Dear Armadale Community,

We hope you are all well and enjoying the milder weather experienced this week. The children are relishing eating and playing outside, as opposed to the wet weather timetable we have had to implement in recent weeks. They are loving the new “pod” in the front habitat garden as well as the newly laid pathway and interesting habitat features to explore.

Working Bee Thank you

Thank you so much to everyone who attended our Working Bee last Sunday from 11am -2.00pm. The weather was fabulous and much was achieved around our whole school. We are incredibly grateful to the following families and children:

Angela Stasse and Leo

Eric Eralp

Tamda Nugyen

Joseph Family

Allan Franklin

Pete Wuchatsch

Claire Davies and Bea

Sarah Crosthwaite

Laura Matthews and Lisa

Charmaine Monteiro and Bella

Jim Wilde, Sylvie and Charlie

James and Tam Dixon, Ollie and Elsie

Danica Waterson

James and William Shields

Troy Thomson and Mish Roszbach

Emma, Nick, Daisy and Sonny

and apologies to anyone else who was here who may have inadvertently missed as we were capturing names from the sign -in register.

And a huge thank you also to all of our staff who came and gave up their time on the weekend to help make our school look amazing and no time in lieu was awarded to any one in the photo below.

How fortunate are we to have such dedicated staff and parents at APS!

Olympic Champion in our own community and maybe one to come in the future!

We were incredibly excited and proud to invite Vera Ignjatovic, Mum of Lola and Vaska who presented at our assembly this week hosted by our Year 2 students, sharing with the students her experience at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where Vera represented Australia in the Handball competition. Vera shared her uniform (pictured below) and her competition tops, and the jacket worn during the Opening Ceremony.

Vera exclaimed that walking into the Olympic Stadium at Homebush was the most exciting moment in her life surrounded by tens of thousands screaming fans. Though no medals were awarded to Vera, the experience will stay with her forever and she encouraged the children to take up opportunities to participate in sports and activities that they were passionate about.

Vera is an incredibly humble person and when she offered to take questions from the children, she was asked “What do you do now”?, Vera replied, “I am a Scientist”.

But Vera is not just a scientist, she is in fact a Professor who leads the field in paediatric thrombosis, and is a consultant working with John Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine in the US. We are incredibly proud of you Vera and all that you have achieved and what you continue to do in your specialist field.

Then we showcased all the ribbons and pins worn by Leticia whilst she was representing Victoria in the national swimming competitions that were held 2 weeks ago. Leticia is incredibly passionate about swimming and wants to continue her training and keep improving. Who knows who we might be seeing representing Australia at Brisbane 2032 in the pool -it may well be our very own Leticia Campos! The other Olympian Champion we may have is Ben Rafferty, not only playing for Victoria in the U 12 Hockey team, but also because he has been appointed the Captain!

Assessment and Reporting Presentation on Tuesday night

Thank you to those committed parents who joined us for our reporting and assessment presentation on Tuesday night and we hope that you were able to go away more informed about your child’s learning and the growth they will be making over these next 2 terms.

We also had great questions on composite grades, school readiness, how I can help my child at home, how do we stretch and challenge children in one class, how do small groups differentiate and teach children at their point of need. We also had insightful contributions from our parents, Karla, Tam and Melanie and the strengthening of our learning partnership was highly evident.

Connie and I are looking to present some more parent workhops shortly.

Stranger danger

On the back of 2 reported incidents from Malvern Primary and St Catherine’s, the DET sent out communications last night that can be shared with our communities. The reason for the lateness in getting such comms to schools is that all comms need to be scrutinised through various media units to ensure no misleading information is sent through to school communities.

Whilst this was addressed already by Connie in a COMPASS alert yesterday, we are including the DET Comms here in case anyone missed the COMPASS alert.

It has been reported a student at a nearby school was approached by an unknown person while walking home from school on Monday, 5 August.

Firstly, we want to assure you that the student is safe and well and the matter has been reported to Victoria Police.

The safety of our students is always our number one priority and, while we have no reason to believe at this stage that this is anything more than a one-off occurrence, it is a timely reminder to reinforce the following safety messages to your children:

Always walk directly to and from school and avoid making stops or side trips along the way.
Avoid walking alone – whether it’s with parents or friends, always try to walk in a group.
If there is anything that makes a student feel uncomfortable in any way, they should leave the area and report any concerns to a responsible adult.
Avoid talking to strangers – students should walk away from anyone they do not know and tell a responsible adult what happened.
Avoid getting into cars, even if a student thinks they know someone in the car, unless the student has been told that someone known to them will pick them up.
Details of incidents are important but should only be recorded, filmed or written down if it is safe to do so.

These conversations can help ensure that students feel safe and are confident to handle a difficult situation if it arises. We also ask that you encourage your child to report any concerns going to and from school to you and the school.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at school.

Warm regards

Rochelle Cukier and Connie Apostolos

Principal's

Rochelle.Cukier@education.vic.gov.au

Connie.Apostolos@education.vic.gov.au

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