Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Bunurong Peoples of the Kulin Nation where we gather, learn and grow at Aspendale Primary School.


We pay our respects to past and present Traditional Custodians and Elders of all nations,  and their ongoing cultural, spiritual and educational practices.  

We extend this respect to all Torres Strait Islanders and any First Nations peoples who learn or visit these grounds. We thank you for sharing and caring for the land we are learning on.


New version of the Acknowedgement of Country
Above is an updated Acknowledgment of Country that has been written in consultation with staff, students and members of our community. We recieved positive feedback and approval from our friends at the Bunurong Land Council in 2023. 



Aspendale Primary School commemorated Reconciliation Week.
We understand that for many members of the APS community, this is a challenging time.

Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.


Now more than ever, these conversations are important to be having. 

As a school, we commemorated the week by focusing on developing our sense of community and connections with a whole school event. 

Our School Captains made a video during camp to commemorate the week. It starts with our school's Acknowledgement of Country. You can watch the video here. 


Thank you to Gus, Surina, Warren & Edie for helping create the video. You all did an amazing job understanding the purpose of the week. 



Important Dates

Important dates: 2024 Calendar 
EventDate
Last Day - early dismissal20th December
Year 6 Final Assembly starts at 12pm
Early finish at 1pm


2025 Calendar 
EventDate
Student Free Day 28th January 
Student's first Day 29th January 2025


Week 3: A note from our Acting Principal....

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our Week 3 newsletter, it has been nice to see the sun out at different times this week.

 

This week, Year 5 students participated in the Mini Boss Lead It! incursion to launch their Who We Are  Inquiry. This unit is all about leadership in preparation for their roles and responsibilities in 2025. Our Year 6 students went on a walking excursion to Aspendale Gardens Primary School today to attend their PYPX. This is a great opportunity for our students to see another school’s PYPX in action ahead of out PYPX in Week 6 this term.

We are delighted to see the large number of students, parents/carers and staff joining in Running Club, followed by Breakfast Club on Wednesday mornings. What a wonderful community event!

 

Curriculum Day and Melbourne Cup Day Public Holiday:

Reminder that students are not required to attend on Friday 1st November as this is a curriculum day. Staff will be participating in professional learning about the Victorian Curriculum Version 2.0.

Monday 4th November is a school day at Aspendale Primary School in 2024. We have had families advise us that they are taking the opportunity to have a long weekend with their families with the Curriculum Day on Friday 1st November and the Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday 5th November.

Our teachers are finalising their planning for Monday and have modified the teaching and learning program given the advised absences. We also have many of our staff who have attended camps this year using time-in-lieu on this day.

Arrangements have been made for the teaching and supervision of all students on Monday. We would appreciate if you could let your child’s teacher know if they will be absent on Monday 4th November, so we can cater the learning for the students who will be present.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Worlds Teachers’ Day. I know students and families will take the opportunity to join me in sharing our gratitude to the exceptional teaching team here at APS.

 

Please continue reading the newsletter, as there is some exciting news regarding the boys relay team.

 

Enjoy the weekend ahead,

Amelia Busuttil

 



Week 3: Specialist update

What’s happening in the Specialist areas?

Natalie Tideman - Specialist leader

Term Four is an exciting time for the specialist areas as we reflect on a fantastic year and prepare ourselves for the festivities that the end of the year will bring.

VISUAL ARTS - Our Upcoming Art Show - Tues Nov 26th - 3:45pm - 6pm

On Tuesday 26th November we hold our biannual Art Show. This is a celebration of our students' work and achievements throughout the year. Each student has selected their favourite two-dimensional art piece to have framed and put on display. We will have some three-dimensional artwork being shown too. This will be a casual event where families can wander through at their leisure, after school anytime between 3:45pm and 6:00pm Tuesday. There will be some musical performances on Tuesday only. If you are not able to make it Tuesday, you may pop in on Monday afterschool to see our show. It is a gold coin donation to enter (per family). 


