A Message from David & Cam

It has been another fantastic fortnight at AGPS, and it’s hard to believe we are already halfway through Term 1. Our curriculum programs are now in full swing (you can visit the Curriculum Newsletters page for an overview of each year level’s focus this term), and a range of extracurricular events and activities are beginning to weave their way into the daily life of the school.

Our students have maintained the positive start they made to the year, arriving focused, ready to learn and making strong progress in every session. Thank you once again for your ongoing support in helping us achieve such a great start to the school year.

School Strategic Plan 2025 - 2029 

As mentioned in previous newsletters, our school has completed the school review process and we now have a new strategic plan to move us forward for the next 4 years. 

Our new School Strategic Plan has a clear and simple goal: to maximise the learning and wellbeing outcomes of every student at our school.

Our Key Improvement Strategies

To achieve this goal, we will focus on three key areas:

• Continuing to strengthen teacher capacity to implement the Victorian Curriculum using high-quality, low-variance, evidence-based teaching practices.

• Strengthening whole-school assessment systems and processes to better monitor learning and inform instruction, intervention and extension.

• Building staff knowledge and capability to effectively support students’ diverse learning, engagement and wellbeing needs.

Our Intent

Across the life of this Strategic Plan, we are committed to ensuring every student makes strong and sustained learning progress. This will be supported by consistent, high-quality teaching practices in every classroom, underpinned by clear curriculum planning, effective assessment and strong pedagogy.

A key part of this work will be the continued development of our Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), ensuring that all students receive high-quality classroom instruction (Tier 1), with additional targeted (Tier 2) or intensive (Tier 3) supports provided when needed. This structured approach allows us to respond early and effectively to student needs.

Why This Matters

We know that the quality and consistency of teaching has the greatest impact on student learning outcomes. By strengthening our instructional practices and refining how we use assessment data, we can more accurately identify each student’s point of need and respond with timely support or extension.

Equally, building staff expertise in inclusive teaching and wellbeing practices ensures that universal supports are strong, interventions are timely and intensive supports are responsive. This promotes equity, inclusion and positive outcomes for all students.

Our Four-Year Focus

Throughout the four years of the Strategic Plan, our priority will be to strengthen clarity and consistency in curriculum, assessment and instructional practice across the school. In the early years of the plan, we will focus on further developing teacher capacity to implement the Victorian Curriculum using high-quality, low-variance, evidence-based instructional practices. This will be supported through targeted professional learning and a continued focus on collaborative Professional Learning Teams.

We will also continue to strengthen whole-school assessment systems and processes to improve the monitoring of student learning and inform instruction, intervention and extension. Teachers will work collectively through the Teaching and Learning Cycle, using data to evaluate impact and refine practice in response to student need.

Across the duration of the plan, we will build staff knowledge, understanding and capacity to implement and monitor strategies that support students’ diverse learning, engagement and wellbeing needs. Our whole-school approach to wellbeing will be reviewed and refined to ensure clarity, consistency and timely support for all students, with a clear and documented multi-tiered approach. In the final year of the plan, the focus will be on embedding, evaluating and sustaining these practices to ensure ongoing improvement beyond the life of the Strategic Plan.

Strategic Plan 'Headline Statements'

Underpinning our strategic plan are our school’s Headline Statements. They aim to capture what is most important and unique about our school, while keeping us focused on what really matters: maximising the learning and wellbeing outcomes of every student.

Our 'Headline Statements' are:

• Unconditional positive regard

• How well we teach = how well they learn

• High expectations

• Together we are better

• Every minute counts

These statements reflect a shared responsibility across our whole community, including staff, students and families, to bring these commitments to life each day. We will unpack, seek feedback and share more about each of these statements in future newsletters.

