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. 

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2025 Calendar 

Event	Date
NAPLAN testing for Years 3 & 5	12th March 13th March
Leadership Assembly - Year 6 badges	14th March
Harmony Week  Whole school Picnic/Cultural Dress or Orange attire on Wednesday	17-21st March 19th March
NAPLAN testing for Years 3 & 5 continues	17th March 18th March
Lightning Premiership	21st March
World Maths Day	26th March
Years 3 & 4 Swimming Program	24 - 28th March
Year Foundation, 1 & 2 Swimming Program	31-4th April
Last day of Term 1	4th April
Easter Monday	21st April
Term 2 commences	22nd April

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Last Friday, we farewelled our Principal Coby Larrieu at assembly. Our students reflected on her contribution to our school and will continue to hold fond memories moving into the future. We wish Coby all the best in her new endeavours. 

 

 

Yesterday, families will have received this communication from our Senior Education Improvement Leader, Tim Wilson:

To the Aspendale School Community,

I'm delighted to announce that Tom Pearce has been appointed as Acting Principal at Aspendale Primary School and will officially commence the role shortly.

Tom brings a wealth of experience to the role and knowledge about Aspendale Primary having worked as a teacher and most recently Assistant Principal at the site since 2019.

In the coming term I will meet with the school council who will commence the recruitment process for the substantive Principal position. Your school council president, Samidha Morris and I will keep you fully updated about this process.

With thanks,

Tim Wilson

Senior Education Improvement Leader, Kingston Network

Congratulations Tom! We look forward to working alongside Tom, as he brings such a wealth of knowledge and care for Aspendale Primary and the community.

We also received some other exciting news earlier this week from Amy Gardiner. Amy and Adam welcomed their daughter, Aubrey Michelle into their family on Sunday 5th May. We send our congratulations to Amy and Adam as they enter into this new phase of their lives. 

 

During the week, Tom and I had the pleasure of visiting some of our local kindergartens, Bonkers Beat and Aspendale North, to meet, chat and read a story with some of our future students. We saw many familiar faces of some siblings and made connections with new families who will join the Aspendale Primary community. Next week, we will be holding a school tour during Education Week on Tuesday 14th May at 9:30am. We look forward to visiting the students at Nolar Barber over the coming weeks.

 

Enrolments for 2025 are now being accepted at the office. We encourage families with siblings starting in 2025 to return the enrolment forms to the office. If you have any questions or require an enrolment form, please pop into the office or contact them on 9580 3255. 

 

There has been a variety of extra curricula activities taking place across the school this week. Our Year 6 students visited the Shrine of Remembrance, hosted by the Longbeach RSL. We are proud of how our students represented themselves and our school during this excursion. The Foundation students showed courage and curiosity during the Reptile Encounters incursion. The students learnt about different retiles and their features and got to touch and hold snakes, crocodiles, turtles and other reptiles.   Tomorrow, we have a large team representing Aspendale at the District Cross Country event at Cornish College. We wish them all the best in their events. As always, thank you to our teachers for supporting our students and organizing these wonderful experiences.

We can't wait to share an afternoon in classrooms tomorrow for our celebration of Mother's and special friends ahead of Mother's Day this Sunday. The choir will start the celebration at 2pm in the Gym.

 

Enjoy the end of the week and the weekend,

Amelia.

 

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Our school will be hosting a ThinkUKnow presentation on 27^th of May.
The event will begin at 6pm.

This event is for Parents and carers only.  The content is aimed at an adult audience. Students have already had their Protective Behaviours lessons in class.

ThinkUKnow Australia is an evidence based education program delivered nationally to prevent online child sexual exploitation. 

We highly recommend parents and carers of students from grades 4,5 and 6 to attend.

ThinkUKnow Australia is a partnership between the Australian Federal Police, Microsoft Australia, Datacom and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The program is delivered in collaboration with policing partners New South Wales Police Force, Northern Territory Police, Queensland Police, South Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Western Australia Police, as well as Neighbourhood Watch Australasia.

The presentation will be delivered by a local law enforcement member and an industry volunteer. The presentation is pro-technology and addresses topics including self-generated child abuse material, online grooming, sexual extortion, and importantly encourages help seeking behaviour.

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn more about young people and the online environment, and how you can help them to be safe and responsible users of technology.

For more information, you can visit www.thinkuknow.org.au or contact our school for more information.

Click the link to inform the school if you will be attending or not. https://forms.gle/k5x4ku1kqQi6kvkb6

Thank you.

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At APS, we are lucky to have many lunchtime Clubs organised by our COmmunnity and RR Media Leaders. Thank you to the students and teachers who run these clubs. 
Thanks too, Ms Stubbs for organising. Below are a collection of posters of some of the clubs operating accross the school. The RR Media Leaders are in the process of advertising all of the clubs!

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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. 

Students have have had challenging conversations, explored videos and learnt about the impact of historical decisions. Accross the school, year levels have been talking about Reconciliation and what it means today. Year 5&6 have been learning about the 1967 vote, Mabo and the aftermath of Stolen Generations. Year 6 Maths has also been exploring data recorded about racism and the role of Governments in the Reconicliation process. 





Next term, we will be celebrating the amazing contributions our First Nations peoples during NAIDOC Week. 

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The Premiers’ Reading Challenge is again under way and already in the first few weeks we have had over 100 students register which is fantastic!

This program is a great way for students to share and record their reading experiences from both home and school. Once registered, students will be provided with their own login details to record the books they read online.

All students completing the challenge receive a certificate and book to encourage their continued love of reading. If you have not registered yet there is still plenty of time to do so by picking up a form from your classroom teacher and dropping it in to the box outside the office. If you have any queries please speak to Leanne Peterson (Year 5), Sarah Cornell (Year 5) or Caitlin Beer (Year 1).

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APS - VIOLIN AND VIOLA LESSONS 2024!

Introducing Peter O’Shea

Aspendale Primary School has a new violin and viola teacher this year!

Our new violin teacher is Peter O’Shea. Peter is a vibrant local string teacher. Peter has experience in teaching both individuals and groups, and is currently working both in schools and home studio settings.

Peter has studied at Monash University and University of Melbourne. He enjoys playing a teaching a diverse range of World Music (Fiddle Music) AMEB, ANZCA and Suzuki repertoire and pedagogy.

He has produced is own Elementary Violin teaching Book “Violin Fever Volume 1”.

We look forward to having Peter become part of the Instrumental Teachers’ team at APS and part of the community.

Please contact Peter directly if you would like to find out further about our program run by Peter.

Peter O’Shea (B.A. Music, Grad Dip Music, Dip Music.)

Email: posheamusic@gmail.com

Phone: 0409193004

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