Students have been working hard to make a collaborative piece of artwork to sell through a silent auction on the night. Money raised will go towards purchasing an indigenous piece of artwork to help celebrate our 100 years of schooling at Aspendale Primary School, next year.

  • Art Show - Tues 26th November (Main night with music performances)
  • Gold coin donation entry
  • Silent Auction of students collaborative artworks
  • Lots of bright colour and a festive feel


SPORT

Congratulations to Oliver Wilson, Monty Irlam, Dominic Dezsenyi and Terry McNally (Yr 4) for placing second in the 9/10 Yrs  4 x 100m Circular Relay at the Southern Metropolitan Regional Track and Field Championships on Monday. They ran a courageous, fast race with swift baton changes, against super rivals, coming 4th at the last change. Terry’s strong last leg put them into 2nd and they have now qualified for the Victorian State Track and Field Championships on Wednesday 6th November. The boys have really bonded together as a team and are training hard. It’s the first time that Aspendale Primary School has ever had a team qualify through to the State competition. Go get em’ boys! We are all so very proud of the team. Another congratulations goes out to Tom Bennett (Yr 6) for placing 3rd at regionals in 800m. His race was fast and strong and he was only beaten by the number 1 and 3 ranked 800m runners in Victoria. Tom’s time for the 800m, places him in an elite field of 12/13yr old runners. 

Running Club

Running Club has kicked off with a bang this term, with over 200 students, teachers, parents and young siblings coming along in the first two weeks. Everyone is welcome to come and join in on Wednesday mornings from 7.45am - 8.40am followed by a well deserved breakfast from Breakfast Club from 8.30am.


Interschool Sport


Congratulations to our girls Basketball and Volleyball teams for playing at the recent Kingston Division Playoffs. All the girls played their best, had lots of fun and continued to learn about the sport in a highly competitive environment.


In Week 7, all students in Year 4 and 5 will put their preference in for Interschool Sport for Term 1, 2025 (Summer). This is a very exciting time especially for our year 4 students, as they are entering into their senior school primary years. 


Swimming Trials

In Week 7, I will be handing out Expression of Interest notices, for any students currently in year 3 - 5 who are confidently able to swim 50m in any stroke in a competitive setting. If your child is able to swim 50m confidently, and they are heading into year 3, 2025, please feel free to reach out via email katrina.scott@education.vic.gov.au and I will hand them out a notice also. Any questions regarding swimming can also be sent via email.


Football Boots

If any student has grown out of their footy boots, please feel free to donate them to Aspendale Primary School Sports Program for others to use on their footy and soccer journey. Just drop them off at my office.


PERFORMING ARTS

In Semester Two, we held lunchtime concerts for the first time at our school. These are completely voluntary. The students who put their name down, performed on the decking area outside the Performing Arts room, during the first half of lunch, to a group of interested students forming the audience. It has been wonderful to see students display confidence, risk-taking abilities and share their special talent with the school. Many students have sung popular songs, some have played a string instrument or played the keyboard and some have danced. Over the three concerts that we’ve held so far, the interest in watching these have grown. The student audience have been encouraging, supportive and cheered on their fellow performers. It has truly been a delight to be a part of this and see our students shine.


Year Four students have learnt the recorder for three years!

The Year Four students have continued to learn the recorder for a third year, whilst learning the ukulele this year. They continued their note reading ability and have learnt some tricky popular songs, such as Uptown Funk and We Will Rock You. We are proud of what they’ve achieved with an instrument that can, at first, feel difficult to play.


CHINA TOUR

We are so very thankful for the time, dedication and planning that went into making our recent school China tour a huge success. We know the students and staff who went on this trip had a terrific time. They made long lasting connections to their Chinese friends and our sister school in Nanjing. A big thank you goes to Ms Ma, Ms Fletcher, Mr Pearce and Mr Dowling for taking our students overseas, and caring for them while they were away from their families. In the following weeks, students who traveled to China will reflect on their experience through the school newsletter. 


