A Message from David & Cam
Term 4 has started well and it will be the end of the year before we know it. As usual, Term 4 is exceptionally busy with a number of key organisational tasks that go into setting up for 2026 to ensure it is another successful year. There are also many events and activities across all year levels to support our students' academic and social/emotional development (please check out the Curriculum Newsletters later in this newsletter) and to celebrate the year.
Please also read the 'Important Term 4 events' section of this newsletter and add all the important dates to your calendars. We hope to see as many of you as possible at all the upcoming events.
Important Term 4 Events
Term 4 is an extremely busy term with a number of key events taking place that celebrate the year and also events that are critical to the successful running of the 2025 school year.
Transition - We will welcome our 2026 preppies to our school in November to begin our transition program. We will also have a series of step-up days where current students are given the opportunity to get a taste of what the next year may bring. We always offer a really robust transition program that supports all of our students to feel comfortable and confident for the next stage of their education.
Statewide Step-Up Day - On Tuesday 9th December all students will meet their 2026 classroom teacher in their 2026 classroom. It is a very exciting morning and is the culmination of a significant amount of work to ensure that the 2026 classes are set up for success! Our current Grade 6 students who are attending a Government school in 2027 will attend that school on this day as well.
Graduation - The Year 6 students have started planning and preparing for their special night on the Thursday 11th December. This is always a wonderful, memory-making event as we remember and celebrate the students' time here at Altona Green.
Adventure Park - Our traditional Grade 6 celebration day at Adventure Park is booked for Wednesday 17th December and is a fun-filled way for the Grade 6 students to celebrate the end of their time with us.
Grandparents & Special Person's Day - We look forward to welcoming all the grandparents and other special people to our school on Friday 24th October. Information about this day has been posted on Compass.
Adults Only Event - 90s Game Show Night - These events are always a great night out and a terrific fundraiser for our school. This year is a totally new and unique event based on classic 90s game shows. It is on the 14th November and you can grab your tickets here: https://compasstix.com/e/io15393bsq
End of Year Celebration - Debbie McKenna is busily planning for our end of year concert. This event will take place in the evening of Tuesday 16th December - save the date! This event grows in stature by the year and is one of our most anticipated events! We can't wait to celebrate the year together as a whole school!
Christmas Fun Day - On Tuesday 16th December, we will have a Christmas Fun Day during the day. This is a fun day where students participate in a range of activities, there may also be a return of the 'Dunk the Teacher' activity! There is a rumour that the Grinch may also make an appearance!
Assembly - Assembly runs alternate weeks to our school newsletter. It has been amazing to see classes utilizing our new, fantastic TV! The remaining assemblies this term are:
31/10 - PM
14/11 - PS
28/11 - PG
19/12 - final school assembly (no class performance)
- Pupil Free Day - A reminder that Monday 3rd November is the Term 4 pupil free day. The staff will be using this day for assessment and reporting.
School Review
All Victorian Government schools undertake a school review every 4 years and our school is currently going through this process to review our progress on our current strategic plan and develop a new one that will take us forward for the next 4 years.
The first day of the school review process was held last week. The day was a chance to reflect on our progress against the targets in our strategic plan, celebrate our achievements and begin to identify areas of future growth for our school.
The review is conducted by a panel that includes external principals, our Senior Education Improvement Leader, and our school team, including Victoria Reynolds, our School Council President. The first day was spent analysing and interpreting key data sets, discussing our progress from an academic and wellbeing perspective as well as visiting classrooms.
The day was largely a cause for celebration of the significant progress that our school has made, particularly the improvement in the learning growth of our students in Numeracy. The panel commented on the engagement of our students, the strong strategic focus of the school and the high-quality teaching that was occurring in all the classrooms.
The review continues on the 28th of October and will include classroom observations, focus groups with various staff members from the education support, teaching and leadership teams as well as conducting student focus groups.
I look forward to providing you with a further update in our next newsletter.
Sports Update
Long Jump - Zoe
This superstar competed at the recent Western Metropolitan Region Athletics competition and came 1st in long jump (and got a PB!). She now progresses to the state event on the 6th November. What an achievement - GO ZOE!!
Year 6 Interschool Sports
Our Year 6 Softball and Volleyball teams won their division earlier this year and progressed to the next stage of competition. They competed at their events last week and proudly represented our school with their competitive spirit and sportsmanship. We are very proud of both teams and would like to highlight the efforts of our volleyball team who came 2nd on the day!
Student Leadership
At the end of last term Cam spoke to the Grade 5 students about formal leadership opportunities in Grade 6 as well as the process for applying for our School Captain positions. It was fantastic to see so many students interested in applying for this role and we are looking forward to receiving a number of quality application letters! The enthusiasm displayed by the students is lovely to see and we know that there are many high quality application letters being written! Cam and Dave will read all the application letters, interview short-listed applicants and announce our 2026 School Captains at our final assembly on Friday 19th December.
