4th April 2025

Dates to remember

Dates to remember – view live calendar on side panel of newsletter, website, or communication app.

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Community Members,

Our School Canteen closed last week after many years of providing a sterling service to the Ashdale Community. Many community members have been directly and indirectly involved with the canteen over the years, all sharing the common goal of providing healthy and tasty food to our students and, at times, the adults within our community.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Tania, Carolyn, and Bec, who worked in the canteen and have now moved on to other roles in the wider community. Their dedication has been greatly appreciated.

Community Support

It’s continually reinforced by the community that Ashdale Primary School is a nurturing and stimulating educational institution. The feedback from the broader parent body is overwhelmingly positive and supportive. If, however, concerns arise, there are mechanisms in place to address them. Should an issue remain unresolved at the school level, the North Metropolitan Education Regional Office is available to provide further assistance.

Holidays

As we approach the final week of term, it’s been another incredibly busy period. I wish everyone a wonderful, relaxing break and a joyful Easter.

Kind regards,

Tony Watson

Principal 

Harmony Day in LA32

To celebrate Harmony Day in LA32, the students chatted with their families about the countries and cultures they came from.  In class we identified on a large world map these countries and then placed ribbon from our body outlines to the various countries.  One picture attached shows our awesome and colourful map of the world.  It is amazing that the LA32 minions come from over 20 different countries and backgrounds.  

The students also discussed and wrote about the meaning behind the Harmony Day motto "everyone belongs".

Butler Slam Basketball Success

Ashdale had a successful day at the Butler Slam basketball competition, one of several regional primary school basketball competitions coordinated throughout the state by Basketball WA. Ashdale was represented by year 5 and year 6 students in both the boy’s and girl’s events.

A big congratulations to our boys who were undefeated throughout the day, winning a total of 6 games. The boys finished the day convincingly defeating Butler to become this year’s Butler Cup Champions. Also, well done to our girl’s team, improved throughout the day, dominating their last pool game to finish 3^rd in their pool. They then went on to compete in a very competitive 3^rd team pool playoff, losing 14 to 10 in very close game.

Congratulations to all our students on their outstanding effort and behaviour throughout the tournament.

The boys team have now qualified to compete against Western Australia’s best primary school basketball teams at the State Primary Basketball Champions Cup to be held at Bendat Basketball Centre on 24th November.

Faction Cross Country Championship

The 2025 Faction Cross Country Championship for students in years 1 to 6 will take place in this term on Thursday, 29^h May. Please make sure that your child is proudly wearing their Faction Shirt for this event.

We have a number of students who will be striving to win a ribbon or qualify for the Interschool Cross Country and we wish them luck in their endeavours. For most of our students who participate, they will do so to be involved in a whole school event, earn a point for their faction and achieve the personal goal of completing the cross country course which is always fabulous achievement.

Research shows that children who choose to make positive choices about being active and involved in events are far more likely to maintain these positive habits as they become adults, greatly reducing their risk of developing the many health issues associated with a lack of physical activity, so please encourage and motivate your child to be a participant. If you can find the time to help your child develop their fitness prior to this event, so they can participate to the best of their abilities, this would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.

All students in years 1 to 3 will participate in the Faction Cross Country Championship. Students in years 4-6 must nominate by informing their teacher that they wish to participate. To be eligible to participate, students in years 4-6 must demonstrate that they are capable of jogging the distance required for their year group without having to stop or walk, jogging slowly is perfectly acceptable. Students in years 4-6 who do not nominate to participate prior to the cross country event will not be able to compete on the day.

All students who participate and complete the course earn one point for their faction towards the Cross Country Shield and a certificate of participation. Students who place 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th earn bonus points for their faction and a place ribbon. The faction with the most points will win Ashdale’s Cross Country Shield for 2025.

The champion boy and girl in each year group receive a medallion acknowledging their achievement.

There are school records for students in years 4, 5 and 6. The time ran by the champion students in these year groups is recorded and engraved on to a shield which displays the names and times of all previous winners, this shield is displayed in the library. At present the Faction Cross Country school records are as follows:

Ashdale Primary Cross-Country School Records

Chaplain's Chat

As we are nearing the end of Term 1, my sincere hope is that everyone is traveling well. It has been an exciting Term, seeing everyone settling into their new year groups and hearing excitable chattering as groups of students set off to their swimming lessons. What a privilege to be in Australia with it's beautiful swimming pools and beaches. 

