Assistant Principal Update

Hi all and welcome to the final week of the term. It has been an extremely busy yet wonderful first term. A few highlights from the start of 2024:

• Success at all levels of swimming, including a silver medal in the 11-year-old relay at Regional Trials
• The Year 6 Camp at Marysville – all the feedback has been positive moving it to start the year as a leadership style camp.
• The numerous incursions and excursions across all year levels that have engaged students in activities to support their learning in interesting and innovative ways. 

I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to celebrate the Easter holiday period with family and friends, safe and healthy. See you in Term 2

Mathematics @ APS

Alphington Primary School is committed to developing a community of curious and skilled mathematicians. Our aim is to provide a rich, challenging and differentiated teaching and learning program that facilitates strong mathematical content knowledge across the Victorian Curriculum strands; Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability, and develops the four Mathematics capabilities; understanding, fluency, reasoning, and problem-solving. 

In 2024 Alphington Primary School is beginning the transition to the Victorian Mathematics Curriculum Version 2.0. The new curriculum reimages the current curriculum with changes to the strands of mathematics, expansion of the elaborations provided in the curriculum, as well as changes to the scope and sequence of several mathematical skills. 

As we continue our familiarisation of the new curriculum version I will share further information through our newsletter items.

The mathematics curriculum aims to ensure that students:

• develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as active and critical citizens in a technological world,
• see connections and apply mathematical concepts, skills and processes to pose and solve problems in mathematics and in other disciplines and contexts,
• acquire specialist knowledge and skills in mathematics that provide for further study in the discipline,
• appreciate mathematics as a discipline – its history, ideas, problems and applications, aesthetics and philosophy.

Each Maths lesson provides the opportunity for students to learn, develop and enhance mathematical knowledge and capabilities through practice, explicit teaching, exploration and analysis. Each stage is integral in the facilitation of an effective and engaging lesson.

The Maths Lesson Sequence  

1. Number Fluency – an opportunity for students to become proficient in knowledge and understanding. This could be a game to build timetables, a number talk to explore place value, or rapid recall of facts.
2. Launch – teachers introduce and model new mathematical learning. This may include shared learning experiences, such as solving a problem or working through a sequence of steps to identify patterns and generalisations.
3. Explore – students working independently, cooperatively or collaboratively to apply their new learning in a range of situations. During this phase teachers will differentiate the learning tasks with enablers and extenders to support each individual learners’ needs.
4. Summarise (Plenary) – Students and the teacher come together to synthesise the learning from the lesson and pose new questions or problems.

Term 2 Curriculum Planning

This week year level teaching teams have been released during staff meetings and their weekly planning time to prepare their Term 2 curriculum unit overviews. This process involves reviewing the whole school curriculum plan for each of the curriculum subjects of English, Mathematics, Wellbeing, and Integrated, referencing the Victorian Curriculum for the relevant year level, as well as looking at the curriculum content descriptions and elaborations for the year towards and beyond.

Teachers then design the lesson sequence, including the learning intentions, success criteria, key questions, assessment tasks and areas for differentiation. 

Over the past three years we have continued to refine our planning documentation, ensuring we are articulating the Victorian Curriculum and aligning our pedagogy to our vision for teaching and learning at APS. We have had a strong focus on creating rich and authentic learning experiences that are engaging for students and develop student voice and agency.

Today I was invited to attend the Year 4 Shark Tank presentations. Students worked in small groups to create a fidget toy that could be used to support student health and wellbeing. This unit was highly engaging for students and reflected our curriculum teaching and learning vision. Many of the students designed their fidget toy using 3D printing software and printed the toy using the school’s 3D printer.  Students worked collaboratively on a real-life project that integrated several curriculum learning areas. The speaking and presentation skills demonstrated by students was exceptional for Year 4 students. 

STEM Club Excursion

What an amazing day we had at the 2024 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix on Friday. We set off nice and early, arriving at Albert Park just after gates opening and in time for the Formula 3 practice session. The look on many of the students faces and the scrambling for ear plugs as the cars made their way around the track was one of the lifetime firsts (the F3 cars are louder than the F1 cars due to their engine types).

After finding a spot to enjoy the cars on track for the remainder of the practice session we headed over to the main stage to watch the McLaren Driver’s Interview. 

We caught up with Brody while watching Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris on stage.

We then headed over to the back of the circuit, and the family "Pit Stop” area to get a spot for the Formula 2 and Formula 1 practice sessions. We also got on the big screen and the TV coverage, with the commentators describing students as the future of the sport! 

So this image could be quite remarkable when our STEM club are future designers, engineers or drivers in F1.  Students also spent some time enjoying the activities on offer on this side of the circuit.

The day went by very quickly and before we knew if we were heading back to the tram for the journey home.  A big acknowledgement to Brody for organising, Leigh for coming along and a massive congratulations to the students who were fantastic. 

NAPLAN Online

We have successfully completed our 2024 NAPLAN assessment period. A big congratulations to all students and teachers for ensuring the week of assessments ran smoothly with only the necessary disruptions to the normal timetable. Results for the assessments will become available some time in Term 2. It is a bit of a process in receiving results, with high level school data provided prior to individual reports being sent to the school and distributed to families.

Harmony Day

Last Friday we recognised Harmony Day to celebrate the diversity of our school. Students took part in a range of activities focusing on inclusivity and ensure a sense of connectedness and belonging. It was an extremely busy day with Ride 2 School Day and the F1 excursion but students embraced the busyness and got involved, with lots of orange on display around the school.

2024 Ski Camp

The 2024 APS Ski Camp will run from Tuesday 23 until Friday 26 July at Mount Buller Ski Resort. There are limited places available for students on this camp. If oversubscribed, priority will be allocated on 1) seniority and 2) opportunity and will utilise a ballot system for selection.

Students in Years 5 & 6 will be provided with a hard copy of the Expression Of Interest (EOI) form at school on Thursday 18 April. These will need to be returned to the school office by Friday 3 May at 9.00am.

The information evening will be on Thursday 18 April from 6:30-7:30pm via WebEx. This is week 1 of term 2. 

https://eduvic.webex.com/meet/wilkie.shane.s

It is strongly recommended that all interested families attend this session. 

Please note that the dates for the 2024 Somers Camp coincide with the Ski Camp dates. 

Students interested in attending both camps will need to make a final decision prior to the allocation of places of their preference. 

Have a great week and enjoy the Easter break!

Shane Wilkie - Assistant Principal