Welcome back for the final term!

Ashy Art Show

We are gearing up for next Thursday's Ashy Art Show. Tickets can be bought on the door or via this Trybookings link. 

As well as celebrating student work, we will have a staff art section, a special STEM artistic display, food and drink on sale. A real highlight will be the professionally mounted student collaborative pieces on display for the first time. You may remember last term when students were part of a special art incursion where each student contributed a section of a themed piece. All the pieces for each year level were then taken away and put together by our visiting artist. They have been now mounted and will be unveiled on Thursday's Art Show. Not only that, you will have the chance to OWN the large pieces of artwork by biding on one of the 7 online auctions for the 7 pieces of art. 

As well as the collaborative pieces, the Parents' Association have created tea towels and tote bags in the themes of each of the year level art pieces. I have had a sneak peek and they are AMAZING LOOKING! I don't think I am overstating how great they look (and feel!). Tea towels and totes will be available to purchase in our special gift shop at the event.

We haven't had an Art Show like this before, and I need to thank the people who have put in the hard work to get ready for the event. Miss T has been working across the year with the students in creating the range of artwork that will be on display, resulting in a range of pieces that reflect different artistic  Paula and Yuen, our Parents' Association leads have done a mountain of work organising the food, merchandising the tea towels and totes, liaising with the visiting artist, booking the display boards and drumming up support. We also need to thank Ash Howarth from Marshall White for his continued support in the street billboards and providing financial assistance in making the event possibly. Thank you Ash!  

We still need help on the day, so please volunteer here 

Grab and Go

It was great to see so many students lining up before school today to collect a Grab and Go healthy snack as part of the School Breakfast Initiative. Each Thursday from 8.45am students are welcome to grab a piece of fruit, some milk or fruit cup before the school day starts. Any leftovers will be available at recess time too. A big thank you for Mrs Roberts for organising the project and for our student Community Team for helping out! 

2026 Class formation

A reminder to check the recent newsfeed about 2026 class formation. Parents are able to provide written information about their child which may assist in class formation. These are not guaranteed requests, but will inform the process. This may include student wellbeing issues (student pairings, friendship issues) or learning needs (style of teaching and environment). The link for submissions can be found on the Compass newsfeed. 

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached Term 4 already! Year 4 students have hit the ground running, diving into new learning across English, Maths and Connected Learning.

Year 4 students participated in the “Unlocking Your Inner Leader” online incursion run by Kids Helpline. The program encouraged students to reflect on the question “What makes a good leader?” and recognise that everyone has leadership potential. Students engaged in discussions and activities that developed positive teamwork skills, problem solving and student voice, aligning perfectly with our Leadership and Teamwork unit.

Year 3 and 4 students recently visited the Murnong Gallery for a special storytelling experience with Elder Uncle Glenn. During the session, students explored Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytelling through art, deepening their understanding of how stories connect people, Country and culture. This experience has inspired upcoming creative writing and visual art projects focused on storytelling in many forms.

In English, each class has begun reading a different Roald Dahl classic:

4A - James and the Giant Peach

4B - The Twits

4C - The BFG

Students are exploring how Roald Dahl hooks readers in at the start of his novels, introducing memorable characters, and how he brings setting to life using rich language. We have been using this learning in writing, with students creating their own descriptive pieces - practising introductions of both characters and settings.

In Maths, students have taken on the role of cartographers, designing their very own countries! Each map includes a mix of natural and human-made features such as mountains, rivers, cities and landmarks. 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Our school is now part of the School Breakfast Clubs Program!

The program is delivered by Foodbank Victoria in partnership with the Victorian Government. The program is delivered in 1000 Victorian state schools, ensuring students can learn with a full stomach and get the most out of their education. As part of the program our school can receive a variety of healthy, nutritious food for free from Foodbank Victoria. See here for more information.

Every Thursday morning in the Conference Room during the 8:45am-9am soft start time we will provide a ‘Grab and Go’ breakfast or snack. This Grab and Go food is available for ALL students, as well as your family members if they want!

We will also make any leftover food available at recess time or for students who want extra brain food throughout the day. Big thank you to the Community ACT team for helping with this process!

The food on offer:

Apples

Oranges

Bananas 

Pears

Mini Carrots

Mini Milk Boxes (there is an order limit on these so may be offered fortnightly at times)

Fruit Cups (there is an order limit on these so may be only offered fortnightly at times)

Reminder: For supervision purposes, school gates are 'open' at 8:45am. We will continue to encourage keen students who want to get in early, to wait until the bell goes; as well as to line up in orderly fashion and ensure they only take what they need so that there is enough for everyone.

We want everyone to be healthy, not hungry; and grateful, not wasteful!

There is also Take Home Food Packs for families upon request.   Home Food and Lunch Packs that contain a selection of food from the program. Please let our Assistant Principal, Rachel Roberts, or one of our friendly Office staff know if you are interested. This can be short term or ongoing.

Kind regards,

Ashburton Primary School                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Rachel Roberts

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Assistant Principal

Year 2 has had a wonderful start to Term 4. We have enjoyed reflecting on how much we have changed and grown and sharing our strengths with people in the classroom.

 Year 2 have been working on:

• /y/ & /oo/ phonemes.
• Planning and writing a narrative.
• Re-establishing reading and writing expectations and habits.
• Using our prior knowledge to think about what innovative ideas are in the world around us.
• Reading multimodal texts and starting to notice modes which add to the meaning including body language, camera angles, music and sound effects.
• Reviewing place value skills - Expanding numbers, Using Place Value charts and Making, naming and recording numbers.

