​ASCOT NEWS
30 August 2024, Term 3 Issue 2

Ascot Vale Primary School
‘Unique Learning Community’
Where we value:
RESPECT      RESPONSIBILITY      EXCELLENCE      EMPATHY      GRATITUDE

"Hands up, hands down. We are on Wurundjeri land."

Please click on the headings below to discover more. 
REMINDER: You can change the language at the top left hand corner of the webpage

HELLO FROM the principal team  

Dear parents, carers, staff, and students,

We hope all in our school community are having an enjoyable term three. 

The staff have certainly kept busy, balancing teaching and learning priorities of Inclusion, Wellbeing, Writing and Numeracy, with value added events, like the disco, Book Week dress up day as well as the very important swimming program.  

Staff professional learning opportunities in each of the four priority areas named above have continued to be of great value to the teaching team. Our Learning Specialist, Ben Kline, provided a summary of Writing and Numeracy actions and activities to the School Council this week, highlighting the commitment of the staff to work towards the goal of Maximising student learning growth for every student in literacy and numeracy.  Whilst Michael presented an update on the Inclusion and Wellbeing actions and activities, demonstrating the breadth of focus and commitment of the staff who are working towards: Empowering students as active agents of their own learning and wellbeing.

We extend our thanks to parents and carers for continuing to prepare  children for their busy school week, currently highlighted by the swimming program (and dress ups in recent weeks!) Teachers report that swimming has been going well; students are into a good routine and are enjoying the pool experience. The program is crucial for promoting water safety, building essential skills, and preparing students to swim confidently, which is vital, given we live in close proximity to beaches and waterways. We hope students may continue to practice and improve their water safety and swimming skills, under the close supervision of adults, in safe swimming environments in the summer months ahead. 

Kind regards,

​From the Principal Team
Sue & Michael ​

Sue Osborne, Principal

Michael Downing, Assistant Principal

KEY DATES & EVENTS 

Please access our AVPS Key Dates & Events page AT THIS LINK.

​TERM 3 2024​​

• Friday 6th September - School Swimming Program - last day
• Friday 6th September - District Basketball Comp
• Sunday 8th September - Flemington Farmers' Market - AVPS Bake Sale 
• Monday 9th September - Smile Squad returns
• Thursday 12th September - MVIMP Soiree - AVPS Hall 
• Wednesday 18th September - Special Lunch Day & Footy/Sports Colours Day
• Friday 20th September -  Last Day Term Three - Early Finish Time - 2:30pm

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Upcoming Pupil Free Day and Public Holidays  - Students do not attend school on these dates:
TERM 4 - 2024

• Monday 4th November - Curriculum Day (Staff Report Writing Day) - please make alternative arrangements for the care of children on this day.
• Tuesday 5th November- Melbourne Cup Day  Public Holiday -  school closed​

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assistant principal appointment 2025

We are pleased to announce that Ben Kline has been appointed to the substantive Assistant Principal position at Ascot Vale PS, following a recent open recruitment process.

Congratulations to Ben on this significant career achievement! We look forward to continuing a positive partnership in leading this wonderful school community in his new capacity of Assistant Principal. 

For those who may have missed it, this appointment follows Michael Downing’s decision to step down from the Assistant Principal position he has held for sixteen years at AVPS. 

Michael will have the opportunity for ongoing employment at Ascot Vale PS, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Michael in a different role starting in 2025.

In the meantime, Michael will continue in the Assistant Principal position for the duration of the 2024 school year, handing over responsibilities to Ben, who will officially begin in January 2025.

Ben Kline, Assistant Principal for 2025

Enrolment for 2025

Prep 2025 Transition Program - during term 4 2024 - save the dates. 

We have just finalised the following key dates. More detail has been shared with enrolled parents. Please save these dates in your own calendars now.

• Parent Teacher  - meet the teachers and principal team - Wed 23rd October 5.30pm in Unit 5. This 1 hour session will also explain transition sessions 1-4 in more detail. 
• Transition session #1 - Thur 7th Nov 3.45-4.45pm
• Transition session #2 - Mon 18th Nov 9.15-10.45pm
• Transition session #3 - Tues 3rd Dec 9.15-12.15pm
• Transition session #4 - Tues 17th Dec 9.45-10.45 (Meet 2025 class/teacher)

These dates are also posted on our community Compass calendar. ​

Welcome to Annie brabazon 

Welcome to Annie Brabazon - Unit 1 & 3 Education Support Staff member. 

