Excursions

It has been really pleasing to see that there have been a number of excursions and incursions recently across the school to support the various curriculum programs and further develop the students’ knowledge and understanding of key concepts taught through their inquiry units of work. These events always provide important memory-making experiences and are a highlight for many students. These include:

As part of their inquiry unit 'Then and Now', the Year 1 students participated in an 'olden days' classroom experience hosted by Mrs Sargood.

The Year 6 students went to the city today to visit the Immigration Museum to learn all about the history of immigration in Victoria and the impact that it has had on our lives today.

The Year 4/5s are visiting Sovereign Hill tomorrow to complement their history unit and learn about life on the Victorian goldfields in the 1800s.
The Preps have had their first fire education session through Fire Rescue Victoria where they learn key safety messages and the role of firefighters within our communities.

Exford Primary Fundraiser

We are incredibly thankful for the support that was shown by our whole community after the horrific accident that impacted the students, families and staff at Exford Primary School. We had a number of students and their families approach us to discuss how saddened they were by the incident and to express their sympathy to all those impacted. We are also very thankful for the support shown at our free dress day. We raised $900.60 which is a terrific result and these funds have been sent directly to the school to support the families impacted. I have been in contact with the Exford Primary principal, Lisa Campo, and she has expressed her thanks to our school community.

I would like to make a special mention to one of our Prep students, Silas. Silas came to school on the Friday of the fundraiser with a snaplock bag containing $5.50. It turned out that Silas had just lost his very first tooth earlier that week (something he was very excited to show me at the front gate) and had decided to donate his Tooth Fairy money towards the Exford Primary fundraiser! What an incredible act of kindness and generosity from such a young man. We could not be more proud of him.

Reports & Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

Staff have been busy working on the student reports for Semester 1. They are currently being revised, edited and proofread and final assessment data is being collected. The Semester 1 reports will include the level of achievement and progress that your child has made against the Victorian Curriculum in the subject areas taught and information about participation, effort, and behaviour.

Reports go live on Thursday 22nd June and can be accessed via Compass. An opportunity to discuss your child's report will be provided during the Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences in the first week of Term 3. Further information about the conferences and how to book will be communicated via Compass in the near future.

Cross Country

Last Wednesday, our cross country team travelled to Presidents Park in Werribee to compete in the Hobsons Bay and Wyndham Division Cross Country. The top 12 runners from each age category progress to the Western Metropolitan Cross Country competition at Brimbank Park. I would like to congratulate all of the athletes that made it to this event and acknowledge the tremendous efforts that they all put in for their races. A special mention to Harriet (3rd), Jensen (1st), Aiman (8th), Felix (11th) and Sam (7th) who will progress to the next stage!

Kitchen Garden

Cam and I were treated with a delicious meal of spiced rice and roasted vegetable sala prepared by the students in Year 6 during their Kitchen session this week. It was so good that I thought I should share the recipe so the students can make it again at home for you!

Planning Week

Next week is planning week and as per our regular school planning cycle, the teachers from each year level will have one day where they will begin to plan out the Term 3 teaching & learning program. The students will still have their specialist subjects, with the difference being that they will have all of the specialists on one day:

Tuesday - Grade 4/5
Wednesday - Grade 1
Thursday - Prep & Grade 6
Friday - Grade 2/3

Staffing/Cold and Flu

As the cold and flu season sets in we are seeing an increase in disruptions to our school's operation due to the ongoing staff shortage across the state. We are beginning to see greater staff and student absences as we combat a range of colds and viruses, including COVID-19. We always try to minimise disruptions for our students and provide continuity of learning, however, there have been times recently when we have needed to split classes for periods of the day (or for the whole day in some cases) as there simply is not the staff available to adequately cover all absences. In these instances, we prefer to split classes amongst the same year level so they have access to the same lessons and curriculum but if this is not feasible students are provided with learning tasks to ensure continuity of learning.

I thank you for your continued support and understanding as we work through these challenges.

2024 Prep Enrolments

The timeline for prep enrolments has changed this year and all enrolment applications from parents/carers are to be submitted by Friday, 28 July 2023 and we will notify parents/carers of the outcome of enrolment applications by Friday, 11 August 2023. If you have a child beginning prep in 2024, please contact Jenny as soon as possible as this assists us greatly with planning. Additionally, please also let us know if you are not expecting to be at AGPS in 2024.

We are offering school tours for any families that are considering Altona Green for their 2024 prep child. The tours will be held on the following dates:

4:00pm Thursday 15th June
10:00am Tuesday 11th July
4:00pm Thursday 27th July

Please register your interest in attending any of these tours by completing the form here https://forms.gle/CtaRtWtoEiRygv8Q7, contacting the office 9360 0777 or via email altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Take care,

David & Cam

TeamKids