Student Leaders

We are really proud to announce our student leadership group for 2026:

All of these students put a tremendous amount of effort into their applications and really considered their roles as leaders and what they can offer the school. I know that they will all be great role models for our younger students and will work diligently to make our school even better. Cam and I look forward to working with them all and supporting the development of their leadership

Maths Enrichment

We have made a positive start to the Maths Olympiad this year! We had an excellent turn out for our first session and the students are keen to develop themselves as mathematicians. It is lovely to see our students wanting to challenge themselves and develop higher order mathematical skills whilst having a smile on their face! We are looking forward to a great year!

As announced at our last assembly, Ainsley is also going to start up the Maths Explorer maths enrichment program for students in Years 3 and 4. This is a similar program to the Olympiad and provides an opportunity for students to challenge themselves in maths. Ainsley will provide more info to the students about how they can get involved

Cam will also be starting Grade 4/5 and Grade 6 Extension Maths sessions once a week to challenge our very capable mathematicians.

Colour Explosion

There is also a lot of excitement around the school for the upcoming Colour Explosion. This event is a highlight for many of our students (and staff!) and a great fundraiser for our school. A huge thank you to everyone that has donated and spread the word so far and a special mention to Victoria, Leanne and Daniel who have been busy working behind the scenes to get everything set up for this event - THANK YOU!

Here is the link for donations and sending to friends and family :

https://www.mycause.com.au/events/2026agpscolourexplosion

Here are some photos from the last Colour Explosion to get everyone excited:

Swimming

Year 5/6 Lifesaving

Our 5/6 students were lucky enough to head to 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.

District Swimming

The green team represented our school so well at the Laverton District Swimming Carnival early this week. All of the students tried their best in their events and I saw many proudly wearing a ribbon (or two or three) as they went home that night. A huge congratulations to all of the students who qualified for the next stage in their events - WELL DONE!

Parent Payment Contributions

Thank you to the many parents who have already paid the voluntary parent payment contributions for 2026. Your ongoing support makes a genuine difference and helps ensure we can continue to provide the highest quality education and care for all of our students. These contributions directly support our academic programs as well as our social and emotional learning initiatives, enabling us to offer rich learning experiences, targeted supports and engaging opportunities across the school. Without your support our school cannot be as great as it is.

Further 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 - Prep Parents

Amy is hosting an upcoming parent information session for our prep parents. The session will focus on supporting children with early reading development and provide a range of supportive strategies that parents can use with their child at home. 

The session is on Wednesday, March 11th. There are two session times available, 3:30-4:30pm and 5:00-6:00pm. Both sessions will cover the same content. Attendance is only necessary for one session. 

Please click the link below to indicate your attendance.

2027 Prep Information Night

We have our 2027 prep information session coming up on the 31st of March. If you know anyone who has a child who will begin prep in 2027 please ask them to register their interest in attending by contacting our office via phone (03 9360 0777) or email (altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au). 

Details of the event can be found on our website or via our Facebook page

Kitchen Garden

We are thrilled to have the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Program up and running again at our school! There is something incredibly special about seeing our students back in the garden and kitchen, digging, planting, harvesting, cooking and, of course, tasting the delicious results. The SAKG program provides such rich opportunities for hands-on learning, teamwork and building healthy life-long habits.

A huge thank you to Liam and Vera, our fantastic Kitchen and Garden Teachers, for the passion, energy and preparation you have done to make the first week in the kitchen and garden such a success. We are also so grateful to the volunteers who generously gave their time to support the programs. Our kids absolutely loved their lessons and I know many more cannot wait for their opportunity!

And here are the recipes - get your kids to make you dinner next week!

Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund (C.S.E.F.)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (C.S.E.F.) helps eligible families to cover the costs of camps, excursions and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible.  The card must be in the parent’s name, not the student.

Payment amounts this year are $150 for eligible primary school students. Payments are made directly to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

Please give a copy of your Health Care Card to the office or email me a copy of your card to:altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Your card must be valid as of the 27th January, 2026.

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Take care,

David & Cam