It has been another very busy fortnight at AGPS as we move closer and closer towards the end of the year. Planning and preparation for all things 2025 is in full swing as well as preparing for many fun activities for our students, staff and families as we look to celebrate what has been a very positive year for our school. A reminder to keep up to date with all upcoming events as the diaries are getting fuller and fuller!

2025 Class Structures

As per previous years, we have spent considerable time discussing and analysing possible organisational structures for the upcoming year to maximise the learning opportunities for all of our students. We consider the needs of all of our individuals, both academic and social/emotional, and strategise over possible combinations and structures that will set all students up for success in 2025.

The class structures for 2025 are:

3x Prep Classes
3x Year 1 Classes
6x Years 2/3 Classes
4x Years 4/5 Classes
2x Year 6 Classes

This structure also enables us to have very small class sizes across the majority of the school which is beneficial for the academic and social/emotional growth of all our students.

As always we would like to ensure all parents and carers that we have a focus on growth for all students at Altona Green and our teachers work hard in their teaching teams to ensure that their teaching and learning programs are carefully designed and implemented and each student's progress is carefully monitored.

2025 Specialist Subjects

Our current specialist classes for P-6 will continue in 2025:

the Arts (including Visual Arts and Performing Arts)
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
Physical Education
Languages (Italian)

We will also be continuing with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program as well as the Treehouse intervention program for early literacy support.

2/3 ScienceWorks Excursion

Our 2/3 students had a great time at Scienceworks recently to support their Term 4 Inquiry topic 'Night & Day'. The students enjoyed exploring the museum as well as participating in special education sessions aimed at developing their knowledge about the solar system. The presenters were so impressed with our students' knowledge as well as the thoughtful and interesting questions that they posed!

Transitions

2025 Prep

It has been a couple of exciting weeks where we have welcomed our newest members of the AGPS community to our school. Our 2025 preps have had the first two of their five transition sessions and got a small taste of school life. This process is such an important step to ensuring the students have the best possible beginning to their schooling journey. The students are able to become familiar with the people, classrooms and playgrounds as well as get to know the other students that will potentially be their classmates next year.

All the students, no matter if they bounded into the classroom or needed a little extra TLC at the beginning, left at the end of their sessions with huge smiles and confident walks as they ran to their parents to share their stories.

2025 Step-up Days

Today we held our first step-up day for the students in Years 1-5. Like the prep transitions, these sessions aim to support our students in making the transition to the next year a smooth and positive one. This time of year can be an anxious one for many of our students and these experiences help to alleviate some of the worries by providing the students with information about the classes and the experiences for them to look forward to next year. I also encourage you to talk to your child about the opportunities that the next year can bring.

AGPS Drama Club Performance

The AGPS Drama Club, led by Michelle, are a group of dedicated performers who have been meeting in their playtime throughout the year. They are very excited to perform for the whole school community tomorrow with their performance of Alice in Wonderland.

Performance Details:

📅 Date: Friday, November 22nd

🕝 Time: 2:30 PM

📍 Location: Under Gumbuya

I know all the students and staff are excited to see the performance and we would love to see as many parents and carers join us. Please feel free to come along - all are welcome!

Lunchtime Clubs

Our lunchtime clubs have become a well-established and attended part of daily life at Altona Green. Most clubs are student designed and led and are a way of providing a structured and supportive activity during a time of the day when many students are faced with challenges or feel overwhelmed. We have introduced more quiet, inside play based clubs during the week and it has been great to see many students taking this opportunity to meet new friends and draw or play games together.

Thank you to all the students for creating and running these clubs. You help to make school even more fun for so many other students!

The Resilience Project (TRP)

AGPS has enjoyed our second year working with The Resilience Project (TRP) to further enhance our students' wellbeing. TRP encourages the use of GEM Chats (GEM referring to Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness) to further embed student's understanding of these key concepts. Examples of 'chats' that can be had at home include:

Think about someone special in your life, why are they special?
Discuss a kind or helpful act that you could do for someone tomorrow?
Remember someone who has done something kind for you recently. What did they do for you? How did it feel?
Try and be kind to yourself today. Do something you love. It might be exercise, reading, bath, movie, etc. What will you do? Write it down so you remember to stick to it

GEM chats are a common feature within our school and we encourage you to continue these conversations at home.

Late Arrivals/Early Departures

A reminder of the importance of students attending school and being present and ready to learn by 9:00am every day. Our classes begin right on 9:00am (music plays at 8:50am to give students time to get ready) so we can maximise the learning time the students have at school.

When students arrive late, they miss the important whole class instruction period and are therefore missing key concepts, modelling and information that is vital to their learning. Please note that if your child/ren is late, they must collect a late pass from Jen at the office and parents are not to accompany them to their classroom.

I also understand that there are times when early departures cannot be avoided. In these cases, I would appreciate it if you could pick your child/ren up at either 11:00am; 11:30am; 1:30pm or 2:30pm as picking up during instruction times disrupts the whole class/school.

If your child is going to be late or leave early, please do not put this on Compass - Jen will do it when they arrive or leave. Please only put all day absences on Compass.

Thank you for your support

Fete Sponsorship

The AGPS Fete planning is in full swing and it is shaping up to be a wonderful event for our school and the wider community. This is a major fundraiser for our school and we are hoping to raise as much money as possible to improve our literacy and learning resources, ranging from books in our classrooms, to the learning environment and resources.

We have some great sponsorship packages on offer and would love your support to share this around to anyone who may be interested in becoming a sponsor of this event. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, or know someone who is, please get in touch with me via the office of email david.king@education.vic.gov.au

We hope you all have a great weekend.

Take care,

Dave & Cam

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