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. 

---

Important dates:

Event	Date
School Disco Yrs 3-6	11th October
Kingston Division Athletics	11th October
School Council	15th October
ACMI Foundation Excursion	30th October
Curriculum Day	1st November
Foundation 2025 Transition Sessions:	31st October, 7th,14th, 21st November.
Melbourne Cup Day (Public Holiday)	5th November
PYPX	11th November

---

Inclusion Outreach Coach:

 

This term our school has partnered with Christy Vryonis, an Inclusion Outreach Coach from the Department of Education. Christy will work closely with Jessica Johnston our Inclusion Leader and a team of teachers from across the school to build our inclusive practices and capabilities to improve student outcomes. Christy comes with a large amount of experience working in Specialists Schools.

 

Enrolments for 2024:

Thanks to the families who have returned their enrolment forms for their 2024 Foundation student at Aspendale Primary School. As per the Department of Education's enrolment timeline, we require enrolments form to be returned to the school by Friday July 28th. Please call (95803255) or visit the school office if you have any questions or require an enrolment form. We look forward to welcoming your child to our school community.

 

Year 5 Camp:

There were many highlights from the Year 5 camp last week at Camp Coonawarra, including the flying fox, the giant swing and canoeing. The students displayed the learner profile attributes of risk taking, communication and being open minded as they challenged themselves and tried new things. The students were supported by our Year 5 teachers, education support staff and parent/carer helpers. Thank you!

 

SSV All Schools Netball Competition:

Congratulations to the Netball team who competed on Wednesday as part of this competition. The team won all 6 games and have progressed through to the finals in August. Thank you to Katie Scott for her organisation and support with the team.

 

Dreams in Motion: Year 5 and 6 Musical Production

Rehearsal is in full swing for the upcoming Musical Production: Dreams in Motion. Tickets went on sale last week for year 5 and 6 families. See the flyer later in the newsletter for more information.

 

---

What a busy start to the term we have had in Year Three. The absolute highlight so far was our visit with Peter from ‘Wheeltalk’ Incursions. He was ‘wheelie’ fantastic! In line with our ‘Sharing the Planet’ Unit of Inquiry, students are investigating social injustices around the world. Through student voice we have begun to look into concepts such as refugees, inequality of opportunities and recognising how lucky we are to live in a wealthy, resourceful country like Australia, where we have access to a diverse range of opportunities.

So when Peter from ‘Wheeltalk’ turned up and spoke to our students about his experiences and lack of opportunities growing up in Africa as a paraplegic, our students were in awe of his achievements and how much he has accomplished in his life. Attending the Sydney 2000 Olympics, as well as captaining and coaching various wheelchair sports including basketball and football after moving to Australia, just to name a few.

After listening to Peter’s many stories from his life and having time to ask him their many questions, it was finally time for Year Three to play some wheelchair basketball. Students had an absolute ball experiencing life in a wheelchair for a session. ‘Tough’, ‘tricky’, ‘really hard’, ‘frustrating’, and ‘fun’ were common words students used when asked to describe their experience of playing basketball - in a wheelchair!

Well done Year Three for being such persistent, open-minded risk-takers during our incursion!

---

This week, the Year Six students were lucky to have a session from Fizz Incursions related to our energy unit of inquiry. The students thoroughly enjoyed using a range of different different gadgets and listening to the extremely knowledgable scientist all about different types of energy.

---

Check out what Year Two have been up to.

---

Well done to all the students who have been recording their PRC books on the website.

The challenge finishes at the beginning of September, but it would be great to have everyone’s book data in by the middle of August. Students who complete the challenge will then receive a book and certificate later this term. Any questions or problems with logging in, please contact us as soon as possible

Leanne Peterson, Sarah Cornell and Amy Gardiner

Challenge Coordinators

---

Dear parents, guardians and carers,

Re: Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Kind regards,

Amelia Busuttil

Assistant Principal

---

The students in the SRC have been taking action in our community this term.

As a school within Kingston, with many students living close by to the site of the new Kingston Aquatic Centre, we thought it would be a great opportunity for our students to have a say in what is happening within their community. 

We asked students to let us know what they would like to see in the new splash park at the aquatic centre and aspendale students responded with some fabulous ideas. These ideas will be sent off to the council to use in their planning. Great job SRC!

---

Coming up soon!

---

The videos created by our Respectful Relationships team should be up online in the next few weeks. Thank you to everyone for your support with filming.

---

Musical Production

Hello APS families, 

Our ticket sales are live! 

Thank you. 

---