“Hi everyone! My name is Annie. I’m a new member of the lovely Education Support team. I’m a proud mum to a beautiful daughter, and after taking some time off I’m so excited to return to work and immerse myself in this vibrant school community.

My background is a bit of a mix, starting as a scientist and then working in business, IT, and accounting, but my true passion is all about child development, and helping children grow and learn. There’s just something magical about watching young minds discover the world around them.

Apart from my love of food, art and crafts, I enjoy going camping and exploring the countryside with my family. I believe in lifelong learning and love picking up something new every day. I already feel so lucky to be part of such a welcoming and supportive school where everyone is valued and look forward to contributing in every possible way I can!”

Annie Brabazon, Education Support

Lost Property

Dear Parents and caregivers,

We are coming to the end of the term and there has been an overflow of lost property left at school. These items have been accumulating over the last two months.

During the last week of term, we will be displaying lost property to make it easier for children and parents to find their forgotten items. Anything that is left over on the last day of term will be collected and donated to those in need.

​Thank you for all your support,

​Swapna 
Education Support

Swapna Ballireddy

SECONDHAND uniform

Dear Parents/Carers

For anyone who may be interested in purchasing secondhand uniform items, two dates have been set for term 3:​

• Thursday 12th September - from 3:15pm to 3:45pm

Thank you

community connections

parent reps

Thank you to our tireless team of Parent Reps who have continued to work on the following array of value add events to help bring vibrancy, connection and enjoyment to our school community: 

BOP Til You Drop 
Congratulations and thank you to Erin and the team of Parent Reps and volunteers who organised or helped run the Kids Disco last Friday, “Bop Til You Drop”. It went off like a rocket - the kids had a blast; we hope they slept soundly after an evening of excitement. 

Thank you also to the teachers who helped supervise the Disco to make it a memorable and fun event for the kids,  i.e., Doug, Annie, Bridie, Ben, Lucy, Bianca and Zara.

Lucy in particular reported she had lots of fun painting faces and it was great to see the teachers showing off their disco moves with the kids! It really was a whole bunch of fun. ​

FATHER’S DAY ​
Fathers, dads at heart and family members gathered this morning to celebrate all things ‘dad’. 

Thank you to the volunteers for serving the pastries and to Alex from the Hit Van for providing good coffee.

We hope the dads have a wonderful day on Sunday and enjoy their special school-made surprise, when it is delivered. Thanks to Kathrine McConnell (mum of Jack and Ella) and co. for their hard work behind the scenes to make this gift possible. 
​

​We are looking forward to these upcoming events and more:

​FARMER’S MARKET
Bake Sale - Sunday 8th September
Bake Packs will be distributed to families next week. 
Please return these to school if you are not planning to bake for the event. 
 
SPECIAL LUNCH DAY
Sports Colours Day - 18th September 
The House Captains will be organising a Footy / Sports Colours day to coincide with footy finals fever gripping Melbourne in September AND a special lunch day to match will be run by the Parent Reps; the theme being pies and pastries.

​Watch out for the links to order lunches on Compass and Class DoJo in the coming weeks. . 
 
TRIVIA NIGHT
Friday 15th November – save the date
HOST – Ben Brown (Aila’s dad - Unit 5)
THEME – ‘Fiesta’
CATERING – Dos Amigos – Paella & Tacos

140th Birthday Celebrations 2025
The Parent Reps are seeking volunteers to join a separate working party that will operate in 2024 and 2025 to help prepare for AVPS’s 140th Birthday celebrations  next year. Initial plans include holding a fete as the main community celebration. 

Please sign up to this working party at this online form:   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D62nXxwmoh4d8ogW_cL_7JGQHayn3dbP4QAtk-Cf-lg/edit 

​

Fresh Fruit Friday (FFF) Term 3 

​Here is the FFF schedule for term three:

TERM 3 - FFF
Week 8 - U 2/3
Week 9 - U 1 /6
Week 10  -No Fruit

FFF volunteers must have a current Working With Children Check (or receipt), which can be obtained online here: https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1. 
Applications need to be lodged at an Australian Post Outlet. 
​
Full FFF instructions appear in the file below.

fresh_fruit_friday_-_instructions.pdf
File Size:	275 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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2024 Parent Reps
Thank you to the following volunteers who will share the Parent Rep roles in 2024.

