Principal Update

Welcome to week 3 of term 3. 

Jessie, Josh, Nat and I had an amazing time last week with the 52 students and 14 parent volunteers who attended our 2026 APS Ski Camp to Mount Buller. While the conditions were challenging at times, yet again, all students who had never skied before managed to make it up on the chairlifts and riding some of the popular blue intermediate runs on the mountain. 

A massive thank you to those parents who volunteer their time to attend ski camp. It is a big undertaking and one we simply could not achieve without the support of families both on the mountain, and those who support through the organisation of food and other requirements. 

Excursion/Incursion Levy Reminder Payment Notices: 

There are still several families who have not paid their child’s $180 incursion/excursion levy. This is a user pays levy. Students who have not paid are unable to participate in extra curricular user pay activities. Individuals will receive a reminder notice through Compass this week. If you wish for your child to participate in incursions, excursions and events such as the concert and book week activities please ensure payment is made. 

Medication Policy and Procedures: 

During the cooler months of the year, it is common that some students may require medication due to ongoing illness. The school has clear processes outlined in our policy to ensure this is done safely.  Administration of Medication Policy

If a student requires medication, Alphington Primary School encourages parents to arrange for the medication to be taken outside of school hours. However, Alphington Primary School understands that students may need to take medication at school or school activities. 

To support students to do so safely, Alphington Primary School will follow the procedures set out in our policy. If a student needs to take medication while at school or at a school activity, parents/carers will need to arrange for the student’s treating medical/health practitioner to provide written advice to the school which details: 

• the name of the medication required 
• the dosage amount
• the time the medication is to be taken 
• how the medication is to be taken 
• the dates the medication is required, or whether it is an ongoing medication 
• how the medication should be stored. 

In most cases, parents/carers should arrange for written advice to be provided in a Medication Authority Form which a student’s treating medical/health practitioner should complete. If advice cannot be provided by a student’s medical/health practitioner, the school may agree that written or the Medication Authority Form can be completed by a student’s parents/carers. 

The Victorian Interschool Alpine Championships: 

These will be held at Mt Buller, Victoria between 16 August 2026 and 23 August 2026.

Entries close Thursday 30 July 2026 at 9:00AM.

Parents can register themselves for a Snow ID and then register children and enter them into competition events. When registering simply select Alphington Primary School from the school drop down list.

Full event details are at the below link.

2026 Vic Champs Event Info - Snow Australia Interschools

2026 NAPLAN Data:  

I would like to share some of the highlights of our recently received NAPLAN data for literacy and numeracy. 

As a school we continue to achieve very strong results in reading with 77% of Year 3 and 89% of Year 5 students in the strong and exceeding bands for 2026. Importantly, we continue to add significant growth to students from Year 3 to year 5 in relative growth measures. With 44% of students in Year 5 showing High relative growth since Year 3. 

Our writing results are some of the best in the network and exceed similar schools with 91% of Year 3 students and 93% of Year 5 students in the strong and exceeding bands for writing. Furthermore, our multiyear average continues to demonstrate that we are improving all students’ capacity as writers,

Having prioritised numeracy for high achieving students in the past 12 months, we were thrilled that 35% of Year 5 students achieved in the exceeding band. Our highest result in four years.  We also demonstrated that highest relative growth measure for our student in numeracy in the past 5 years, with 88% of Year 5 students showing medium or high growth since Year 3.

Senior Athletics Carnival: 

The senior athletics was held at Collingwood Harrier athletics yesterday. We had a wonderful group of parent volunteers who helped with the timing of running events and supporting with measuring and marshalling through field events. While fun, participation and engagement were the goals of the day; there was also some friendly competition between the houses. 

Students in Years 3-6 who have been successful in securing a position in the district team will receive information via Compass.

Junior Athletics Carnival:

Our Junior Athletics Carnival for Prep to 2 students will be held Tuesday 11 August at Alphington Park. 

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Principal