Letter from the School President

Hopefully you would have received a letter this week from the School President, Daniel Arnephy. I encourage you to take the time to read it as well as viewing the associated video explaining contributions and parent survey. School contributions will go live on Compass on Friday, November 7th.

Maths Olympiad

At last week's assembly we celebrated the Year 6 students who were part of the Maths Olympiad program for 2025. Across Terms 2 and 3, the 25 student team practised their problem solving skills using a range of strategies - sometimes working backwards, sometimes creating tables and lists, often guessing and checking as well as algebraic strategies. 

They then competed in 4 common tests made up of 5 difficult maths problems such as the one below - 

It was a great effort from all students, and we also highlighted the results for Kalinga and Grace (top 25% Australasia), Louis and Henry (top 10%) and Renae (top scorer) Well done team and thank you to Miss Abbott for leading the team this year. 

Edge Community Fund

On Wednesday after school Rachel Roberts and myself attended the 20th Anniversary of The Edge Community Fund. The EDGE Community Fund Inc. is a local not for profit, tax deductible Charity Trust. The EDGE offers financial support to families of young people who are experiencing financial hardship in the Ashburton, Ashwood and Chadstone areas.

 The EDGE assists young people to participate in educational, sporting and other activities crucial to their personal development, sense of community belonging and self esteem. Ashburton Primary School is proud of our association with the fund and the ways many students and families have been assisted over the last two decades.

Student Free Days, Normal days and Public Holidays

A reminder that tomorrow, Friday October 31st, is a student free day as staff take their one Professional Practice Day. Staff will be undertaking a variety of tasks, mostly involving assessment and reporting. Staff will be working either on site or off site for the day. Team Kids will be running a full day program, please book with them. 

Monday, November 3rd is a NORMAL school day, but the following day, Tuesday, November 4th is a PUBLIC HOLIDAY for Melbourne Cup. The school will be closed. 

Want a piece of The Ashy Art Show to keep? Want the perfect give for the relatives this Christmas? Then the range of tea towels and tote bags from the Ashy Art Show are for you! Made in the style of each of the 7 year level collaborative pieces. 

Tote bag - $15 each
Tea Towel - $10 each

Please note: Closing date for all orders is 7th November 2025 11:59pm. There will be no late orders. Please allow 3 weeks from the date of closing for the arrival of your orders.

Head to https://www.trybooking.com/DFVYO to get your memento today!

We’re already in Week 4, and Year 6 are well and truly in the midst of everything! From new projects to final reflections, the students are keeping busy and making the most of every opportunity in their last term of primary school. The energy in the classroom has been high as students dive into hands-on learning, explore new ideas, and build on their teamwork. Over the past two weeks, students have been:

• Kicking off their Bizarre Bazaar projects with a fantastic excursion to Camberwell Junction, where they explored different product designs, logos and store layouts. Back at school, students formed their groups and began planning what they will design and sell as part of this exciting unit.
  
   
• Wrapping up their class novel Sister Heart, which has sparked rich discussion and built new understanding around the Stolen Generations. Students have explored themes of identity, resilience and belonging throughout the text.
  
   
• Diving into new Maths concepts, including plotting coordinates on Cartesian planes and comparing positive and negative numbers. These abstract ideas have been made more engaging through hands-on activities and challenges.
  
   
• Celebrating their achievements in sport, with all Hot Shots and Volleyball participants doing an incredible job at Division level. A special congratulations to our Volleyball team, who won Division and went on to place 6th at Regionals - an outstanding effort they should be very proud of!
   

From Brooke, Chloe & Kristen

The auction of the wonderful Year level collaborative pieces continues until next Friday. Head to https://www.32auctions.com/Ashyartshow2025?r=1&t=all to make a bid on one (or all!) of the seven framed pieces. They are currently available to view in the conference room. 

Going for Platinum!

Each year, school's implementing School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) need to provide detailed evidence of implementation for all of the essential features to demonstrate fidelity and to achieve the appropriate level recognition award. Up until this year, the highest achievement level has been Gold (which we have achieved 3 years running)! This year, the Department of Education has introduced the Platinum Award.

What is the Platinum Award?

The Platinum Award recognises schools that have sustained Tier 1 implementation with fidelity and demonstrated improved outcomes for staff, students, and/or the broader community. It reflects a strong, ongoing commitment to embedding SWPBS in school culture and systems. Schools must show long-term impact through systematic development and capacity-building, along with significant progress in establishing Tier 2 systems to extend and enhance support.

We are currently in the process of collating our evidence and would like to share some bits and pieces with you along the way.

