Principal's Report

A Message from Albany Rise School Council President

Year 2 Sleepover

Our Year 2 students enjoyed a fabulous sleepover experience and activities on Thursday evening and during Friday last week. Students took part in a DISCO, watched a movie together, set up and packed up their own bedding and took part in camp meals together, including breakfast and dinner. From all accounts, it was a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about camp life.

Year 3&4 Camp

Our Year 3&4 students are having a wonderful time at Golden Valley’s camp, with a fun stop at Rosebud beach n the way yesterday. Today the students are taking part in adventure activities including a giant swing and flying fox. I am sure they will have wonderful memories and learn resilience, independence and perseverance, as well as develop social and interactive skills.

Fathers’ Day Stall

Many thanks to our Parents’ Association for again providing an excellent Fathers’ Day stall, with carefully chosen gifts for students to select on Tuesday. Samples are still on display in the office for any students who may have been absent on the day.

Child Safety and student/adult interactions at pick up/ drop off

Our school is committed to ensuring all students feel safe and ARE safe within the school environment. For this reason, our policies, in line with Department of Education policies and processes, do not permit any parents/carers to directly communicate or verbally discipline the children of other parents. 

Where parents/carers have a concern about any aspect of the running of the school, including student behaviours, the procedures to be followed are succinctly spelt out in the policies available on our school website: https://albanyrise-ps.vic.edu.au/about-us/policies/ 

These policies include:

• ARPS Approaching The School May 2024

• ARPS Complaints Policy June 2025

• ARPS Code Of Conduct Staff, Parents, Volunteers & Visitors May 2025

• ARPS Child Safety Responding And Reporting Obligations Policy And Procedures 2025

• ARPS Student Wellbeing And Engagment Policy May 2025

All students are made aware of these procedures to protect their safety, as part of the Respectful Relationships and Consent Education mandatory programs in schools.

Parents/Carers are urged to speak to classroom teachers/ administration or book a time to discuss any concerns with myself or Michael Mottershead (Assistant Principal). In almost every case, the concerns can be quickly resolved and occasionally involve aspects that parents/carers may not be aware of, leading to a positive outcome.

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey THE SURVEY IS STILL OPEN!

Thank you to the 12 parents who have already completed the survey.

WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September 2025.

All families are invited to participate in the survey. 

Please look out for the invitation via Compass.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to your child’s teacher, or the school directly for survey guides in your language.

Results will be communicated to parents / caregivers / guardians through annual reporting and in the school newsletter. Last year we used the survey results to inform our Annual Implementation Planning and whole school review in 2025.Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information.

Footy Colours Day Walk-a-thon 19th September

Albany Rise Primary School is again conducting our annual ‘Footy Colours Day’ fundraising walk-a-thon on Friday 19th September (last day of Term).

Students will be provided with a sponsorship form, which they can fill in with sponsorships/donations from family and friends to donate for each lap of the school that they walk.

On 19th September, all students will return their sponsorship forms to school (usually by at least the day before) and then walk several laps of the school (usually between 3-10 laps for each child). Teachers will confirm the number of laps each child has completed and return the forms home for students to collect their donations. Parents/Carers are welcome to help on the day.

The monies and forms are then returned to school on (or before) Friday 17th October (Term 4)  to be in the running for a great prize! /so you can catch up with your supporters over the holidays and ‘collect’ your donations!

On the day (19th September), our Parents Association will be running a separate special ‘Footy Lunch’- paid for via Compass ($5) and a ‘Longest Kick Competition’ during lunchtime (Gold Coin Donation to take part); more great prizes! Funds from this competition go to the Cancer Council ‘Footy Colours Day’ fundraising efforts.

Students can wear their favourite Team Colours on the day!

What a great way to end the term!!

Scholarships to support students

Scholarships are available for eligible students in Grade 4 to Year 11, and for Year 12 students planning to do tertiary studies in 2026.

Student scholarships

The Department of Education administers a number of scholarships that are available to eligible students who are enrolled in Grade 4 to Year 12 in 2025.

Applicants for these scholarships will be evaluated on their:

· participation in school activities

· community involvement

· academic achievement.

Scholarships are either one-off payments or cover the duration of the student’s course or annual study.

Many of these scholarships have specific eligibility criteria, so please refer to individual applications for more information. Applications open on Wednesday 1 October 2025 and close on Monday 2 February 2026. For more information and a list of available scholarships, refer to the Student scholarships for Grade 4 to Year 12 fact sheet. For information on how to apply, refer to Student scholarships.

Sunsmart- REMINDER HATS ON FROM SEPTEMBER 1ST (MONDAY)

A reminder that as the UV levels increase at this time of year, we need to be sunsmart! The Cancer Council recommend a combination of sun protection measures: 

1. Slip on some sun-protective clothing that covers as much skin as possible. 

2. Slop on broad spectrum, water resistant SPF30+ (or higher) sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun. 

3. Slap on a hat – broad brim or legionnaire style to protect your face, head, neck and ears. 

4. Seek shade. 

5. Slide on some sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards. 

Our Sun Smart Policy specifies that all students must wear a sun smart hat whenever they are outdoors at school once the UV reaches 3. 

Please support our Sun Smart policy by providing a ‘sun smart’ hat for your child. Hats are available for purchase at the uniform shop.

Students without a hat from Monday 1ST September will remain in a quiet, shaded space during lunchtimes and afternoon recess due to our ‘NO HAT, NO PLAY’ Sunsmart policy.

Parent Requests for Grades in 2026 (REPEAT):

How is the grade structure decided? 

At ARPS, our policy is to create a whole school grade structure which is either single year levels or multiage (across 2 year levels). The structure is dependent on the numbers of students in each year level, the dynamics of students in each year level, our knowledge of students in the school and the best operational timetable and staffing arrangements that can be created within the budget provided by the Department of Education. The exact class structure is often not finalised until all of our future enrolments for 2026 are confirmed. Parents should consider the likelihood that their child will be placed in either a single year level or a multiage class

Can parents choose teachers?

•            The short answer is no.

What can parents request?

•            That their child might be with (or not with) another student based on educational needs, or if there may have been a past incident or negative history with another student. Parents may request something like, having your child separated from a good friend to help them focus or have the opportunity to make new friends. 

Who do I send my request to?

Follow this link and complete the online form: https://forms.gle/nYSp7yyHBo617YzX9 

Student class Place requests 2026

No later than Friday 16th October, 2025 (no exceptions)

How do we make grades for 2026?

We start by asking students to identify five ‘friends’ they might like to have in their grade for the next year. When we say ‘friend’, we mean someone who they would work well with, not always their best friend. Students have ample time and opportunity to be with their best friend, outside of school and classroom hours. Importantly we don’t guarantee these ‘five’ requests, usually students will get one or two of their ‘friend’ requests.  Sometimes not getting requests upsets students and their families. Invariably however, we find that students meet new friends (in their new grade) that they wouldn’t have met if we hadn’t encouraged mixing the grades, across their years at school. So, this is a deliberate strategy that supports students building their friendship groups across the years. 

Who makes the grades?

Classroom teaching staff and specialist teachers all contribute to making the grades. 

The Principal Class Team decides on the final grades. As a rule, we never make changes after the grades have been made. So please make your request before 16th October.

What factors do we consider when we make grades?

When we make grades, we consider things like: Academic capabilities / friendships / students’ behaviour. We want to ensure that grades have an even spread of boys and girls – we do not stream grades.

I trust this explains how we do this process; this is consistent with most schools.

Judy Drew

Principal