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. 

Good afternoon families,

House Cross Country:

It was a fantastic morning seeing the students from Years 3 -6 dressed in their house colours for cross country. I’m sure all of Aspendale heard the cheers coming from the supporting students as they cheered on the runners as they made their way around the 1km, 2km, or 3km track.

Thank you to Ms Scott for organizing the event, and to all the parent/carer volunteers and staff for supporting in various roles around the cross country track.  

Curriculum Day: Friday 7^th March:

Last reminder that tomorrow is a Curriculum Day, students are not required to attend school. Staff will be undertaking professional learning regarding the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0, with a focus on explicit instruction.

 International Women’s Day:

International Women’s Day is on 8^th March. This year’s theme is Accelerate Action, with the aim to emphasize the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres. It is an important opportunity to pause and recognise the achievements of women across our society and within our school community. We are fortunate as a school community to experience the leadership, expertise and wisdom from women across our staff, parent community and student body.

NAPLAN:

Our Year Three and Five students begin the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) next week. They will begin with the Writing assessment on Wednesday and then complete the Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy assessments over the following days. NAPLAN is a great opportunity for our students to showcase their learning and we then use the school results to reflect on the effectiveness of our teaching and learning programs.

Swimming – Foundation to Year 4:

In the coming weeks, our Foundation to Year 4 students will participate in an intensive swimming program at Mentone Aquatic. Year 3 and 4 students will participate in week 9 (24^th March – 28^th March) and Foundation to Year 2 in week 10 (31^st March – 4^th April). If you are wanting to volunteer to assist at the swimming program, please ensure you have followed the Volunteer Induction Process and have a valid Working with Children check.

Enjoy the long weekend,

Amelia

Aspendale Primary School is a proud Respectful Relationships school.

Respectful relationships education is part of the Victorian Curriculum and delivered by all Victorian government schools. It supports students to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for respectful relationships, and helps to build respect and equality across the entire school community.

Research tells us that providing respectful relationships education at school can lead to positive impacts on students’ academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour and relationships.

Our school uses the Department of Education’s evidence-based teaching and learning resources to teach our students about Respectful Relationships from Foundation to Grade 6. 

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships resources have 8 topics that teach students about emotional literacy, personal and cultural strengths, resilience, problem-solving, stress-management, help-seeking, gender norms and stereotypes and positive gender relations.

If you have any questions about Respectful Relationships education, you can contact Leah Macdonald and visit the Victorian Government’s Respectful Relationships page: https://www.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships

Topic summaries

Topic 1: Emotional Literacy helps students to learn how to be aware of, understand and use information about their own emotions and the emotions of others.

Topic 2: Personal and Cultural Strengths helps students to learn how to recognise and understand their own and others’ strengths and positive qualities, and how to identify how the values and strengths they learn from their family and culture help them to treat others with respect.

Topic 3: Positive Coping supports students to develop language around coping, reflect on their coping strategies and build a range of positive coping strategies.

Topic 4:  Problem-solving helps students to learn a range of problem-solving techniques to manage personal, social and ethical dilemmas. 

Topic 5: Stress Management supports students to consider the causes of stress and develop a range of self-regulation and coping strategies they can draw on to manage stressful situations.

Topic 6: Help-seeking helps students to develop skills and knowledge for peer support, peer referral and help-seeking.

Topic 7: Gender norms and stereotypes helps students consider the influence of gender norms on attitudes, opportunities and behaviour, and to learn about gender equality, inclusion, human rights and the importance of relationships that respect people of all genders.

Topic 8 Positive gender relationships helps students develop an age-appropriate understanding of gender-based violence, safe and unsafe behaviours and consent. Students also develop self-care, peer support and help-seeking skills they can use in response to situations involving gender-based violence.

Our 4R’s Leaders - Harry K & Mike 

Our Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships Leaders are currently working on Harmony Week. They are creating a book that will be put together from all of APS. 

It was lovely to see our House colours out in fine force today at our House Cross Country. Students from accross Years 3,4,5 and 6 wore a variety of shirts - some even have a koala printed on them! They all did a fantastic job at running the course. 
Our House Captains are hoping to work with the RR leaders  as we develop our students capabilities and advocate for First Nations awareness at APS.