Principal's Report
By Judith Drew
Principal Report
Pupil Free Day
We hope that students and families enjoyed the extra-long weekend due to the Labour Day Public Holiday and our Pupil Free day. On Tuesday, ARPS staff were participating in a review of our Whole School Curriculum, including integrated learning, Science and specialist programs. Teaching staff also delved into recent student assessments (Numeracy) reviewing individual and cohort data and our Whole School Assessment Schedule. Teaching staff also were provided with further information about Disability Inclusion Profile training as well as considering reporting options for 2025.
When considering option for reporting to parents, staff were eager to find out more from parents/carers about responses to our 2024 Parent opinion survey, particularly this statement, which had only 58% positive responses:
Our teaching staff are eager to provide information to parents regularly about student progress. During our curriculum day, we questioned whether parents/carers needed different options (that is, are current parent/ teacher meetings, mid and end of year reporting, daily chats with teachers etc not what parents/carers are after?), or whether it is the frequency of reporting (should there be something available to parents/carers showing student progress more often?) or if there was an issue with the portal for communication of student progress (just over 50% of parents/carers accessed Semester 1 and 2 reports when they were made available on Compass last year) that may need reviewing to allow parents/carers preferred option to increase positive responses to this survey statement.
As 2025 is a whole school review year for ARPS, we will be asking for feedback on questions such as these over coming weeks. Your input is invaluable if we are to increase the positive outcomes for home/school communications at ARPS.
Planning Week
In the week beginning Monday 24th March, staff will be working together throughout the week to plan and organise teaching and learning activities for Term 2. While the teachers are planning the students will be supervised by the specialist staff and will participate in a variety of specialist sessions. The normal curriculum for this week will not be affected. However, regular timetabled specialist sessions may be impacted.
Student Voice Team and Peer Mediator Badge Presentation
Next Friday 21st March, we will be presenting our Student Voice Team and Peer Mediator members with their leadership badges. Assembly will be commencing promptly at 2:45pm. We are very proud of the extra efforts these students have undertaken already to prepare for these important roles.
School Council Annual Reporting Meeting
On Wednesday 26th March at 6.30pm Albany Rise Primary School Council will be presenting the 2024 Annual Report to the community discussing Student Achievement, Student Engagement and Student Wellbeing. During the meeting, we will welcome newly elected, re-elected and continuing members to the School Council.
All Office Bearing positions will be spilled and nominations invited for office bearing positions for the new committee. You are all welcome to attend the Annual Report and also sit in on the School Council meeting as a visitor. Please be advised that this report will also be made available on the school website and will be accessible at a later date on the VRQA State register.
Our School Councillor for 2025 are:
Parent Members
Chris O’Shea
Andrew Muller
Jade Horua
Paul Scolaro
Naveet Legha
Aleisha Kinross
Amanda Lewis
(1 parent position yet to fill- Casual 1 year vacancy open)
Staff Members
Judith Drew
Michael Mottershead
Collette Wilkinson
Narelle Seremetis
Upcoming Sub-committee Dates: (parents/carers, current and new School Council members welcomed- please confirm attendance via the office/ email)
Finance Tuesday 18th March @ 5pm
Education Tuesday 18th March @ 3.45pm
Facilities Thursday 20th March @ 5pm
Marketing Wednesday 26th March @ 5.30pm
Parent Association Thursday 20th March @ 2pm
All meetings are held onsite at school.
Multicultural Harmony Day – Friday 21st March
Each year in March, Harmony Week brings together people of all ages, cultural backgrounds and experiences to celebrate our diverse multicultural communities. This year, Harmony Week will run from Monday 17 March to Sunday 23 March. The theme, ‘Everyone belongs’, encourages inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. As always, we will mark the week through our Multicultural Harmony Day celebrations, which we will celebrate on Friday 21st March with a cultural dress day and whole activities. There is a wonderful whole school incursion planned on the day- information and permission to attend can be accessed on Compass parent portal.
REPEAT REMINDER: NAPLAN commenced Wednesday 12th March – Year 3 & 5
Our 2025 NAPLAN assessments for students in Year 3 and 5 commenced this week. For students who may be absent on the day of the assessment, we are arranging ‘catch up’ tests during the testing period, so students should be able to take part in all assessments, despite short term absences or illness.
This is the schedule for NAPLAN at ARPS.
Wednesday | 12th March | Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN – Writing. |
Thursday | 13th March | Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN – Reading. |
Friday | 14th March | Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN –Conventions of Language |
Monday | 17th March | Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN – Numeracy |
Tuesday- Friday | 18th -21st March | Year 3 and 5 Catch Up assessments |
Parents or Carers who would like more information about NAPLAN can follow this link:
Friday, 28th March - Colour Explosion
All Welcome!
4pm-6pm - BBQ afterwards
This is a Parent Association Fundraiser.
Fundraising for our Colour Explosion School Fun Run is entirely online. Follow the instructions in your child’s sponsorship booklet to create a cybersafe, online profile page at https://myprofilepage.com.au/. At the end of our fundraiser students can order up to a total of 5 prizes based on their donations received. They can even mix and match!
SAVE THE DATE!
EASTER RAFFLE: Donation Please!
This year our Easter raffle will be drawn at our last assembly on Friday 4th April. We are asking for your help by donating items for the prizes. eg chocolate eggs, Easter toys or anything else that relates to Easter. Donations being dropped at the office will need to be received by 2nd April please.
Raffle Tickets will be available via Compass soon.
Staffing News
As noted in a recent Dojo post, after more than 25 years at Albany Rise Primary School, our beloved Office Manager, Janine Wilson will be taking extended leave commencing from Term 2, 2025. Janine will be taking time to enjoy her role as a grandparent for the remainder of this year and into early next year. Janine may enjoy her time away so much, that we are not sure if she will be back at all in 2026.
I encourage staff to take some time to drop in to the office over the remaining weeks during Term 1, to wish Janine all the best on her adventures beyond ARPS. Janine will be reducing her hours from 3rd March, attending on Tuesday mornings and all day Thursday, until the end of Term 1.
Janine’s last day at ARPS for the foreseeable future will be Thursday 3rd April, 2025.
During Janine’s absence, Collette Wilkinson will be undertaking the role of Acting Office Manager. Collette has already had extensive experience in the office administration role and is available in the Office every day for the remainder of the year, along with Lyndelle Everitt, our Business Manager. Please feel free to make contact with any of our administration team as needed throughout the year. They are eager to help all our families!
Finally, a special thankyou to Mr Michael Mottershead and all of the staff team for taking on a range of additional tasks during my recent leave (last week).
Judy Drew
Principal
