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,

There is a rumble of Olympic fever beginning to build in Aspendale Primary School. The three values of the Olympics are excellence, respect and friendship. These values are also reflected in our own school values of Passion, Respect, Integrity, Commitment and Empathy as well as our 2024 school focus of building a sense of belonging.

Olympics Day

Tomorrow is the Aspendale Primary School Olympics Day. Thank you to  Mrs Scott and the Year 6 students who have been working hard to put together a day of ceremony, fun, excellence, respect and friendship. There will be an Opening Ceremony, mini Olympics and classroom activities.

University Delegation

We have had Jiangsu Undergrad Initial Teacher Education delegation visiting our school today and tomorrow. The two groups of 24 undergraduates are visiting our school to learn about our programmes and observe our classes in action. Thank you to Miss Hong Ma for hosting the students and introducing them to our school.

Dr Ange Rogers

On Monday, July 29^th, staff will be engaging with Dr Ange Rogers on unpacking and understanding the Maths 2.0 curriculum, which is being rolled out in 2025. Dr Rogers work aligns with Di Siemon’s Big Ideas of Number- the underpinning work of our number approach at Aspendale Primary School.

Foundation- 100 Days Celebration

Next Wednesday marks the first 100 days of school for our Foundation students. It has been delightful watching them grow and learn and the teachers have enjoyed reflecting on all their amazing achievements.

Trivia Night

Tomorrow night is the Vintage Vibes Trivia Night and it sounds like a nearly sold out event! Thank you to Sarah Cornell for leading the retro-rad gang in organising this community event. We are looking forward to seeing the Op Shop Chic Fashionistas time to shine.

Thanks,
Lisa Phillips

Wow and thank you!

We've had an incredible response to the APS Vintage Vibes - Trivia Night and Silent Auction!  


Click here to see all the AMAZING Auction and Raffle prizes avaliable this Friday night. 

There are still a few tickets left but don't worry, if you don't get a ticket or are unable to come, we still have you covered!!



THE AUCTION IS OPEN TO EVERYONE AT APS!!

Click link - https://www.facebook.com/events_invite_off_fb/link_sharing/1672181843527893/?inviter_id=737545440&token=gLHFZmIHF0A5l8TmmYPwm8NCD8NqS8KuDszPuGuU8rc&mibextid

Have a look at the auction items before or see the event page with all the auction items on the Facebook page above, (more being added regularly) and the other amazing items that have been donated, - click "maybe" and you will still be able to view the page.

If you can’t be there and want to bid please message Chrissy until 6pm on 26th July. 

Text her on 0406066484. 

Be sure to put in your name, the item you want to bid on and your bid please :)

Thanks everyone for your support. It should be a huge night of fun for our community!

And finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to members of our community and local businesses for their very kind and generous donations towards raffle and auction items.

Please see attached for raffle and auction items. All money raised will be going towards a brand new playground and other school equipment to further enhance our students (your children) experiences at our wonderful school.

Good luck and kind regards,

Trivia Night Committee

Thank you to Gabriel for translating Leo's message. Ms Fletcher and Gabriel had a lot of laughs attempting to use the voice to text feature of Google translate! 

From Leo: 

Australia is fun. 

I like taking Chinese classes.

There is not much pressure to study here.

Just learn English well. 

From Gabriel: 

Australia is very interesting. 

I love math class the most. 

I like the way of learning here.

I like self study. 

I want to learn English well here.

The last week in Year Two has been full of excitement as we have launched into an inquiry about the Olympics.
Students started off following the Look, Listen and Learn part of our cycle, learning about Ancient Greece and the first Olympics. We were fascinated to learn that 206 countries compete in the Olympics. To support our inquiry topic, we used our literacy time to build our media literacy skills and learn to navigate a webpage. Students worked in pairs on the ipads to utilise drop down menus to help them find specific information. We are so proud of our risk taking students being open minded to trying new things.

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

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 Caitlin Beer

Challenge Coordinators

What a week we have had celebrating NAIDOC at APS!

