WELCOME TO OUR NEW STAFF

We are lucky to welcome many new staff to our OPPS community next year. With our continued growth in 2023, we have appointed a number of new teachers and Education Support staff who will commence at OPPS next year. Our students and families will discover their new teachers for 2023 on Tuesday 13th December. In upcoming newsletters, we will give you a little more insight into all of our new staff and welcome them to our school community.

END OF YEAR CELEBRATION

We are very much looking forward to coming together as a school community to celebrate the year's end on Thursday 8th December. Families are invited to join us on the oval area from 5pm for a picnic dinner.

Students are not required to wear uniform on the night, free dress with a 'Touch of Christmas', for example Christmas T-shirt, headband, hat or Christmas colours.

We are so grateful to our Parents and Friends group, who have worked extremely hard in organising this event. They have arranged a stage for our students to present their celebration song and dance as well as many food trucks for families to enjoy. Popcorn, fairy floss, twisted potatoes, pizza, ice cream and coffee will be available for purchase.

From 6pm onwards, each class will present their musical number for the community to enjoy.

The night will conclude with our Christmas raffle. There are some incredible prizes up for grabs, kindly donated by Big Childcare, Bunnings (Pakenham), The High Horse Café, Crocs Pakenham, Genuine Conveyancing, Cardinia Life, Kemizo, Flow & Co Pilates, Believe Orchard and Hair by Jade Ashley.

The money raised from the raffle will be going towards some line marking we are having added to our school grounds. This will include a range of games and interactive activities for our students to play throughout the day on our concrete areas.

A book of 10 raffle tickets has gone home with each child. If you would like to either buy or sell any more of these, please feel free to come and speak with Amy in the office.

ORCHARD PARK PS CHRISTMAS GIVING

Along with our Student Leaders and Simone Hoath from our Parents and Friends Group, I met with Leanne Griffiths from The Bless Collective recently. The Bless Collective are a local charity organisation that support people in need. They do this through a variety of services including a weekly food van at Bourke Park in Pakenham as well as providing food and care packages to families all year round.

With the support of Parents and Friends and our Student Leadership group, we are partnering with The Bless Collective to run our very first CHRISTMAS GIVING DRIVE. As you can see from the promotional pamphlet within this newsletter, we are seeking donations from our families that can support this very worthwhile cause. Students will have baskets in their Learning Communities they can place their donations in or they can drop them off at the office. All students who make a donation will be recognised through filling out a card and placing it on our Christmas tree in the office foyer. I encourage all families to have a read of the suggested items you can donate and support this school community initiative where possible.

BIG CHILDCARE

As you would now know, we are transitioning to a new OSHC provider in 2023. Big Childcare will be taking on this role and we are really excited about what they will be providing our students and families moving forward. We will begin sharing relevant information with you around this transition. Please take the time to read through the information within this newsletter which outlines some of the first steps in this process.

BEGINNING OF 2023 SCHOOL YEAR

The calendar snippet below gives all families a clear picture of what the beginning of the 2023 school year looks like. If you require any clarification about these dates, please don't hesitate to contact the office to discuss.

Christmas Giving Drive