UNIT 1 PARENT REPS Kathy Faulkner ​ ​​	UNIT 2 PARENT REPS Sarah Wauters ​ ​	​UNIT 3 PARENT REPS Lily Jiang Meike Koenig Mutlu Yurdal  Helen Radloff ​Karen Villanueva
​UNIT 4 PARENT REPS  Katherine McConnell ​Sue Macaulay ​ ​ ​	​UNIT 5 PARENT REPS Erin Katsavos Kerryn Herman Danielle McKeown Kate Harris Kyra Low Kirsten Deruddere Jemima Flego	​UNIT 6 PARENT REPS Jayasree Pushpa Raghunadhan  Kurt Gleich ​Shelley Smith ​

school council 

The School Council wrapped up their winter 'online' meetings on Monday night and is looking forward to reconvening in person in Term 4. The online format allowed the council to continue addressing important business while managing other commitments effectively, in the cold dark winter months.

Each subcommittee has made significant progress on key projects. For instance, the OSCH team, comprising Mel, Nicci and Sue, successfully conducted a comprehensive Expression of Interest process. They reviewed over 1,000 pages of submissions and held panel interviews to secure the next OSHC provider agreement for the school. We extend our sincere appreciation to Nicci and Mel for their dedicated work on this panel. Please see their announcement  under OSHC below regarding the process outcomes.
​
Warm regards,

Sue Osborne, Principal, and Phil Burn, School Council President.​

2024 AVPS School Council Members and Sub Committees are

FINANCE  Matt Vitins - Parent / Treasurer Joseph Egan - Parent  Michael Downing - Staff Rozeena Sen - Staff  Sue Osborne - Principal  ​	EDUCATION & POLICY Annalise De Mel - Parent - Vice President  Elizabeth Jones - Parent  Ken Willis - Parent  Bianca Bertolacci - Staff ​ ​
BUILDINGS & GROUNDS Phil Burn - Parent / President  Michael Downing - Staff Ben Kline - Staff ​	OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE Melanie Quin - Parent  Nicci Bilinsky - Parent  Sue Osborne - Principal  ​

policy news

The Policy team has continued to draft and review the following policies in recent times.

• Student Engagement and Wellbeing
• Photographing, Filming and Recording Students

The latter policy re: ‘photographing students’ will result in a significant change in practice where, from 2025:

A Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Consent Form will be given to parents/carers on enrolment for the standard uses ……… . Consent, if given, applies until it is withdrawn or changed. If a parent/carer would like to withdraw or change their consent at any point in time, they must notify the school.
​
All existing parents and caregivers will, therefore, be requested to complete a permission proforma in Term 4 to prepare for this change. No action is required at present. This policy and permission proforma will be circulated in term 4 in preparation for the 2025 school year. 


AVPS always welcomes feedback on any of our policies, which can be accessed on our website here: https://avps.vic.edu.au/policies--standards.html
Please provide feedback about any of our policies using this online form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xcb8Ahlh3t77cmFn465FvCuj3-h_iwzKpTMGPiLybhs/edit

FINANCE

The finance committee, comprising Matt Vitins, Treasurer ( dad of Lil Unit 5), Joe Egan (dad of Charlotte U 3), Michael Downing , David Cauchi, (Business Manager),  Sue and Rozeena, is currently working on developing a financial plan for continuing the highly successful Chromebook program across AVPS, where P-2 students share devices on a shared (1 device to 2 children) basis and year 3-6 students are provided their own device to keep and use at school. 

A four-year review of the funding model (parent contributions and expenses) found we were short in raising funds to cover total expenses.

The committee will work on a funding plan to enable this program covers costs, which will allow it to continue into the future. The details of this plan will be released in term four, coinciding with the 2025 parent payment arrangements. 

In the meantime, please read the short spiel below about the benefits of Chromebooks that are experienced on a daily basis at AVPS and don't forget to ask your child about how they use them in their school week. 

