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,

Believe it or not but the youngest students at our school, our Foundation students celebrated their 100th day of school yesterday.

The children took great joy in dressing up as a centenarian or something beginning with the letter ‘F’. Over the day the students enjoyed lots of activities all about the number 100. As a school, we are proud of the way they have transitioned to our school community and the positive approach that they take to their learning and caring for themselves and each other.

Yesterday I also had the opportunity to visit our Year Five students, staff and parents at The Ranch on the Mornington Peninsula. There was lots of excitement, sunshine and energy as everyone settled into the campsite. We look forward to hearing of everyone’s adventures when the bus arrives on Friday.

Trivia night

Friday night saw a hive of activity in the hall, with the adults in the school community enjoying the opportunity to dress up, flex their intellectual muscle and showcase their dance moves at our trivia night. It was a terrific community event, with 200 people in attendance and having fun together. On the night we thanked Sarah Cornell, Christina Morgan, Louise Warren, Rhiannon Martin, Amber Pettiona, Chloe Reid and Belinda O’Brien for their vision and commitment to organising such a successful event.

Part of the night was to raise money for our new playground at the back of the oval. We raised $9,402 and we look forward to moving forward with this project as the year progresses.

Basketball/Netball court

Construction of our new basketball and netball court will begin next week. The plans for this were shared in a previous newsletter. The work will see a synthetic surface installed and three extra basketball/netball rings added alongside the court.

A work site will be established early next week. We will communicate with students about how to move safely around the site and how they can adjust their play during breaks. We look forward to the new spaces being open shortly.

State Conference

On Monday I attended the Victorian Government Principal’s State Conference. A large part of the day involved sharing improvements and refinements to the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model. It was affirming to hear that our improvement work this year, and across our School Strategic Plan, is aligned with these refinements and improvements.

This year, we have implemented a consistent, daily decoding session across Foundation to Year Two. This is aligned with the Department of Education’s announcement around the teaching of phonics in the the first three years of schooling.

We are also continuing to implement the Positive Behaviour for Learning framework, with a focus this year on consistent learning routines. This aligns with maximising attention during learning time, especially during explicit instruction.

We look forward to continuing to utilise resources and support from the Department to provide a high-quality learning experience for all our students.

Parent Opinion Survey

It is the time of the year when we seek feedback formally from parents and carers in our school community. The Department of Education’s Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion survey has commenced and we are keen to hear from as many people in our school community as possible. The more voices we hear from, the better we can understand what is working for people and what areas we need to continue to develop. More information about the survey and the survey link will be emailed to you tomorrow.

Jiangsu University Delegation

Last week, we had the Jiangsu Undergrad Initial Teacher Education delegation visiting our school. The two groups of 24 undergraduates visited 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.

Smile Squad is Coming

All children deserve a healthy smile, and the Smile Squad is coming to Aspendale Primary School to help make sure this happens.

Smile Squad is a Victorian Government program that provides free dental care to all Victorian government primary and secondary school students.

The friendly Smile Squad dental team will visit Aspendale Primary School soon to conduct a free annual dental health examination for every student and provide free follow up treatment as needed.

There will be an email tomorrow with more information about the service and a consent form if you’d like your child/ren to use the service.

Enjoy catching some golden moments over the next few days, whether it’s on the TV or some winter sunshine,

Tom

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

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