A Message from David & Cam...

Colour Explosion

It is only 2 weeks until the highly anticipated Colour Explosion! Whilst the event is a lot of fun, it is also a really important fundraiser for our school and every dollar raised goes directly towards improving our STEM facilities and resources. There are lots of great prizes up for grabs for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd highest fundraisers for each year level as well as a fun day for the classes with the most raised in P-3 and 4-6.

Thanks to all that have donated already. Every little bit helps so please send the following link far and wide to help make our school even better:

Disability Inclusion at AGPS

You may be aware of the Disability Inclusion reforms that have recently been implemented across schools in Victoria. Disability Inclusion is part of the Government’s approach to inclusive education and aims to provide extra support for children with disability in government schools.

The implementation of improved inclusive practises across our school is another area that we are working towards in 2023 and forms part of our Annual Implementation Plan. We have appointed Liz McNerney as our Disability Inclusion Learning Specialist and a large part of her role is to ensure the effective implementation of these reforms.

If you would like to know more about the reforms and what they mean for your child, please get in contact with Liz. You can also follow the link below to watch a short video on Disability Inclusion to give you a better understanding of what it Involves.

Harmony Week

Next week is Harmony Week, celebrating multiculturalism in Australia. Altona Green is a great multicultural community and Harmony Week encourages us to celebrate our diversity. Our school may be more diverse than you think - we have a number of students who were born in many different parts of the world (see the below map to see how diverse we are!) and 35% of the parents of our students were born in a country other than Australia.

The message of Harmony Week is ‘everyone belongs’ – it’s about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians. Our students will participate in activities related to these themes in class next week, and we will celebrate our cultural diversity with a dress up day on Friday 24th of March.

Students can come to school on the Friday wearing:

something orange; orange is the colour of Harmony Week
a t-shirt that represents their culture, or from a particular country
a national costume
the colours of the flag of a country/countries from their cultural background, e.g. t-shirt; ribbons; red, green and white clothing for Italy, etc.

We look forward to celebrating all the wonderful people that make our community so great.

Grounds Work

It is great to finally see some action on the sports field project. The whole space is looking fantastic! So far they have removed parts of the old asphalt and prepared all the surfaces for the installation of the synthetic grass. The installation of the grass is scheduled to begin next week - we cannot wait to see the finished product!

I was blown away when I entered the school grounds on Tuesday morning to find that a very talented and hard working group of parents had worked their magic on our cubbies. They have continued to work throughout the week creating these incredibly detailed and fun designs that are going to be such a hit with our students. I cannot thank them enough for the effort and time they have put into this project - they look so much better than I imagined (and they are not even fully completed yet!). A huge thank you to Kristen, Craig, Laura, Hayley, Sarah and Nicole - you are all amazing!

NAPLAN

This week our students in year 3 and 5 have participated in the NAPLAN assessments. This year the NAPLAN assessments are held earlier in the year and results will also be published earlier. The NAPLAN results will also be reported differently to parents than in previous years. See here for further information about the new reporting format https://www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/media-releases/naplan-proficiency-standards-media-release-2023-02-10.pdf

Students are completing the assessments digitally (with the exception of year 3 writing) and they have been given opportunities in the weeks leading to the testing to familiarise themselves with the testing format to ensure they feel prepared and ready. Our teachers have worked with the students to build positive perceptions about the assessments and have helped to build their confidence, persistence and resilience in the lead up to the testing period.

NAPLAN assessments are one way that we are able to monitor the progress of our school over time and help inform our strategic direction as we work towards continual school improvement. The results form part of a bigger picture of student achievement at Altona Green and will be used in conjunction with a number of other assessments and markers of progress.

Parent Information Sessions

Supporting Literacy at Home

This afternoon, Amy is hosting parent information sessions for our prep parents focusing on supporting children with early reading development. The sessions were well attended last year and provide a range of supportive strategies that parents can use with their child at home that complement what your child has been learning whilst at school. See below for further information about supportive strategies and how you can help your child with early reading development.

2024 Prep Information Night

We also have our 2024 prep information session coming up on the 29th of March. If you know anyone that has a child that will begin prep in 2024 please ask them to register their interest in attending here https://forms.gle/BZPeqKdF2RjCm1o79 or through our office. Details of the event can be found on our website or via our Facebook page.

We hope you all have a great fortnight and your footy teams get off to a great start (with the exception of the dogs - an honourable loss will be enough for you!).

Take care,

David & Cam