School Saving Bonus

If you haven't access the School Saving Bonus portal please do so! Everyone received a log in last year and it's important for you to use the funds before the end of June. Sending the funds to the school means you can use the money to pay for camps, excursions and incursions, saving you real money! Any questions please contact the office!

Visiting school

On occasion, some parents have asked if they can come and watch the third party activities that operate during lunchtime. We ask parents to refrain from attending lunch time activities to help the school manage security and onsite visitors. The only alteration to this is when there might be an invitation for a performance (such as for Kelly Sports Dance). 

 If there is a school event that requires parental and community support, such as the recent Colour Run and Cross Country, we will most certainly send out an invitation!

Justin Hone

Principal

On Friday we celebrated Japanese Cultural Day through dress, activities and food. Our Prep to Year 4 students had the exciting opportunity to attend the  live performance by Showko Showfukutei — a Japanese actor, comedian, ventriloquist, and Rakugo performer based in Melbourne.
 

Showko is known for blending traditional Japanese comic storytelling (Rakugo) with modern performance techniques such as ventriloquism and stand-up comedy. She also stars as Kimie in the upcoming feature film Saccharine. Her performance is interactive, educational, and age-appropriate, offering students a fun and engaging way to experience Japanese culture.

Our Year 5 and 6 students discovered the history of sushi and its origins in Japan. They learnt about the different types of sushi, from nigiri to maki and gained hands-on experience by learning how to make sushi under the guidance of experts.

This event aims to immerse the students in the rich culture of Japan and provide them with a practical understanding of the art of sushi making. It aligns with our curriculum to explore cultural diversity and culinary traditions.

As well as that, students splashed red and white through the school as they dressed up in the colours of the Japanese flag or in Japanese cultural garb. A big thank you to Hong Sensei for her amazing work in getting the day organised!

On Thursday we rehearsed one of our evacuation drills as we assembled on the netball courts. Students did an excellent job in paying attention, following instruction and waiting quietly for us to get the all clear that everyone had left the building. Later in the year will will practise an off site evacuation to Ashburton Oval

Year 1 students have been working hard to start Term 2 strong! 
We are learning to:
-Read and answer literal questions in response to short texts.
-Find the answers within a text. 

-Measure the mass of objects using hefting and using balance scales.

-Find the capacity of objects.

-Write short information text about Australian animals. Include details about their appearance, habitat and diet. 

-Order numbers and locate them on a numberline.

In Connected Learning we have been learning about the 7 Wurundjeri Seasons traditionally recognised in this area, and learning about how signs in the environment can help us recognise what time of year it is. We were excited to hear from Rueben, Jirra and Kalinga Berg, who shared traditional knowledge with the Year 1 and 2 students! We are lucky to have families so willing to share  their cultural knowledge with us.

We have also welcomed parent helpers into our classrooms! Thank you to those that have volunteered to read with our students! Practise makes progress and we are grateful to have your support!

The Year 3s have had an action packed start to Term 3.

We are practising our number facts and have learnt strategies for our 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables. It was great fun learning about measurement and using our new equipment.

Next week we are starting to draft our own expositions after learning all about facts and opinions and devices we can use to persuade an audience. We are experts at finding the purpose and main idea of texts.

We have learnt about how precious water is and ways to save it. Ask us about the water cycle, we are starting to learn about it all. We can’t wait for our Water Watchers incursions next Wednesday. 

Week Four Term Two

The Prep cohort have had a great start to Term Two with lots of important learning happening and routines getting started. Well done to all the Prep children and families for the great commitment to the home reading program so far. 

During our Connected Learning sessions the students have been thinking about important places to them and learning about the importance of PLACE for First Nations people in Australia. Each class has made up their own Acknowledgement of Country that they are so proud to recite. We had a special guest, Reuben Berg who is Kalinga in Yr 6 and Jirra in Yr 2s father come and chat to the Prep cohort about special places for First Nations people of the Gunditjmara area where their family is from. 

The teachers have been so impressed with the students’ persistence in their early writing skills. The students have been trying to apply their letter/sound knowledge when writing words and sentences.

