A Message from David & Cam

Farewell

Families

Along with the Grade 6 students graduating, there are a number of families that we will say goodbye to AGPS at the end of the year. We would like to thank all of the students and their families for being such wonderful members of our community and for all of their contributions over the years. 

We say thank you and goodbye to the following families:

• Ballingall, Bakari, Brinkworth, Bruce, Carter, Christensen, Erikson, Evans, Gibbons, Gjuraj, Harris, Hawthorne, Hemeda, Jones, Kalra, Kidd, McMahon, Moses, Osman, Pace, Phraphone, Quinsee, Sairat, Sim, Vuckovic, Thomson, Trpkovski, Zhao, Zoghaib

Thank you again for your contribution to our community and you will always be part of the Altona Green Family.

Staff

As we are a growing school and we have some staff going on leave, there are quite a few changes to our staff for 2026. Andrea and Gurpreet are both looking forward to welcoming the newest members to their families and will be on family leave for 2026 (Andrea is returning later in the year in a part-time capacity) and Carolyn has decided to take some leave and will also enjoy some well-deserved rest in 2026. 

We also sadly say goodbye to some staff at the end of this school year as they forge their paths away from Altona Green Primary. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following staff and acknowledge their wonderful contributions to the Altona Green community. 

Debbie McKenna 

It is with great appreciation that we announce the upcoming retirement of Debbie McKenna, who will finish her time at AGPS after taking leave in 2026. Debbie joined our school in its second year, back in 1991, and has been a cherished member of our community ever since. She is especially known for her exceptional work in the early years, where her warmth, care and dedication have supported generations of AGPS students as they began their learning journey.

In recent years, Debbie has continued to make a significant impact as our Art Teacher, inspiring creativity, confidence and joy in classrooms across the school. Her passion for the arts and her commitment to our students have left a lasting imprint on our school culture.

A formal celebration of Debbie’s retirement will take place at the conclusion of her leave in 2026. In the meantime, we invite all families to attend our final assembly to help us wish Debbie well and thank her for her remarkable contribution to AGPS.

Liam Glasgow-Jones 

Liam and his partner have made the difficult decision to pack up and head out to the outback to do a year of remote teaching. This is something that they have dreamed of doing for a long time and when the opportunity arose they couldn't resist. Whilst it has only been a short time, Liam has slotted beautifully into Altona Green and made many great connections with all the kids he taught in P.E. He will be missed and we wish him all the best with the exciting opportunity.

Welcome!

We are delighted to welcome a number of new staff to our school in 2026. With a few staff taking leave and our school growing, we are adding quite a number of staff to our list - the most we have had for a number of years!

We welcome:

• Gislaine Sirmovics (Prep Teacher)

• Katie Tarr (Year 1 Teacher)

• Genevieve Villaflor-Gozon(Year 2 Teacher)

• Alicia Scribberas (Year 2 Teacher)

• Jemma Riddoch (Year 3 Teacher)

• Matt Irons (Year 4/5 Teacher)

• Kate Kitanovski (Education Support)

• Kylie Hunter (Learning Specialist Mental Health & Wellbeing)

Some Changes for 2026:

• Learning Specialist Mental Health & Wellbeing - Supporting student wellbeing continues to be a growing priority for our school, and we were eager to expand our wellbeing team to strengthen the support we offer. We are very pleased to welcome Kylie Hunter as our new Learning Specialist in 2025. Kylie will work alongside Liz to provide additional expertise and extra layers of support for our students and families in all areas of mental health and wellbeing. More information about Kylie’s role will be shared early in the new year.

• Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden - As you will all know, Trish's retirement this year has left a hard-to-fill hole in our school and the SAKG program has been put on pause during the second half of the year. We are really excited to announce that this role is going to be shared next year by two very familiar faces - Vera Andreevski will be taking the role of kitchen specialist and Liam Moore will be our new garden specialist. Vera and Liam are thrilled to begin working in the kitchen and garden and we can't wait to get the program back up and running!

• Literacy Intervention - A real strength and success of our school over recent years has been the wonderful Treehouse program run by Loretta that provides additional literacy support to select students who require a little more than our typical everyday instruction. Next year we have added Aimee Seguna to the intervention team as an additional layer of support across our school. Aimee will run a similar program to Loretta with the aim of ensuring that no students get left behind.

2026 Class Details

Year 6 Graduation

We had a wonderful time celebrating our Year 6 students at our graduation ceremony last night. It was wonderful to hear the students share memories of their time at AGPS and to celebrate the achievements of this cohort of students. We were really pleased to be able to share this special event with so many families and other significant people in the students' lives. 

Our Year 6 award winners for 2025 are:

• Kitchen & Garden: Ivy Myers
• Italian: Matilda Phraphone
• Physical Education: Olivia Bombaci
• Arts: Aisha Hemeda
• STEM: Anka Zhao, Domenic McMahon
• Citizenship: Willow Evans, Lily Tyson, Ahana Kalra, Josslyn Jones
• Academic: Rosie Carter, Michael Brinkworth
• Tim Watts Award: Ned King

I would like to thank Sarah, Eugene, Vera and Sammy for their tremendous efforts in putting such a great event together. Cam and I, along with the students, parents and staff, are really appreciative of everything they have done to make this event and their final year at AGPS a special one. 

We are so proud of the wonderful young people our Year 6 students have become and wish them all the best in this next exciting phase of their lives!

End of Year Concert & Christmas Fun Day 

A reminder that next Tuesday we will be having our annual Christmas Fun Day during the day followed by the end of year concert in the evening. Both of these events are highlights for our kids and the wider community and we are very excited to have a day and night of celebrations after another wonderful year at AGPS.

Christmas Fun Day:

Free dress day - Christmas theme!

Students can bring along $1 coins for:

• Dunk the teacher!
• Xmas face painting
• Xmas temporary tattoos
• Guess the lollies competition
• Pin the nose on Rudolph
• Icy Poles
• Popcorn

Students go home at 3:15pm as per normal.

End of Year Concert:

• School opens again at 5pm. 5-6pm families are invited to attend for dinner. 
• Food options a sausage sizzle or you can bring your own picnic.
• The concert will begin at 6pm and conclude approximately 7:30pm.
• Could all Prep families arrive by 5.45pm in preparation for a 6pm start.
• Seating is limited so we encourage you to bring along a chair
• We are looking forward to a great day!

End of Year Assembly

At 12:30pm on Friday 19th, we will have our final assembly for the year. At this assembly we will announce the 2025 school captains, present student awards - including the final Golden KEFAR award of the year, announce this year's recipient of the Jo Tyers Community Award, farewell Debbie as well as saying goodbye  our Year 6 students with the traditional guard of honour.

A reminder that school finishes at 1:30pm on Friday 19th.

AGPS Drama Club Performance

Last Friday, our school was treated to a wonderful performance of The Wizard of Oz by the AGPS Drama Club, accompanied by songs from the AGPS Choir. This was such an impressive showcase of our students’ talent, confidence and teamwork, and it was clear how much effort and rehearsal had gone into bringing the production to life. The energy on stage and the enthusiasm from the audience made it a truly memorable event for our whole school community.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to Michelle Hoffman, who has led and supported the Drama Club throughout the entire year. Michelle’s dedication, creativity and commitment have provided our students with such rich opportunities to perform, grow and shine. We are incredibly grateful for the time, passion and care she brings to these programs, and for the joy they bring to our students.

Grade 6 Smoothie Project

The Grade 6 students have been working diligently researching, marketing and finally producing a range of delicious smoothies! We, along with the Grade 4/5 students, were invited to taste each of the smoothies and vote for the smoothie that we liked the best. There was a high degree of excitement as the Grade 6 students, working in small groups, tried to persuade us that their smoothie was the best! 

The quality of the marketing material, teamwork and the end product are a testament to the extremely hard work that our Grade 6 students have put into this authentic and engaging project. Congratulations to all of the Grade 6 students on a very successful project!

2026 Starting Dates & Pupil-Free Days

School Council have recently approved the following dates for 2026:

2026 Start Dates:

• Staff Begin 27th Jan (Tuesday)
• Students Begin 28th Jan (Wednesday)
• Preps Begin 2nd February (Monday)

Pupil-Free Days:

• 6th March (Friday) - Literacy
• 5th June (Friday) - Assessment and Reporting
• 27th July (Monday) - Wellbeing
• 2nd November (Monday) - Assessment and Reporting

Thank You!

I know we still have a week to go, and I’m hopeful I’ll see many of you in person before the end of the year. However, in case I don’t, I want to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful community for another fantastic year at AGPS.

We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished throughout 2025. Our continued focus on our key improvement strategies has paid off, with strong results across the whole school. After reviewing our student achievement data, we’re pleased to share that this year’s outcomes have continued with the positive growth of recent years. We are particularly encouraged by the improvement in our maths data, which has been the major focus of our school in our Annual Implementation Plan. Thank you to all staff for your dedication and the rich, varied and positive learning experiences you continue to provide for our students.

We are also extremely proud of our students. Their kindness, politeness, inclusivity and strong work ethic shine through every day, whether we’re greeting them in the morning, visiting classrooms, or walking through the schoolyard. It has been wonderful to hear about their many achievements, both academically and in their extra-curricular interests, and even more inspiring to hear about the hard work and determination behind each one.

We would also like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our Parents and Friends group. Once again, they have delivered an impressive schedule of events and activities that strengthen our community and help make AGPS the special place it is. From the weekly Friday treats to the major events held throughout the year, their contributions have been exceptional. A real highlight was, of course, the fete. I had the privilege of being part of the fete committee and seeing the incredible efforts behind the scenes, led by our amazing school council president, Victoria, was truly remarkable. We are incredibly fortunate to have so many dedicated and passionate volunteers who give their time for the benefit of our students and families. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered this year. Your support plays such an important role in our school’s success and is a mojor contributor to the great culture 

As we look ahead to 2026, we are excited to continue building on the strong foundation we have developed. Whilst there are some changes to staffing for next year, we are really optimistic and excited about our new members and also really excited to get working on our new strategic plan. Everything is in place for 2026 to be another productive, positive and successful year for our school.

Thank you once again for everything you have contributed to making 2025 such a success. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe, relaxing and well-deserved holiday break. We look forward to seeing you again as we begin an exciting 2026!

Take care,

David & Cam