Assistant Principal Update

Welcome to week 2 of our third term of 2025.

What a very busy start to the term we have had. In the last 7 days students have been involved in sporting division finals, state cross country trials, round robin events, interschool sports, concert auditions, and I am writing this from Mount Buller at our annual APS Ski Trip with 55 Year 5/6 students. 

AFL 9’s Division Finals

It was a wet and windy day at Beverley Road Oval last Tuesday for the AFL 9’s Division Finals. 

Having gone through the interschool sport season in Term 2 undefeated, often winning comprehensively, it was great for the team to test themselves against some high-quality opposition. 

In out first game against Watsonia Heights we had plenty of possession and peppered the goals, kicking a couple of goals, but a lot more behinds in a first half of blustery conditions. In the second half, the team lowered their eyes and hit a few more targets in better scoring positions, ending in goals that extended our lead to 3 goals which we held onto during the final stages.

The conditions were even worse for our game against St Martin’s of Tour. The team started well kicking the first goal of the game. Some class centre clearance work by St Martins saw them pile on 5 quick goals leading into half time. The APS team were a bit rattled and there was every chance they could have dropped their heads. But to their credit they played as they have all season, as a team, with strong focus on supporting each other and never giving up. The team kept the scores equal through the second half, demonstrating why they were such a great group to be involved with. 

A big thank you to all the families who came along to support, provide lollies, oranges, towels and encouragement; and all in wet, windy and cold conditions. We are super proud of your efforts team.

NOTE: Finn was absent due to illness - an integral team member throughout the season.

3 Way Conferences

Teachers will invite parents and students to our 3 Way Conferences which will be held on Wednesday 13 August from 12:00-7:30pm. These conferences are an opportunity for students to share achievements in learning with parents. Students will be guided by teachers in class to select pieces of work which they are proud of to share with their families at the 3 Way Conferences. With support from teachers, students will also share learning goals they have identified as their next steps for learning.

The booking system will go live this afternoon. A reminder that all students do not attend school on this day, except for their conference time, including 3K students. On Wednesday 20 August 3K will attend school as usual and also have their conferences on this day into the evening. 

Ski Camp

This week, Jessie, Andrew, Nat and I are on ski camp with a group of 55 students and 14 parent volunteers from Year 5/6. 

We have had a nice variety with the weather; Tuesday was cool and overcast following a weekend of heavy snow which had opened much of the mountain.  Wednesday is sunny and clear with all students pushing themselves and making great progress as the lessons go on. 

The highlight so far has, as always, been watching the amazing improvements that the students have as they learn to ski. There were a significant number of first-time skiers so there are plenty of opportunities for adults to support and witness the excitement and joy as students developed their skills and start to take on more challenging runs. 

Year 2-6 STOMP Dance Production – From Page to Stage and Back Again! 

Paige loved reading so much that when it came time for APSl to put on their annual concert, the show director asked Paige if she could pick the book they based the concert on. Paige couldn’t believe her luck! She locked herself in the library all day trying to decide which book to pick. 

She stared at the brave, strong characters in all her favourite books, wishing they could just tell her which one to pick. She stared and stared for so long that Paige didn’t realise that the characters had begun to stare back at her. No, Paige was too lost in her thoughts to see the furry hand that reached out from the depths of the pages, and she didn’t even have time to scream before it pulled her into a land she could have never imagined!

It’s that time of year again when we begin preparations for our 2025 APS Year 2 -6 Concert. Last week Year 6 students were provided a copy of the audition script to read and prepare for auditions. As part of this process, all students completed a Google Form outlining their preferences for roles within the production. Melissa, Alan, Megan and I held auditions on Thursday and Friday for those students seeking to secure a speaking role in this year’s concert. 

Every Year 2-6 class will commence their STOMP Dance lessons from week 5 with full music and choreography provided. The 2025 concert will be held on Monday 15th Sept at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar Performing Ars Centre.

Professional Learning Community (PLC)

At APS our year level teams work using the Professional Learning Community structure. At the centre of this structure is the relentless focus on student growth using the inquiry cycle.

PLCs provide a system for teacher collaboration, providing opportunities for teachers and relevant staff within a school to work together in small teams. Teams work together to:

• focus on cohorts of students and their learning in subject domains
• identify a problem of practice
• investigate ways to improve student outcomes.

At APS all our teaching teams are consider as a PLC, as this enables them to discuss strategies and techniques, and provide peer support.

PLCs play an important role in implementing the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM) 2.0. PLCs provide the structure which supports teachers to evaluate and monitor the impact of their teaching.

The focus of the PLC reflects the priorities outlined in our School’s Strategic Plan (SSP) and Annual Implementation Plan (AIP).

Last week as a staff we reviewed our long term 4-year targets for literacy and numeracy, identifying our successes so far, celebrating those and exploring where our focus for the next inquiry cycle will be. Each team used the targets to prioritise the subject domain they would focus upon and the group of students to target. The next steps of the cycle will be to research evidence based practice, and set goals and targets for students achievement.

Illness

We have had a number of children present at the sick bay with illness this term. All classes are experiencing student absences due to illness.

Please be mindful of sending children to school if they are unwell. We are trying to keep our teachers and students as healthy as possible. 

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal