Assistant Principal Update

Welcome to week 2 of Term 2. I trust everyone has had an enjoyable week. I hope everyone has settled back into the routine of school following the Easter Break. 

Last Thursday we held our Anzac Day commemoration as a special assembly. 

It was a wonderful commemorative service led by our Year 6 Students. 

A special acknowledgement to all students, who demonstrated wonderful respect and listening for the duration of the assembly.

Semester 1 Reporting

I shared in my final newsletter for Term 1 (Issue 10 – 2 April 2025) that APS is making significant changes to the way we report student achievement this semester. Over the coming weeks I will continue to share information about reporting through our newsletter. 

Reports will be sent home via Compass on Friday 27 June. Teachers are finalising the content descriptions that will be included in each report under the subject headings of:

• Wellbeing
• English
• Mathematics
• Integrated – Science, History/Geography, Technologies 
• Specialists – LOTE (Mandarin), Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Physical Education

Each subject has a dedicated page with a subject overview that outlines the unit learning undertaken for the semester. There is a progression point along a continuum which indicates where your child is currently sitting against the Victorian Curriculum. For subjects previously assessed their will also be an indication of growth. (See example illustration below). 

Under the subject overview is a table with a 5-point scale which indicates the content knowledge and understanding that has been taught this semester and where your child is currently achieving. A mock-up of what this will look like is included below.

 Term 2 Curriculum Focus

Our Professional Learning Community (PLC) focus for this term will be Reading. We have gathered a range of student data from Term 1 reading units. From these data sets teachers will evaluate and diagnose student reading goals, guided by our instructional model for reading. 

At APS we use the evidence based, Big 6 of Reading.

• Oral language
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Comprehension

To be an effective reader requires skills and understandings in decoding, text use and text analysis. Each of these skills and understandings is crucial, but they all take place within an overall focus on meaning making, which is the central purpose of all literate behaviour. Meaning making must be central to the teaching of reading.  At APS all teachers teach phonics explicitly, alongside supporting students’ literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension and to support students’ interest, engagement and enjoyment with books and other texts that they read and view.

Alphington Primary utilises the resources from the Literacy Toolkit to provide a balanced approach to the teaching of reading. It includes: 

• providing a range of explicit teaching opportunities during modelled, shared, guided and independent reading.
• explicitly teaching phonemic awareness and phonics so students can identify the sounds of English and decode written text.
• using strategies to explicitly teach comprehension strategies. 
• supporting students’ understanding, interpreting, critically analysing, reflecting upon, and enjoying written and visual, print, and non-print texts.
• reading and viewing a wide range of rich and authentic texts and media, including literary texts, short stories, poetry and plays as well as popular fiction and non-fiction works.
• active engagement with texts during literature circles and Book Club sessions to develop knowledge about the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they are created.
• providing opportunities for whole class, small group, and individual instruction.
• carefully monitoring students’ reading progression and establishing individual reading goals which are revisited regularly as part of our daily reading program.

APS Fun Run

Yesterday’s Fun Run was a great success with all students from Prep to Yer 6 having the opportunity to participate in a fun and inclusive running event. Students in the younger years completed laps of the oval at Alphington Park, earning points for their house. Students in Years 3-6 completed 2-3 laps of the 1km track to earn points for their house and to gain qualification for the upcoming district cross country.

A big thank you to Natalie for doing a great job organising the APS Fun Run and to the many parent volunteers who supported with marshalling and timing of races. It was also fantastic to see so many families in attendance supporting.

District Cross Country

The Ivanhoe District Cross Country will be held on Monday 12 May at Banyule Flats. The top 10 fastest times in the boys and girls 9, 10, 11 and 12 age groups will be selected and will receive their permission forms via Compass.

Through discussion with Natalie and the class teachers, and weather dependent we have planned to hold two training sessions during lunch on Thursdays. Sessions will be approximately 15-20 minutes in length – with activities focussing on race strategy and simulating the length and intensity of the 2km and 3km distances and students’ times.

Bike Storage

It is fantastic to see so many students riding to school. The benefits of riding are multifaceted. The bike storage on Adams Street is extremely popular and is filling up to capacity most days. We have tided the bike storage area at the Northern part of the school on Yarralea street. This section can accommodate over 20 additional bikes. 

Now that we are locking the Adams Street gates, we have had less concerns about bikes being tampered with during the day or at risk of theft. While there is always some risk when leaving your bike unattended, it is the school policy that both bike storage areas are out of bounds, and we encourage students to always lock their bikes. 

STEM Expo

Our annual Science & Technology Expo will be held on Wednesday 4 June. Students in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 will be working on projects in class as part of their Term 2 Integrated Inquiry Unit. Students in Year 3-6 will also be working on STEM Expo projects in class, however some students in these year levels may have additional tasks to complete as home learning. More information about the STEM Expo will be shared in the coming weeks.

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal