A Message from David & Cam...

Student Leadership at AGPS

Junior School Council

Sarah Myers is leading the Junior School Council (JSC) this year and called for nominations from the students. Students from grade 2 up were encouraged to nominate themselves and write about why they would like to be a JSC member and what they would bring to the role. From there, teachers selected the 2 representatives from each class (1 from the Year 6 classes) and we are very proud to announce our 2024 JSC:

Congratulations to all of the above students. We are really looking forward to hearing your ideas to make our school an even better place! As we start our work in the JSC, we always value the input of the school community and if you would like to know more any of our projects, please get in touch with the JSC or Sarah Myers.

Student Leadership Conference

On Tuesday, the four school captains attended a leadership conference in the city at the Melbourne Convention Centre. We caught a train into the city and then we walked for the rest of the way. We were met with the complete opposite of our expectations. Disco lights were flashing, loud pop music was blaring and everyone was dancing their hearts out. The conference was exciting and engaging. 

After we came back from snack, we enjoyed some front row seats and learnt some valuable leadership skills. We also discovered how leaders could turn a negative situation into a positive situation from which we can grow. We met some incredible people who are focused on creating change within their community, inspiring us to do the same. 

After that, we enjoyed a great lunch and went back inside to dance the macarena! Finally we listened to an inspirational speech on resilience and bouncing forward. We then ended our day with a sing along, only the best song for the best conference - Let it Go! 

All in all, the day was a fantastic educational experience full of fun, friendships and inspirations - 5 STARS

-Harriet, Connor, Jensen, Georgia 

Professional Learning at AGPS

Last Thursday and Friday the staff engaged in professional learning with Shaping Minds. This included a day of modelled lessons across the school where each teacher was able to watch a demonstration lesson and debrief with the consultant followed by a professional learning day on Friday focused on explicit teaching and engagement strategies in Mathematics. These days are an important piece of our improvement plans in 2024 and we look forward to working together to continue to refine and improve our instructional practices in Mathematics to ensure our students are receiving the most impactful and effective education possible.

Hobsons Bay Division Swimming Carnival Update

A big thanks goes to our team of 16 young swimmers who represented Altona Green as well as the Laverton District squad in the Hobsons Bay Swimming Championships held last week at the Werribee Outdoor Pool. This has been our largest contingent to date!

The events included students taking part in the following races:

What a wonderful effort by all our students when competing against winners from other district carnivals held around the Hobsons Bay area. Congratulations to the 12 year Girls team who came 1st in a nail-biting finish to win the freestyle relay.  Also triumphant in the 12 Girls Breaststroke and Freestyle events were Harriet C and Zoey M who will go around again and proceed to the Western Metropolitan Region competition coming up.

Always a special mention to the many parents and friends for getting them there, cheering our students on and supporting Lorretta our staff member on the day. From all reports, a great day was held by all!

-Nancy Di Tello

Planning Week

Next week is planning week for term 2 for each of our Professional Learning Teams (PLTs). Each teaching team is released from the classroom for a day to partake in their planning day. During the planning day your child will be participating in specialist subjects for the day. Here is the schedule:

• Prep - Monday
• Year 1 - Friday
• Year 2/3 - Wednesday
• Year 4/5 - Tuesday
• Year 6 - Thursday

Maths Olympiad

The Maths Olympiad has kicked off for another year with an enthusiastic and committed group of young mathematicians. This Olympiad is an extension program and the students are focusing on developing their knowledge to attempt more complex problems as opposed to simply focusing on getting the correct answer. It is lovely to see a number of familiar faces sign up for another year as well as some new students who are looking forward to challenging themselves in a supported and encouraging environment. 

We have had three sessions to date and already the students have learnt and are exploring the use of a variety of mathematical strategies. Cam is looking forward to challenging these students throughout the year and celebrating their successes with them.

Attendance

We want all kids to come to school every day. Attending all day, every day helps students build their learning and maintain strong social connections with their friends and teachers. Each lesson provides a foundation for the next one, making it easier to learn the next concept. Every day counts – each day a student misses puts them behind and has flow-on effects:

We understand that there are circumstances where your child cannot attend school but we encourage all parents and carers to prioritise and promote attendance - school is better when your child is here! Please see this article for further information.

We would also like to remind everyone of the process for late arrivals and early departures (as posted on Compass):

• Please pick your child/ren up at either 11:00am; 11:30am; 1:30pm or 2:30pm as picking up during instruction times disrupts the whole class/school.
• If your child is going to be late or leave early, please do not put this on Compass - Jen will do it when they arrive or leave.  Please only put all day absences on Compass.

Jen Armstead is our school's attendance officer. Her role is to monitor attendance and support families that may be having difficulty getting their child to school. Please contact Jen if you have any questions or concerns about attendance.

Harmony Week

Next week is Harmony Week, celebrating multiculturalism in Australia. Altona Green is a great multicultural community and Harmony Week encourages us to celebrate our diversity. Our school is a wonderful mix of cultures from across the globe -  we have many students who were born in many different parts of the world (see the below map to see how diverse we are!) and 32% of the parents of our students were born in a country other than Australia. 

The message of Harmony Week is ‘everyone belongs’ – it’s about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians. Our students will participate in activities related to these themes during the week, and we will celebrate our cultural diversity with a dress up day on Friday 22nd of March. 

Students can come to school on the Friday wearing:

- something orange; orange is the colour of Harmony Week

- a t-shirt that represents their culture, or from a particular country

- a national costume

- the colours of the flag of a country/countries from their cultural background, e.g. t-shirt; ribbons; red, green and white clothing for Italy, etc.

We look forward to celebrating all the wonderful people that make our community so great.

Family Picnic & Scavenger Hunt

We were blessed with perfect weather for our annual community event - the Family Picnic and Scavenger Hunt. This event is offered as a way to gather our community together to help strengthen the positive connections across our school as well as further foster a strong home-school partnership which is so vital to creating a positive school culture.

Meagan and I had a ball coming up with all the clues and challenges that were scattered across our school and I certainly loved hearing everyone say the answer to the final puzzle (GO DEMONS) even though many of you lacked the enthusiasm I would have liked! The food trucks were also a hit and I would like to thank Victoria for her efforts arranging these for our school.

Thanks to all who came along. We hope you all had a great time.

NAPLAN

This week our students in Year 3 and 5 have participated in the NAPLAN assessments. Students are completing the assessments digitally (with the exception of year 3 writing) and they have been given opportunities in the weeks leading to the testing to familiarise themselves with the testing format to ensure they feel prepared and ready. Our teachers have worked with the students to build positive perceptions about the assessments and have helped to build their confidence, persistence and resilience in the lead up to the testing period.

NAPLAN assessments are one way that we are able to monitor the progress of our school over time and help inform our strategic direction as we work towards continual school improvement. The results form part of a bigger picture of student achievement at Altona Green and will be used in conjunction with a number of other assessments and markers of progress.

The results of the assessments will be released later in the year and a parent report will be sent home to all families. The date of this will be published via Compass.

Thanks for a great fortnight, everyone.

Take care,

David & Cam