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,

We have appreciated having many visitors to our school over the last week, at both our centenary celebratory assembly and our Grandparents afternoon for Education Week. Our students enjoy sharing their school and their learning with their family and our community and we thank everyone for making time to visit our school.

Education Week

This week is Education Week and we kicked it off at Aspendale PS with our traditional visit from grandparents and other family members. Our students took the opportunity to give their visitors a tour of the different learning spaces across the school, share their learning and have some fun together.

On Tuesday morning, we hosted a group tour of prospective families. It is always a privilege to tour future families. They regularly remark on the positive behaviour that enables learning in each of the classrooms, the high-quality teaching practices we observe and the buildings and grounds that our students enjoy each day.

2026 Enrolments

If you have a child you intend to enrol at our school in 2026, please contact Judy Prosser, our Enrolments Officer, at the school office for an enrolment pack. If you know of people in the community looking to enrol at our school, please direct them to our office. Enrolments have now opened.

100th Celebration Assembly

It was a special afternoon at our school on Friday with our centenary celebratory assembly. We welcomed past students, staff and community members and it was wonderful to tour them around our school and hear their memories of what the school was like when they were here. The weather allowed us to gather in the courtyard with many generations of Aspendale PS community members present and celebrate the place we have all spent time learning over the past 100 years. During the assembly we heard from our local member, the Hon. Tim Richardson, past staff and students, Phil Anthony, Heather James and Sue Cullen, and we enjoyed performances from our band and choir. After the assembly, many people enjoyed seeing familiar faces in the exhibition held in our school gym.

Special events like last Friday require vision and extensive planning. We are very appreciative of everyone involved and the different roles they played. I would like to make a special mention of Sarah Cornell for her extensive work in the lead up to the event and on the day.

Year Four Camp

Our 2025 camping program is underway with our Year Four students heading to Camp Rumbug near Foster. I enjoyed visiting them yesterday afternoon and they were enjoying their first afternoon of activities, including the giant swing, aeroball, mud run and raft building. Everyone was well set up for two more days of fun and we look forward to welcoming them back tomorrow afternoon.

Olive Harvest

On the weekend, several families and Stela Matthews completed our second olive harvest. There was a fantastic community feel across the morning and 80kg of olives were picked. These will now be processed and made into olive oil. Thanks to Robyn Craig for her coordination of this event and to the families who attended on Sunday.

Enjoy the rest of the week,

Tom

What’s been happening in our Specialist classes?

Ms Tideman & Mrs Pietrasik - STEM
Mrs Hale and Ms Tideman - Visual Arts
Ms Matthews and Ms Tideman - Performing Arts
Mrs Scott - Physical Education 
Ms Ma - Chinese

Please peruse the following pages to discover what we’ve been doing.

Thank you to our choir members

Our APS Choir have been rehearsing a lot of late, stretching their vocal ranges to sing the Defying Gravity song amongst others on Mother’s Day, the 100th year anniversary assembly, singing the catchy Happy Birthday song written by our talented Stela Matthews and are working towards other performances such as NAIDOC Week in Term Three and Father’s day. Choir members, your dedication and enthusiasm towards participating in our rehearsals have been outstanding and you have improved so much as a group.

Finding the spark! - Our upcoming school musical

Our senior students have been rehearsing in lesson time as well as some shorter lunchtime sessions for our school musical, Finding the Spark! A big thank you goes to Ms Matthews for writing the script and directing the show thus far, and also to the Year 5 and 6 students for being wonderfully committed to their parts and for working hard to gain confidence in their roles.

Performing Arts lessons

We are enjoying music, dance and drama in our Performing Arts room and have had many performance opportunities in the classroom too!

Foundation is working on distinguishing high and low notes through listening to various sounds and notes.

Year 1 have been learning and analysing the words to Puff the Magic Dragon as well as listening and recognising ascending and descending melodies.

Year 2 are beginning to make really clear sounds on their recorder and are reading notes on the 5 line staff.