Last term as part of Book Week, students were invited to design a poster for next year's Book Week theme. Symphony of Stories. Our winners received a book selected by our wonderful librarian Mrs Robinson which was presented at assembly. Here's the winning designs - 

So far this year our amazing community has donated 3620 containers which means we have raised $362 for our sustainability initiatives in just over 3 terms! Well done everyone! Remember, we are looking for 

• containers with the 10c mark on them
• no glass
• no alcohol

The colour bins for each house can be found out the front of the school near the most westerly Fakenham Rd gate.

🎨 Ashy Art Show 2025 🎨Thursday 23rd October

🕞 3:30pm – 6:30pm

📍 Ashburton Primary School Hall

Come along and celebrate the incredible creativity of our students at this year’s Ashy Art Show! Organised by the Parents' Association with support kindly donated by Ash Howarth and Marshall White, we want to celebrate the creativity of our students with our community!

We are raising money to replace the shade sails on the junior playground (installed early next year when the re-development is complete). 

You’ll see an inspiring display of artwork from every year level, including special collaborative pieces that will be available for auction on the night. 

🖌️ Highlights include:

• Stunning art from students across the school
• Exclusive staff art showcase
• Collaborative year level artworks up for auction
• Delicious food available for purchase
• Buy a keepsake with special Ashy totes and tea towels, featuring designs inspired by our collaborative pieces

🎟️ Entry:

• Kids – FREE
• Adults – $5 (includes entry into our door prize draw) Bookings now open https://www.trybooking.com/DEHIY

Volunteers needed to help with the art show, sign up here: https://signup.com/go/ucamHuO

Don’t miss this colourful celebration of creativity and community at Ashy!

Year 3 & 4
Year 3 and 4 students combined creativity and coding by using Edison robots, LEGO, and textas to design and produce abstract artworks. They built texta holders from LEGO pieces and coded the Edisons using EdBlocks to move and draw shapes. Their innovative designs have resulted in colourful and expressive creations, which we are very excited to showcase at the Art Expo in Week 3.

Year 5 & 6

Year 5 and 6 students combined art and technology by coding Sphero robots to roll through paint and create colourful, abstract designs. Their creative coding produced unique and visually striking artworks, which we are very excited to showcase at the Art Expo in Week 3.

Get ready to savour the sunshine with our 2025 Mango Fundraiser, a sweet way to support Ashburton Primary School!

We’re bringing you fresh, juicy Bowen Special Mangoes straight from the farms of Far North Queensland. Delivered to our school in early December, these mangoes are bursting with flavour and goodness, perfect for summer snacking, smoothies, or festive treats.

💰 Just $34 per tray - each tray contains 12–23 mangoes (approx. 7–7.5kg), depending on fruit size.

📅 Important dates

Order deadline: 3pm Wednesday 29 October 2025

Delivery: Early December (exact date to be confirmed)

Order here: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1483058

Week 2 Term Four

Yesterday the Preps were so lucky to go on their very first excursion to Scienceworks. Whilst at Scienceworks the children were able to explore the general exhibitions and participated in an education session about toys and forces. The learning from this session will help the children with their Connected unit on design this term. The children are to be commended on their excellent behaviour on the long bus trip over the West Bridge to Scienceworks and whilst at the museum. At all times they displayed the school values of Be a Learner, Be Respectful and Be Safe. Thanks to all of our parent volunteers who came along and assisted with supervision, we appreciate your help.

Other learning experiences in Prep over the past two weeks have included:

• Learning about equal groups in Maths and exploring equal groups by sharing manipulatives and responding to stories about sharing.
• Using our imagination to come up with our own ideas for writing simple stories. 
• Learning long vowel sounds using the graphemes ee, ea, e, i_e and y during our phonics sessions. 
• Exploring the rhythm and rhyme in songs and nursery rhymes during our Reading sessions. 
• Going outside into our school environment and discovering things in nature as an introduction to our new connected unit about design. 
• Practising forming our letters neatly using the ground, grass and sky lines. 

We’re already into Term 4 - can you believe it? It’s the final term of primary school for our amazing Year 6s, and they’ve jumped into it with excitement and enthusiasm. This term is absolutely jam-packed with events and learning, including Interschool Sport, the launch of our Connected projects, and of course - graduation! After a well-earned break, students have returned from the holidays refreshed and ready to make the most of their final term. Over the past two weeks, students have been:

• Taking part in a full-day incursion, where they created delicious smoothies and developed marketing strategies to sell their drinks as if opening their own store. It was a great hands-on experience combining teamwork, creativity and problem-solving.
  
   
• Diving into our new class novel, Sister Heart, which students are already deeply engaged in. They’ve been enjoying unpacking the story’s themes and characters through discussion and reflection.
  
   
• Exploring key maths concepts, including division strategies and tessellation, using both visual and practical approaches to strengthen their understanding.
  
   
• Cheering on peers at Division Athletics, where several students represented our school with pride - and even progressed to the next stage. We wish them the best of luck!
  
   
• Preparing for upcoming sports events, with many students set to compete in Hot Shots tennis, volleyball and softball over the next fortnight. It's shaping up to be a very exciting time for our young athletes!
  
   

The students are well and truly back into the swing of things and have had an exceptional start to their final term of primary school.

From Brooke, Chloe & Kristen