A Message from David & Cam

Strategic Plan Headline Statements

In our last newsletter, we introduced our ‘Headline Statements’ that underpin our strategic plan. These statements are designed to capture the core beliefs and priorities that guide our work as a school. They help keep us focused on what matters most in supporting student learning, wellbeing and strong relationships. Just as importantly, they remind us that the success of our school is built on a shared commitment across staff, students and families to live out these values in our daily work together.

Our 5 Headline Statements are:

• Unconditional positive regard

• How well we teach = how well they learn

• High expectations

• Together we are better

• Every minute counts

In each newsletter we will focus on one of these statements and how we, as a whole community of staff, students, and families, bring it to life each day. 

Our first Headline Statement is Unconditional Positive Regard.

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 new furniture and resources to modernise and improve our classrooms. 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: 

Curriculum Day - DIBELS Training

Last Friday’s Curriculum Day provided our teaching staff with valuable professional learning focused on strengthening how we assess and support students’ literacy development. Teachers participated in training led by Amy in DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), a set of evidence-based assessments designed to help teachers monitor the development of key early reading skills.

DIBELS allows teachers to quickly and accurately measure important foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, decoding and reading fluency. By using these tools consistently across the school, teachers can better identify students who may need additional support, track progress over time and ensure that instruction is targeted to meet students’ needs.

This training is part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring that how well we teach leads to how well our students learn. By building staff expertise in high-quality assessment and instruction, we can respond earlier, teach more precisely and support every student to become a confident and capable reader.

Stop-Work 24th March

Families may be aware that staff in Victorian government schools who are members of the Australian Education Union (AEU) are currently in negotiations with the Government of Victoria and the Victorian Department of Education about pay and working conditions.

These discussions have been taking place for around seven months and, at this stage, the government has not yet made a formal offer.

The AEU is seeking pay increases and measures to reduce workload pressures. The union has also raised broader issues facing public education in Victoria, including school funding and staffing shortages. Their aim is to help retain experienced staff and attract new people to the profession so schools can continue to provide high-quality education for students.

Because negotiations have not yet progressed to an offer, AEU members have voted in favour of endorsing industrial action. This means a statewide 24-hour stop-work will go ahead on Tuesday 24 March. Please note that industrial action is not something staff consider lightly and we recognise the impact it will have on students and families.

As the confirmation of the stop-work has just been announced, we are unable to provide further details regarding how this will impact our school at this time. We will communicate with families as soon as possible and provide clear information about what the stop-work means for our school.

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 is a wonderful mix of cultures from across the globe -  we have many students who were born in many different parts of the world (see the below map to see how diverse we are!) and 32% 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 during the week, and we will celebrate our cultural diversity with a dress up day on Friday 20th 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. 

NAPLAN

This week is the beginning of The National Assessment Program  - Literacy & Numeracy (NAPLAN). These are online assessments that our Grade 3 & Grade 5 students sit. The teachers have supported the students to feel comfortable with the testing format and ensure that they are familiar with the types of questions that they will be asked.  The testing schedule is as follows:

Despite the technical issues that impacted our Year 5 Writing assessment, the students have adapted well and everything else has gone smoothly so far.  It is great to see them give everything a go and put in their best efforts.

Further information about NAPLAN can be found on the official NAPLAN website: https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan

Where is the Green Sheep?!

One of our favourite annual traditions is when the preps and their Year 6 buddies get together and hunt for the green sheep all across our school. It is great to see the buddies both young and old working together to decipher clues that lead them all over our school grounds. It is not only a great activity to help the buddies build their relationships but also a great way for the preps to become more familiar with all of the key areas of our school. I hope they all found the elusive green sheep!

The buddy program is such an important part of building school connections and helping our newest community members to feel happy and safe at school. The buddies will meet many times throughout the year and build a special relationship that can last years. We look forward to seeing all the great things they will get up to!

2027 Prep Information Night

We have our 2027 prep information session coming up on the 31st of March. If you know anyone who has a child who will begin prep in 2027 please ask them to register their interest in attending by contacting our office via phone (03 9360 0777) or email (altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au). 

Details of the event can be found on our website or via our Facebook page

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Take care,

David & Cam