School Council

As recently posted via Compass, the votes of the ballot have been counted and I can now declare the following people as the 2024 school council:

Parent Category

Greg Abson
Ben O'Brien
Fiona Holmesby
Kevin Miller

School Employee

Ainsley Gravett
Zach Mullenger
Amy McFarlane

They will join the existing members:

Haley Ballingall (parent)
Tom Brockbank (parent)
Melissa McVay (parent)
Victoria Reynolds (parent)
Cameron Andrews (school employee)
David King (school employee)

Thank you to everyone who nominated to be a school councillor and to those that voted in the ballot. I would also like to thank the outgoing members, Matt Stewart, Trevor Berens, Jess Holliday, Nancy Di Tello, Eugene Korbut and Jemma Robson for their years of service on school council. They have all contributed significantly in various ways during their years on council and we are so grateful for all they have done for the AGPS community.

The AGM and first school council meeting will be held on Thursday 21st March at 6:00pm at the school.

Curriculum Day - Teaching & Learning Maths

This year, we are continuing with our focus on delivering high quality Mathematics instruction to ensure all students at AGPS experience growth in their learning.

Next week, we are very excited to be hosting the team from Shaping Minds, who will be demonstrating high-impact Maths lessons in classrooms and running a professional learning workshop with staff on Curriculum Day (Friday 8th March).

The Curriculum Day will be focused on lesson design, how to explicitly teach skills so that students become proficient in Mathematics, and tailoring instruction to be responsive to students’ needs.

Elephant Ed - Grade 6, Puberty & Embracing Change

On Monday Elephant Ed hosted a Parent Information webinar about the upcoming lessons. Thank you to those parents that attended the webinar. As I mentioned in my introduction, I would encourage our parents / carers to discuss the contents of the lesson with their child and open the lines of communication on these very relevant and important concepts for your child. The Elephant Ed session dates are as follows:

Session	Date
Session 1 - Puberty	Friday 1st March
Session 2 - Embracing Change	Wednesday 6th March
Session 3 - Body Safety	Friday 15th March
Session 4 - Identity	Wednesday 20th March

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program - Literacy & Numeracy (NAPLAN) is approaching. These are online assessments that our Grade 3 & Grade 5 students will sit. The teachers will discuss the tests with the students to ensure that they are familiar with the types of questions that they will be asked. The testing schedule is as follows:

Test	Date
Writing	Wednesday 13th March
Reading	Thursday 14th March
Language Conventions	Friday 15th March
Numeracy	Monday 18th March

Further information 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!

Family Picnic & Scavenger Hunt

We are really looking forward to our Family Picnic & Scavenger Hunt tomorrow evening. This event is a great way to get our community together and welcome all of our new families. We have a great scavenger hunt planned with many different puzzles, games and activities for the whole family to enjoy. Here is a reminder of the details:

This Friday (1st March) - 4:30pm - 6:30pm
Bring your picnic blankets and a picnic or buy some food at the pizza food truck. An ice cream van and TeamKids coffee cart will also be on-site
Grab a game map from under Gumbuya to begin the scavenger hunt
You will need your phone to read QR codes to complete the game

Meet and Greet

We would like to thank the teachers, parents and carers who attended our Meet and Greet session last week. This event is important in helping to build the home-school partnership and ensuring we are set up for success in 2024. The feedback I have received has been very positive and we had a high percentage of families attend which is great to see. If you were unable to meet with your child's teacher, I encourage you to contact them to arrange a time to discuss your child's needs.

Parent Payment Contributions

Thank you to our parents who have already paid the voluntary parent payment contributions for 2024. Your ongoing support ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for all our students.

Information about voluntary parent payment contributions can be found below and via the top of your news feed on the Compass app under 'Course Confirmations'.

Our preferred payment option is via Compass or payment can also be made using BPay, Centrepay or EFTPOS. In addition, parents are able to discuss alternative payment arrangements with Tracy Henderson 03 93600777 Tracy.Henderson2@education.vic.gov.au

Parent Information Sessions

Supporting Literacy at Home

On Wednesday 20th March, Amy is hosting parent information sessions for our prep parents focusing on supporting children with early reading development. The sessions are always well attended and provide a range of supportive strategies that parents can use with their child at home that complement what your child has been learning whilst at school. See below for further information about supportive strategies and how you can help your child with early reading development.

2025 Prep Information Night

We also have our 2025 prep information session coming up on the 26th of March. If you know anyone that has a child that will begin prep in 2025 please ask them to register their interest in attending through our office. Details of the event can be found on our website or via our Facebook page.

Year 5/6 Lifesaving

Our 5/6 students were lucky enough to spend one of our recent hot days at Altona Beach as part of the open water safety excursion hosted by the Altona Life Saving Club. The focus of the day was to develop skills and knowledge to be able to enjoy open water safely. They learnt introductory first aid, survival and rescue strategies and put these to the test through a range of different scenarios. Thanks to Nancy and Altona Life Saving Club for organising and running this very important event for our students.

Thanks to Nancy for organising all of the sporting events for our students to participate in. There is a lot of effort behind the scenes to get these experiences up and running for our students and I know our students, staff and parents are really grateful for the work that you do. Make sure you check out the 'P.E. News' page in this newsletter to see all the great things that have been happening in P.E. this term.

Thanks for a great fortnight, everyone.

Take care,

David & Cam

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