Assistant Principal Update

Welcome to week 3. It has been a wonderful start to the 2024 school year. Today we had the Years 3-6 swimming carnival with amazing weather and lots of families in attendance. 

The students were amazing both in their competition and spirit. 

 School Rights and Values: The beginning of the school year is a timely opportunity to review with students and our community the rights and values that we use to guide student learning, behaviour, and personal and social development. I was impressed on Friday at assembly that when I spoke about these, students were very articulate in identifying the rights and values and defining what they are and how they look in action around the school.

At Alphington Primary School we have two rights that guide our day-to-day actions:

• We all have the right to feel safe
• We all have the right to learn as much as possible

Alongside the two rights, APS has adopted a set of values to guide the conduct and practices of persons who represent the school and which the school fosters in its relationships. These attitudes are the basis on which the social competencies of students are developed. These are: 

• Kindness: Demonstrating empathy and being inclusive; displaying gratitude. 
• Respect: Consideration for self, others and the world around us; being polite and courteous. 
• Resilience: Being flexible and able to bounce back; being optimistic. 
• Curiosity: Showing interest and wonder; making choices; a love of learning. 
• Integrity: Being honest and fair; having a sense of what’s right and living it.

What I really love about the APS rights and values is that they encompass all that we do in schools and mean we can focus on affirming positive behaviours rather than ‘enforcing rules’. For example, if a student is being disruptive and calling out in class, they can be reminded of the right to learn and being respectful of others. If there is rough play in the yard, students can be reminded of the right to feel safe and to demonstrate kindness. 

I encourage families to discuss the school rights and values with their children and unpack what they mean both at school and as a member of your family and community.

Road Safety around APS: At the start of the school year, it is important to highlight the importance of safe road use behaviours around the school. With the completion of all the building upgrade and the school now being accessible from multiple points, we can distribute students in a more balanced way across the various exit points, particularly at the end of the day, which tends to be the busiest. As a result, I would like to draw families and students’ attention to the following:

• Using the pedestrian crossing: It is important that all pedestrians travelling to and from school use the crossings appropriately. We need to encourage this for all pedestrians who may be travelling south or through the laneway to Alphington Park. Currently several people are crossing directly outside the main gate or northern gate, often in between parked cars, this is a very high-risk behaviour. While a slight inconvenience at times please always model positive road user behaviours for our students.
• Cyclist awareness: While the obvious benefits of increasing cyclists support traffic management around the school, please be aware of the dangers of travelling on both the road and paths when riding. Several cyclists are demonstrating unsafe behaviours such as riding at speed along paths, not giving way, heading out into traffic without signalling and weaving through traffic. If you and/or you child is a cyclist, please reinforce safe riding behaviours. A reminder also that bikes should be walked through the school grounds.
• School Access, Car parking & Adams Street update: A reminder of the various entry and exit gates around the school, parking and drop off options and cyclist options: 
  • Yarralea Street for drop off and pick up – entry and exit points at the main southern gate, and the northern basketball gate. Please be courteous and do not park over neighbours’ driveways.
  • There is bike storage in the forest with access via the most northern gate on Yarralea Street
  • Access on Adams Street has two gates, a southern one with bike storage and a Northern gate next to the gymnasium. 
  • Adams Street has short term 5-10 minute drop off/pick up spots on the roadside with timber barricades which allow safe pedestrian travel into the school.
  • Phillips Street also has a gate which provides access to the Prep-1 classrooms and playground. 

Maths Development Program: This week I have commenced my work with students in Years 3 and 5. At this stage I am working with a group of students from each year level during a math session. Working collaboratively with teachers we have identified a group of students who we are stretching within and beyond the current curriculum level. This also allows the Year 3 and 5 teachers to focus on specific learning goals for other groups of students in the class. My first sessions have been very enjoyable, with a focus on individual goals and challenging ourselves to explore difficult options when working mathematically, getting into the ‘Learning Pit’ and sharing our mathematical thinking. I have set up a Google classroom for both groups with details coming home this week via your child, if they are involved.

NAPLAN Online 2024: Wednesday 13 March – Monday 27 March – Term 1

Families in Years 3 and 5 will receive Information regarding NAPLAN Online via Compass. NAPLAN Online 2024 takes place in Term 1 this year. A timetable and schedule of when tests will be undertaken will be sent home in early March. 

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

Federal, state and territory education ministers agreed to gradually transition NAPLAN online by 2022. NAPLAN online is a tailored test that adapts to student responses, providing better assessment and more precise results. The NAPLAN Online platform is designed for students to undertake tests in the following order: Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy. Year 3 students will complete their writing assessment using traditional pencil and paper format, while students in Year 5 will use the online platform. All classes will spend time ensuring students have had opportunities to use the NAPLAN Online platform prior to the assessment period. Teachers will also spend time ensuring students are comfortable leading into the NAPLAN period, reassuring them that these are point in time assessments and that they simply try their best. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming NAPLAN assessment, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Tutoring Program: Following three years of significant funding to implement the Tutor Learning Initiative for all schools following the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has changed the funding model to be based upon NAPLAN data. Due to the ongoing high results achieved by Alphington Primary School students, our funding is very limited. As a result, we have adapted our model to ensure we have the greatest impact. In semester one we have a tutoring model focused on the priority of students in Years 1, 2 and 3. Our Education Support staff member, Lizzy, will be implementing the program 3 times per week. Teachers of the identified year level will develop the programs in consultation with myself and Lizzy. The focus will be on English: reading and writing.

Families of participating students will receive an email containing detailed information regarding Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) at Alphington this year and the specific details about when their child’s sessions will be held. The first semester of TLI will officially commence on Monday 19 February and run through until the end of semester one. 

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal