Education Minister's Visit

On Tuesday, July 22nd we were honoured to be visited by the Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, along with our local state member Matt Fregon. The Minister was on site to announce the extension of powers around suspension and expulsion for outside of school incidents. The reason we were chosen to host the announcement was due to the outstanding work that we have done with School Wide Positive Behaviour Support over the last 7 years. As evidenced by our three consecutive years of Gold Awards, we have been at the forefront of creating a school environment that focusses on promoting positive behaviours for all of our students. The announcement was attended by Channel 10 who conducted interviews with the Minister, myself, Miss Abbott from Year 6 and three of our students - Samah, Ara and Sam. 

We all spoke about the work that has gone into the SWPBS framework and how we can prevent negative behaviours by encouraging positive behaviours. Everyone spoke really well and represented our school wonderfully. It was disappointing, however, to then tune into the news that night to see a story that really wanted to focus on suspension and expulsion. The narrative that schools are overrun with violent and problematic behaviour (as shown in the clips that were not from our school), is simply not true for most schools and certainly not for our school. I suppose it it illuminating to see "the backend" of how a story is produced and what ends up on the screen, because what was spoken about during the interviews was not represented in the final story. 

At least the messages we shared on the day resonated with the Minister who commended us on both our success with SWPBS and how we represented the school. Other members of the Department of Education who were also present expressed their pride in how well our students spoke and congratulated us all on our SWPBS implementation. During the tour I gave the Minister, I was able to highlight some of the recent successes in the yard - the netball courts, the flags, whilst also pointing our some of the other areas we are looking for support to improve (most notably the oval). I also relayed again the story of our junior playground and the impact our setbacks have had. 

Our Preps celebrated 100 Days of Learning on Friday 25th July. It was a day of fun with cookie making, a magician, and ending with a parade through assembly. Thank you to all the parents who put together some amazing outfits for 100 year old juniors. 

Congratulations to our own Miss T who was recently celebrated for her service to the Department of Education. Only with a small selection of other teacher, principal and administration staff, Miss T and myself attended The Round in Nunawading for the ceremony. Around 50 people from the Inner and Outer East regions were honoured with a special certificate and gift to mark their 35 plus years of service. Well done to Miss T for her career so far!

Sharing a Diagnosis with School

If you receive a new diagnosis or external report related to your child’s learning or wellbeing, please follow this process:

1. Email the School
   Notify the school via email at ashburton.ps@education.vic.gov.au.
2. Attach Documents
   Include any relevant documents or reports with your email.

3. Secure Handling
   The information will be forwarded to:

   • Rachel Roberts (Assistant Principal)
   • Mark Brisbane (Disability Inclusion Coordinator and Student Support)
   • Your child’s classroom teacher

   The documents will be stored securely and kept on file.

4. Meeting and Next Steps
   A meeting will be arranged to discuss the results, any recommendations, and to develop an appropriate support plan for your child.

If you have questions, please contact the school for support.

Rachel Roberts

Assistant Principal

Book Week 2025

Theme: Book an Adventure

The theme for the Ashburton PS Book Week 2025 is ‘Book an Adventure’, so we are focussing on adventure stories!

Children’s adventure books and stories often feature journeys, quests, missions, or challenging obstacles. They often use themes of courage, friendship, determination and discovery.

These stories can take place in many different realms, from the fantastical to more realistic settings. Some adventure stories include: Rowan of Rin/Deltora Quest (Emily Rodda),  Victor’s Quest (Pamela Freeman), Mr Chicken series (Leigh Hobbs) and Diary of a Wombat (Jackie French).

For our costume parade, we are asking everyone to dress up as a character from an adventure book or story.

To help you start gathering some ideas, here are some great adventure stories from both Australian and international authors that you might get inspiration from, many of these books are in our school library. We will also be sending out more ideas and easy costume ideas in the lead up to Book Week.