Calendar

Please check out the Calendar section to keep up to date with all the upcoming events for the term and the year. We will keep these updated and include as much detail as possible. 

School Council

The school council cycle is due to finish at the end of this term. We will more than likely require parent members to fulfil the necessary quota and I encourage everyone to consider offering their time and expertise to the group when we ask for parent nominations. Look out for a Compass newsfeed with more information later this term. 

Ashy Community Teams

This year saw the introduction of Ashy Community Teams (ACTs). ACTs are 6 groups that cover a range of school activities and areas which our students join on a termly basis. This term has been all about getting each group set up for the year as we explore how they will work. Already the groups have been responsible for 

• running our fortnightly assemblies
• opening the library during lunchtime for students
• organising our paper recycling
• creating posters to promote school events - Zooper Fridays, Footy Tips, Harmony Day
• conducting school tours
• greeting students at the gate
• taking photos at assembly and Welcome Back Ashy
• raising and lowering the flags in the plaza
• distributing Zooper Doopers each Friday
• choosing the bell music

There's more to come as we continue our ACTs journey!

On Tuesday we sent off 32 of our best swimmers to compete against the local schools at the Glen Iris District School Sports Association Swimming Carnival. Held at the Harold Holt Pool, students competed in a range of events including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly in individual and relay events. A particular highlight was the performance of our girls relay teams of Jemima, Ruby, Ellie and Lauren in the medley and Ellie, Ruby, Jemima and Emily in the freestyle relay and who won both of their events. 

Beyond the honours of the ribbon getters and those who have qualified for the next level of competition, I am always so proud of the way that our students conduct themselves with their behaviour but also enthusiasm and effort. For many of the students it was their first appearance at this level and they all tackled it so well. We had a situation where we were short for a race, and rather than missing out on the points for our school, Taylor (Year 6) put her hand up and swam the butterfly event, even though it wasn't her preferred event or one she had prepared for. Thank you Taylor!

Ashy finished 4th on the day and will be sending a number of swimmers to the Inner East Division event next week.

Respectful Relationships Education is delivered across all year levels (as is mandated for all Victorian Government Schools). In the classrooms, and typically within our SMILE lessons, the Resilience Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials are utilised to build students' skills, knowledge and attitudes to engage in Respectful Relationships. 

We're excited to be able to now share with you the new free Parents Guide to Respectful Relationships! This resource features a diverse range of quality texts parents can read with their child. Whether you're reading together at home or discussing themes throughout daily life, the books and strategies here will help strengthen your child’s understanding of respect, responsibility, and kindness. Each book is paired with guiding questions to spark thoughtful discussions and help your child reflect on important values such as empathy, conflict resolution, and understanding others. These questions are designed to encourage meaningful conversations that support the development of emotional intelligence, communication skills, and positive social behaviour.

Rachel Roberts

Assistant Principal

At our most recent assembly, 6 lucky students won prizes as part of the Colour Run promotion. All they had to do was create an online profile on funrun.com.au and you'll go into the draw at the next assembly for even more amazing prizes! 

The school COLOUR RUN is scheduled for Monday, March 24th (after lunch) where students will head to the oval for an afternoon of running/walking, inflatables and lots of colour. It's all designed to help raise funds for us to improve the oval area fopr all the students. 

As well as that, students can also win some amazing prizes too!

Volunteers Required for  Colour Run on Mon March 24th - 1:30 to 3:30pm

We are 24 days away from the most colourful day on the school calendar, so we would like to give a shout out for any volunteers who would like to help out on the day. We need 18 people to help us out, with setting up, showering the kids with colour , and packing up.

You will be required from 1:30 to 3;30pm.

If you would like to volunteer, please reach out to kyliemacfarlane73@gmail.com to register your interest.

If you haven't had a chance to sign up as yet, there is still plenty of time to register your kids and get them fundraising.  Please sign up here  School Fun Run | Australia

The prep children have settled in so well to big school over the past few weeks. They are beginning each day with Developmental Play to support their transition from the home to school environment and to encourage talking and connecting with old and new friends. 

So far this term, Prep have been:

• Learning who their teachers at Ashburton Primary School are, and all the places they can go to play and learn. 
• Finding out about the routines of school, such as: lining up safely, packing their bags independently, eating out of a lunch box and listening to the bells for the end of recess and lunch. 
• Talking about the communities we are a part of. 
• Practising how to Be Safe, Be Responsible and Being a Learner as per our SMILE program.
• Getting to know our Prep Pals in Year Five. 
• Hearing the initial phonemes (sounds) in words.
• Practising how to write their names using lowercase letters. 
• Counting how many days we have been at school. We are up to day 13! 

Year 4 APS News - Term 1 Week 5 

Year 4 has had a terrific start to 2025. We have loved getting to know each other and starting our year together in our classrooms. To start the year, Year 4 have been: 

• Setting classroom expectations
• Revisiting what good readers do and how to choose a Good Fit Text 
• Reading Matilda by Roald Dahl by tracking our thinking using our prior knowledge, making predictions, connections and asking questions
• Looking at procedural texts and begun writing one of our own
• Investigating what a community is and what influences a community 
• Learning what it means to be persist and be a good communicator 
• Demonstrating our place value understanding 
• Starting to borrow books from the library as well as use e-platform

This week we are looking forward to our Super Sleuths of Food Incursion!  

We've had an exciting start to the year, getting to know one another and settling into our new classrooms for our final year of primary school. In our first weeks of year 6 we have been:

• Embracing our new leadership roles
• Competing in interschool sports every Thursday
• Strengthening our ability to work as mathematicians through a mathematical modelling project
• Expanding our understanding of parliament and Australia's government system
• Researching credible sources to support our exposition writing
• Building upon our understanding of TEEL and language techniques to enhance our writing
• Exploring different types of angles and how they appear in the real world

We’re especially excited for camp in Week 7!

Last Friday was our school photo day and it was great to see smiling faces beaming back at the photographer as a class and as profile shots. We managed to get a cohort photo of our Year 6s (pictured) which is a great memento for our students as they enter their final year at Ashy. 

Photo day is also a great opportunity to get sibling shots done. This year we would have had nearly 100 sibling shots taken, but it did seem that many of the students were unsure if they were getting a family shot taken. Next year, if you do order a family shot, please tell your children so they come to school knowing that one will be taken. It will quicken up the process and alleviate some anxiety the kids had!

We hope to the get the sets of photos by the end of term. As soon as they arrive we will arrange for them to be sent home with students. 

Year 2 has had a wonderful start to 2025. We have enjoyed learning about expectations and reconnecting with friends from last year, also making some new friends along the way!

Year 2 have been working on:

• Choosing Good Fit Texts and making predictions
• Text to self and Text to text connections
• Learning what it means to persist and be a good communicator
• Learning how to brainstorm and plan a recount
• Using our nutshells for inspiration for our writing
• How sounds are made with instruments and robots –how they can be used to communicate with others and how they make us feel
• Learning to count efficiently
• Revising the hundreds chart, place value chart to explore one more, one less, ten more, ten less

Our Harmony Day will be on Friday 21st with staff and students invited to wear their traditional cultural dress or colours. Or, for those who do not have a cultural dress or want another option, to wear orange as a symbol of harmony.

Harmony Week

Harmony Week is a time to celebrate that Australia is one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.

Our cultural diversity

Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

Building on over 65,000 years of First Nations cultures, Australia has become home to migrants from nearly 300 different ancestries. Australia’s immigration history has helped build our modern nation.

An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions. They also take on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.

Facts and figures

There are some fascinating statistics about Australia's diversity that can be good conversation-starters:

• More than half (51.5 per cent) of Australian residents were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
• Since 1945, more than 7.6 million people have migrated to Australia.
• Nearly every single country from around the world was represented in Australia's population in 2020.
• More than 150 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander languages are spoken in Australia
• Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Punjabi.
• We identify with over 300 ancestries.

Our Grade 5 students have had a fantastic start to Term 1, settling in well and embracing the new school year. So far, they have:

• Focused on setting expectations and building strong connections as a cohort.
• Enjoyed using their iPads to enhance and extend their learning.
• Worked hard on their narratives and persuasive writing, developing creativity and writing skills.
• Had the exciting opportunity to meet their Prep Pals and begin building strong mentoring relationships.
• Started interschool sport, competing against other schools and developing teamwork and sportsmanship.
• Visited Parliament House on an excursion, where they learned about democracy, leadership, and teamwork.

It has been a fantastic start to the year, and we look forward to all the exciting learning and experiences ahead.

On Tuesday this week we were lucky to be visited by some members of the AFLW. Along with Georgia Clark (Collingwood) and Gemma Rigoni (Melbourne), we welcomed back 2016 Year 6 Graduate and Hawthorn player Jasmine Fleming. It was wonderful for Jasmine to return to her old stomping ground to show our students skills and answer their questions about her journey from Ashy to the AFLW. Thank you to the visiting players and also to Vanessa Overall for organising the visit.