A Message from David...

I would just like to start off with a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone in our school community. We started the term with such enthusiasm, energy and excitement for what we were hoping to be a really busy and engaging term of on-site learning but unfortunately everything changed once we moved back into remote learning. What didn't change was the commitment, care and perseverance of everyone in our community. The way AGPS works together to support our children is truly remarkable and has been the most consistent thing over the past 18 months. I feel truly fortunate to work in such a positive and supportive environment and cannot thank you all enough for all that you have done during this time - THANK YOU!!

Term 4 Events

Term 4 is generally an incredibly busy term with a range of events planned and this year is no exception. Due to the ongoing uncertainty and changes to restrictions over the year, we have had to plan, re-plan and sometimes re-plan again to try to provide the experiences and opportunities for our students that are so important to our community. Next term we have camps, excursions, graduation, concert, transitions and other events that we are hopeful will be able to go ahead in some form. We are currently planning options A, B and C for each of these events to match possible restrictions and will do whatever we can to keep them going for our students. Unfortunately, there may be events that we will need to cancel and we thank you in advance for your continued understanding, flexibility and support with these decisions.

We will aim to provide you with all the key information about each of these events as soon as we are able and will continue to frequently update the Dates to Remember section of the newsletter and Compass.

NAPLAN

Individual student NAPLAN reports for Years 3 and 5 students who participated in this year's NAPLAN testing have been sent home via post. We are really proud of our students for the persistence and effort that they have shown through an incredibly difficult period over the past 18 months. Whilst certainly not the most important measure at this point in time, overall we are pleased with the results and will spend the time analysing the data to help us plan, monitor and evaluate school improvement strategies.

Student Scholarships

The Department of Education and Training manages a number of scholarships that are available to students who are currently enrolled in Years 4-12. Applicants for these scholarships are evaluated on their:

participation in school activities
community involvement
academic record for the current year.

Scholarships are either one-off payments or for the duration of the student’s course/study annually.

Applications for these scholarships, a number of which have specific eligibility criteria, will open on 1 October 2021 and close on 28 February 2022. For more information and a list of available scholarships visit the 2021 Student Scholarships for Years 4-12 Factsheet. For information on how to apply visit the student scholarships web page.

STEAM week

Last week our students participated in a range of activities all centred around the areas of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). Janine and Sarah combined forces to create various fun and engaging activities as well as a couple of live demonstration lessons that we well attended by many families in our community. It was great to see so many people get involved in the activities and some of the terrific creations and experiments that the students did over the week. Thank you to Sarah and Janine for their efforts in putting this together - an engaging break from the routine was greatly appreciated across the school!

Planning Week

Throughout the remote learning period, we have continued to ensure our focus as a school is always on our students. Teachers have continued to meet every week in their teams to discuss student learning, wellbeing, and engagement.

This week, teachers have met in their professional learning teams (PLTs) for a day to plan for Term 4. They have worked collaboratively via WebEx to develop unit plans for all key curriculum areas, based on student learning and wellbeing needs.

Staff have also continued to engage in professional learning, through discussions within their team, short online courses and webinars.

Parent & Carer Feedback

We have recently sent out a remote learning feedback form to gain insights into how the remote learning program is going in your house. This feedback form gives us vital information about student independence, time spent completing schoolwork and levels of engagement. We use this information with our School Improvement Team to make small adjustments to our programs to cater for the wide range of family situations and student needs across our community. Our teachers are working incredibly hard to provide a large range of supports to help all of our students and this has been recognised in many of the feedback comments so far from parents.

Thank you to those that have already completed the form. If you would like to share your thoughts you can complete the form here.

Staffing

We have a few changes to our staffing for Term 4:

Celeste

Celeste has been successful in obtaining a position as a classroom teacher in a remote Victorian school. This has been a goal of Celeste’s for quite some time and we commend her on her courage to make the move. I am really excited for Celeste and her new adventure but am saddened to have her leave our school community. Celeste has been a member of AGPS since 2018 and has really found her area in Prep and providing all those in her class with such a wonderful start to their formal schooling. Her care, dedication and creativity will be an absolute asset to her new school. Thank you, Celeste!

We are really pleased to announce that Debbie Markovic will teach Prep C for Term 4. Debbie is well known to the students and many of the parents and has a solid understanding of our school. This will help to make the transition as smooth as possible for all the children in Prep C.

Education Support

We have recently completed a recruitment process for two Education Support staff to work with our school community until the end of the year and am very pleased to announce that Elizabeth (Betty) Risteska and Sook Yee Chan were the successful applicants. Betty is well known throughout the school community.

We look forward to Betty and Sook Yee joining our community and supporting our students and staff through Term 4.

Outside School Hours Care (OSHC)

The OSHC working party have worked hard over the past two terms to select the best OSHC provider for our school from 2022 onward. After working through the expression of interest process and the working party's decision being endorsed by the school council, we are really pleased to announce that AGPS will partner with TeamKids as our OSHC provider from the beginning of 2022. Further information about the transition to TeamKids and about TeamKids themselves will be published later in the year. In the meantime you can find information on their website here.

From Victoria Reynolds, School Council President:

I am absolutely delighted to welcome TeamKids to Altona Green. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the working party of School Council members, who worked diligently, to select a new OSHC partner for our school. It will be a positive change for our school and I very much look forward to working with them to incorporate them into our school and future events.

Students Leaving AGPS in 2022

We have begun the planning process for 2022 and we would greatly appreciate it if parents could please notify the school if your child/ren will not be returning to AGPS in 2022. Please contact the office 9360 0777 or altona.green.ps@education.vic.gov.au to let us know.

We are hopeful that we will be able to return to on-site schooling at some stage in Term 4 as I, and all of the staff, are very much looking forward to having the whole school community back together again. We are expecting some further detail about schools on Sunday and any updates about Term 4 arrangements will be sent out via Compass as soon as we know.

I hope that you are all able to disconnect, rest and relax over the holiday period. Hopefully we get to enjoy some beautiful spring weather and I will see some of you out and about enjoying the lovely outdoor spaces we are lucky enough to have in our 5/10km radius.

Oh, and one final thing...C'MON DEES!!!

Take care,

David

P.S. Nancy gave me this thoughtful gift today...