never a dull moment. As you know, we had to postpone the House Athletics days due to weather conditions, but they finally went ahead last week without a glitch. We are eagerly awaiting the results and are hoping to announce this in the coming days. Once again, it was great to see our OGPS students performing and behaving well, and our senior students being such great role models for the younger children; it makes us all very proud. A huge shout out to Mr Jarrod Liston who, once again, did a fabulous job organising the two events and showed great flexibility when faced with having to postpone them.

School Council Elections

Voting for our school council elections closed on Monday at 4 pm and we were absolutely thrilled with the level of involvement by our school community. Over 300 people voted, with a tightly contested race right to the last few votes.  I am pleased to congratulate Carolyn Altan, Jess Bentley, Sandy Grosz, Rodney Mudford and Drew Sinclair, who were the successful candidates. I would like to acknowledge Cameron Duck, Simon Henry, Mary Likar, Skylie Massingham and Elizabeth Warren, who all stood for election. It shows a very committed and engaged community that values what we are doing here at OGPS when we get such a high level of involvement. Thanks to all for your continued support and willingness to contribute to life at the school. Our AGM and first council meeting with our new members will be held on Wednesday 18th March.

Three-Way Conferences

Our first term three-way conferences will be held in the last week of term, on Thursday 26th March.  There will be no classes on that day and children are only required at school for their conferences. Bookings will be open on Compass from Friday 6th March at 9:15am; get in early so you can secure a time that works best for your family.  As a reminder, our reporting to parents regime now covers all four terms, with three-way conferences in Terms One and Three and written reports in Terms Two and Four.  Portfolios showing evidence of your child's work and their learning goals will be produced each term. Three-way conferences are the way the Victorian Education Department prefers schools to have face-to-face interviews, as it is considered best practice.  We are proud of our reporting regime, and the rigour that it has, to effectively report to parents around their child's progress and the way it involves the child in the whole process.

Years Five and Six Production

Our next exciting piece of news is that we have finally announced to the student body the musical that the Year Five and Six students will be performing this year, Disney's Shrek Junior.  The musical is based on the Broadway production by DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions and promises to be very entertaining. Miss Mets and her team have now finished the extensive task of auditioning and assigning roles and the first practices have begun. This year, we are running the Year Five and Six production at the end of second term and the Foundaiton-to-Year Four event in Term Four.

Supervised Crossing

After years of lobbying, we have finally been informed by Whitehorse Council that a supervised crossing will go ahead on Orchard Grove. As you know, this has been a long hard fight and to finally have the green light is wonderful. Installation of the crossing will be done for the beginning of Term Three. I would like to thank our community for continuing to support the school in our endeavour to have this crossing reinstated; It's nice that the hard work has finally paid off.

Changes by Whitehorse Council in the Cricket Club car park

We were informed last week that the Whitehorse Council is making some changes in the parking restrictions in the Cricket Club car park, in the interest of keeping the traffic moving and student safety.  Where the five-minute parking is currently signed along the brick wall, they will be replacing this space with a 'no parking' signed area. What this means is that, effectively, it becomes a 'kiss-and-drop' zone. Drivers are not allowed to turn off their engines or leave the car or they run the risk of being fined. Please look out for the change in parking signs so that you don't get caught. Traffic infringement officers have been coming regularly to this car park and fining parents for breaches of parking regulations.

Canteen Changes

As you would have read in the Compass alert, Sophie, our wonderful canteen manager, has resigned from her role here, effective at the end of term.  We have appointed Huar Jirenhua, mother of Fotios (2TR) and Mixalis (FAC), to replace Sophie as canteen manager, starting in Term Two. Huar is going to need lots of support from our community as she takes on this new role and we would ask you to consider volunteering to help in the canteen.  At times there isn't enough help and this makes the job very difficult; we really want to be able to keep offering a canteen service at OGPS.  If you are interested in helping on the roster, please come at let the office know or see Huar or Sophie down in the canteen before the end of term.

Ruby on the Today Show

This coming Wednesday the 11th March the film crew for Channel 9's 'Today Show' is coming to school to do a story about our school dog, Ruby. The crew are coming from Sydney and have given us the time slot of 12-2pm.  As this will fall over the lunch hour, we are working through the filming plan with the producer to maximise the visit.  At the moment, it looks like they will visit 1SK, 2TR and 5MA. If your child is in these classes and you do not want them involved in the filming, please let your child's teacher know.  We are all very excited about the visit and will keep you posted as to when the footage will air on TV.

Level Three Building Upgrade

At last, we have a start date of the 23rd March for the upgrade to begin on the Level Three building. This will give the builders the opportunity to make the most of the school holidays and we are hoping that the roof of the existing shared teaching and learning space will be replaced in that time. When this is complete, they will begin work on the new area that will be built out towards the amphitheatre. This will be a fabulous space when it is complete and we are very excited to be able to do this build as a school-funded project.  We are hoping the whole project will be complete by the end of Term Two.  At this time, it is planned that that Year Three classes will be relocated for one to three 3 weeks; they will go into the Spanish room, EAL room, the Wicking meeting room and the Year Four atrium; all great spaces that will work really well while the roof is being replaced.

Easter Raffle

Oh, it's that time again and don't we love it! Easter Eggs galore and the opportunity to both support the school and win some more chocolate. This is where we need your help with donations of Easter eggs or items to put with the hamper that we have received from our local state member, Neil Angus. Donations can be left at the office from now until Tuesday 24th March. We really appreciate your support.

Well, that's all from me for this week.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend with your family.

Talk soon.

Glenda Harry

Principal