A Message from the School Captains...
Ozone Day Update
As you know, on Ozone Day, we asked the AGPS community to bring a gold coin donation, and our total came to $400. We are really grateful for all your generous donations, and with this money, we have decided to donate it to the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation), which helps fund projects that protect animal habitats across the globe. Thank you again, we really appreciate your support.
Lunchtime Clubs
Last week, the school captains interviewed students with great ideas for lunchtime clubs. Everybody did extremely well when presenting and we could tell that you all put lots of effort into your ideas and presentations. With that being said, the clubs that will run their lunchtime clubs this term are the STEM club, where you get to build Lego robots that fight each other, the board game club, the Lego club, the chess club and the choir club. They all will be run on their selected days. Well done to those who were selected.
Tim Watts Visit
Last Tuesday all of the school captains met with Tim Watts in his Newport office and discussed Australia’s role in exporting non-renewable energy overseas. We also presented the wonderful partition that our school community signed, and he was very impressed and appreciative. We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who signed the partition, and also for the parents and David who gave up their free time. A special mention to Kate for organising it all.
Changes to Digital Device Use
From 2027, the Victorian Government is introducing changes to the use of digital devices for students from Prep to Grade 6.
Under the new guidelines, schools:
will no longer invite families to purchase or bring their own digital devices to use at school for Prep to Grade 6
will follow new recommended digital device times, including minimal device time for Prep to Grade 2; and a maximum of 90 minutes per day for grades 3 to 6.
These changes are intended to support families by reducing cost-of-living pressures. They will also support students by reducing screen-time which can reduce the risk of eye strain, sedentary behaviour, and reduced peer interaction. These reforms complement Victoria’s nation-leading mobile phone restrictions, ensuring an integrated approach to addressing digital distraction and the inappropriate use of technology.
What this means for our school
This means we will be ceasing our current BYOD program beginning with our 2026 preps. Instead, we will provide class sets of digital devices for use by students. Students who currently have BYO devices will be able to continue to bring their devices to school, but we will be following the new recommended device use times.
Students with disability who use a digital device as a reasonable adjustment are exempt from these changes.
These changes are intended to support families with cost-of-living pressures and reduce student screen time.
You can read more about the changes on the department’s website: Digital Learning: Policy.
2026 Classes and Parent/Carer Requests
The leadership team are currently working through 2026 planning, class structures and recruitment processes, and the process for 2026 class formations will soon commence. This process is incredibly important and we spend a significant amount of time creating class lists that ensure all students are set up for success in the following year. All students make a list of friends that they would like to be placed with and we ensure that everyone has at least one of these friends in their future class.
Our staff know our students and have in-depth knowledge of what would be best for their academic and social development and use this knowledge when creating classes. If you believe you have any additional information that you feel is necessary to support us in creating class lists for 2026, please put your requests in writing via this form no later than Friday 7th November. Please do not send through your child's friend requests as they have the opportunity to do this themselves at school.
When making class placement requests, we ask parents to keep in mind that our school values inclusion, diversity and connection. While we understand that some friendships or past dynamics may have presented challenges, it is important to remember that children are young people who learn, change, and grow and are still developing their social skills and resilience. Our aim is to create balanced, supportive classrooms where every student feels a sense of belonging and has the opportunity to learn, grow, and be part of a welcoming school community.
Please also understand that I do not take requests for individual teachers and that whilst all requests will be considered not all will be able to be accommodated. Please also note that requests made last year do not carry over and should be made again via email if you believe it should still be considered.
AGPS Building Master Plan
As mentioned earlier this year, we received some very welcome news regarding additional funding for our school in the latest Victorian Government budget. This funding is for planning an upgrade of the main building to improve and modernise learning spaces for students and teachers. The master planning process will also plan for a new gymnasium on site.
So far, the process has included consultation with our community about our vision for the school and discussions about possible changes to our school site to enable this vision. The architects have been appointed and meet with me weekly to discuss plans and receive feedback as we work towards the development of a master plan for our site.
This is an exciting process that will hopefully lead to much-needed upgrades, providing our kids with the facilities they deserve. I will provide you with updates when I can.
Hats Reminder
A reminder that in Term One and Term Four all students are required to wear a broad-brimmed hat for outdoor activities, this includes recess, lunch and Physical Education lessons. Please support your child by reminding them to pack their hat and ensure their name is clearly marked so it can make its way back to them if it gets accidentally left outside.
Are you leaving AGPS in 2026?
There is a great demand for places at our school and we are required to carefully manage all enrolments to ensure there are enough places for all students who reside within our school zone. To assist us with this, please inform us as soon as possible if you have a prep child starting in 2026 or know of any other students who may be joining us in 2026. Similarly, if your child will no longer be attending AGPS in 2026 please let us know. All this information helps us greatly with planning.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Take care,
David and Cam