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. 

HAPPENINGS IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL:

Foundation:

This week our Foundation students went on an exciting adventure to ACMI, they had a brilliant time and there were some sleepy students on the bus ride home.

The foundation students have also been working on their writing:

Year 1:

The Year 1s had two specials guest speakers – Robyn and Saski.

“We learnt about microbes and composting. Then we played a YES/NO game of what could be composted and what couldn’t. Thanks for visiting Year 1 Robyn and Saski!” Misha

Year 2:

Design a Routine for Transition– Year 2 students helping Year 1 students.

“I designed a slide for Vocabulary lessons, where we learn about alliteration and similes. There were 5 steps in the routine. This will help the Year 1 students know about Vocab lessons in year 2 next year.” Gus.

UNIFORM:

It is lovely to see our students wearing correct school uniform with pride. As the sun starts to shine a little more, we would like to remind everyone to wear a school hat when they are outside learning or playing. Secondly, please remind your child to pop their jumpers or jackets in their school bag as it warms up. We have a large collection of lost uniforms wanting to find their way back home. If you have lost a jumper or jacket please come and have a look through lost property. This is also a good reminder to name all uniform items, so if lost, they can be returned to the owner.

2026 CLASSES:

We are in the process of organising classes for 2026. Many hours are spent by all staff in determining class structures that best support our students. We use a range of measures including student friendship wheel, academic levels, social interactions, and professional judgement to create class groups that embrace, engage, and challenge each student to grow.

Requests by parents and carers are considered when forming classes. If you would like to submit a request, please send it in writing to aspendale.ps@education.vic.gov.au  prior to 4pm on Monday 10th November 2025. Please note that while all requests will be considered, they cannot be guaranteed.

WORLD TEACHER’S DAY

We look forward to celebrating and acknowledging our fabulous Teachers tomorrow on World Teacher’s Day! Tom and I feel extremely privileged to get to work and lead such a committed group of outstanding teachers and we know that the students and families are also grateful for our terrific team!

MONDAY 3RD NOVEMBER

Monday 3 November is a school day. If your child will be away on this Monday for the Melbourne Cup weekend, please notify their classroom teacher.

Tuesdaya 4th November is a Public Holiday - No school. 

Enjoy the weekend,

Amelia Busuttil

Literacy Update

What a busy year of literacy learning we have had at Aspendale Primary School. This week the teaching staff have been reflecting on our improvement work across the year, and we have a lot of wonderful things to say about the teaching and learning that has taken place.

Here are some of the achievements we celebrated:

• Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 classes are teaching daily phonics lessons, and we are seeing the growth in our students’ knowledge of how words work, and how we can read and write them.
• As well as daily phonics, these students have also continued to read high quality texts, and build their vocabulary, by discussing the words in these books, exploring similar words and including high level vocabulary words in their own writing.
• Year 3 and Year 4 classes have also been reading high quality, rich texts with their students this year, and delving deep into thinking about the plot, themes and characters in these books. 
• There has been a strong focus on using explicit writing and grammar lessons in Year 3 and Year 4,  to develop writing skills linked to the concepts or genres of the texts we are reading. The development of our student’s understanding of written text structures and knowledge of grammar has been amazing!
• Year 5 and Year 6 students have spent some time working through daily reviews of word study, in order to help transfer their learning from their working memory into their long-term memory.
• They are also using explicit writing lessons to build their skills, which are evident in the excellent work they are producing.

As we head into the final two months of the school year, we are proud of the calm, confident and motivated learning happening across our school, and we are excited to continue developing greater strength and depth to our literacy teaching and learning.

Community Events:

What a fabulous year of Community Events we have had!

Parent Helper Callout!

In preparation for another successful year next year, we are inviting interested parents to come along to a brainstorming session in a few weeks time. 

Our session will focus on ideas and planning of our next major parent social fundraiser to be held next year. 

Please email Sarah Cornell at:  sarah.cornell@education.vic.gov.au 

for further details.