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 and spiritual practices. 

This Book Week, we recognise the significance of sharing stories and spoken language as part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures for over 65,000 years. We draw inspiration from the knowledge that has been passed down through generations of storytelling.

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.

Dear parents and carers,

It is with excitement and enthusiasm that I accept the role of Principal at Aspendale Primary School.

I am proud to be a member of our school community, where we all have high expectations for our students and we look to build quality, respectful connections with each other. I’d like to thank all members of the community for your kind words over the past week.

Book Week

What a treat it has been this week to delight in all things reading related. Tuesday afternoon saw a showcase of our students’ writing, we’ve enjoyed our character knockout tournament over the week (with The Crayons and the Green Sheep locked in a tussle today to be crowned this year’s champion character) and our courtyard was full today of creative costumes, with our community their to join in the fun.

Thanks to Melissa Jacobs, our Literacy Learning Specialist, and the rest of our staff for organising such a fun week to further our student’s reading passion.

Staffing Update

Congratulations to Lisa Phillips, who has been appointed to the role of Education Improvement Leader for the Bayside Peninsula Area. Lisa commences in this role on Monday and will be working with Department schools across the area to facilitate their improvement work.

Lisa joined our staff in 2014 and in that time has held many leadership roles across both wellbeing and curriculum. Recently, Lisa has been our Numeracy Learning Specialist and we have benefited from her expertise, especially with planning and understanding the Big Ideas in Number. I would like to wish her well in her new position and share our gratitude as a community for the improvement work she has led and the relationships she has built across the school.

Michelle Thompson and Sarah Burn will teach 2PT going forward.

New Courts Open Tomorrow

Excitement has been building as the new courts have been laid over the last week and the netball/basketball poles have been raised today. The courts should be open tomorrow and we look forward to seeing our students enjoying them. We will have specific times for year levels to utilise this play space over the short term.

Thanks to Amelia Mastorakos for coordinating this work, School Council for approving it and to the team at GrassSports for their work.

Visit from our Local State MP

It was great to meet with our local member, the Hon. Tim Richardson yesterday. We discussed the school’s current improvement work, some of our facilities upgrades we are working towards and the general education climate. We appreciate Tim’s support of our school community and look forward to continuing to work together.

Aspendale PS Visit to China

On the 7th September, 21 students will be visiting China with 4 of our staff. I will be accompanying the group who will visit Beijing, Nanjing, Lianyungang and Shanghai. The highlight of the trip is the opportunity to spend time at our sister school, Xurejingcheng PS in Nanjing, and for our students to be hosted by families of the school for three nights.

Whooping Cough

The Department of Education continues to advise schools that there are cases of whooping cough in the community. We have had several confirmed cases at our school. As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, please visit your doctor if your child is unwell to seek medical assistance.

If a child is under 7 years of age and is in the same classroom as a confirmed case of whooping cough but has not received 3 doses of pertussis vaccine, they need to remain home for 14 days after their last contact with the diagnosed person or until they have received antibiotics for 5 days.

Parent / Carer / Guardian Survey

It has been great to receive responses to the Department’s parent / carer / guardian survey. We are keen to hear from as many people in the community as possible. Please look out for a reminder email tomorrow with instructions as to how to access the survey.

Enjoy the first signs of Spring appearing. I’m really enjoying seeing the native plants flowering on my drive to and from work.

Tom

Visual Art

This term there are lots of pieces of artwork being completed and artwork being framed in preparation for our upcoming Art Show. Ms Tideman and Ms Meier have been very busy.

Upcoming Art Show in November 

Monday 25th November 

Tuesday 26th November 3:30pm-6pm - On this night we will also have some music performers to create a lovely ambience and festival feel.

Each class will put an art piece up for sale!

Lately we have embarked on the task of asking each class to make a collaborative art piece to sell at a silent auction on Tuesday night which should be a lot of fun. It is lovely to see the beauty created in students' artwork when they work on a big piece of art over time. 

Volunteers needed

We will frame some student artwork in lesson time where possible, however we will still require a big team of volunteers to assist with framing and labeling artwork of students in our younger years.

Performing Arts

Some exciting things have been happening in Performing Arts lately. We would love you to hear about all of the wonderful performance opportunities.

