Assistant Principal Update

As we come to the end of term two next week, it is great to reflect on another wonderful term of school achievements at APS. The STEM Expo was a particular highlight, with great community attendance again. The growth and maturity of our Prep students this term has been phenomenal as they really engage in school life. The success at the various levels of cross country was outstanding, with APS taking second and third in the boys and girls district event. While several students were selected to attend Division, the Regional and we have 6 students heading off to State trials today.

Offsite Evacuation Drill

We managed to hold our offsite emergency evacuation drill last Thursday in what ended being a sunshine filled day. Utilising the updated school exits we evacuated the school, arriving at Alphington Park in under 7 minutes after the alarm was sounded. All staff and students were accounted for, and the drill finalised in under 10 minutes. A fantastic effort. We will maintain the same processes and protocols for the offsite again in semester 2. In Term 3 we will hold a lockdown drill as we have number of updates from the previous review to be implemented. 

Term 3 Planning

Our staff meetings and team planning time for week 9 is dedicated to the planning and preparation of Term 3. During this time teams are meeting to develop their term unit planners for English, Mathematics, Integrated Inquiry and Wellbeing. Today teams will meet to plan their Inquiry Units. In Term 3 our school wide focus is ‘Historical Inquiry’. Students will learn about a period from our past and investigate the impacts events from these times had upon the people, culture and wider society. From this, students will develop a range of skills to compare, contrast, evaluate, and analyse how learning about history can be applied to our lives today.

Wellbeing @ APS - Body Bright:  

Yesterday as part of our staff professional learning program, we had an introductory session on the Butterfly Body Bright Program. Sara Campion, APS parent and local GP, who has worked with young people who have had eating disorders presented an engaging but also challenging introduction as to the pervasive nature of attitudes to food, exercise, and mental wellbeing. And the importance of prevention and positive language around food, exercise and health.

Butterfly Body Bright is a strength-based, evidence-informed body image program developed by Butterfly Foundation. The program aims to promote healthy attitudes and behaviours towards the body, eating and physical activity in children, so they can thrive at school and in life.

In Term 3 we will launch the program across the school at assembly and classes will start implementing lessons as part of the wellbeing program and lessons. I will continue to provide information around the Body Bright themes over the coming weeks.

Lost Property!!

As always at this time of the year we have a significant amount of lost property overflowing from the ‘chest’ of items in the quadrangle. This week the Year 6 students will begin sorting through the items and distributing those items that are named and can be identified. Remaining unnamed items will be laid out in the quadrangle and teachers have been requested to organise a 5-minute excursion to the quadrangle in search of long-lost items. Any items remaining at the end of term will be donated to charity. Please feel free to come and look when items are laid out in the quadrangle.

Report Cards

Semester One Reports will be published via Compass on Friday 21 June. An electronic copy of your child’s report will be available for you to view online and download as required from Compass. If you wish to receive a hard copy of the report, please contact your child’s class teacher. The reporting on students’ achievements for the semester is an important part of the assessment process and each child’s individual journey. We recommend families sharing the report with their child, celebrating their achievements, and positively discussing the next learning steps.  If you have any questions regarding your child’s report, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Assistant Principal