Tjuringa

Term 4 Week 10


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


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. 



A note from our Principal....

Dear parents and carers,

It’s the penultimate week of the school year and our students have been finishing off their learning whilst reflecting on their achievements across the year.

 

 It’s been lovely to see our school community enjoying the connections they have forged throughout 2024.

 

Student Movement

Tuesday was the statewide transition day for our Year Six students moving off to secondary schools next year. It has been terrific hearing of their experiences in their new environments and we are proud of the way they are representing themselves.

We welcomed our 2025 Foundation students in their new classes on Tuesday. There was lots of excitement as they made their teddy bear crowns and shared smiles with their teacher and new classmates. They were extra keen to spend time with their Year Six buddy and join in our Teddy’s Bear picnic with their family.

At the same time, the rest of the school spent time in the next year level. This allowed them to familiarise themselves with the space and some of the routines. On Friday, each student will spend the morning in their 2025 classroom with their teacher. I’d like to thank our whole school community for their work in supporting our transition process.

 

2025 Student Leaders

Our student leadership process has concluded for another year and it was a privilege to spend time with our Year Five students to share their leadership positions for next year. Throughout the process, each student has reflected on their strengths and how they would like to grow as a leader in 2025.

At Friday’s assembly, we will have our current captains pass the school and house flags onto our future captains. At a 2025 assembly, we look forward to presenting all of our Year Six leaders with their badges in front of our school community.

 

Christmas Sing Along

Our Chirstmas Sing Along is scheduled for Monday. With the forecasted heat, we have moved this event to the morning. Families can take the opportunity to view their child’s portfolio in the classroom before the sing along commences at 9:30. We apologise for any inconvenience with the change in time.

 

End of Semester Reporting

On Wednesday, our end of semester reports will be published via the Sentral Parent Portal. These reports contain your child’s progress over the semester against the curriculum, a personal learning comment your child’s teacher and the final round of continuous reporting from both your child’s classroom and specialist teachers. I would like to thank our teaching staff for their thorough reporting practices across the year, throughout the seven rounds reporting they have delivered.

 

Professional Practice Day

Staff utilised their professional practice day on Monday to prepare our teaching and learning programs for 2025. Next year’s annual implementation plan will see our school look to increase the consistency of both our instructional practices and learning routines. The work our teaching staff completed on Monday have placed us in a great position to further this agenda next year.

100th Birthday Celebrations

Later in the newsletter, you will find a flyer that lets you know of our first two 100th birthday events next year. The first is our annual Night on the Green in Term One and the second is a 100th birthday celebratory assembly in Term Two. We look forward to working with the community to mark our milestone year.

 

Enjoy your weekend,

Tom

 

 



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




Year 6 week of celebrations!

What a week we have had in Year 6!  On Tuesday, many of our students headed off to their 2025 Secondary Schools as part of the statewide transition day. Year 6  has been working away on their Who We Are inquiry, which supports students with this transition. It has been lovely to hear how they learnt even more tips and tricks from their future schools.

Big Day Out - Bounce
On Wednesday, Year 6 students celebrated their Big Day Out at Bounce. This was the first time APS has been to Bounce for the Year 6 celebration and it was really amazing.  Thank you to all of the Year 6 students for a fantastic day!



Beach Swimming
Today, we had a double Beach Swimming session in the ocean. It was a lot of fun. Thank you to Mr Dowling for organising the event and have fun tomorrow Year 5!





Buddies afternoon
After lunch today, we had our final "official" Buddies session. We will still be hanging out with them next week but it was nice to have a chilled out session with them today. Our Buddy program is something that the Year 6s (and Foundation students) really treasure and as the year winds down, there have been lots of reflecting on the time we have all spent together. 





And the fun continues next week with Eng of Year Sing-a-long, Graduation, Big Day In and our last assembly. So many more celebrations to come!

~ Year 6 team 

100 Years save the date



Surina taking action

Surina in Year 6 is about to take action to help a cause she is very passionate about.

A message from our Canteen.

Merry Christmas and a BIG thank you from the Canteen team!

 As the new Canteen Manager I would like to take the opportunity to thank the incredible work that has been done by all the volunteers this year.

Although I have only been learning the ropes for a few weeks now it is clear to me that the canteen community is made up of very dedicated people from all walks of life who band together to put smiles on the faces of the many students and families who utilise the canteen. Without these volunteers who give up so much of the time and energy the canteen would not operate.

In particular I would like to thank Jen and Peta who have kept the canteen going with love and dedication. They have been an incredible support to me in the handover and I know their hard work is appreciated by the school community. Thanks also to all those volunteers who will not be rejoining us next year. Many of them will be embarking on new adventures as they prepare their APS graduates for high school. Best of luck and many thanks.


This opens the door for othersto join the canteen team! Thanks to all those who have sent back expressions of interest. It was a great response but it is never too late to jump onboard. Over the next few weeks I will be looking to get together a roster for 2025. If volunteering at the canteen is something you have considered please do not hesitate and reach out. We will be opening canteen Thursday and Friday in 2025 but volunteers are essential to make this happen. It is a welcome supportive environment and the kids love seeing familiar faces working in the kitchen. No experience necessary. Just a willingness to pitch in and have fun serving the sweetest customers in Aspendale!

Volunteer forms can be collected from the school office or if you have any questions please reach out to Meg at canteen@aspendaleps.vic.edu.au

Merry Christmas and have a safe holidays.



Luke Drohan – Guitar and Keyboard



Julia Davis - Singing lessons



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!



Their Care announcements







Alex Barnard - Music lessons