Snippet of some Key Achievements, taken from a section of the Platinum Award Requirements:

In the last 12-24 months our implementation of the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) framework at Ashburton Primary School has highlighted some notable accomplishments.

Key achievements in the Staff Opinion Survey data include: 

Areas related to SWPBS implementation, with scores above similar schools and network-

‘Collective responsibility’ 90% (2024) 95% (2025)

‘Shielding and buffering’ 72% (2024) 91% (2025)

‘Build resilience and a resilient supportive environment’ 70% (2024) 75% (2025)

‘School support for staff physical safety’ 83% (2024) 88% (2025)

Guaranteed and visible curriculum also scored well above similar school, network and state - 92%

Key achievements in the Parent Opinion Survey data include:            

Above scores are all higher than Similar schools and Network and have increased year by year comparing against ourselves.

‘Student/School connectedness’ on the rise 89% (2024) to 93% (2025) compared with 82% a few years back.

‘Confidence and resilience skills’ 65% to 79% (2024) to 85% (2025)

Key achievements in AtoSS data include: 

‘Sense of Connectedness’ positive response has jumped from 67% to 73% (2024) and 76% (2025)

‘Effective classroom behaviour’ (positive) data has continued to increase over the past 5 years. Hence, as has ‘Effective teaching time’.

Within ‘Emotional and relational engagement’, ‘Community connections’, Emotional awareness and regulation’, and ‘Help seeking’ have all shown a slight increase from last year.

There was a significant jump in % for ‘I know what to do if I experience racism’ from 60% (2023 70% (2024) 82% (2025) reflecting or focus in this area.‘Self regulation and goal setting’ continue on the upward trajectory.

The percentage of students responding ‘no’  to ‘Not experiencing bullying’ remains consistent (85%) in the last 3 years which is on par with Similar and Network schools, and above State.

This data indicates that the SWPBS framework, complemented by our overarching SMILE Wellbeing approach, continues to make a positive impact on our school-wide culture. As well as celebrating these successes, we continue to create goals for ongoing improvement. 

SWPBS Tiered Fidelity Inventory

SWPBS Self-Assessment Survey

Attitudes to School Data Results

**Staff School Survey

                                                                                                                                                     Rachel Roberts

Assistant Principal

The Year 2 students have had a wonderful couple weeks!

As part of our SMILE program we participated in Backflips on Bullying; a dynamic incursion that linked in well with our Expected Behaviours and immersed us in activities about how to treat others with kindness and how to be inclusive. 

In Connected Learning we enjoyed our Brickworks Design Incursion. We worked together in small groups to design a structure with a purpose, that could withstand heavy rain and wind. We listened to each others ideas and used our group budget to purchase necessary materials. It was so much fun!

In Literacy we continued to write our narratives, using interesting adjectives, synonyms and similes to write rich descriptions.

In Numeracy we created surveys and used tally marks to collect data. We then used this data to create picture and bar graphs. We continued to focus on Place Value, using concrete materials and other tools to represent the value of 2, 3 and 4 digit numbers. 

To purchase - https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1489749

To purchase - https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1489749

It has been an exciting fortnight in Year 4!

Year 4 students have been experimenting with animation applications such as Flip-a-Clip to bring their creative stories to life. They have learned how to plan short storyboards, use layering and timing tools, and animate characters and settings to match written narratives.

Our Roald Dahl novels continue with students comparing the text and film to analyse language, characters and how choice shapes the story in different ways. 

Maths lessons have focused on revisiting multiplicative thinking. Students are exploring efficient strategies for multiplication and division - using arrays, repeated addition and number patterns to strengthen their understanding of how numbers work together.

Leadership lessons have encouraged students to reflect on teamwork and communication. Through group activities and discussions, they’ve identified what it means to be a supportive team member - listening actively, contributing ideas, and working cooperatively toward shared goals.

Week 4  Term Four

This fortnight the prep students have been learning about the different words that make up sentences. They now know that NOUNS are naming words for things, animals, people and places. They know that VERBS are actions words for things we do and that ADJECTIVES can describe a noun and make sentences more interesting. 

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

• Making, naming and counting the teen numbers in Maths lessons.
• Using their imagination to come up with our own ideas for writing simple stories.
• Learning long vowel sounds using the graphemes IR/UR, AR/A and OR/A during phonics lessons.
• Designing items that would be needed for fairy tale characters using recycled materials during our Connected lessons.
  • The students made a beanstalk for Jack using newspaper and a boat out of foil for the gingerbread man to cross the river.
• Learning how to use the Bookcreator App with our Year 5 pals.