Principal's News

Principal's News

Staffing - LSL

I will be on Long Service Leave for the final three weeks of Term 1 (March 18th - April 5th). During that time, Jen will step into the Principal role and Matt O’Hern will be Acting Assistant Principal. I know that you will give them great support during this time.

Katrina St - Crossing Supervisor

We have been advised by the City of Whitehorse that the current supervised crossing in Katrina St will be discontinued from the commencement of Term 2. This decision has been taken following recent pedestrian and traffic volume surveys indicating that the Katrina St crossing no longer meets the VicRoads subsidy requirements. School Council will discuss this matter at our March meeting, however it is important that the Old Orchard community is aware of the changes to the current arrangements.

Cyber Safety

It was fantastic to see such a great turnout at the Cyber Safety Project - Parent Forum on Tuesday. Thanks to Sam and Trent for their extremely educational, informative and sometimes challenging presentation. The pdf of the slideshow presentation has been uploaded to the Parent Portal and this is a terrific resource for school families. I would particularly encourage parents to:

- follow the Cyber Safety Project on Facebook

- subscribe to the newsletter at www.cybersafetyproject.com.au

- utilise the Family Guidelines template at www.cybersafetyproject.com.au/parents

- visit the App Watch site at http://tiny.cc/AppWatch

Year 5 Camp

We look forward to welcoming our Year 5 students back to school this afternoon following a great week at Campaspe Downs Camp near Kyneton. I’m sure that the students will come home a little weary but with many great stories and experiences to share. As always, thank-you to the staff (Kevin, Olivia, Michael, Lucy, Rachel, Sarah Faella, Sam Kirby, Helen Taliadorous) and the parent helpers (Danny O’Kane & Ben Edsall) who gave up time away from families to make the camp possible for our students.

SRC & Sustainability

Congratulations to the following students on their selection as members of the Old Orchard S.R.C. (Student Representative Council) or as a Sustainability Leader for 2019.

SRC Members

Sustainability Leaders

Dogs in School

Old Orchard has always been a community that welcomes the practice of families walking dogs to school and recognise that it is part of the daily ritual for many of you (and your dogs!)

Following a couple of incidents late last year, School Council has developed and adopted a Dogs in School Policy that focuses on the safety and well-being of our students and other school community members, whilst also acknowledging that we are a dog friendly school. The policy and a draft map of dog-free zones is attached. We will circulate a more detailed map very soon.

The key points are:

• - Dogs must be on a leash and under control at all times and in the control of a responsible adult
• - Dogs are not to be walked through the main front gates (please enter via the pedestrian gate near at the end of the asphalt)
• - Dogs are not to be tied up at the gate or fence
• - There is a dog free zone as indicated on the map (this is an extremely congested area, before and after school)

Thank-you in anticipation of your support

Attendance - Every Day Counts

We are fortunate at Old Orchard that our school community places a high value on education and learning. This is reflected in the high attendance rates of most of our students. However, while an attendance rate of 90% seems quite high, a student with this attendance rate would miss 220 school days from Prep - Year 10, which is in excess of an entire school year. We want to work closely with families experiencing difficulty in this area and encourage you to contact Jen McCann or myself to discuss any concerns. I encourage you to read the attached information sheet Every Day Counts and to contact Jen or myself with any questions.

Best wishes for the long weekend

Kind regards

Duncan