Chinese University Student Delegation and Jiangsu Province Teacher Delegation

In Term Three, we were pleased to host two delegations to visit our school. They had a chance to listen to the presentation from Mr Pearce about our school curriculum and wellbeing, went on a school tour and observed lessons. They were impressed by our students' performance and raised many questions regarding the Victorian Curriculum and inclusive learning.


STEM
 

Miss Thomas has been running a digital technology unit this term in STEM. Students have been using the Bee Bots to create codes to give directions and move around obstacles. Also, in the middle and senior years students have used the program Scratch Junior and Scratch to create short stories, bringing characters to life through animations. 


This has been run in the students classrooms due to the Chinese and STEM room being used for the Year Six students. I’d like to thank Miss Thomas and Ms Ma for accommodating this change and running a highly successful ‘travelling’ specialist program.



PYPX Blog 2024



1 week to go!


We are days away from our PYP Exhibition Evening on Monday and our students are busy fine tuning their ideas and organising how they would like to present their ideas.

It is a very exciting time with A LOT or printing and hands on building happening. Check out this week's Acknowledgement of Country to see Mali's PYP action. 

It has been a very busy 6 weeks and we are very proud of what our students have created. The event will run from 4:00pm to 6:30pm on Monday the 11th of November. Year 6’s will be set up in the gym and in 6M and 6D classrooms. We warmly welcome the whole APS community to come and view the culmination of Year 6’s Primary School PYP journey.







 

PYPX Blog Week 4:  
Abi and Ollie F

Hi we are Abi and Ollie F both from 6W. Our inquiry unit is researching different issues. ‘How bee extinction will affect the food chain’ (Abi) and ‘An inquiry into how hydropower and how this could replace fossil fuels’ (Ollie F). We are counting down the days till PYPX… 11 sleeps! Powering ahead, this week is our making week and we have been busy creating 3D models, trifolds and games to name a few. 

We also voted on the design for our PYPX invitation. Well done to Anna and Surina on their winning design!




Who were our Guest Speakers this week?

We have also been lucky to have 3 guest speakers since our last blog! We are very thankful to Dans Bain, Mayor Jenna Davey Burns and Ms Fletcher. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come and chat with us.


Dans Bain 

An artist that advocates for respect and equality in the community and striving for a future free from violence. Dans spoke to Year 6 about her art piece called ‘The Lost Petition’ that was created in  2021 for International Womens’ Day. It was great to hear about the amazing work Dans Bain is doing in the community.

Cait Fletcher 

On Tuesday 28th of October Ms Fletcher, who is a great teacher from our school and has been here since 2016 spoke to us about how she became a teacher. She spoke about her passion for history, traveling and inclusion for all. She did a great job at sharing her life journey and how she ended up at APS. She also told us how she teaches and her style.



Mayor Jenna Davey Burns

Last week, the mayor came to speak to us about what it means to be the mayor. She talked about how you take action when you are the mayor and how you can get elected. She values input from kids and is very open about aspiring change. Jenna was very excited to hear all of our PYPX issues and offered solutions on how we can take action.


Year 6 Actions are happening…
Hudson and Gus have been proactive in getting in touch with 1millionTurtles and the Executive Director of the Tasmanian Devils.They were able to ask questions that they wanted to find out about these organisations.

Hudson was able to ask the webex meeting with 1millionTurtles how many different species of Freshwater Turtles there are in Australia and if the new net protectors are helping to keep the foxes away. He found out about Turtle Island in NSW and initiatives that are happening like TurtleSAT and extra road crossing signs in the hot spot areas.

Gus met with Kathryn McCann she answered all 7 of his questions! 
- What imapct will the Tassie Devils have on Tasmania?
- How will you chnage the negativity around the building of an expensive stadium?
- Does Tasmania really need a footy team? 






PYPX Blog Week 3:  Lucy C & Charli

Hi we are Charli and Lucy and we are going to tell you about this week of PYPX. This is our last week of doing research on our PYPX issues. Also this week we have been adding information to our padlets and brainstorming ideas. We drew a visual of our dream exhibition set up for what we want our exhibit to look like.