Year 3 are zooming through our recorder book and exploring First Nations stories and dancing.

Year 4 are beginning to form chords on the ukulele and discovering songs and dances from around the world – including Eurovision!

Year 5 and 6 are well on the way to learning their music, steps and lines for the upcoming musical.

We saw many grandparents becoming risk-takers and “having a go” at learning the ukulele and dancing the Zorba during our Education Week activities. Thank you to those students that helped their special guest create a smile of achievement.

Saskia Deacon-Craig has been successful in gaining a role as well as being an ensemble member in the Sprout production of Alice in Wonderland. Congratulations, Saskia!

APS Band with Ms Matthews

It is wonderful to hear and see many keen band members attending rehearsals and performing recently. They put on a great show singing and playing Johnny Be Good at our 100 year anniversary assembly.

Visual Arts

The history of art and the world - taught through portraiture

Throughout the end of Term Two and half of Term Two, our talented artists have been working hard each week to finish their portraits. Each artwork has taken a minimum of five weeks. We are so proud of the hard work they put in. Creating a portrait is never easy and as teachers, it is a joy to see your child improve their skill each year.

Foundation - textured mixed media portraits

Year 1 - Mixed media Royal portraits

Year 2 - Portraits inspired by African masks

Year 3 - Portraits inspired by Sandra Silzberweig made using foam prints

Year 4 - Mixed media portraits

Year 5 - Pop art inspired portraits

Year 6 - Portraits of a person who inspire you, made using Magiclay and mixed media

Thank you to Mrs Hale for coordinating this program and for sharing the students' artistry skills with our community each week in our newsletter.

Thank you to our Visual Arts leaders who assist us with the runnings of the art room and especially for their assistance in helping us to hang student artwork in the school. We couldn’t do it without you!

Jaq’s art has made it into the Archibald Prize again!

A local artist, Jaq Grantford, who originally started the Art Smart business at Aspendale Primary School, has had her portrait of the Kidman sisters selected and hung in the Archibald Prize competition in Sydney. Jaq has gained success internationally in recent years and we are very proud of her achievements.

Practicing as an artist is about patience and resilience. Each mark made, is a lesson in adapting to change and finding beauty in imperfection.

STEM

It has been our absolute pleasure to bring the APS students exciting practical lessons and investigations this year. We hope students have enjoyed these activities.

Physics news

Last term, some hard-working Year Six students in 6T won the classroom competition, where students were to attach student-constructed wind turbine blades to a motor and then attach the model to a multimeter to see how much electricity was produced. Over the Year Five and Six cohort the pressure was high as many students scored similar results initially. In the final week of the project, the four students in 6T more than doubled the original electrical output, by the remainder of the Year 5 & 6 students. Congratulations to: Elke, Maddi, Abby and Emily. Second place was awarded to Bree, Olivia and Scarlet.

Chemistry - The properties of materials and chemical science

Foundation Students are learning about the properties of materials and are conducting scientific tests to learn how they behave. Students will soon make some mixtures of their own, such as slime using cornstarch.

Year 1 & 2 Students are learning about the properties of materials and are focussing on physically changing materials. They have built a variety of structures, such as a boat that floats, designed and built an object using known materials. Later in the term, we will move onto chemical science where they will investigate jelly, popcorn and basic lava lamps.

Year 3 & 4  This term, in Year Three and Four STEM classes, students are learning about packages and the need to protect and preserve contents while being economical, attractive for marketing purposes and preferably having minimal environmental impact. Students are learning how to manipulate paper and create new shapes to make it stronger. They are developing an understanding of the design of packages, properties of materials and the choice of appropriate materials to use.

Year 5 & 6  Students are learning about States of Matter and are participating in experiments to learn about: solids, liquids and gases; acids and bases and the pH scale, chemical reactions with acid-base rockets, producing gas when making bread and later in the term will make bath bombs and ice-cream. Below we have a picture with Lily, Victoria and Janisch about to release their rocket! In Year One and Two (pic below), there was a quick introduction to the unit where students built the tallest paper tower with no other materials.

