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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Important dates: 2024 Calendar 

Event	Date
Student Free Day	9 December
State Transition Day, F-5 Up day. Foundation 2025 Final transition day	10 December
Year 6 Big Day Out	11 December
Year 6 Beach Swimming Make up Day	12 December
Meet your Teacher morning Year 5 Beach Swimming Make up Day	13 December
Christmas/ Festive Singalong Class Party and Festive Dress Up Day	16th December 2.15 - 3.15pm
Year 6 Graduation 6pm	17th December
Year 6 - Big Day In	18th December
Last Day - early dismissal	20th December Year 6 Final Assembly starts at 12pm Early finish at 1pm

2025 Calendar 

Event	Date
Student Free Day	28th January
Student's first Day	29th January 2025

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Welcome to week 6 of term 2. There has been many exciting happenings around the school over the last few weeks and plans for more fun to come. Continuous Reporting:
Yesterday we published our second round of continuous reports for this year. The continuous report is set up to provide families with an insight into the key skills or knowledge that were taught and your child’s achievement against each of these. Later this term, the report will include your child's learning progression against all areas of the curriculum and a written report on their personal and interpersonal development and learning habits. 

Kindergarten Visit: Strengthening connections within the local community.
This week Tom and I had the priviledge of visiting another local kindergarten - Nola Barber to meet with children in the Suns and Moons groups. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the yarning circle, where the students welcomed me with an Acknowledgement of Country before we shared a story together. 

Enrolment Timeline:
We have had a steady flow of enrolments coming in to the office as we begin to plan for our foundation 2025 cohort. Enrolments are required by Friday 26th July 2024. If you would like an enrolment pack or to book in for a school tour, please reach out to the school office.

Camps Program:
Our year 4 students had a wonderful time at Camp Rumbug last week. You can read more about their adventure later in the newsletter. Thank you to the staff and parents/carers who supported our year 4 students.
Our year 6 students headed off yesterday to Warratah Beach camp for an exciting new experience, including a surfing lesson. We look forward to hearing about their adventures. 

Think U Know - parent and carer session:
We have a fantastic opportunity for parents and carers to attend the Think U Know session on Monday 27th May at 6pm in the school gym.  We encourage as many parents and carers to come along to learn more about young people and the online environment. This session is aimed at parents and carers of students in year 4,5 & 6, but others are of course welcome to attend. Please see the link later in the newsletter to register your place at this event. 

Division Cross Country:
Today a number of students are representing APS at the Division Cross Country. We wish them all the best as they compete. We have received some fabulous results, please see later in the newsletter. 

Attitudes to School Survey:
Students in years 4,5 and 6 will get to share their views and experiences about school life at APS through the Attitudes to School Survey. Over the coming weeks Mrs Peterson and myself will be heading into classrooms to facilitate the students involvement. We will share the results later in the year.

APS Records Day:
Plans are underway and excitement is building for our first APS Records Day next Wednesday. 

Looking forward to another fabulous week next week at APS!

Kind regards,
Amelia

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We would like to thank families who have paid for students to participate in their year level Enhancement Program.

This program (which includes incursions and excursions) is on a user pay basis and must be paid for the student to participate.

 

The office will shortly begin to contact any families who have not yet paid.

If you have not paid but wish for your student to participate in this program, please do so as soon as possible via Sentral or at the school office.

Students who are not participating in the program will have access to a free alternative activity when required.

Please note, that families that receive CSEF may request to have it applied to this fee.

Our business manager Amelia Mastorakos is available on 9580 3255 and at amelia.mastorakos@education.vic.gov.au if you wish a confidential discussion regarding payment assistance.

 

 

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Due to overwhelming support for our exciting and well over due Trivia Night of fun, auctions and raffle prizes, we have nearly sold out of tickets.  Get in quick to secure your spot. Invite your friends, neighbours or family (strictly adults only) along to this fabulous night.

 

 

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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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APS Records Day

 

Yesterday all staff and students participated in our first ever APS Records Day. Students spent the morning finding out about Guinness World Records, and then participated in a whole class challenge of their choosing. Many classes undertook the Hula Hoop Pass challenge while others built the tallest towers or longest Lego structures. There were also whole class shoe stacks and keeping a ball up in the air for the longest time.

Classes then spent the middle session of the day undertaking challenges in their year levels such as the fastest time to complete a task, most ball passes with a partner, completing a range of 1 minute challenges, ping pong or basketball challenges and transferring objects from one bowl to another using chopsticks to name just a few.

The finale for the day was our whole school tunnel ball challenge. It was so lovely to wander around the school and see so much teamwork and encouragement occurring. Our students were focused on achieving personal bests, and although all our school values were on display showing integrity was a big focus. We look forward to bettering our records and setting new ones in 2025.

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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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