Assistant Principal Update

Good afternoon, and welcome to week 6. Another amazing week at APS with several events keeping staff, students, and families busy as we head towards the end of the term.  The week kicked off with Year 3 students heading off on their camp to Phillip Island. Reports are the penguins were again a highlight. Next week Year 4 are heading off to Camp Jungai. Tomorrow, Megan and I are going to Ivanhoe Grammar for the Year 6 Round Robin Basketball tournament. While all students from Prep to 6 are busy preparing for our annual school concerts.  There are so many events coming up in the last month of this term that I recommend keeping a close eye on the school calendar and Compass.

Quantum 3D Print-a-Car Challenge

Last Thursday Brody attended the first heats of the 2025 Quantum 3D Print a Car challenge. The two school teams who progressed to the heats following months of working at school as part of the STEM club were visibly nervous as the first race start approached. 

Would the car work? Would it make it to the finish line? Would it be fast enough?

It didn’t take long for the nerves to subside and the worries to be allayed as both the APS cars worked, travelled at great speeds and even won races in some of their 3 trials. While the actual race time trial is an important aspect of the challenge. The next phase of judging involves reviewing the teams portfolios and checking the cars technical specifications and applying any deductions. Both teams scored extremely highly in both their portfolio and car design sections. We have yet to hear if either team will progress to the finals in November, but we are extremely proud of the students efforts. A big thank you to the families who transported students to the event and to Brody who has developed an awesome STEM club this year with fantastic results for all involved. 

Grandparents/Special Persons Day & Book Week Celebrations

We had an amazing day Last Wednesday with Grandparents Day and our Book Week celebrations. The day started with a whole school assembly in the gymnasium and the Book Character Dress Up Parade. It was by far the largest crowd we have ever had, with the audience 4-5 deep around the outside of the parade space. All the students, and staff, looked amazing in their different costumes. There was lots of celebration of literature throughout the day, including grandparents and families being invited into classrooms to join in with our literacy morning.  A big thank you to Lizzy for all of her efforts in ensuring it was again one of the highlights of the APS school calendar.

STOMP Dance - Senior Concert

Year 2-6 students are working on their concert dances on Monday and Tuesday with Kira from STOMP Dance. The effort, enthusiasm and engagement has been excellent, and all classes have gotten through the choreography for a whole dance. A spectacular effort. Students will spend the next four weeks completing their class dances, while the Year 6 students are working on the script development, acting, props and programs. There will be a whole school dress rehearsal on Monday 15 September at the Ivanhoe Girls Grammar Performing Arts Centre (PAC). There will be a Compass event to consent to this rehearsal. 

The performance will be also held at the PAC from 7:00pm on Monday 15 September. Tickets for the performance will go on sale through TryBooking this Friday 29 August, and will be on sale until Monday 8 September. Tickets will be $25 each for adults and $20 for concessions. There will be a 2 ticket per family limit to ensure all students are able to secure tickets for the 500-capacity venue. A second release for additional tickets of any unsold seats will go on sale on Tuesday 9 September.

Details about our Junior Concert can be found later in this newsletter. The Junior Concert for Preps and Year 1's will be on Wednesday, 10th September at 7pm at the Kew High School Theatre. Tickets will be $20 each for adults and $15 concession. There are no limits per family for the junior concert.

Class Splits

In previous newsletters I have discussed our process for splitting classes when we are unable to secure a Casual Relief Teacher (CRT) due to staff absence. In the past fortnight we have had several absences and there have been occasions when we were unable to get a CRT. This meant we did a class split.  I would like to acknowledge teachers who are flexible and adaptable to ensure that for those couple of classes who were split, we were able to do it across their year level and all students continued their curriculum program as planned. 

Term 3 is traditionally when we see an increase in staff absence due to the cooler months. Coupled with staff leave entitlements and the ongoing staffing challenges in education we envisage that we will need to split classes at times. 

While we avoid splitting Prep classes, with the smaller class sizes and the fact that they are now well and truly settled into school there has been the odd session they have been combined. We also endeavour not to split year levels where there are only two classes, but this is not always possible. Fortunately, all our classes are below the DET recommended class size of 26 students, so class sizes splits can be effectively managed, and students can continue their curriculum programs with minimal disruption.

Meerkat Performances

To celebrate Book Week we have again booked Meerkat Productions to provide our students with a dramatic representation of the book The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood, which has been nominated for an award as part of book week. The APS production will be performed on Fridy 29 August at 9:00am for students in Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4. 

The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood

From award-winning creator Freya Blackwood comes a beautifully tender story about curiosity and the joy of listening.

One day, curious Sadie follows a cat into the tangled vines behind the lonely house at Number 9, Ardent Street.  Deep in the undergrowth, past all the twisted, rusted things, Sadie finds the cat sitting on the lap of a woman, bent with time and weariness. Sadie has found the Garden of Broken Things.

Visitors to the School

Classrooms are teaching and learning spaces from 8:50am. Recently we have noted an increase in the number of parents and other adults in school buildings during teaching and learning time. To provide a safe and secure learning and teaching environment for students and staff the school has established processes to monitor and manage visitors to Alphington Primary School. 

All visitors to Alphington Primary School are required to report to the school office on arrival 

Visitors must:

 ∙ Record their name, signature, date and time of visit and purpose of visit in Compass Desk

 ∙ Provide proof of identification to office staff upon request

 ∙ Produce evidence of their valid Working with Children Clearance where required

 ∙ Wear a visitor’s lanyard/name tag at all times

 ∙ Follow instruction from school staff and abide by all relevant school policies relating to appropriate conduct on school grounds including Child Safety Code of Conduct, Statement of Values and School Philosophy as well as Department policies such as the Sexual Harassment Policy and Workplace Bullying Policy

 ∙ Return to the office upon departure, sign out and return visitor’s lanyard/name tag.

We understand that there may occasionally be a reason why a parent or carer may want to speak to or see their child at school, during school hours. If there is a particular pressing or unavoidable issue that cannot wait until the end of the school day, we ask that parents or carers call the school office to make the request to speak to or see their child during school hours. We also ask that parents avoid arranging to visit their children at school wherever possible, as this can cause inappropriate disruptions to the school day. 

All parents or carers who visit our school during school hours, other than for the purposes of school pick-ups and drop offs or for specific school events are required to sign in as a visitor at the school office.

We thank you for adhering to our school policies and procedures to ensure our staff and students can work in a safe environment.

Have a great week everyone

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal

Parent Opinion Survey - Reminder

The annual Parent Opinion Survey is open and available for a month. We ask one family member to complete the survey using the link below.    The data we gain from this survey helps to inform direction and focus for the following year. We offer the survey to 100% of families in the hope that we hear from as many families as possible. 

Survey link:   https://research.orima.com/parent

School Name: Alphington Primary School

Campus Name: Alphington Primary School

Your school’s generic PIN is:717815