Guestspeakers: Lisa & Mr Powell

Lisa

Last Friday we were lucky enough to have Lisa McHugh visit the Year 6’s. She talked about how deaf/hearing impaired people communicate. She also shared her experience with how deaf/blind learn sign language - they either hold their hands and sign following the actions, you sign on their hands or their backs. Sometimes you might draw the outline of a room on someones back so that they can try to work out where you are going. It requires a lot of trust! 

Lisa shared her personal experience as someone operating in a hearing world when she is half deaf. Lisa drew a picture to show us what the ear canal looks like and which parts she can hear with and without aides. It was interesting to her how people can be born deaf and others develop it - even people with the same condition can hear and others cannot! We had a lot of questions about people who are deaf and deaf/blind students and how they dream.


Jack

On Tuesday we had Jack Powell come in to talk to us about his job as a firefighter and what he had to do to achieve that goal. Before he became a fighter he had to do an academic test, social skills test, beep test, an interview, training skills, saving skills and try on a uniform all before he could become a professional firefighter. Before he could become an official firefighter we have to do a ceremony with lots of marching. When he was a trainee firefighter they were very strict at the academy. They would yell at you because they know you could do better and to see if you could handle the pressure. He was also a teacher here at Aspendale for 11 years before creating his dream of being a firefighter. We thank you Mr Powell for coming and sharing what it is like to be a firefighter.

Change Makers, Action & More checklists

One of our lines of inquiry is a spotlight on change makers and individuals who are acting for change. We have been researching the Sustainable Development Goals as well as Kingston Council and Aspendale Beach Patrol. We have been trying to think of actions that we will take, I think my action will be ‘participation’ and Charli is thinking about ‘lifestyle choices.’ 

Each week we get a checklist that has everything to keep us on track, things like creating a blog, video and information that we can transfer to our padlet. We can also chat with our families about what we can do at home. We’ve been checking in with our mentors and coaches and we thank them for their time in helping us to have a successful PYPX!






PYPX Blog Week 2


Hi, I’m Niels S - a Grade 6 student, and we are doing PYPX which is an independent inquiry into something that interests us. 

My issue is exploring the challenges of a sustainable future and how we can support animals - so I have made a place on a website called Padlet where everyone can put their ideas down. 

We also got to make our own website that would be featured at the end of the school year’s PYP Exhibition.


On Wednesday, this week we hadtwo people visit us. The first guest was Sammy Vella, a relief teacher who is regularly seen at school with a passion for art. She is now a professional artist- who creates, exhibits and sells her art to our community. She showed us her amazing ocean artwork and the deep midnight zone’s creatures painted with care.You can visit her artwork here: https://www.sammyannstudio.com/shop-home 

  

The Second visit was by Ms Bourke, also from our school, and her dog Dave. Dave is a therapy dog which means he is trained to help support humans - he understands more things than the average dog. Ms Bourke also explained how whenever you see a dog there is a chemical reaction that makes you feel happier and calmer.

This week we’ve been focused on mentor meetings as well.

Our mentor is a teacher in the school who will schedule meetings with us, to talk a bit more about PYPX and get to know us more and the issues we’ve been doing.  Coaches are different from mentors. They are Year 6 teachers who help you with your PYPX learning, help us organise our week and with our own website.

Families in Year 6 have also been shared a few key facts of information to help their students at home:




Year 6 students have been experimenting with the Key Concepts when helping set up their research in Cornell notes.
We are asking:


PYPX Blog Week 1 


Hi were Evie , Keeley Isabel and Freya Year Six students from 6M & 6D. We are here to tell you what we have learnt and done this week for our PYPX. We hope you enjoy reading about what we have done this week! The four of us have decided on our issues

- An inquiry into the animals endangered due to climate change and their habitats and how it affects them (Keeley)

- An inquiry into the effects of social media on younger people (Issy N)

- An inquiry into how the climate affects the growth of different crops in different seasons & countries (Freya N)

- An inquiry into how fast fashion has an effect on the world (Evie)

 

We will be finding out more about the checklists we got, our padlet, google site and our coaches and mentors. 