I want to bring the following resource to your attention: Anglicare WA

Anglicare WA is a diverse community service provider in Western Australia; a values-drive organisation, supporting more than 80,000 people each year. Here follows a statement by Anglicare: " Anglicare WA places individuals, families and communities at the centre of all we do. Guided by person-centred and trauma informed principles, we support people in experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, poverty and inequity, and family and domestic violence. We deliver services to improve family relationships, child safety and wellbeing, mental health, and disability support."                                                                 Contact details: Support & Services 1800 268 313 or info@anglicarewa.org.au                                                                      

 Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm - "We will connect you with services that suit your needs"

" Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it." by Vim&Vintage - design.life.style

Office News

School Voluntary Contributions (including P & C Contribution)

Have you paid the voluntary contribution $60/student and P & C Levy $40/family?

We encourage payments via the Qkr! app – this is a very simple and quick process and alleviates the need for busy parents to come into the office or send money in with students.

Instructions on how to download the App are available on our website from the link below or see the Qkr! Tip article below.

• Remember to change the profile (year, LAs etc) for your children when first accessing Qkr! for the year
• Alternative payment methods (cash/eftpos/credit card) are available through the front office.
• Families may pay the Voluntary Contribution in instalments.

Student Update Forms

Student update forms have been sent home with your child/ren unless we have already spoken to you. It is imperative we have up to date information for your family. Please update any changes and send back to the front office as soon as possible.

If you require any further information, please contact the school on 6207 4500 or email Ashdale.ps@education.wa.edu.au.

Periodically, if you have future changes, please complete on our Ashdale Primary School website 

Student update form - Ashdale Primary School 

Legends

A Note from the School Health Nurse

Water Safety

In Australia, drowning is the number one cause of death for children under five. To keep your children safe around water:

• Always stay with your children and watch carefully when they are near water, even if they can swim. 
• Teach your children about water safety and make sure they learn how to swim.
• Have the whole family learn first aid.
• If you have a pool have it fenced with self-closing gates.
• Never leave them alone in the bath.

The Education Department offers low-cost VacSwim programs for school aged children. For more information on swimming lessons during summer via VacSwim go to www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/swimming/detcms/portal/ and for water safety tips see www.lifesavingwa.com.au.

P&C News

It’s been an incredibly busy start to 2025 for the P&C. At our general meeting in week 7 the P&C voted to cease running the school canteen and hand back the canteen to the school. We have now officially closed the canteen, which was a bittersweet moment for the P&C after 20 years of operation. We send a final ‘farewell and good luck’ to the canteen dream team of Caroline, Tania and Rebecca who have each decided to move on to new challenges. We also wish to thank all the volunteers who have helped to keep the canteen running over the years and the parents and community members for their ongoing support. There is a current expression of interest to seek a new on-site canteen provider through the school and updates will come from the school communications from here on. 

We have some fabulous events coming up. This weekend (Sunday 6th April) we will be holding our inaugural car boot sale in the Westport Parade carpark.

We encourage those wishing to sell to sign up via the link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ashdales-first-car-boot-sale-registration-1288096915549?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios and hope to see buyers there from 8am. 

We’re also selling tickets for our magnificent Easter basket which has been kindly donated by Daniel Pastorelli MLA. The basket looks incredible and is filled with toys, treats and Easter-themed activities which will definitely help to keep the kids entertained over the holidays. Tickets are available now for $2 each via QKR and will be drawn on Thursday 9th April. 

Finally, our Mother’s Day gift stall is coming up and we will be looking for volunteers to help run the stall and help students to pick out gifts for their mums. We will need help on Tuesday 6^th May and Thursday 8th May - sign up via this link: SignUp.com Mobile

Thanks to all our fabulous supporters and we wish you all a safe and enjoyable school holidays. 

Community News

DoE SECURITY

Please help to keep our school safe!  As part of our school community, we ask that if you see any unusual behaviour, evidence of theft or vandalism of our school outside of school hours, could you please contact school security on the number below. 

Please do not approach any individuals, just contact security and they will investigate the situation or contact the Police.  Working together will help protect our school.

9264 4771 (24-hour number) or 9264 4635