Principal's News

Term 3 Week 7

As we move rapidly through Term 3, our staff continue to focus on delivering high quality education for our students. This journey is an ongoing one as we constantly work to develop our teaching methodology, classroom practice and capacity to cater for all students. Professional Learning for our staff is an essential element of this and we unashamedly devote significant resources to our Professional Learning program, which incorporates elements susceptible as:

Attendance at formal Professional Learning programs
Visits to other schools
Classroom observation & feedback within our own school
Online learning
Shared planning

A recent visit to Old Orchard by our Senior Education Improvement Leader and our Education Improvement Leader identified that there has already been significant growth and visible changes in classroom practice since the commencement of our new Strategic Plan at the start of this year.

Principal for a Day Program

On Tuesday September 3rd, Old Orchard will be participating in the Principal for a Day Program. I am delighted to welcome Mr. David Zerman to our great school - David is a Fundraising Epidemiologist (look it up!), President of the Royal Scientific Society of Victoria and a PhD student and it will be wonderful to have him as part of our school for a day.

David writes below:

“I don’t want to go to school today,” I say most mornings at 8am.…..”The students make fun of me….The teachers give me a hard time…..A family member says….”You have to go to school….You’re the Principal”

I laugh every time I hear this joke……But for me it’s no laughing matter when I meet more than 530 of my new closest friends at Old Orchard Primary School next Tuesday at Old Orchard Primary School.

Only 6 more sleeps till I meet the school’s Principal Duncan Cant and replace (or really work with him) as I participate in my 19th Principal For A Day (PFAD) program which has taken me to primary and secondary schools all over Victoria. I’ll be one of more than 150 people across Victoria who volunteer for this community activity. I’m really looking forward to trying some of the fruit grown by the students in their garden -after all, the school is on the land of an old orchard.

Parent Forum

We conducted a Parent Forum recently to share the details and progress against our Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan. It was an extremely positive and interactive session that we will look to deliver a couple of times each year.

NAPLAN Results

In May of this year, our Year 3 and Year 5 students completed NAPLAN Testing. The results of this testing, at an individual, cohort and school level, will be available in the coming days and we look forward to receiving and unpacking this data.

Planning for 2020

An important part of our work during Term 3 is preliminary planning for the following year. This includes monitoring enrolments, making decisions around the class structure, support and specialist programs, recruitment and budgeting. All of this work continues well into Term 4. Our Prep enrolments for 2020 are still open - if you have a younger child who has yet to enrol, please remember to submit your enrolment application as soon as possible.

Prep Transition Program

The second of our 2020 Prep Transition sessions was conducted this week. It is wonderful to see the excitement on the faces of the pre-schoolers as they walk through the front doors and we know from experience that the program is of enormous benefit to our students, assisting them in commencing the school year with confidence and a sense of security.

Alice in Wonderland - Kinder Matinee

We welcomed approximately 150 children from local Kinders and Pre-Schools this week for an abridged version of our Alice in Wonderland production. It was a terrific opportunity to connect with our local community and also for our main cast members to have one more opportunity to display their talent.

Camps & Sleepover

It’s definitely been a busy week at Old Orchard, with our Year 3 camp at Phillip Island, Year 4 camp at Rumbug near Foster and our Year 2 Sleepover in Drayton Hall. A few parents seemed particularly appreciative that both their children were away on the same night(s), allowing for a change of routine and perhaps some welcome peace and quiet! Our camping program provides many benefits for our students, developing independence, resilience, teamwork, perseverance and more. As always, we are extremely appreciative of the additional commitment of our staff who go beyond their regular duties to provide our students with these experiences. Thank-you also to the parent helpers who support the camps (we could not proceed with the camps without them) and to the broader parent body who are always so supportive of our school camps despite the significant financial commitment.

Fathers’ Day Breakfast

Unfortunately Jen and I were unable to attend the Fathers’ Day Breakfast last week. From everything I have heard, it was an outstanding success and the fathers / special persons who came along had a wonderful time sharing breakfast and playing games with the children. Thank-you to the many staff assisted in setting up and serving breakfast: Fiona, Jane and Sam Kirby were all here not long after 6.00am with Alex, James, Curtis, Michael, Matt, Ellen, Sarah and Laura also helping out. The breakfast looks like being a regular feature on our calendar!

Principals’ Conference

Jen and I attended our Principals’ Network Conference last week. The focus at these conferences is very much on improving our own performance with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes. Our main presenter was Dr Paul Browning who spoke powerfully about the crucial role that trust plays in leadership and challenged us to reflect on our own leadership practice. We also welcomed the opportunity to hear from Ian Lanyon, Executive Director of DET Security and Emergency Management. Ian provided an excellent overview of the challenges faced by schools in this area and practical advice on how we can maximise the safety and security of students, staff and visitors to our schools.

Fathers’ Day

Best wishes to all the fathers and other special males in the lives of our Old Orchard community. We trust that you have a great day on Sunday and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.

Warm regards

Duncan

Warm regards

Duncan Cant

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