Do you know why different liquids and solids do not mix together? (Willow) or How animals evolve based on climate change (Harry D) Why actors get paid more than nurses when nurses are saving people? (Molly) How fast does climate change happen? (Elod)

What are the causes of mutations? (Sean) and Why is yawning contagious? (Huddy)

This week as part of our PYPX journey we have been able to choose our coaches from the year 6 teachers and get a mentor from the other teachers from around the school that are interested in our topic. Our mentor and coaches will guide us through PYPX. We will check in with our coaches every few days and we will check in with our mentors only a few times throughout the 6 weeks.


Padlet and Google Site

This week for PYPX we have been working on all sorts of things but something we have been focusing on in every session is our Padlet, our Padlet is like a fun way to brainstorm all your ideas, add links to websites, images and anything else we can think of. We are also working on a google site to make a blog about what we have been doing in our sessions.






PYPX Blog Week 2


Hi, I’m Niels S - a Grade 6 student, and we are doing PYPX which is an independent inquiry into something that interests us. 

My issue is exploring the challenges of a sustainable future and how we can support animals - so I have made a place on a website called Padlet where everyone can put their ideas down. 

We also got to make our own website that would be featured at the end of the school year’s PYP Exhibition.


On Wednesday, this week we hadtwo people visit us. The first guest was Sammy Vella, a relief teacher who is regularly seen at school with a passion for art. She is now a professional artist- who creates, exhibits and sells her art to our community. She showed us her amazing ocean artwork and the deep midnight zone’s creatures painted with care.You can visit her artwork here: https://www.sammyannstudio.com/shop-home 

  

The Second visit was by Ms Bourke, also from our school, and her dog Dave. Dave is a therapy dog which means he is trained to help support humans - he understands more things than the average dog. Ms Bourke also explained how whenever you see a dog there is a chemical reaction that makes you feel happier and calmer.

This week we’ve been focused on mentor meetings as well.

Our mentor is a teacher in the school who will schedule meetings with us, to talk a bit more about PYPX and get to know us more and the issues we’ve been doing.  Coaches are different from mentors. They are Year 6 teachers who help you with your PYPX learning, help us organise our week and with our own website.

Families in Year 6 have also been shared a few key facts of information to help their students at home:




Year 6 students have been experimenting with the Key Concepts when helping set up their research in Cornell notes.

We are asking:


PYPX Blog Week 1 


Hi were Evie , Keeley Isabel and Freya Year Six students from 6M & 6D. We are here to tell you what we have learnt and done this week for our PYPX. We hope you enjoy reading about what we have done this week! The four of us have decided on our issues

- An inquiry into the animals endangered due to climate change and their habitats and how it affects them (Keeley)

- An inquiry into the effects of social media on younger people (Issy N)

- An inquiry into how the climate affects the growth of different crops in different seasons & countries (Freya N)

- An inquiry into how fast fashion has an effect on the world (Evie)


We will be finding out more about the checklists we got, our padlet, google site and our coaches and mentors. 



Do you know why different liquids and solids do not mix together? (Willow) or How animals evolve based on climate change (Harry D) Why actors get paid more than nurses when nurses are saving people? (Molly) How fast does climate change happen? (Elod)

What are the causes of mutations? (Sean) and Why is yawning contagious? (Huddy)

This week as part of our PYPX journey we have been able to choose our coaches from the year 6 teachers and get a mentor from the other teachers from around the school that are interested in our topic. Our mentor and coaches will guide us through PYPX. We will check in with our coaches every few days and we will check in with our mentors only a few times throughout the 6 weeks.


Padlet and Google Site

This week for PYPX we have been working on all sorts of things but something we have been focusing on in every session is our Padlet, our Padlet is like a fun way to brainstorm all your ideas, add links to websites, images and anything else we can think of. We are also working on a google site to make a blog about what we have been doing in our sessions.



China Tour reflection blog

Over the coming weeks, students who were on the 2024 China Tour wil share their memories of their adventures.
Accompanied by four teachers, 21 students visited Beijing, our sister school in Nanjing, Lianyungang and Shanghai from the 8th-21st September 2024.