Monologue competition

Ms Matthews has been running a Monologue competition with the Year Six students, in class and also during some lunchtime and recess break times. We have found that this is a skill where some students have found to excel. We can’t wait to see what they’ve produced. I believe Ms Mattthews has captured some on video. 

Band and Choir performing at Father’s and Friend's Afternoon - Fri 30th August

Next Friday students in the APS Choir led by Ms Tideman and the band led by Ms Matthews will perform at the start of this event, shortly after 2pm in the gym. They will be performing two classic songs that some dads or friends, may enjoy singing in the car! Please come and support your child who is performing. Following the short performance, you will have the opportunity to head to the classrooms for Father’s and Friend's activities.

Lunchtime concerts - last Wednesday of each month

Ms Tideman has organised lunchtime concert time slots for any interested students who have a song, dance or drama performance to present to their peers. Our first one was a huge success, with students stepping out of their comfort zones, only to be greeted by an adoring crowd. The feeling was electric! There are still some time slots later in the year. See the pieces of paper posted in the Performing Arts sliding door, to see when your child will be performing.

STEM  - Science Technology Engineering Maths

This term in STEM students have been completing a design and technology unit. Foundation to Year 2 students have been exploring food groups and nutrients in different foods. They have applied this knowledge by selecting and preparing a healthy snack.

    

In Year 3 and 4 students have been learning about modern and sustainable food production. Students are now beginning to construct models of their own design of a sustainable farming machine or system. 

In Year 5 and 6 students have been investigating zero waste housing systems and renewable energy products. They have learnt about how they are designed; using simple mechanisms and electric circuits. Students are now beginning to design and make a sustainable product or machine for a house or garden. 

STEM Professionals in Schools Program

John Clarke from our local CSIRO in Aspendale is visiting Year Four today, to assist them to further develop their understanding of the complexity of food webs for species survival. We requested John’s assistance due to his extensive experience with climate change data and his personal knowledge of native animals and their interactions. Pictures will be posted separately. Thank you John, for giving up your time to add value to the classroom experience of our Year Four students.

Chinese International Students

We have had the pleasure of hosting thirteen international students at Aspendale Primary School. During their time here, they actively participated in both class and school activities, enriching our community by sharing their language and culture with our students. As the Chinese school holidays come to an end, our international students will soon be returning to China to begin their new school year. We wish them all the best in their future study.

We would like to thank Ms Ma for her continued hard work, caring nature and support to our international students and their families. The students have enjoyed your warmth and this opportunity that you’ve provided them. Aspendale Primary students have gained valuable experiences in learning to welcome international visitors into their classrooms and playground area.

Physical Education

District Athletics Training - Mrs Scott

Mrs Scott has been working hard on Wednesday afternoons to provide athletics training to the 75 students that we have heading off to District Athletics carnival later this year. For the students who have been able to attend the training sessions, it has been lovely to witness their enthusiasm, continued effort and commitment to their training each week.

 Here are some of the highlights of the week:

Lit Fest

On Tuesday afternoon we held the APS Literature Festival. The students had an opportunity to come and share their writing with their buddies throughout the afternoon, before families came along after school. It was lovely to see so many families sharing and exploring the wonderful writing on show in our student writing gallery. 

There were also some brilliant illustrations being created in the library and on the courtyard deck, as well as funny captions being added to the pictures in the gym, and lots of creative thinking needed to work out the rebus puzzles and cryptic crosswords. Some families even put their problem solving skills to the test when acting as detectives to solve the mystery and find out who had stolen the golden quill. 





   
 

Lunchtime workshops

There have been some wonderful workshops running this week, run by our fabulous teachers and Year 6 leaders, including comic writing on Monday, Sign Language (Auslan) on Tuesday and illustrating today. On Wednesday a group of students came to the library to hear author Bren MacDibble share an excerpt from her book “How to Bee” and talk about being a writer, and tomorrow we will also have the chance to hear from author Lian Tanner. 


Scarlett teaching students how to clap in Auslan.


Niels teaching students how to make good characters.

Dress Up Parade

This morning we braved the weather/enjoyed the sunshine while parading the courtyard in our costumes, showing creativity and fun when dressing up as characters from children’s books. There were so many people in a wonderful mix of costumes - thanks to all the hard work from families in helping make this happen!

Melissa Jacobs

Literacy Learning Specialist

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