Welcome Back Ashy!
Dear Ashy Students, Parents, and Staff,
Welcome back to the new school year and a new way to communicate! We will be combining our official school website with our news site for a one stop shop for your school needs! We will be updating the site on a regular basis. It's still a work in progress, and any feedback would be great!
It was great to see so many faces at the Welcome Back Ashy event on Wednesday night. Celebrating both the new school year and the new lunar year, we were treated to a wonderful lion dance performance on the netball courts. I was lucky enough to offer an envelope to the lion and get a lucky orange in return! Afterwards students enjoyed a cupcake and the sunshine. We need to give out a big thank you to our Parents' Association leads - Paula, Binita and Yuen for organising the event (and driving around the suburbs buying up cupcakes) and Ash from Marshall White for their support in the event. A big thank you also to Jen for organising the Second Hand Uniform sale and all her helpers (Prue , Bec , Anita , Liz , Shab and Hannah) for their work that afternoon too. It's always great to be able to raise some funds and also enable parents to get some uniform bargains.
School Saving Bonus
The School Saving Bonus is a wonderful program that enables families to access a one off $400 for each child enrolled in a government school. It's designed to help ease cost of living pressures. Last year, all families should have received an email with instructions how to access the SSB portal. From there, families can decide to use the funds for uniforms or to send to the school to pay for "activities". It's important to note that it can't be used for voluntary contributions.
Activities include excursions, incursions and camps. Sadly, Compass doesn't play nicely with this new initiative, so once you have "sent" the school the funds, you need to "tell" us to use them for an upcoming activity. To do so please email the school on ashburton.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Getting to Know You
Thank you to everyone for either meeting on site or online for this week's Getting to Know You meetings. They are an important part of building strong school-home connections as well as being a means for families to share the most up to date information about their child.
Safety
As we return to school for 2025, it's an appropriate time to remind everyone in our community of the need to ensure everyone's safety as we all travel to and from school. Here are some simple reminders
- We have three school crossings manned by our wonderful crossing guards - Dee, Gordon and Chrisoula. Please use them with your child but also yourself. It sets a wonderful example to the students when they see adults using a safe way to cross the road.
- The drop off zone is in front of the junior playground. Please don't let your children out in front of parked cars
- The staff parking is just for that - staff. Please don't enter the car park to drop off your child in the morning or for collection. Also, we encourage everyone to NOT walk through the car park entry to save some time - walk through the pedestrian gates
- Those riding to school should wear appropriate helmets and walked their bike along the footpath on the edge of the school
- Drive slowly around Fakenham and Carool Roads! There's no need to rush!
- Finally, it can be a stressful time, but please keep calm! There's no need for aggression, angry words or actions.