Physical Education

Foundation and Year 1:- Have been learning to jump rope. Some students are now performing simple tricks and partner skipping

Year 2:- Students have been having fun learning to play complex games. They work in teams to achieve success

Year 3:  Have been learning the skills of basketball

Year 4:- Have been learning to play a modified version of Australian Rules Football

Year 5:- Have been engaged in fitness testing and have moved onto learning Sof-Crosse

Year 6:- Have been engaged in fitness testing and have moved onto learning to play Touch Rugby.

Interschool Sport

Year Five and Six students have been enjoying both training and playing interschool sport. We love hearing about your successes and challenges and seeing you improve each week. Thanks to the Year Five and Six teachers for coaching their teams and to Mrs Scott for organising.

Chinese

Lessons, excursions, trips and visiting students

This Wednesday, we headed to the city for our Chinatown and Chinese Museum excursion. We explored the history of Chinese migrants and highlights from the Han Dynasty, which closely connect to the Year 6 Migration Unit of Inquiry and ancient Chinese history covered in Chinese classes. Students showed great interest in learning about the cultural heritage Chinese migrants brought to Australia and the golden age of the Han Dynasty in China.

In Term 3, we are excited to welcome our Sister School for their third visit. They will stay with us for four school days to experience both school life and daily living in Australia. We are looking forward to spending a joyful and enriching time together.

After a month in transit, our new lion dance and dragon parade costumes have just arrived! In Term 3, the Mandarin Leaders will run a Chinese Performance Club and begin building a performance team. We look forward to seeing their performances during assemblies, Chinese New Year celebrations, and other school events.

Does your child desire to do further practice?

Google Classrooms - Performing Arts - Senior students

Google Classroom - APS Choir

Duolingo - Chinese     

Hosting Visitors from China Expression of Interest

Once again Aspendale Primary School will be visited by our sister school Xuri Jingcheng PS from Nanjing China.  This is an exciting opportunity for families to host students from our sister school for the week.

The visiting students will have varying degrees of English language proficiency and will most likely have basic communication skills. Part of the requirement is that students are to be housed in a minimum of pairs and all people living in the host family’s house over the age of 18 have a valid Working With Children Check.

Who:           Chinese Students, aged 10-12 years of age
When:        Term 3 Week 2 from Monday 28^th July to Friday 1st  August (4 Nights in total)
Support:    A monetary payment will be supplied to assist with meals and everyday costs.

If you are interested in hosting any students, please complete this Google Form.  

Specific details will be provided, such as itinerary, after expression of interests have been received.

Further information will be forwarded upon acceptance.  We look forward to receiving your expression of interests. If you have any questions, please contact Cait Fletcher at cait.fletcher@education.vic.gov.au

Kind regards,

Cait Fletcher & Team China

Year 6 Learning Leader/Global Awareness Leader

What a fabulous afternoon we had last Friday 16^th May as the community came together to mark the centenary of APS. 100 Years of Learning, marked by many events across the year, but our major one, the special celebration afternoon was filled with a buzz.

People from our past, present and even our future came together in a remarkable afternoon of school tours, assembly including a special guest panel and a gallery of photos and artefacts to explore whilst enjoying a cuppa and a slice of cake. All complemented with the world's largest sing-song of 'Happy Birthday' one has ever seen!

A huge shout out to the team who helped put the event together and to our three special guest panelists who told some rather insightful and fun-filled stories of their time and connection with APS.

Special thanks goes out to:

Phil Anthony (past Principal)

Heather Scott (past student who's family were a part of the team of Founders of APS right back in 1925)

Sue Cullen (past student and then teacher)

Thanks also to all who were able to come along and help us celebrate!

What a wonder afternoon it was when our mums and friends visited and participated in a variety of fun activities with their child/ren on Friday 9^th May.