 While the official NAIDOC Week took place over the school holidays, APS doesn’t want to miss out - we celebrate NAIDOC Week our first week back.

We had many events, activities and chances to keep the fire burning! Our NAIDOC Week celebrations are a chance to put a spotlight on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders contribute to our community. APS is proud of how we continue to embed, explore and listen to different perspectives in our community.

What a week to celebrate First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth! Thank you very much to the students and community who supported our events.

Acknowledgement of Country

To start the morning off, each day students accross the school, in all year levels have read the Acknowledgement of Country over our loudspeaker. Some year levels have spent time this year, learning about how to write their own Acknowledgements of Country.
Other year levels have used the Acknowledgement that the APS community has written in the past year - visible on our school websites front page.
It has been lovely to hear the variety of Acknowledgements that all recognise the lands of the Bunurong Peoples of the Kulin Nation. 

Watch the videos below to see a recorded version of the year levels Acknowledgements…if your year is not there, it is on its way!

  

Thank you to the Year 6 Leaders who jumped in to make announcements and support the other year levels as they spoke over the loudspeaker. 

BUDDIES FUN TIMES
 

Andrew and Niels in 6F were taught the Foundation’s version of the Acknowledgement of Country in preparation for their performance at assembly on Friday:

Andrew: This week, we learnt the Foundation’s version of the Acknowledgement of Country. We learnt it with respect. We think it is good because it uses some Indigenous language - it helps us talk and respect some of the language. 

Niels: I also like how we have moves. It was good. I liked how our Buddies taught us. 

Year 3 KAHOOT

Inspired by their Where we Are in Place and Time inquiry, a few Year 3 students have taken an amazing action. Over the past few weeks, I have been lucky enough to advise and support  Arlo, Joe and Kai as they created a Kahoot to share their knowledge. They had a practice run with a few Year 6 students before having a greater turn out at lunchtime today. 

Torres Strait Islander flag

Two of our Community leaders- Molly and Liv wrote letters to our local Parliament members about our very worn Aboriginal flag and our solo Torres Strait Islander flag. They spoke about how when we are inside the hall, we don’t have an TSI flag. We were lucky enough to receive this flag a few weeks ago. Absolute legends! 

Activities in classes

Across the school, students have been listening to Indigenous artists, exploring past and present NAIDOC posters and artwork, engaging in great discussions and celebrating how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders contribute to our community.  

Choir

Thank you to Ms Tideman and the APS choir! We know how hard you have been rehearsing over the past weeks in preparation of your NAIDOC inspired performance at assembly on Friday.

RR/Media Leader’s videos

Each day, videos have been shared with the school community. These videos were researched, scripted and filmed by the Respectful Relationships/Media Leader. 

Each video contains a mystery game - each RR/Media Leader pairing went away and researched Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders that they felt had an impact on our community. Based on what they learnt, these students then created 3 clues hinting at who these well known figures were. It was a delight to see students research, inquire into and share their knowledge about scientists, artists, sportspersons, totems and historical figures. 

Thank you Zac, Hayden, Gracie, Mali, Matilda, Keeley, Lucy, Curtis, Louis and Finn. 

Uniform Store Update:

We warmly welcome State Schools Relief as Aspendale Primary School’s new uniform supplier from the start of Term 3 (Monday 15^th July).

Items will be available for purchase in store or online.  Most uniform items will be available from the start of Term 3 . 

Store Address: Factory 1/8 Johnston Court, Dandenong South VIC 3175

Hours of Operation: 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday to Friday

Contact Phone Number: 03 8769 8400

We have OT availability!

We have 3 new OT's starting with us in the coming weeks, who will be ready to take on new clients! If you have any participants or families looking for OT, we can help!

To get started, complete our online referral form linked below:

Arliam Allied Health Referral Form

Our service area is as follows: Bayside, South, South-East or Eastern Metro Melbourne areas.

We also have limited availability for Speech Pathology services,

for school aged participants!

Warm Regards,

The Arliam Allied Health Team