Warren- Homestay in Nanjing
We were 2 of the 21 students that had the opportunity to travel to China! Part of the experience was to do a 3 day homestay with a family from our sister school, Xuri Jingcheng Primary.

Many of us parted ways and went to our family with a friend or two. We were lucky enough to join the family as a three. The host families took us shopping, to eat dinner and meals, to play at the arcade, take us to school and we set off fireworks! Some got to eat at McDonalds or at a hot pot/grill buffet.

Also, in Nanjing, some of us saw each other at the zoo or at shopping centers. The families were so kind to us, they paid for our meals, games at the arcade and made breakfast for us. The WeChat group chat with the teachers went a bit crazy, with Mr Dowling and Mr Pearce putting in hashtags before some words and some of us were waking up with many notifications from WeChat.

On the last day, when we arrived at Nanjing Station for the fast train, some of the host families cried and said they would miss us. Ms Fletcher also gave us a hug. Homestay was arguably one of the best experiences on the China tour.





Sam - Disneyland Shanghai

On our last full day in Shanghai, we went to Disneyland. We arrived at 10:00 and we got our tickets then we entered through the gate and we were in. The first ride we went on was the buzz lightyear ride and we shot the aliens while the ride was going then we went to the Disney Castle and had a pretzel and watched the parade then we went on the Zootopia ride and that was our favorite place to go because the ride was fun amd the line to it was interactive. And my favorite was the 3D planet ride because it made you feel like a bird.

Ms Fletcher added: We spent the whole day walking around as a group at Disneyland. It was lovely to spend time celebrating how much everyone had grown in China, sharing homestay experiences, favourite snacks and hanging out with the group. Disneyland was a lot of fun too- especially as Sam mentioned, the Zootopia ride. 


  



Marcus, Hudson and Willem

Hi I’m Marcus, I’m Hudson and I’m Willem and we went to China this year, we are talking about the people we met on the trip. There were a lot of people that we met along our ventures…. 

Here are a collection of those people: 

Without their help, our trip would have been very different. We would have not known what to do, we may still be waiting on the roads of Beijing waiting for Chandler’s bus. 


Chandler was one of the people we met who was our bus driver in Beijing. He was our favorite person throughout the whole trip, we don't know what his actual name is though. He was a bit of a reckless driver but it was always fun. Chandler did not know his name was Chandler though. Ms Fletcher wanted to state that Chandler was the favourite of many students during the trip and most morning students would be eager to get on the bus to stay Hi.  

Lily was the Beijing tour guide. She was the first person we met and she was super helpful!! When we went to all the places in Beijing she helped us get through security and sometimes cut the line, she also knew the best places to eat. She names all her bus drivers “Chandler” because she learned all her English from Friends, the show and her favorite character was Chandler.

Wendy was one of the reasons the trip could happen! Wendy is the coordinator of the trip and she met us in China. She was super helpful throughout the whole trip and helped us organize all the tour guides and bullet train trips.While we were in China, it was Wendy’s birthday.

Carol was our Shanghai Tour guide and she was really nice. When we were in Shanghai, there was a LOT of rain! Carol made sure that the bus went the right way. When the rain got really back, Carol took us on a bus tour of the town. Carol loved to see what we bought in Disneyland- she was impressed with the Finn’s Capybara but she couldn't understand why Ms Fletcher bought a Mulan purse- she thought it was for kids! 

Terry or better known as Tezza was Wendy’s helper. He met us In Beijing and came with us to some of our fun places. We got to speak to Terry most mornings when we had breakfast. Terry came to back to Australia before us and we hope to see him at Aspendale.

Finn & Oli

Hi Im Finn and Im Oliver and 8 weeks ago we went to China

We are here to tell you about the school trip in Nanjing. We went to our sister school, Xuri Jingcheng Primary school.  Some of the classes we had were Maths, Music, Art and we had our own room, Sport class, and also a Morning exercise class

Our Sister School is bigger than we thought. It is tall - there are four levels for each building. When we arrived every morning the teachers met us in the conference room. We kept out things in there. We would then got to different classes.

