Principal's Report

ACPS is excited to be once again participating in the annual Warrandyte Festival street parade. As the Festival was cancelled over the last two years due to co-vid, this year promises to be bigger and better than ever!  

Street parade

When: Saturday 19 March

Time: meeting at 10:15am; the parade itself will start at 11am, but please arrive by10:15am (note: there will be very limited parking in the vicinity so you will need to allow plenty of time to walk from your car.) 

Where to meet at the start: Wonguim Wilam Park (Lions Car Park, near the Warrandyte Bridge). Look out for the ACPS group and find your teacher to be signed in. Parents and grandparents are welcome to join in the parade with the students.

Time to finish: 12pm 

Where to meet at the end: Stiggants Reserve, Corner Stiggant and Yarra Streets, Warrandyte. Parents, grandparents and carers: please be punctual to sign your child out at the end of the parade. 

What to wear: bright coloured clothing. 

ACPS students have been busy making clay works for our float for the street parade. Their work looks amazing - we are very proud of what they have created! The theme for this year’s Warrandyte Festival is ‘Celebrate - Together Again!’ In response to this theme, students in grades 1-6 have been busy in art sessions making a clay flower or leaf, while our prep students have painted some paper plate flowers. Together, all the flowers and leaves will be displayed on a picket fence on our float; making ACPS a beautiful, vibrant garden once again. Students have each made a flower or a leaf for the float, which shows that we are no longer isolated as individuals, but have come together once again to be like a vibrant, colourful and growing garden. 

Thank you to our Visual Arts teacher Julie Clarke for making this happen!

Musical Performance 

When?  Saturday 19 March. 

Where? Stiggants Reserve, Yarra Street, Warrandyte 

Who? Years 2, 3 and 4 will be representing the school on the stage performing a number of songs and dances that they have been learning this term in class. We would love you to bring your child/ren to the event.

What time? We will be assembling at 12:30pm just outside the Performers’ tent. The performance is scheduled for 1pm. Children may come as they are dressed up for the festival, so long as they can move enough to dance. 

Thank you to Maggie Spillane our Performing Arts teacher for preparing the students for their performances!

Food stall - Don't forget to drop in to the ACPS stall for a bite to eat and something to drink!

We thank Jimmy Harris for making the ACPS food stall come to life for the festival. The tireless hours of preparation involved is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to Mick O'Keeffe for testing and tagging our electrical items needed for the food stall and the many parents volunteering their time to help at the stall.

It's set to be a fabulous day!!!

NAPLAN 2022

This year NAPLAN will be held between Tuesday 10th May and Friday 20th May. This is a National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) that all students in years 3 and 5 (and 7 and 9) across Australia undertake. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The results of these tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals and can be used to improve student achievement.

This year NAPLAN is online (with the exception of the Grade 3 writing test). NAPLAN Online is a ‘tailored test’ design that adapts to correct and incorrect student responses providing a more precise understanding of each student’s achievement. The online platform uses technology to make the test more engaging for students.

All students are expected to participate in the NAPLAN Online tests. Catch-up tests will be available for individual students who are absent on the test days. 

Support can be arranged for students with disabilities, if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks. If your child is eligible for support due to disability or exemption, you should discuss this with his/her teacher prior to the test. Parental consent is required before any support due to disability or exemption is granted. 

Students may be withdrawn from NAPLAN by their parent or carer. This is a matter for consideration by parents and carers in consultation with the principal. If, after consultation, you decide to withdraw your child, you must sign a student withdrawal form. 

Students are given opportunities to take part in practice tests at school. This enables them to know the types of questions they might be asked and what the test situation might look like.

The tests are undertaken during May and the results are usually sent to schools in late August and they are then passed on to parents. You will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The report will also show how your child performed in relation to national minimum standards. 

Below is the proposed timetable for the implementation of the tests at Anderson’s Creek

For more information about NAPLAN you can visit the NAP website at www.nap.edu.au.

If you have any questions or concerns about NAPLAN feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher, Terpsi Milliaresis (NAPLAN coordinator) or myself.

Brooke Eastwood brooke.eastwood@education.vic.gov.au NAPLAN coordinator 2022

Parent Payments for Camps and Excursions

Please see the attached Parent Payments overview for schools.

In line with this policy, we will be inviting parents to pay for activities that enhance and broaden the student experience and are considered above and beyond the standard curriculum. Simply put, camps and excursions will be provided on a user-pays basis and listed as an extra-curricular activity. Non payment will result in non attendance. (Please note we are aware of families experiencing financial hardship and no student will miss out on these optional activities where this is the case. Please see the office if this may apply to you.) 

Examples of extra curricular activities include: Athletics Day, Camps, Hoop time, class excursions.

From the Policy...

ENHANCING AND BROADENING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

• Schools can provide camps and excursions that enhance or broaden the schooling experience and are above and beyond what the school provides for free to deliver the Curriculum. These are provided on a user-pays basis and listed as an extra-curricular activity.
• Camps or excursions provided on a user-pays basis can still include curriculum-based learning experiences; however, schools must be able to deliver the standard curriculum requirements to a student who does not participate.
• Schools can invoice families for camps and excursions run on a user-pays basis.
• Schools should support families facing financial hardship to attend these activities.

GREEN THUMBS UPDATE:

The Green Thumbs have done a terrific job setting up recycling in the classrooms again. Thanks team!

Next weeks' Sustainability events… IT’S A BIG ONE!

Old Shoe Drive next Monday – Friday (21-25 March): We have joined up with TreadLightly to recycle as many rubber based shoes into shop, gym and playground flooring! How cool is that! So send in old sneakers, thongs, sports shoes to the boxes in each classroom. Let’s see if we can get 1000 pairs from ACPS! Which class will collect the most?.....A prize is up for grabs!

ACPS Happy Earth Day – Friday 25 March. Dress up as something you love about our Earth (animals, bugs, vegetables?!). Bring a gold coin to donate to a worthy cause. Plus a few more activities on the day. Parents – be inspired by this stop motion from Jackie French’s The Tomorrow Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGm6pJwKbY

Chickens are coming this week! – Please email your interest to join a weekend and holiday roster to take care of our new pets to Sarah.Bailey2@edumail.vic.gov.au

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow...

Sue Dyos