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. 

PRICE Day:

From bracelet making to origami to escape rooms and cooking the students have engaged in a multitude of PRICE day activities today. PRICE DAY is becoming one of our students favourite traditions. Not only do our students get to pick their activities it is also a whole school acknowledgment and celebration of the wonderful attitudes, demonstration of our values and contribution that each student makes in creating the positive culture here at Aspendale Primary School.

Performing Arts Showcases:

Our Bi-Annual Performing Arts Showcases are coming up later this term for students in Foundation to Year 4. Please read on in the newsletter for performance dates and times.

Fundraisers:

Please remember that we have two fundraisers under way, with a common fundraising goal of upgrading our school drink taps.

The Mango Fundraiser- Trays of Mangoes can be ordered via QKR by 24^th October.

Tea Towel Fundraiser – Order your limited edition 100 Year Centenary Tea Towel with the students self portraits by Friday 7^th November.

Commemorative 100^th Year Photo:

The students had a great time on Tuesday out on the oval forming the numbers for our commemorative photo and watching the drone and the curious birds that decided to join the photo shoot. We are all looking forward to seeing the final picture.

Curriculum Days:

We have two curriculum days this term, the first on Friday 14^th November and the second on Monday 8^th December. TheirCare will run full day programs on these days.

Enjoy the remainder of the week!

Kind regards,
Amelia

As we step into the new term, there’s a real sense of energy and enthusiasm in the air. It’s been wonderful to see students returning to school with smiles on their faces, ready to reconnect with friends, teachers, and their learning.

We’re beginning the term with a strong focus on re-establishing positive routines – both in the classroom and across the school day. Routines are vital not only for a smooth transition back to school but also for creating a sense of security and confidence for our students. From morning check-ins to collaborative learning practices.

This ties beautifully into our new inquiry unit - “Systems and routines help communities manage change and support one another.” Through this unit, students will explore how different systems work – in schools and communities. 

We really enjoyed some Year 3’s coming to talk to each class about what it is like being in Year 3 at APS. The Year 2’s visited the Year 3 learning space and were able to think of some questions they were wondering about what it is like being a Year 3 student. 

Questions include - 

Do you have reading groups? 

Why do you have activity tubs?

Do you have token redemption time?

When are specialist classes?

Where do you keep your drink bottles and lunch boxes?

What exciting things do you do in Year 3?

Positive Behaviour for Learning

This term our whole school wellbeing focus is on the value of Empathy. The slogan our student community came up with for this value is ‘Feel what they feel’. We are also focusing on the life raft message ‘Have reasons for the things you say and do’ as part of our Play is the Way program. Below are the weekly focuses related to these messages.

Thankyou so much to all the families that have been sending in their plastic bread tags for use as our acknowledgment tokens. We are constantly recirculating tokens around the school, and with the addition of our ‘100 token’ badge there are many students striving to add to their total over the next two months.

In the next few weeks, we will have posters of our school values shared with the community. Thank you to Sienna T in Year 6 for creating them. 

Hello from Rhys and Charlotte, 

We're here to tell you about the Forbidden City and rickshaw. The first thing that we did was go to the Forbidden City. Our tour guide, Jessie, took us on a tour through the amazing and elegant Forbidden City. She told us about the history and asked lots of quiz questions to make it fun and engaging. We learned about the different empresses and emperors, the different buildings and architecture and special historical events.





After leaving the Forbidden City, Jessie led us towards the rickshaws. Everybody was in partners on the tricycles, with their own driver who took them around. We sat in the back, on a bench seat cushion sort of thing, under an umbrella. The driver rode us around the city, on a half bike, connected to the seat. They took us through the city, showing us all the sculptures, markets, shops and homes. It was a really fun and new way to experience the sites of China. 

That’s all from us this week,

Rhys and Charlotte

Hello APS, from Steph and Anna!

During, the China trip while in Beijing, we went to the science museum and climbed the Great Wall! 

Only four days in and we had set off to the Great Wall already! Before climbing the Great Wall we played a fun group game called jianzi, were we kicked a shuttlecock with feathers on, into the air, it was very fun!

Then we had set off to archive our goal to climb the Great Wall. The stairs were very steep to climb up, We were practically crawling up the wall. Some of the stairs were really tall then some were really short. The day we went to the Great Wall on was so hot!





Some of us saw sun bears, and guess what one of them gave Ms Fletcher a high five and 20 yuan to treat ourselves to some bingchilling (ice cream). 

On the day that we were leaving to go to Nanjing, we went to the China Science and Technology museum.
At the science museum there was a wooden workshop with a lot of olden days artefacts.
There was even a sign with Chinese characters on it, that explained how many people were allowed in the ride....and we could read it!


The next floor there was some games and V.R simulations. One of the games, tested out our reflexes with mini poles - they would drop at random moments and you had to catch them. With the V.R there was a solar system VR, were in a capsule that shaked and went side to side and it was interactive so you and the other astronauts in your capsule would all vote on which direction to go!

There was also a future generation Beijing city VR simulation. It talked about how there was going to be a lot of A.I. And tall buildings with modern technology in the future. There was also a funny A.I where it merges two people together.

Thanks,
Steph & Anna

The Canteen will be open for its first day in term 4 on Friday 10 October. As of week 2 canteen will reopen for both Thursday and Friday as normal, offering lots of delicious lunch options. Sushi will be still be available for Fridays only, with orders closing on the Thursday am prior to deliver day. 

Volunteers wanted
Volunteers are still desperately needed in the canteen and all new faces are welcome. No experience is necessary, it is a friendly environment and a great chance to connect with other members of the school community. Students are always excited to see familiar faces when they come to the canteen window.

If volunteering in the canteen is something you have considered in the past, then term 4 is a great time to jump onboard, even one shift a term makes a massive difference and is a real chance to give back to the school community. For any further information enquire at the office or please reach out to our friendly Canteen Manager, Meg at canteen@aspendale.vic.edu.au

Last term, we held a successful Food Drive in support of Fareshare, who collected essential items such as rice, pasta, oil, herbs and spices, and canned tomatoes. We’re thrilled to share that we surpassed our goal by almost a third! Our aim was to collect 100kg of donations and thanks to your generosity, we reached an incredible 132.5kg of food to help people in need.

We would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated and supported our food drive. Your kindness and community spirit made a real difference!

Thank you, 

The SRC representatives.

Please use the QR code or the link below for the online store: expressions.com.au/fundraising-schools/ovJFSnqu8VFnhrKZNCx4