While we were at our sister school, it was exceptionally hot. All day everyday we were sweaty! We couldn’t believe that they could fo their daily exercises in the heat. 

 

Morning Exercises

At the very start of the first day at the school we had to go outside and we did a lot of different exercises. Some were squats, some were high kicks and we marched on the spot. We ran! We also danced including some ballerina moves. It was very hot and some of the students from the sister school were in long pants! And then we finished and went to our first lesson.

Maths Class 

When we did Maths class we did fractions! We stood up and answered some questions. We broke stereotypes that Australian people are not as good as Chinese students!

Music Class

In music we did a hand clap to a Chinese song. Some of their students performed and some of ours did too.

Sports Class

When we did sports it was sooooooo hot we did running and then had to pull people on this this tire with wheels and then they pulled us. We also did dodgeball but then it rained we went in to the gym and did skipping.

Art Class

We had an art class as well. During it we were painting these thin sheet things with a strange blue liquid that smelt very strange, then you put a frame thing on the sheet, applied the blue liquid and then blow dried it then we finally hung it up.

Ceremony

We wore traditional robes, it was the year 1s graduation and Mr Pearce put a red dot on our forehead (for intelligence) and a leaf with water on it (to clean our mind) then we went up the front and wrote a Chinese character which was person and ment that you were 

Performance

We had to wear these robe things and we went down to the gym to prepare, our homestay families were there and then we perform ed our dance and sang the song "One Love” and we finished it and then we back to our conference room. Mr Johnston was a suprise guest!











 
Shopping: Warren, Lucy & Surina

We were 3 of the 21 people that went to China this year! In China, we had so many opportunities to do some shopping! 

Many of us spent our money on food, souvenirs or gifts for their family and friends. In Beijing, we went to a shopping strip called Wangfujing. There were portable shops and there was a really cool 3D screen too!

Also in Beijing we went to a place called Qian Men where we went shopping crazy and bought so much of a lolly called white rabbit which tastes of condensed milk. Ms Fletcher even bought a white rabbit tote bag. We also bought lots of customized hand creams which were based on your birthday! Also Ms Fletcher got a specially made fan with her Chinese name Fang Kai-lin on the fan!

 

 A lot of us also saved up our money to splash it on buying merch from Disneyland. In Shanghai, we went to an underground market.This meant we had to barter with them to get the cheapest price if you wanted to save a lot of money! Some of us were amazing and bartering - Frankie, Lucy and Surina were bartering champs! Mr Dowling did well too, getting a 900 yuan suitcase to 150 yuan.

Everything was so much cheaper there when you converted it back to English, because the cost of living was a lot lower than in Australia. For example, a 600ml bottle of Coke at a store was 4 yuan (around 85 cents). Shopping was so fun!!!


   

Language: Frankie & Marcus

Hi, I'm Marcus and I’m Frankie. We are talking to you about the Chinese language. We both went to China and picked up a lot of language and we would like to share some with you. One of the most helpful in home stay was ni hao which means hello and Xie Xie which means thank you.  There are over 50,000 different characters in the Chinese language. Did you know that Mandarin Chinese is widely considered to be the hardest language to learn in the world?

On the bus we always practiced a lot of words, the words we were practicing were really? How are you? Why? You’ve got this! and  too expensive!  Every day we would hop on a hopefully you learned some stuff about the Chinese language. 

   
The Great Wall: Isabella, Finn & Audrey

Hi my name is Audrey and I went to China over 5 weeks ago and on the first full day we were there we went to the Great Wall of China. While everyone was up at the first tower,  Ms Ma and I were stopping at every step but the end result and view out of this world. 

 

 Hi, I'm Finn…. I remember the day that I woke up. I was thinking that this was going to be one of the best days of the trip and it definitely was.

 When we were walking up the Great Wall it was incredibly steep, but we kept climbing. the school gave us these yellow T shirts that said Aspendale Primary School in Chinese. 

