2026 

On Tuesday this week our students met their new teachers, new classrooms and new classmates in the morning session. Here’s the new classes and teachers - 

Prep - Lori Giannaris PA, Sonja Newnham PB

Year 1 -, Angela Lloyd 1A, Phoebe Whitehead 1B

Year 2 - Sam Rapson Mon-Thurs/Krysten Egan Fri  2A, Alex Terzakis 2B, Janet Lai 2C

Year 3 - Courtney Simon 3A, Sasha Goss 3B

Year 4 - Scott Baker 4A, Laura Dooley 4B, Shivani Parmar 4C

Year 5 - Bella Barel 5A, Liam Purdy 5B, Sam Van Stratum 5C 

Year 6 - Mandy Trapnell Mon-Wed/Emma Parlour Thurs-Fri 6A, Issi Pellissier 6B, Brooke Mynott 6C

Welcome!

We welcome two new classroom teachers to Ashy in 2026. Angela Lloyd-Shrimpton (Mrs Shrimpton to the kids)  joins us from Middle Park Primary School as a very experienced junior school educator. Scott Baker is moving down from Darwin where he has been teaching for the last few years.

Farewells (for now)

Kristen Abbott has big plans in 2026 as she will be welcoming a new baby mid year! For Term 1, Kristen will be supporting teaching and learning by attending year level planning, observing and modelling lessons, and stepping in when needed across the school. 

Cath Beswick will be heading interstate at the beginning of Term 2. For the first term, Cath will provide support to Year 1 as they transition from 3 classes to 2 classes.

Chloe Reese has been able to secure a position in her home town of Ballarat for 2026 as she moves back. We wish her well in her new school and her upcoming nuptials. We thank Sarah Hooper for stepping into a class at short notice earlier this year and we wish her well for the future endeavours.  Anastasia Moukas and Tatti Stewart will both be taking a year off in 2026 and we look forward to their return in 2027. 

Also heading off are some of our Educational Support Staff. Olivia Manson has graduated as a teacher and has gained employment at Mount Waverley Heights Primary School. Sue White, who has worked both in classrooms but also in the First Aid role, is moving to the country due to family commitments. We wish both of them well for 2026. 

Changes and returns

Sam Rapson has chosen to reduce her time to 4 days a week. She will take 2A Mondays-Thursdays with Krysten Egan taking the class on Fridays. In Year 6, Amanda Trapnell returns after teaching elsewhere in 2025. She will take 6A Monday-Wednesday, with Emma Parlour taking Thursdays and Fridays. Janet Lai moves back into a classroom from EAL Tutor Learning Initiative in 2026. Educational Support staff member Matt Pongracic is returning after a number of years in Western Australia. 

Along with the annual changes of teachers moving year levels, we are also making some changes to the locations of the classes for 2026. Next year, the main building will house our junior classes (Prep, Year 1 and Year 2). Following on from the partitioning work started this term (and due to be completed by January), each of these classes will be in closed off rooms that  feature sliding doors and more separated learning environments. 

Our senior students (Years 3-6) will be in the pods and portables for 2026. Our Year 3 students will take up residence in what has been up until now the Prep Pod, occupying either side of the middle dividing wall. Year 4 and 5 classes remain in their 2025 locations, and our Year 6s move into the corner pod, most recently home to Year 1. 

These changes reflect our approach that the older students are able to learn in more open environments and our younger students learn better in more enclosed environments with fewer visual and sound distractions. We do always aim for smaller classes in junior year levels, however based on available resources it is not possible to continue with 3 Year 1 classes in 2026. In recognition of the larger class sizes in Year 1 for 2026, additional support will be provided via staffing (starting with Miss Cath for Term 1). 

Our new student leaders for 2026

At this week's assembly we official shared the 12 new student leaders for 2026! This term, Year 5 students have engaged with a leadership program, before nominating for a leadership position. They wrote and shared their leadership statements with each other before voting for each of the 6 Ashy Community Team positions. We are pleased to share the following results

Assembly Leaders- Emily and Stephanie

Community Leaders - Connor and Olivia

Green Team Leaders - Caleb and Eloise

SMILE Leaders - Kaiden and Lachlan

Specialist Leaders - Viaan and Teja

Digitech Leaders - Mithik and Ayla
 

Congratulations to these 12! But ALL of our Year 6 students will be part of our leadership program, Ashy Community Teams, by joining one of the 6 teams each term and rotating through on a termly basis.

Playground news

It's really taking shape now! You can make out the outline of the new sandpit near Fakenham Road, and the wooden tower closer to the pod is reaching into the sky. Soon, the new path will be laid linking the sandpit area to the path in front of the pod. Most of the heavy machine work is done now, so the digger will be off site soon. 

A big thank you to all the parent volunteers for coming in force for today's class parties! Starting from 9am, a band of parents (and some older siblings too) got to work buttering bread, arrange carrots, strategically placing 100s and 1000s, distributing sweet treats and ensuring all dietary requirements were met. 

Just before lunch time they busily visited each classroom to deliver their wares! The children were most appreciative!

On Wednesday evening we celebrated the season with our annual End of Year Event. Hosted by our student leaders, each year level performed a piece - 

Ashy Out Loud - Choir and Golden

Ashy Out Loud  Junior - Starman

Year 3- Home Among the Gumtrees

Year 1- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Year 2- In the Jungle

Preps- I’m on My Way

Year 4- When I Grow Up

Year 5 - Better When I’m Dancin’

Year 6 - Jingle Bell Rock

A particular highlight was the Ashy Out Loud Junior performance of David Bowie's Starman. All year, volunteer Year 6 students Kalinga and Julia have organised the choir of younger students. Through their dedication and hard work, the young performers had the confidence to sing in front of such a large crowd. Well done to the choir and their choir masters too!

We celebrated out Parents' Association officer bearers - Paula, Yuen and Bec too! Thank you for your year of contributions!

Title: Year 4 Lacrosse Gala

On Thursday, our Year 4s joined schools from across our local network for a Lacrosse Gala at Lynden Park. Students were placed into mixed teams with an experienced coach, which helped them settle in quickly, learn new skills and feel comfortable trying a sport that was new to many of them. 

Across the day, teams rotated through a series of short 7-minute games. Each team played multiple opponents, giving everyone the opportunity to get out on the field, practise their skills and experience different styles of play. 

We were especially proud of how our students represented Ashburton Primary School - showing great sportsmanship, encouraging their teammates and giving each match their best effort.

With the warm weather, Mr Hone’s lunchtime icy-pole delivery was very much appreciated. Thank you to our staff and parent volunteers for supporting the day, and to Mr Worlly for organising such a positive and memorable experience. The students genuinely enjoyed giving lacrosse a try and embraced the spirit of the day!

As they wrap up the year, students have taken part in a combination of fun and extracurricular activities including Swimming and End of Year Event preparation. We thank all parents who have contributed their time over the past two weeks and throughout the year to make these activities possible! We are grateful for all the help we have received. We hope families have a safe and happy holiday break and look forward to seeing you in 2026.

Year 2 have been working on:

• Revision of phonemes and graphemes from the year
• Writing stories based on our study of Roger Hargraeve’s Mr Men and Little Miss Books and using our own created characters.
• Creating our own pieces of artwork inspired by Sidney Nolan and learning about his strong connections with outback Australia.
• Looking at the power of triangles and SSS (stability, stiffness and support) engineering fundamentals for creating structures.
• Reviewing a range of Year 2 Maths concepts from throughout the year.
• End of Year Event Song and performance preparation.