Why Chromebooks: 
There is no denying ICT devices are essential to enhance learning and prepare students for a tech-driven future. Chromebooks at AVPS are highly effective due to their simplicity, and ease of management. Their lightweight design and intuitive interface make them user-friendly for young students, while their cloud-based nature ensures seamless access to educational apps and resources. Their robust security features and automatic updates also reduce the need for extensive IT support, making them a practical choice for educational environments.

Buildings and grounds

The Buildings and Ground team report in August highlighted the following 3 items:
​

• We are reconnecting with the Moonee Valley City Council’s “Better Moves’ program - The MVCC Council runs the Better Moves Around Schools program in collaboration with local schools to improve traffic, safety and parking management, and encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport when travelling to and from school.

• We recently completed a whole school Essential Safety Measures Inspection Audit - where items were tabled for action

• The Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA) has confirmed they will support AVPS that they will take over and fund some outstanding works that our allocated budgets cannot cover (eg painting)

environmental team news

The students have been learning about composting and helped to clean up the Unit 3 courtyard. Flowers were planted and watered, weeds pulled, and compost turned. 

The grant to create a sensory garden at school is moving along. We will get started on the planting aspect of the project in term 4. In the meantime, the lunchtime gardeners and Enviro Team will prepare the soil, add some compost and check the watering system in preparation for planting.

REMINDER FOR THOSE INTERESTED: Community Clean-up and Audit this Sunday 1st September) at 5 Mile Creek, Essendon (10.00am-11.30am). Check School Dojo for more info.

SECONDHAND LIBRARY BOOKS:
Jo and Kerri in the library have been busy sorting out the old books. We thought it would be a great sustainable idea to donate them. After a phone call, the books will be on their way to North Melbourne Community Centre. Ritchie and Maya helped me pack the books.

Thank you,
Doug Skate
Prep-2 and Environmental Team Teacher 

Doug Skate

MUSIC NEWS

mvimp - mOONEE VALE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PROGRAM

The MVIMP Camp was held just a few short weeks ago and was a huge success. Students from all four MVIMP schools were invited to participate at the Urban camp in Parkville. They were involved in intensive lessons with their music tutors for 3 full days. This all culminated with an amazing concert that showcased all that they had learnt. We really do have some talent. 
Thank you to all of the music tutors that put in many hours and to Jason who gave up a week of his home life to be there!

The AVPS Soiree is just around the corner, Thursday September 12th, 6pm in the Hall.  All MVIMP students are expected to attend and perform in small group ensembles. Students are all busy rehearsing in their weekly lessons. It would be fantastic if students wore black and white on the night. We look forward to an evening of sweet music. 

Cello News! We are happy to welcome Michelle Tran to the list of our talented MVIMP music tutors. Michelle is an accomplished violin and cello player. She has been working with our cellists already and we are excited. If you get a chance on the night of the Soiree, please say hello. 
​​

Amanda McClure - MVIMP Liaison Teacher

Jason Simpson - MVIMP Liaison Teacher

PIANO - LAMPLIGHT MUSIC

Private piano lessons are available on request (vacancies permitting). 
The company providing this service is Lamplight Music. 
Director:  Joshua Cowie
PH 0413 884 067 Email:  [email protected] 

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE (oshc)

The Outside School Hours Care subcommittee of the School Council is pleased to announce Camp Australia as the successful applicant, following a recent Expression of Interest process to confirm an OSHC provider agreement at Ascot VAle PS from 2025.

We look forward to continuing the partnership with Dee, Steph and the wider Camp Australia organisation in 2025 and beyond.

​

OSHC phone:​​ 0423 795 247
Coordinator:​​ Dee Seneviratne

Camp Australia Contract - Expression of Interest process 

The OSHC Sub - Committee will be working towards managing an Expression of Interest process, which is necessary as we near the end of our five-year contract with Camp Australia. It is anticipated that this process will be completed before the end of term 3. 

​​

VACATION CARE
bookings have begun to fill for the Camp Australia holiday program, Rocketeers, commencing onsite at Ascot Vale PS .
Register at www.campaustralia.com.au/rocketeers

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ASCOT VALE COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD
Please peruse the community notices in the files and slideshow below: