Principal Update

Welcome back to Term 3. 

Always the busiest term; with numerous camps, our P-1 and 2-6 Concerts, Three-Way Conferences, Book Week and several incursions and excursions, all fitting around our teaching and learning programs. 

I trust families were able to get some time to refresh and re-energise ahead of what will be a jam-packed term.

School Vision, Rights, Values and Dispositions 

As we commence the second half of the year, I wanted to highlight some foundational statements that underpin our work as educators at APS.

Alphington Primary School is committed to providing a learning environment that will develop global citizens who are life-long learners. Our students' potential will be realised through the opportunities created in the safe and caring community where excellence and personal strengths are highly valued and respected. 

Rights: Everyone has the right to learn as much as possible.

                Everyone has the right to feel safe in all spaces.

Values: Kindness: demonstrating empathy and being inclusive; displaying gratitude 

                Respect: consideration for self, others and the world around us; being polite 

                and courteous.

                Resilience: being flexible and able to bounce back; being optimistic

                Curiosity: showing interest and wonder; making choices; a love of learning.

                Integrity: being honest and fair; having a sense of what’s right and living it.

Learner dispositions:  Reflection: setting goals, monitoring and seeking feedback

                                             Collaboration: learning and working together, valuing others’ ideas

                                             Determination: putting in effort and taking pride, being persistent

                                             Creativity: problem solving, trying different strategies, being curious

                                             Optimism: seeing the bright side, having a growth mindset, 

                                             being positive

Ski Camp

Next week, Jessie, Josh, Nat and I will be on ski camp with a group of 54 students and 14 parent volunteers from Year 5/6. 

Tomorrow we will have a pre-departure session with all students. While the conditions are not looking as good as previous years, there definitely is enough snow on the beginner slopes to ensure we are able to undertake our lessons and free ski opportunities. There is a possibility that we may even get some snow while we are up there next week, which is always a highlight for those students who are visiting the alpine region in winter for the first time.

Term 3 Industrial Action - 24 Hour Stop Work scheduled for Thursday 23 July

At this point an agreement between the state government and AEU members is not yet in place and the dispute remains unresolved. This means AEU members at Alphington Primary School will be stopping work for 24 hours on Thursday 23 July 2026.   

At this early stage, indications are that the school will only be able to offer supervision to a minimum number of students of critical services employees. 

Most APS staff have indicated they will be stopping work and so it is unlikely there will be any teaching staff onsite to supervise. This will have significant impacts on our ability to provide safe, duty of care supervision. If you are a critical services worker and are likely to require supervision, please contact the school at your earliest convenience.

The Year 5/6 Ski Camp will still proceed. 

Year 2-6 STOMP Dance Production – The Haunted House

Our 2026 Year 2-6 Concert will be held on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 September. Due to seating and capacity changes to the Ivanhoe Girls Performing Arts Centre, we have decided to hold the concert over two nights. We will perform over two nights at the Ivanhoe Girls Grammar Performing Arts Centre. Year 6 students will perform on both nights with Monday night being supported by Year 2 and Year 4 and Tuesday night supported by Year 3 and Year 5. 

It's October 31st, Halloween and a group of friends’ huddle, excited to see what treats they get tonight. At the friend's sleepover Hugo tells spooky stories, he couldn't even scare a fly if he tried! That night all the children go out to trick or treat. Hugo bumps into his big brother Sam and joins their group trick or treating, now there is a big group of friends all exploring together! They get given random treats and barely any chocolate. As they continue, the houses around the street become scarce...but one house at the end of the road is slightly different to all the others. Soon they will know why!

It’s that time of year again when we begin preparations for our 2026 APS Year 2 -6 Concert. This 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. Luke, Cathy, Megan and I held auditions on Wednesday 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 16 September at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar Performing Arts 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).

This term our team’s PLC focus will be in mathematics. Teams will identify a group of students who require additional review and revise strategies to consolidate their mathematical understanding. Using data from both semester one and early term 3 assessments, teams will identify both a mathematical strand and a group of students. For example, a group of 6 students who require consolidation in naming, ordering and using equivalent fractions in arrange of contexts. 

Each day as part of their mathematics Daily Reviews, students will review and revise content related to the identified mathematics strand. Over the course of 6-8 weeks students will consolidate and further develop their understanding of fractions. Teachers will then conduct a post test to check students understanding in the identified strand. 

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Principal