Acting Principal Update

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone managed to get some time over the Christmas and New Year period to relax, re-energise and spend some quality time with those close to you. After a fantastic 2025 I am excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming year and the busyness that comes with working in a primary school.  I am sure that you are also dealing with the same excitement and anticipation for the new year.

I would like to thank our grounds officer Peter, our IT Team Muhumad and Chris, Abdo and the cleaning team for all the work they have completed around the school grounds and classrooms ensuring that the school is clean and tidy, and our IT infrastructure is up and running. Most of the teachers came in last week and spent time setting up their learning spaces which look engaging and exciting, ready for today. All in all, we are ready and rearing to go. 

We welcomed 60 Prep students into Prep classrooms today. There was the expected mix of excitement, nerves and just a few tears, children and parents. Chiara, Emily and Candice did an amazing job settling students into their new classrooms and ensuring their first day of school was memorable, yet calm and beautifully supportive. 

During the first few weeks of Prep we have a strong focus on play and the development of social relationships between staff, their buddies and with each other. The Prep team have developed a variety of wonderful learning spaces, including our structured playroom (see below).

We also welcome several students to other year levels. We have about 10 students entering classes across Year 1- 6. As always, I encourage families to reach out and say hi to anyone new you may see around the school, welcoming them into the amazing community that is Alphington.

I would also like to officially welcome new and returning staff. 

Firstly, to Luke, who has been appointed to the position of Acting Assistant Principal for Term 1 while I fulfil the Acting Principal role. Luke was the Principal at Dookie Primary School before relocating to Melbourne last year. Luke brings a passion for student engagement and wellbeing and is looking forward to connecting with students and families in the first few weeks. 

We have Candice who is a graduate teacher and working in Prep alongside Chiara and Emily. Candice is a very impressive graduate with a background in psychology who is very excited to be starting her teaching career at APS. 

Ellie is working in Year 1 with Sarah and James. Ellie comes to APS after 18 months at Heidelberg Primary. Ellie did her final teacher placement at APS as a preservice teacher under the guidance of Sarah, so we are thrilled to have her on staff having seen her growth as a professional.

Welcome Josh, working in Year 2 with Brody and Cass. Josh has spent a year travelling and teaching overseas after being at Clifton Hill Primary School. 

We also have Emma and Hannah who are returning to APS after being on family leave. Emma will be working in Year 5 with Leigh, Jessie and Jack. Emma will be working in 5JN on Thursdays and 5LD on Fridays. 

Hannah will be returning in the Performing Arts role for Term 1. She undertook this role at APS prior to the birth of her first child, so is familiar with the role and students. 

Introductory Interviews are next week- Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 February

(Also known as "Getting to know you Meetings")

Parents are asked to make a 10-minute appointment booking time to meet with the class teacher, on Tuesday or Wednesday after school. This is a chance to meet the teacher, briefly discuss strengths and areas wanting to be focused on. The booking system is through Compass and is open from tomorrow until Monday night. 

School security and CCTV Installation

Over the summer break we have had CCTV installed across the school as part of our continued strategy to ensure our school is safe and secure. The cameras are not yet operational but will be in the coming days. Attached to today’s newsletter is the DET CCTV privacy policy for Alphington Primary School. 

Please familiarise yourself with this document. 

In addition to the camera installation, we will be adding  padlocks to the gates on Phillips and Adams Street which do not have key locks installed on them. The main Yarralea gate will remain unlocked during school hours however the other external gates will be locked between 9:00am and 3:30pm.

Start Up Program

Over the first week a priority focus for our teachers is our Start-Up program. APS prides itself on providing a unique environment to ensure every person can achieve their full potential. At the forefront is the wellbeing of the whole community. 

To ensure we can provide a safe and supportive environment for all students, teams spend time during the curriculum days developing their year level Start-Up program.  The aim of the program is to provide a structure for all staff to follow to ensure a consistent beginning to the year for all students. This is usually implemented over the first couple of weeks.

Building Relationships - incorporating getting to know you, understanding students’ strengths and passions, and discussing goals as individual, groups, classes and a cohort.

Teamwork – let’s not forget how complex teamwork is. We need to teach the skills involved. 

Celebrating learners – understanding ourselves and others as learners and embracing individual differences. Exploring the 5 APS Learner Dispositions.

Understanding our rights and responsibilities - exploring our rights as individuals and as a community of learners - what responsibilities must we uphold?

Embedding our ‘School Values’ – one thing to recite them, but what do they look like? How do we live them?

School Rights, Values & Learner Dispositions

The beginning of the school year is a timely opportunity to review with students and our community the rights, values and learner dispositions that we use to guide student learning, behaviour, and personal and social development. 

At Alphington Primary School we have two rights that guide our day-to-day actions:

• We all have the right to feel safe
• We all have the right to learn as much as possible

Alongside the two rights, APS has adopted a set of values and learner dispositions to guide the conduct and approach to learning of persons who represent the school. These are: 

VALUES

• Kindness: Demonstrating empathy and being inclusive; displaying gratitude. 
• Respect: Consideration for self, others and the world around us; being polite and courteous. 
• Resilience: Being flexible and able to bounce back; being optimistic. 
• Curiosity: Showing interest and wonder; making choices; a love of learning. 

• Integrity: Being honest and fair; having a sense of what’s right and living it.

