Welcome Back

This is what a school should feel like!

It has been so wonderful to finally welcome groups of our students back onsite this week. I have, once again, been so impressed with how well all of our students have readjusted back into onsite school - I was expecting a lot more clutching onto mum/dad's legs! I have loved seeing the students eagerly enter the school ground, frantically search for their friends and then finally reconnect in the playgrounds. A highlight for me was seeing and hearing parents and children cheer loudly as Jemma opened her door for the first time on Monday morning to welcome the Preps. I think this highlights the joy and importance of being connected and together onsite. It is also a great reflection of the wonderful work that the whole school community has put in to create such positive experiences during these really challenging times. Whilst I really appreciate all that our community has done during remote learning to make it as positive as possible - school is so much better in person together!

The staged return continues over the next 2 weeks. We cannot wait to see the 4/5 students on Tuesday and for the time when we are all back together. Here is the staged return plan again for your reference:

Review

Last week AGPS completed the fieldwork and final day of our school review process. As mentioned previously, every Victorian Government school has a school review every four years to develop a new strategic plan for school improvement. The review process has largely been a cause for celebration of all that we have achieved over the past 4 years and has been valuable in identifying areas that we can strengthen and improve to make our school even better.

A large part of the review was conducted with the many people and groups that make up our community, including students, teachers, education support staff and parents. With each report from the various focus groups, some common themes about our school began to take shape. The overall sense of community and connection to our community was a real highlight as well as the positive climate and support felt by everyone within our community. To hear these themes emerge from all areas of our school certainly filled me with pride about our school and confirmed what I have always known to be true - we have a very special school here!

Whilst there were certainly many highlights throughout the process, there was a rigorous analysis of our current reality and a clear direction for the improvement strategies that will take our school forward. I will share the findings and the report with the community once the school reviewer has completed the documentation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that was part of this process. From the teachers who had visitors popping into their Webex sessions to the parents that gave up their time in the evening to attend the parent focus group. It was so critical that all areas of our community had a voice in this process and I cannot thank you enough for your efforts, your honesty and your commitment to our school.

Term 4 Curriculum

In Term 4 our teachers will be reinforcing some of the key concepts taught during remote learning as well as new learning. Our Inquiry Units for Term 4 are:

Prep: "It's Alive" - our students will be exploring the difference between living and non living things and investigating the question 'What do living things need to survive?'
Grade 1: our students will be exploring the topic of Geography and investigating questions such as 'How can we describe a place that we are familiar with?' and 'What are some of the features of my local area?'
Grade 2/3: our students will be exploring how can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past and investigating questions such as 'What is the history of our local community? and 'Why is it important to preserve parts of our local community?'
Grade 4/5: our students will be exploring how can living things be categorized and investigating questions such as 'What are the variations in the features of animals and plants?' and 'How do living things adapt to their environment?'
Grade 6: our students will finish off our Government and Democracy unit from Term 3 where students will take part in House of Representatives and Senate role plays in order to gain an understanding of parliament process and how a bill become a law. Simon and Sarah will also take students for Health Ed classes where they will learn about personal development and sexual reproduction. There will be further communication about this before it begins. Clare and Simon will also teach their own classes about respectful relationships and other areas of need in the lead up to secondary school.

Parent Requests

We will be creating class lists for 2022 in the next few weeks. This process is incredibly important and we spend a lot 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 try to ensure that everyone has at least one of these friends in their future class.

If you have any requests for class placement for next year, please ensure that your requests are in writing and sent to me (david.king@education.vic.gov.au) no later than Friday 5th November. Please understand that I cannot 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.

If your child/ren will not be attending AGPS in 2022, please contact the office as soon as possible as this assists us greatly with planning.

Welcome to TeamKids - Our OSHC Provider for 2022

As communicated in previous newsletters, we will be changing outside school hours care providers in 2022. TeamKids will be providing before and after school care and vacation care beginning 4th January 2022. You can find further information about TeamKids, including information about their upcoming information session of the 24th November in the below attachments.

Term 4 Events

We are continuing to receive updated advice and guidance on restrictions that impact upcoming events. We will endeavour to keep as many events as possible but there have had to be many changes to our usual programming.

Here is a summary:

We have had to cancel the following: Grade 4/5 Camp, Grade 6 Camp, P-4 Swimming, Grandparents’ Day
The following will go ahead but with some modifications: Christmas Concert, Year 6 Graduation, Prep Transition
Events we are unsure about: Year 5/6 Swimming, Year 6 Adventure Park Excursion

We will keep you all updated as soon as we can with further information about these events via Compass.

Road Safety

A reminder to all families to come and say hello to Fiona as you use the school crossing to cross the road safely. Please do not cross the road at the northern end of Victoria St as it is on a potentially dangerous bend with poor visibility.

Classroom Cuisine

Classroom Cuisine will begin operations again on Monday the 8th of November. Classroom Cuisine is available on Mondays and Wednesdays. Check their website for further information https://classroomcuisine.com.au/

Thanks again for your support and patience as we work through the staged return to onsite school. I hope you all enjoy the weekend and the further easing of restrictions.

Take care,

David

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