Event | Date |
Last Day - early dismissal | 20th December Year 6 Final Assembly starts at 12pm Early finish at 1pm |
Event | Date |
Student Free Day | 28th January |
Student's first Day | 29th January 2025 |
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.
Dear parents and carers,
Believe it or not, we are at the end of 2024 and our final newsletter is upon us.
On behalf of our school community, I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the staff and volunteers who work together each day to provide our children with the terrific learning opportunities they all benefit from.
To our teaching staff, thank you for your ongoing pursuit to improve our school, the care you show to our students and their families and your commitment to our profession.
To our Education Support admin staff, thank you for your helping nature, often as the first point of contact for our school community each day whilst at the same time making sure our school is organised, our First Aid needs are taken care of and our bills are paid.
To our Education Support classroom staff, thank you for the positive relationships you develop with students across the school, the support you offer their families and our teaching and learning programs.
Thank you to Bill Wong, our IT technician. We all breathe a little easier on Tuesdays and Thursdays knowing that you’re on hand to navigate whatever tech issues we may be facing.
Thank you to Jen Shovelar and Peta Forward, our Canteen Managers over 2024, for your organisation and flexibility over the year. Our students look forward to Fridays and the chance to enjoy a delicious lunch. Thank you for the work you have done in handing over to our new canteen manager, Meg Wheelhouse.
Thank you to our school crossing supervisor, Charles Stewart, for the way you look after us each morning and afternoon, rain, hail or shine.
To our School Council and members of our sub-committees, thank you for your time and expertise throughout the year. We appreciate your dedication, your feedback and your support of our school and the community.
To all of our parent and carer community, thanks for your ongoing support of our school. We are grateful for the different ways you contribute to each student’s learning, including supporting your child at home, volunteering in the classroom, on excursions, in the library and in other various ways.
Year Six Graduation
On Tuesday we had the opportunity to celebrate our Year Six students and their time at Aspendale Primary School with their families. It was wonderful to spend the evening acknowledging each child, sharing in the cohort’s enthusiasm through their dance and song and wishing them well as they embark on their next adventure as confident, kind clever young people. Thank you to our Year Six team, Leah Macdonald, Cait Fletcher, Jess Wood, Trent Dowling and Kylie-Anne Freshwater for their organisation of the evening. Thanks to staff and parents across the school who helped prepare the evening. We were fortunate to have the Hon. Tim Richardson attend our ceremony and the Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC made time the following day to mark each child’s achievement. We look forward to celebrating our Year Six students with our student community at our final assembly on Friday. This will begin at 12:00 with an early dismissal at 1:00.
Exiting Families
At Graduation we farewelled the following families. We thanked them for the various ways they have contributed to our school community, including serving on School Council, on sub-committees, volunteering in the canteen, on sports days, our school library, on excursions, in the classroom, as class-parent representatives, at working bees, at election day barbeques and in many other ways.
The Amos family | The Kerr family | The Rhind family |
The Benham family | The Krummel family | The Roberts family |
The Boult family | The Lea family | The Rockman family |
The Cipriano family | The Leek family | The Rutherford family |
The Clark family | The Lowndes family | The Schmidt-Ramsay family |
The Clavant family | The Marshall family | The Segal family |
The Cole family | The McHugh family | The Selzer family |
The Cronin family | The McIntosh family | The Shovelar family |
The Dymond family | The McMahonl family | The Storey family |
The Everts family | The Mill family | The Silver family |
The Gibson family | The Moor family | The Taylor family |
The Hasnat family | The Murray family | The Taylor family |
The Heins family | The Newton family | The Warren family |
The Hill-Bione family | The Nikitina family | The Willemsen family |
The Kerr family | The O’Brien family | The Ziagas family |
Christmas Sing Along
On Monday morning we enjoyed welcoming the community into the courtyard to join in our Christmas Sing Along. Our students did a wonderful job of embracing the moment and joining in their year level song and dance. Their was a possible Santa sighting during the staff number which made up for our lack of dance rehearsals. Thanks to Natalie Tideman for coordinating the event, our staff for preparing our students and our community for your support of the sing along.
Staff Movement
Earlier in the term I shared the movement of our teaching staff, with Emily Bourke and Jess Wood moving to new schools and Caitlin Beer and Corey Grindley taking a year’s leave.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mel McCoy, Geordan Anagnostou and Holly Farr, three of our Education Support Staff team members who finish with us this year. Mel is continuing her studies to become a teacher, Geordain is moving to McKinnon PS to begin his teaching career and Holly begins her teaching career as a relief teacher in 2025, hopefully often at Aspendale PS. I’d like to thank them for the connections they have built with the students they have worked with and their support of our teaching and learning programs.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge and thank the significant contributions our resident therapy dog, Dave, has made across the school during his time at Aspendale. Dave has helped many of us on days when we’ve needed a listening ear, he’s motivated us to practise our reading and he’s helped us to be a little braver. He is a well-loved staff member and will be missed by many in our school community.
Year One and Two Refurbishments
We have recently appointed a builder to do internal renovations of the Year One and Two spaces. The renovations will allow the spaces to be more flexible, with time for the classes to work individually whilst still having the option of opening up the space. We will achieve this by installing sliding doors, with inspiration taken from our Year 3 and 4 learning spaces.
The work will commence in Year One initially. This will mean our Year One classes will begin the year in our Chinese, STEM and Learning Enhancement Programs. All three of these programs have classrooms to work in next year.
We look forward to the work progressing with the aim of our Year One students moving back into their classrooms by the start of Term Two.
We will keep you updated on the works and when it will commence in the Year Two space.
2025 Curriculum Days
A reminder from previous newsletters of our School Council endorsed 2025 curriculum days:
-28th January - Staff return to school/Professional Learning to prepare for the school year
-7th March - Staff Professional Learning: Instructional Model Development
-30th June - Student-Led Conferences
-8th December - Professional Practice Day (2026 Planning)
TheirCare will again provide care for students who need it on these days.
This leaves us one curriculum day remaining which we will decide when to best utilise once 2025 commences.
TheirCare will offer a program on each of these days.
A Personal Thank You
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the school community for your support across the year. I feel fortunate to work at Aspendale Primary School, to lead our learning and teaching community and to share each day with community-minded people.
I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable summer holiday, spending time with the people who bring you joy. I look forward to working with you again in 2025,
Tom
Teaching Excellence Program 2024
Our school values the learning and development of our staff, and the positive impacts this has on student outcomes and school improvement.
We are proud to share that Matt Bird and Luke Nisbet recently successfully graduated from the Teaching Excellence Program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
This program enables skilled teachers to advance their capabilities and excellence in teaching.
Through the program, Matt and Luke grew their knowledge of teaching practice using the latest, evidence-informed research by inquiring into two areas of their practice, using the evidence of how students learn, generative AI, explicit teaching methods, student engagement tools and discipline-specific focussed learning. They were also inspired by national and international experts in the field of education through two dedicated conferences.
We look forward to working with Luke and Matt to implement their knowledge and skills from the program to continue to support student outcomes and wellbeing at our school.