   

DISPOSITIONS

• Collaboration: Working as a team, working collaboratively on shared goals
• Creativity: Problem solving, having different strategies, exploring different perspectives
• Determination: Being persistent, learning from mistakes, taking pride and putting in effort
• Optimism: Growth mindset, being open to new ideas, being hopeful and seeing the bright side
• Reflection: Monitor your learning, seek and give feedback, reflect on goals and progress

What I really love about the APS rights, values and learner dispositions is that they encompass all that we do in schools and mean we can focus on affirming positive behaviours rather than ‘enforcing rules’. For example, if a student is being disruptive and calling out in class, they can be reminded of the right to learn and being respectful of others. If there is rough play in the yard, students can be reminded of the right to feel safe and to demonstrate kindness. If a student is having difficulty with their learning, we can talk to them about determination and being optimistic.

I encourage families to discuss the school rights and values with their children and unpack what they mean both at school and as a member of your family and community.

Class Liaisons

Class Liaison parents fulfil an important social and cultural role within our school community. The role is essentially a link between parents in the class, in relation to school social events, and between parents and school committees and sub committees. Communication involves the organisation and management of such events, being cognisant of privacy and confidentiality. 

The tasks typically carried out each year include:

• Organising a social evening or occasion for the parents of the class on occasions throughout the year
• Coordinating acknowledgement of teachers work on behalf of teachers. E.g. World teacher’s Day, end of year
• Coordinating assistance at other school events, if requested, including events organised by the Community Events & Fundraising Committee. E.g. APS Fair
• Encouraging parent participation at social events organised by the school community e.g. collecting names for a class table at a Trivia Night event, 
• Disseminate information/requests in relation to school events e.g. costumes for school concerts.

The class liaison role has continued with success the last few years and we encourage parents to nominate again for this important link between school and families. Information and nominations for the role will be included with your Term 1 Class Newsletter and via Compass. Please consider whether you might like to do the role.

Have a great week everyone!

Shane Wilkie

Acting Principal – Term 1

CCTV Privacy Notice

Alphington Primary School has decided to install a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system at our school. 

This Privacy Notice outlines how the CCTV system will be used, including the use and disclosure of any footage produced by the CCTV system so as to be consistent with Victorian privacy law.

Need for CCTV

Our school has an obligation to ensure the school environment is safe and secure, and fulfil our duty of care to students, staff and visitors.  The CCTV system assists our school to fulfil these obligations and to prevent and manage other inappropriate behaviour on school grounds. CCTV also provides enhanced capability to protect our school’s assets against vandalism and theft.

Use of CCTV

Consistent with our school’s obligations set out above, our school may use CCTV cameras to: 

• prevent, support and verify incidents involving

  • criminal behaviour – of anyone on school grounds

  • staff misconduct 

  • other inappropriate behaviour – including of students, staff, visitors or members of the public. For example, this means the school may use CCTV footage of incidents to help inform decisions about student management

• verify and investigate other incidents involving students, staff and visitors (for example incidents in which a person has sustained injury, loss or damage on school premises) 

• to provide the Department with visual coverage during emergencies.

In limited circumstances live CCTV footage may also be viewed by our school or Department staff. For more information please refer to the Department’s policy: CCTV in Schools – Installation and Management (CCTV Policy).

CCTV cameras are NOT

• located in private areas such as toilets, changing rooms, dressing rooms, showers, or other areas where individual privacy is paramount

• used to monitor student or staff work performance

• hidden or covert, except in limited circumstances and in accordance with the Department’s CCTV policy.

   

Location of CCTV cameras in our school

In our school, CCTV cameras are located in:

• school entrances

• outdoor play spaces

• outside of buildings

   

A notice is located at the school’s entrances, which alerts people to the presence of cameras and this CCTV Privacy Notice. 

Access to CCTV footage

CCTV footage is only accessed for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice and the Department’s CCTV Policy and only by the following people:

1. the Principal or nominee, including people explicitly authorised by the Principal

2. central and regional Department staff, when required to assist the school for an above purpose

3. any other people permitted by law.

    

Request to view footage 

When using CCTV for the purposes listed under the heading ‘Use of CCTV’ the principal may show specific footage of an incident to those directly involved, including relevant staff, students and/or their parents, provided:

• the principal considers it appropriate and necessary in order to support parents to understand the specifics of an incident that has taken place so they can provide appropriate support to their child or for a staff member to better understand an incident

• it would not cause a health, wellbeing or safety risk to any other person 

• it would not be an unreasonable intrusion into another person’s privacy.

Please note, our school cannot provide copies of CCTV footage to staff, students or parents The Department must be contacted where these requests are made. Please refer to the Department’s CCTV Policy. 

Storage of footage 

CCTV footage is stored locally on the school’s server.

CCTV footage is kept for no more than 31 days. If our school has not used CCTV footage in any of the ways set out above, and there has been no request to view or access footage during this period, the footage is deleted. 

Where CCTV footage has been used to verify an incident or where it is required to be retained for legal reasons, our school will manage and securely retain the footage in accordance with the retention requirements set out in the Department’s Records Management Policy.

What if you have questions?

For more information of how our school may use the CCTV system and who may access the footage, please see the Department’s CCTV Policy.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the use of the CCTV system in our school, please contact the school to discuss: Alphington Primary School: Alphington.ps@education.vic.gov.au   or 94992200.