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


A note from our Assistant Principal....

Hello everyone, 

Transition is underway here at Aspendale.

We employ many opportunities and strategies to support students experience a smooth transition from one year level to the next. There are whole school opportunities, small group strategies and individually tailored supports in place.

 

As part of our transition program, students will have at least two formal opportunities to visit the next year level learning spaces, the first being next Tuesday, where students will move with their current class into the next year level for the morning during “Up Day”.

In this session, student will be introduced to the learning routines, the learning space and gain insights into what will occur in that year level. It is natural for students to be feeling excited, nervous and curious about what will happen next year. They may have wonderings about what things will be different in their new class/year level and what will be the same.  These wonderings along with their experience during Up Day will allow you to have positive and constructive conversations with your child about what to look forward to in 2025.

 

Other elements of our transition program include social stories, incidental meetings between student and teacher and Student Support Group (SSG) meetings for selected students. Staff have been developing the classes for 2025 and they have spent many hours determining the classes. We use a range of measures including academic levels, social interactions, student friendship and professional judgement to find a mix that embraces, engages and challenges each student to grow. Student’s will meet their teacher and new classmates on Friday 13th December.  Our staff participate in a comprehensive handover, that will take place next week ahead of meet the teacher.

 

We have many staff available for support including our teaching team and education support, beyond this you can reach out to Jess Johnston in her role as Inclusion Leader, myself or Tom, if you ‘d like to discuss the transition needs of your child.

 

We are pleased to announce our 2025 teaching structure below. In announcing our teaching structure, I would also like to welcome Tammy Reid in a part time role to our 2025 teaching team. Tammy has been a regular relief teacher at Aspendale Primary School and we look forward to her working with our Year Three students next year.






Breakfast Club:

We will have our final Breakfast Club on Wednesday 11th December. We have been fortunate to have an exceptional level of support, coordination and service by our Community Leaders and other student volunteers across the year. Thank you to each of you for your contribution to building a sense of belonging through Breakfast Club. Thank you to Leah Macdonald for her support and coordination. We have also had the support of Chrissy, a community volunteer, who’s interest in our student’s nutrition led her to support our Breakfast Club program for most of this year. Thank you, Chrissy, for the time spent supporting our students and breakfast club.



A reminder that Monday 9th December is a student free day, staff will be undertaking their Professional Practice Day.


Thanks everyone,
Amelia 



A note from our Business Manager....

Update on School Saver Bonus

Items at Aspendale Primary School that the School Saver Bonus can be used for include:

  • Enhancement Program (including incursions and excursions)
  • Years 5 and 6 Interschool Sport
  • 2025 Year 6 Hoodie and Polo
  • Foundation to Year 4 Swimming Program (when announced)
  • Year 3 to Year 6 Camps (when announced)
  • Year 6 Graduation Celebrations (when announced)

If you wish to use your school saver bonus for any of these items, voucher/s will need to be allocated as a school activity.

Vouchers received at the school will automatically be applied to the Enhancement Program and Interschool Sport charges. If you DO NOT wish the vouchers to be used for these items, please email the office at aspendale.ps@education.vic.gov.au and we will make sure the funds are used to suit your preference.

As other activities are announced, permission forms will have an area allowing families to say if they want to use any allocated SSB vouchers towards it.

To use SSB for all other uniform items, vouchers need to be allocated to State Schools Relief.

Vouchers can be allocated any time up until 30th June 2025.

Please note, once a voucher has been allocated, it cannot be changed. However, from 1st July 2025, if it is not applied to any purchase, any funds remaining automatically sit as a credit against the student at the school.



Year 3 update: Science Discovery Dome incursion



Christmas Singalong - December 16

Due to concerns about the weather, we have a new time for this event!
We apologise for any inconvience caused.

Parent/Guardian Open Portolio session
9.00 - 9.25am

Courtyard Sing-a-long
9.30- 10.30am




iSea iCare - Marine Ambassadors Update

A final message from the amazing 2024 Marine Ambassadors. Thank you Chilli, Freja, Sophia, Harry, Harper and Sienna!

A message from our Community Coordinator



Respectful Relationships update: 16 days of Activism

Respectful Relationships at APS

As part of the 16 Days of Activism, Year 6 has been looking at what Respect means to us and what it looks like at APS and the wider community.

RESPECT IS... Respect is building healthy, equal relationships. It’s seeking enthusiastic consent. It’s promoting equality in schools and the wider community.  It’s making it clear that violence against women, and all forms of gender-based violence are unacceptable. 








This week in Reading and Wellbeing, Year 6 have also been discussing Women in the media.



Using KidsNews and BTN, Year 6 students in 6W and 6F, have been collecting data about the news stories they can find. 
Chilli in 6W commented that most stories were about violence or bad stuff happening to women. 
Audrey also commented that when we looked again, the only other stories we could find were those about sports. Specifically, the AFL and basketball which both have female teams. We also heard a little bit about the cricket league too!

Year 6 has been using the 16 days of Activism, coordinated by the RESPECT campaign to start challenging and engaging conversations with students. 



Alex Barnard - Music lessons



Luke Drohan – Guitar and Keyboard



Julia Davis - Singing lessons



Their Care announcements







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!



Aspistars

Enquire Now!


Aspendale Garden Village Shopping Center