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. 

Today is the last day of Term One. We are proud of the efforts of our students, staff and community over the term, with the establishment of learning routines across the school and the transition to high-quality teaching and learning in each child’s next year level. We are fortunate at Aspendale Primary School to benefit from the strong connections that are built between all stakeholders and their have been numerous opportunities for these to happen across the term.

Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal

Our Student Representative Council ran a successful fundraiser on Tuesday for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Students could wear colours that make them happy and it was lovely to see the school a kaleidoscope of fun on the day. The SRC were able to raise $596.10 on the day and this will be donated to the appeal.

In last week’s newsletter, we shared action that Shanaia Caspersz, a Year Two student, has taken to support the appeal. More information is again included in this newsletter. It isn’t too late to make a donation to support Shanaia or the appeal in general. You may even see Shanaia on the broadcast over Good Friday.

House Athletics

Monday saw our Year 4-6 students travel to Dolamore Oval in Mentone to participate in our annual House Athletics. This is a great opportunity for our senior students, their families and staff to enjoy an active day, full of smiles and personal bests. It was terrific to see students returning to school with colourful ribbons, stories of their close finishes and time spent with their friends. We’d like to thank all the students for their participation on the day, thank our community for assisting with events and supporting students and thank our staff for the roles they played across the day. A special thanks to Katie Scott for another well run community event.

F-4 Intensive Swimming Program

Yesteday was the final day of our Foundation to Year Four intensive swimming program at Mentone Aquatics. Students have practised their swimming skills, developed their self-organisation and enjoyed time with their peers. We have appreciated the support of our school community with bus trips to and from the school. Thank you to our staff for supporting the students with being ready each day and keeping their energy levels up throughout the program. A special thanks to Shey O’Brien and Katie Scott for their organsiaiton of the program.

Choir Performance for Harmony Week

We hope everyone enjoyed our Choir's performance at our assembly last week. The performance wrapped up another great Harmony Week at Aspendale Primary with their performance of ‘Everyone Belongs’.

Breakfast Club

We have had a wonderful time at Breakfast Club over the term, with many students and family members joining us, sometimes very hungry after Running Club. We appreciate our student leaders, especially Molly, Audrey and Liv, and students from other year levels who assist in serving their fellow students and taking on the fun task of washing up at the end. A big thank you to Leah Macdonald for overseeing our Breakfast Club. We will continue Breakfast Club at the start of term 2. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday mornings in the courtyard.

We are off to a wonderful start in 2024. It is important over the next two weeks that everyone takes the time to rest, recharge and spend time with people that make them happy before we head in to our second term of learning. School returns on Monday 15th April.

Enjoy your break,

Tom and Amelia

As a provocation into All living things go through a process of change, Year 2 students read the book Wilam: A Birrarung Story by Andrew Kelly and Aunty Joy Murphy.

Students investigated the importance of communicating in the Woiwurrung language to tell the story of the flora and fauna that make Birrarung (Yarra River) home (wilam).

Year 2 then collaborated as a big team to create a 3D representation of Birrarung, inspired by the story and they outdid themselves with their vision, creativity and teamwork.






The Year 6 Respectful Relationships/Media Leaders visited the Year 2 display and wanted to share their thoughts:
"It was pretty cool to see the Yarra River be understood by its traditional name and to see how it runs through the city and the bush. " - Mali 
"Big! Creative and well planned."  - Curtis
"I was really impressed!" - Gracie 
"It was really cool to see it follow on from the city to the forest. They did very well with the materials they used. It was really creative." - Hayden 

Shanaia will be cutting her hair again and donate it for a wig (for a patient suffering from hair loss) and in the process is also running a fundraiser for the Good Friday appeal of the Royal Children’s Hospital. 

The Hospital has been looking after all her needs from birth and the support we get from them is just amazing and it’s all been free. Shanaia would like to, in her own little way, raise awareness and some money to say Thank You and also help support other kids more who are struggling with more serious stuff than her. 

This time around the sacrifice seems a little more because she loves having long hair and loves when her friends at APS do  her hair during recess… but her heart is even bigger so she is looking forward to help make a difference. 

If you would like to support her, please click on the link below ??



Alternatively, please donate here:  Good Friday Appeal - Soshana Caspersz

It has been around 10 years since the Bring Your Own Device program started for Years 4, 5 and 6. We’re considering what this will look like in 2025 and beyond. It may look a bit different for the Year 4s in 2025.

We wanted to share this with the community in case you are planning on making a purchase of a device in the near future. Please hold off for the moment, and we will communicate a decision by the end of Term 2.

As mentioned at the Night on the Green by Mr Pearce, we welcome any parent helpers who might like to get involved in any of our Community Events through out the year.

If this is something you might be interested in and have some time to spare please email Mrs Cornell: 

sarah.cornell@education.vic.gov.au

Library Volunteers!

A big thank you to all the people who have taken books home to contact, protecting them from wear and tear.

If you still have some at home can you please let me know if you will be returning them before or after the holidays?

We still have a few bags of books waiting to be covered, so if you’d like to take another bag home, come by the library and collect some more. Just remember to let me or our school office know that you have taken them and when you hope to get them back.

Thanks again for helping us get these books on shelves as quick as we can!

Kind regards,

Melissa McSweeney

Literacy Learning Specialist

Hi APS Families,

This is call out for any spare, outgrown and unwanted uniform you would like to donate to resupply our stock in sickbay.  We are specifically after a few pairs of shorts in the smaller sizes, 4, 6 and 8.  Coming into the colder months, a few pairs of tracksuit pants would be very much appreciated in the above sizes also.

If you could please bring them to the office that would be greatly appreciated.