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,

Last Friday on our curriculum day we had the opportunity to hear from two of our teachers, Natalie Tideman and Stela Matthews, who have completed the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership’s Teaching Excellence Program in 2025. Both teachers shared the different ways they have further developed their practice, reflected on ways to increase engagement in their specialist areas and built networks with teachers at other schools. We are fortunate to have a team of professionals at Aspendale Primary School who look for ongoing professional development and embody our school motto of ‘Learning for Life’.

Thousand Year Forest

It’s been a hub of activity in the Thousand Year Forest. Through the hard work of many people, led by Robyn Craig and Olivia Sackett, our forest space had been cultivated and the compost had matured allowing our students and staff to spend time across Monday and Wednesday planting our seedlings. It is pleasing to see the care our students have shown the seedlings and this will be important going forward as the forest becomes established.

On Tuesday afternoon, we hosted the CERES Teacher’s Environmental Network where we had the opportunity to share the work that has occurred. The teachers who attended the event were complimentary of our tiny forest and the curriculum links that have come from it.

Bike Ed - Ride Out

Our Year Four students have continued to build their skills in riding their bikes and being safe in the community. The had the opportunity to put it all into practice today as they headed off on our Big Ride Out. Thanks to Ruby Clohesy for coordinating this program and to our staff and parents & carers for their commitment and time.

Fundraising-Colour Run

We have appreciated the community’s response to our Mango Drive and Tea Towel fundraiser, with both having a great take-up. The final piece of our 2025 fundraising efforts involve our colour run. It’s been great to see donations starting to come in and all of these proceeds combined will go towards updating our water troughs in the courtyard space.

Our Student Representative Council is meeting with classes and briefing them on a couple of key fundraising milestones which could result in the sliming of a teacher or two!!!

2026 Curriculum Days

At our November meeting of School Council we passed four student-free days for 2026. We endeavour to give our school community advance notice of these days and have kept similar timings to 2025.

-Jan 27th 2026(First day back for teachers)

-Mar 6th 2026(Implementation of Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0)

-22nd June 2026(Student-led Conferences)

-7th Dec 2026(Student-free Professional Practice Day)

2026 Class Structure

In 2026 we will have the following class structure:

Average across F-6= 1:20.7

Average across F-2= 1:18.2

2026 Camping Program

Thanks to our leaders of our camping program for securing our 2026 dates.

Finally, today and tomorrow I am on long-service leave. Amelia Busuttil is our Acting Principal. I will return this Monday.

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Tom

 

Play Pod

Each week our classes continue to create a myriad of games and imaginative play options using the materials in our play pod. From building forts and cubbies to creating see-saws and obstacle courses, our students are improving their communication, teamwork and negotiation skills through this fun play option which can be found on the oval. Below are some recent photos of some of our students.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Each year we like to seek feedback on our PBL program to evaluate its success. All of our classes provide their thoughts on our behaviour matrix and our token redemption menu, and we make the necessary amendments for the new school year. We also like to invite our wider school community to have their say. If you have 5 minutes to spare to complete a short survey we’d love to hear your thoughts. Below is the link:-

School PBL survey link

Thanks to those people who have been sending in their bread tags for us to spray paint as tokens. There are many excited students eagerly seeking tokens at the moment so they can receive the 2025 badge.

To celebrate our 100th year, Aspendale Primary School will be holding a Colour Fun Run on Friday the 5th of December (Week 9)!

This exciting, colourful event is all about having fun while raising funds for a student-led initiative, installing new water taps around the school. Each tap costs around $3,000, or for a larger one we require $8,000. We’re hoping this fundraiser, will help us reach our goal and we are very appreciative of any donations.

You can donate through this link: https://www.mycause.com.au/events/aspendaleprimaryschoolcolourrun