Assistant Principal Update

Hello everyone,

I hope you have been able to enjoy the warmer spring weather conditions. Another jam-packed week at APS with Year 3 and Year 4 students back from their 1 and 2 night camps. 

I was lucky enough to head up to camp Jungai with Year 4’s on Wednesday, and although there was a decent bit of rain around, the overall feel was one of excitement and adventure.

On Monday some of our Year 6 interschool sports teams competed in the Ivanhoe Interschool Sports Finals for Touch Rugby and Tennis. The Prep/1 students are at Kew High today for their rehearsal in preparation for their concert this evening, and the excitement is building as we prepare for the Year 2-6 Concert next Monday evening. Tomorrow is a Professional Practice Day for staff and a student free day. And on Friday I am at the Banyule Division Athletics with a team of 15 APS students. It is certainly a busy end of term. 

Term 4 Planning

Year level teams are currently developing the Term 4-unit plans for English, Mathematics, STEAM, and Wellbeing. Our Term 4 STEAM units will focus on the design and digital technologies curriculum. However, we are also focusing on integrating several curriculum subjects with our technology units to create real -life, authentic learning experiences. 

In addition, Term 4 will yet again see us present the APS Writers Festival and Art Show. Always an amazing evening with lots of families and students celebrating the writing and artistic talents of our students.

From Page to Stage and Back Again

Things are progressing well in the Year 2-6 production. Today we held a whole school run through, and then on Monday 15 September we will do a rehearsal at the PAC at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar. Details of this event will come through Compass. There is no payment required but parents will be required to give consent for their child to travel via bus.

Within the Compass Post there will be details regarding the drop of and pick up arrangements for students on the night of the performance. Students are to be dropped off at the backstage entrance at 6:30pm, where you will be directed to the gymnasium to be met by your child’s teacher. At the conclusion of the event teachers will escort each class to a predetermined area at the PAC.

All classes have finalised costumes, and you should have received information from your class teacher about what is required from home.

Tickets for the performance are on sale now through TryBooking, Tickets are $25 each for adults and $20 for concessions. There are a handful of tickets left. The re release is open for families to purchase extra tickets if needed.

Installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) at APS

We have sourced three quotes from approved Department of Education (DET) installers to install CCTV at Alphington Primary School. The below exert communication is taken from the APS CCTV Privacy Notice which outlines how the system will be used.

Need for CCTV:  

Our school has an obligation to ensure the school environment is safe and secure, and fulfil our duty of care to students, staff and visitors.  The CCTV system assists our school to fulfil these obligations and to prevent and manage other inappropriate behaviour on school grounds. CCTV also provides enhanced capability to protect our school’s assets against vandalism and theft.

CCTV cameras are NOT:

• located in private areas such as toilets, changing rooms, dressing rooms, showers, or other areas where individual privacy is paramount
• used to monitor student or staff work performance
• hidden or covert, except in limited circumstances and in accordance with the Department’s CCTV policy.

In our school, CCTV cameras will be located:

• school entrances

• outdoor play spaces

• outside of buildings

   

Access to CCTV footage

CCTV footage is only accessed for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice and the Department’s CCTV Policy and only by the following people:

1. the Principal or nominee, including people explicitly authorised by the Principal

2. central and regional Department staff, when required to assist the school for an above purpose

3. any other people permitted by law.

Storage of footage 

CCTV footage is stored locally on the school’s server.

CCTV footage is kept for no more than 31 days. If our school has not used CCTV footage in any of the ways set out in the policy, and there has been no request to view or access footage during this period, the footage is deleted. 

Reminder – Dogs at School Policy

Whilst Alphington Primary School understands that many families in our school community keep dogs as pets, to ensure that our school remains a safe and inclusive place for everyone, we have in place several rules that we expect all families to follow if they wish to bring their pet dog onto school grounds:

• pet dogs must be leashed at all times and in the control of a responsible adult
• pet dogs must not be tied up on school grounds or left unaccompanied
• Families who bring dogs to school that exhibit signs of aggressive behaviour, bark, or jump may be asked to remove the dog from school premises.
• pet dogs are not permitted into any buildings, including the gymnasium

Thank you for your consideration of the policy to ensure all our community feels safe in the school environment. 

All the best.

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal

Parent Opinion Survey - Reminder

The annual Parent Opinion Survey is open and available for a month. We ask one family member to complete the survey using the link below.    The data we gain from this survey helps to inform direction and focus for the following year. We offer the survey to 100% of families in the hope that we hear from as many families as possible. 

Survey link:   https://research.orima.com/parent

School Name: Alphington Primary School

Campus Name: Alphington Primary School

Your school’s generic PIN is: 717815