The classic favourite being our traditional 'Scavenger Hunt' and lots of people trying their hand at 'Frisbee Golf' out on the oval.

Thanks for popping along and making the afternoon another wonderful event and experience for you and your child/ren.

BBQ Update

We are currently awaiting final numbers but at this point we have raised around $2500 from our Election Day Sausage Sizzle and Bake Sale.

This money will go towards the purchase of new (comfortable!) chairs and tables for future parent events.

A HUGE THANK-YOU to our parent helper team who gave up a part of their weekend to help out and support this fundraiser in being such a success.

SHOUT OUTS go to:

Anthony Jones

Danielle Harley

Amber Demmler

Robyn Craig

Kris De Valle

Steph Robertson

Madeline Hardess

Jen Rooney

Liana Keyes

Greg Shattock

Jenine Martino

Dave Woodman

Kat Woodman

Jessie Cope

Leesa Hutchins

Michael Webster

Chrissy Morgan & her team of busy bakers!

 
 

Education Week; Grandparents & Guests Afternoon

Once again, what a buzz we had when our many grandparents and guests came along to visit our school and participate in an array of Education Week activities. The fun times just keep coming! 

It was so lovely to see so many grandparents and guests take time out of their day to help us celebrate Education Week and create another lovely experience and memory with their grandchild/ren.

Students have also been participating in a range of activities across the week which are aimed towards this years theme of 'Celebration of Cultures' so be sure to check in with them at home to find out more!

SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES! 

Come one, come all, to the most amazing APS event of the Year!
Yes!
You guessed it, our Parent Social Fundraiser is fast approaching and tickets are selling like hotcakes. Purchase single, or table tickets, whatever takes your fancy. 

Dress to impress (1920s theme), raise a glass, and have a fun night of laughs and shenanigans!!!

If you missed out last year, be sure to get in quick this year as this is certainly a night not to miss.

Simply go to the website below or scan the QR code to book your spot!

Hello everyone,

Canteen is now open and in full swing for Term 2, operating Thursday and Friday each week!

This term will see the gradual introduction of a few new items on the menu so parents and students are encouraged to have a close look at Qkr when ordering and keep an eye out for any changes.

It is also important to note that a small number of the menu items will have a brand change. This is particularly relevant to those students who may have allergies and if more details or a full list of ingredients is required please reach out to Canteen Manager, Meg, and she can provide a thorough breakdown of all the information you need.

The Canteen is a buzz of activity each week with the incredible volunteers delivering smiles and food to the students.
New volunteers are always welcome and no experience necessary.
Collect an information form from the front office or pop in and say "Hi" to Meg in the canteen at school drop off Wednesday/Thursday or Friday. 

This year is the 29th annual National Reading month, an initiative designed to encourage families to read together on a regular basis to create strong reading habits. 

Take part in National Reading Month by making a commitment to read together for at least 10 minutes every day for the month of May.

You can sign up at https://scholastic.e-newsletter.com.au/NFRM2025 or just keep track of your family’s  reading for yourselves.

This is a great way to check off some books for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, if you are participating, or just to build positive reading habits in your household.

A message from Soccajoeys Springvale, a fun and engaging soccer program designed for children.

We’re currently running programs for kids aged 5 - 13 and would love the opportunity to share this with your school community.

Another huge THANK-YOU to Dana & Dude Balloons and Events for supplying the wonderful balloon displays for our 100 Years Celebration afternoon on Friday 16^th May.

Thank- you Dana!

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Premiers’ Reading Challenge is again under way and already in the first month we have had over 140 students register which is fantastic. This program is a great way for students to share and record their reading experiences from both home and school. Once registered, students will be provided with their own login details to record the books they read online.

All students completing the challenge receive a certificate and book to encourage their continued love of reading. If you have not registered yet there is still plenty of time to do so by picking up a form from your classroom teacher and dropping it in to the box outside the office. If you have any queries please speak to Leanne Peterson (Year 5), Sarah Cornell (Year 5) or Georgia Bourke (Year 1).