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

• Learning the new routines of the Reading session and beginning small group reading groups with their teacher. 
• Sequencing events in fairy tales and sequencing the order of everyday events. 
• Adding numbers 1-5 and then 1-10 using stories, games and manipulatives. 
• Using location words such as ABOVE, BELOW, NEXT TO to describe their position. 
• Naming and sorting 2D shapes.
• Writing short recounts about our weekends, holidays and recess experiences. 
• Continuing to learn more phonemes/graphemes using the Sound Waves program. They are learning to blend these phonemes together to read words and learning new high frequency words that often have special rules.
• Celebrating Japanese Cultural Day and making pin wheels with our Yr 5 Prep Pals. 

The AtoSS is a voluntary student survey offered by the Department of Education every year to help schools and the department understand students' experiences of school. We will ask your child about their thoughts and feelings about their school, their learning, relationships with other students, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

ORIMA Research Pty Ltd has been contracted by the department to manage the collection of the online survey and will provide support to schools through a telephone hotline and email.

This year, the survey will be conducted at your school between 12th May to 13th June.

What are the benefits?

Young people enjoy having a say! This survey has been running for nearly 20 years and helps schools plan programs and activities to improve your child's engagement with school, their wellbeing and their learning. The survey data also helps the Department of Education understand how to improve student learning.

What are the risks?

We don’t expect many risks of participation, but some students may find some questions personal or sensitive. If you agree for your child to take part, they can still skip questions or withdraw at any time whilst completing the survey if it makes them upset or uncomfortable. A teacher will be present during the survey to support students.

The questions come from validated survey instruments used in Australia and around the world. They focus on your child’s strengths and are designed for each year level group.

What will my child be asked to do?

Your child will be invited to complete the survey online during class time using a purpose built secure online survey tool. We are not “testing” your child. Please note:

·         Students can choose if they want to take part, skip questions if they don’t want to answer, and can stop doing the survey at any time.

·         There are different versions of the survey to let all students take part.

·         The survey will take around 20-40 minutes to complete.

How is my child’s privacy protected?

A teacher will give your child a unique login to complete the survey. This unique student login is an assigned identifier that will be used by the department to link data for analysis and research only. Some student demographic data such as year level, gender, age, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status are provided to ORIMA research, and linked with the unique student login ID to administer the survey. This information helps to support analysis and research, to paint a clearer picture of how Victorian school students are faring.

ORIMA Research will only use student personal information for research purposes to facilitate the administration and data collection of the Attitudes to School Survey. To keep your child’s survey answers private, ORIMA Research won’t include any personally identifiable data in the survey answers file that is provided to the department.

 All data is stored on servers located in Australia, and only staff who are working on the project can access it.

All information collected about your child will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Data and Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic), as well as the Department’s Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please note that consistent with the above legislation and our policy, there are instances where we may be required by law to share information provided by your child. For example, where there is a threat to your child’s health and safety.

How will results be reported?

The department will only use aggregated state-wide survey data to report on initiatives and this data may also be used in public discussions of issues about student engagement and wellbeing. An example of how survey data has been previously used includes reporting levels of student engagement in the Performance Summary in the Annual Report to the School Community. The department will not share any identifiable student data with any other party.

Your child’s school will only get reports about groups of students. Information about individual students and the student answers data file will not be shared with schools. If there are low numbers of student answers to a question, the report will not show results for this question to protect the privacy of those students.

Your school may share the survey report back to you.

What if I don’t want my child to do the survey?

This survey is voluntary. If you do not want your child to do the survey, please opt out by emailing your school at ashburton.ps@education.vic.gov.au before the survey starts on May 12th, 2025. 

Student personal information will be shared with ORIMA Research to facilitate survey preparations prior to this opt out process. If you opt your child out of participating, then your school will ensure that your child is not provided with access to the survey. Student details will be deleted by ORIMA Research at the conclusion of the survey.

If your school does not receive a “Refusal of Consent” email from you before the survey begins, we will assume that you agree for your child to take part in the 2025 Attitudes to School Survey. Please remember, as noted above, the survey is voluntary: even with your consent, your child can choose to skip questions or stop doing the survey at any time.

For more information about this survey, including the questions your child will be asked to answer, please visit the department’s survey information page.

If you would like more information or have any concerns about the survey, please speak to your child’s teacher, or contact the department at school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au.