When we finally got to the top it was amazing, there were different spots to look out and take photos but because we were so high up that when you looked out it was just clouds and whiteness. Then we finally started to make our way down and it felt way more steep than climbing up!

Hi I’m Isabella and a few weeks ago I went to China and it is definitely a trip that I will never forget. The first day in China we went to the Great Wall and I was really excited since I have wanted to go to the Great Wall since I was seven years old! 

When we arrived at the Great Wall, nearly all of us were busting to go to the toilet and when it was my turn I slipped on my back and hit my elbow on the floor and it still hurts 5 weeks later :( but at least the teachers got me an ice cream. Then we started climbing the Great Wall and at first it seemed kinda easy and then it just got harder and harder but it was definitely worth it since the view was amazing!!!! 

And it was so cloudy that in every photo that we took the background was white- as though we were hanging above the clouds. On the way down, Ms Ma and I, where really slow and when everybody was at the bottom we were still at the top. But when we finally got down we did some shopping and then went back to our hotel. This was definitely one of the best days of my life that I will never forget.




WEEK 2



Mali, Lucy and Adele:

We were lucky enough to be part of the 21 students (and 4 teachers) that went to China for 2 weeks,  just before the school holidays.

When we arrived in Beijing we met our tour guide and bus driver Lily and Chandler. They took us to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and The Temple Of Heaven. We also went shopping in old town - we even went on a rickshaw! We all had a great time and loved seeing the amazing buildings and culture of Beijing.

We then made our way to Nanjing where we met our host families and visited our sister school! With the family we enjoyed experiencing the different activities and how ordinary Chinese people live.  We even went to school for a few days - taking part in the morning exercise routine. It was VERY hot while we were visiting our sister school but we still enjoyed all of our classes. 
  



We then made it to Lianyungang where we went to the beach and the famous monkey king mountain where we saw real monkeys. We also saw the school there and had a day with another host family. 

 Lastly we went to Shanghai.  We saw the Bund, bartered at a market and went to Disneyland! Where we all had lots of fun on the rides and the amazing experience. We even had two Birthdays during our tour in China. After Disneyland, it was time to go home with the experience of a lifetime!




Anna, Surina & Abi: Food and the Bund
  

In China we had so many different foods, each city had their own cooking style, so each new city meant more lovely dishes to try. 

We often ate from a lazy susan with big tables for everyone to sit and share food. We all became experts at using chop sticks!
Ms Fletcher (and all the teachers) were so impressed with how open APS cherubs were to trying new foods! For breakfast, we had buffets in most hotels - we still all chose to eat Chinese food! 

In Beijing, we tried the famous peking duck pancake. The pancake is a very thin wrap which you then put the duck, sauce and cucumber in. It was very good. In Nanjing, their famous dish is blood vermicelli and they are also very famous for their seafood. In Linuangang, they had a sticky pumpkin dish which was a mix of roasted and grilled pumpkin dipped in this sticky sweet water that made it freeze like ice magic. In Shanghai, we had lots of soup dumplings and spring rolls. Soup dumplings are very popular in Shanghai and they are delicious! They were quite hard to eat because they were filled with soup!

   
 

The Bund
The Bund is a mix of Chinese and French architecture! Nearby, is the French quarter which is where many of the French lived in Shanghai. The architecture looked like what you would find in Europe! At night, it was all lit up and very colorful with bright lights. Some of the students said it looked like a 'cyberpunk' future - it was pretty cool to see. We went on the bridge and took lots of pictures of the tallest building in Shanghai and the river in the background. From some of the hotel rooms, you could see the Bund.

    



Art update: A collection of APS artwork



Garden Club update Week 3



Their Care announcements







Community announcement: Happy Diwali



Aspistars

Enquire Now!


St. Brigid's/St. Louis Cricket Club.




Our program is unique to other local clubs as we are the only Sunday morning program in the broader area, thus offering an alternative for those who have Saturday committments.

We have many players at our club already who are past or present students of APS and we look forward to welcoming more!



Luke Drohan – Guitar and Keyboard



Peter O'shea - violin and viola



Julia Davis - Singing lessons