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

What a great night we had last Friday for our Fiesta. Even though the weather didn't look too promising, we need not have worried, with the skies clearing and fine weather prevailing. The crowd numbers were the highest ever and to see everyone enjoying themselves was a real treat. To end the night with the amazing fireworks was again a highlight and a marvelous celebration of a great event. I would like to give a huge 'shout out' to the Fiesta Committee that have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for well over a year. Headed up by Rowena Garrett and ably supported by:

Rachael Speedie, Suzie Coleman, Amanda Muhleisen, Sasha Hansen, Bec Field, Shaun Waring Jones,

Jane Edwards, Helen Clyne, Elizabeth Warren, Mel Scarfe, Yogi Patel, Sabine Stoecker, Andrea Stanning, Newell Richards, Craig Williams and Deidree Taylor. Of course there were many more parents and grandparents that helped on the day and the Saturday morning clean up. All in all, an amazing community effort. We are still finalising the amount raised and will let you know when we have a final figure of how much we raised.

Thank you one and all for your support on the day!

Chess Championships

As you know, we have been much more active this year with some of our students entering Chess Competitions supported by Miss Emily Dean and we have some exciting news about Matthew W in Yr 4.

Matthew won the championship of the 2019 Victorian Junior Master Chess Tournament. This was held at the Melbourne Chess Club from 2nd to 6th of October during school holidays. This event invited the top 10 chess players (by ACF rating) in each age group in Victoria. Matthew finished the tournament with 7 out of 9 points and was placed 1st after playing each of the other 9 players. (see attached photo - Peter Tsai who is the director of Chess Victoria presented the trophy and prize to Matthew)

In addition I would like to congratulate the OGPS chess team on their achievement at the State Chess Final Tournament. They finished 9th place (out of 40 schools), which is a great improvement from last year when they were placed 26th. They should be very proud of their achievements.

Whitehorse Active Safe Schools Program

It was very exciting to hear the news that OGPS' submission to be considered to be part of this program had been successful. We are the only school in Whitehorse to have this privilege and our school will now become an active travel ambassador and we will be developing and implementing our own Active and Safe School Travel Plan for our students. This is very exciting , as I know you will agree that we have a real issue with our car parks and need to encourage our students to ride or walk to school more frequently.

This term we will begin to work with the Whitehorse City Council on the Active and Safe Schools program and will create a safer travel environment for students and families walking and riding to school.

We will work with Council through road safety education, increasing the number of students walking and cycling to school and identifying potential traffic infrastructure improvements.

Our school will be visited a number of times by Council and this is an opportunity for you to take part in helping our school to be a safer, healthier and pleasant environment for everyone.

Whole-of-school Travel Surveys for students and parents – Monday 18th November.
Pop-Up Stall your chance to share any concerns and ideas on road safety – Wednesday 20th November.

We look forward to your input and involvement in working together to create an active and safe school.

TRAVEL SURVEY – WHOLE-OF-SCHOOL PARTICIPATION:

This is an opportunity for students and parents to have a say in travel to school

As part of the program our school will be participating in a school-wide travel survey. This is for all classes, students and parents / guardians.

This travel survey is important to help us to better understand how we are currently travelling to and from school. We can then plan to improve options for student travel.

Please take a few minutes to complete it. This will be a great opportunity for all families to have an input into our school active travel plan.

All students will complete their survey part in class and parents are asked to return their completed section by the Tuesday 19th November. All entries returned by Tuesday will go into a draw to win a prize.

ROAD SAFETY POP- UP STALL – Wednesday 20th November, 3:15 pm

This will be an opportunity to share your ideas on safe travel to school and the Whitehorse

Council will be holding a pop-up stall just outside our library on the Orchard Grove side. This is an opportunity for parents and students to hear more information about the road safety program. It’s also an opportunity to highlight any traffic and travel concerns as well as provide your ideas to help encourage walking, cycling and improved public transport.

Well that's all from me this week. I hope you have a lovely long weekend with the family.

Glenda Harry

Principal