25th August 2023

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,

Recently, Ashdale Cluster hosted Paul Litherland (State Recipient Australian of the Year 2022). Paul has been coming to the school for the last 7 years and has previously presented information to the year 5/6 cohort. This year, the experience was extended to the year 4 students who also loved the opportunity to listen to the wise words from Paul.

This narrative continues throughout the students’ secondary years as well, with Paul also visiting all the cluster schools and ASC.

Paul has an enduring rapport with his audience and gets the message across in an impactful style. This isn’t just important for students, but a must for parents of all ages!

Make sure you watch the 3-minute video from Paul

https://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/paul-litherland

School – Minor Works

Physical activity has been proven to be a great way for students to regulate their behaviour and ensure a well-balanced approach to their lives. Therefore, Ashdale PS and the Ashdale P&C Association are undertaking due diligence in establishing a “Ninja Course”. The school has received Federal funding to assist with student well-being and believe the use of these funds to establish something tangible and sustainable for many years to come, is a great use of the grant. 

The established heavy roller doors on the school assembly area have always proved to be problematic. They are heavy, awkward to lift and somewhat unreliable, so over the coming months we will be replacing the doors with automatic high-strength shutter style doors. Keep your eyes out for the dramatic change!

School Population

We presently have around 730 students enrolled at Ashdale Primary, and we are predicting this number will decrease to 670 students in 2024. This reduction obviously impacts on the number of transportable required at the school and therefore, another transportable, LA 25 (LOTE Room) will be removed at the end of the year.

The upside of the loss of the room, is that the community garden will be extended. Watch this space, for the exciting addition to this wonderful area.

Communication

In closing, I continue to encourage all parents and community members to contact the school if they have concerns or questions. On most occasions, an early discussion resolves these concerns.

Regards

Tony Watson

Chaplain's Chat

September is around the corner! I love Spring and all that it brings: The re-awakening after Winter, the blossoms and the beauty and…the promise of Summer! I would like to encourage you to make time to stop and smell the early blossoms, to take a moment out of your busy routines in order to breathe and take in the beauty around you.

Life can sometimes feel like a long winter. Please remember that there are free and accessible support services available. Let us all be aware to ask for a helping hand whenever we need it.

Two community services that have come to my attention more recently are:

HELPING MINDS:

This organisation supports children, young people, adults and families, who are affected by mental illness. The majority of their services are free of charge and focus on: advocacy, understanding the mental health system, education, counselling and support, school holiday programs and respite. Phone: (08)94277100, Regional free call: 1800 811747

The Ronald McDonald House Charities WA:

This organisation supports children and families with seriously ill children. Their learning support program also assists families with children under specialist medical care. For more information, visit www.rmhcwa.org.au. Tel: 08 9346 9000

A beautiful quote I came across: “Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring”.

By Lilly Pulitzer

Warm Regards

Denise

Chaplain at Ashdale PS

2024 Planning

Planning is underway for 2024.  If your child/ren won’t be returning to  Ashdale Primary School in 2024, or leaving prior to the end of this year, can you please email the office ashdale.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Office News

SCHOOL VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS (including P & C Contribution)

Reminders have been sent home with students.

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.

QKR! TIP

Download Qkr!

Parents and carers at Ashdale Primary School can enjoy the benefits and convenience of online credit card facilities.

Qkr! by MasterCard can be downloaded for free from Apple’s app store for iPhones (iPads should download the iPhone app) or from Google Play for Android phones and tablets.

After downloading the app and registering, simply select Ashdale Primary School from ‘Nearby Locations’ on Qkr! or type ASHDALE after tapping the magnifying glass in the top right of the home screen of Qkr! and select the appropriate school.  Once you have made your first payment on Qkr! the app will always recognise you as part of the school in future to make payments even easier.

You can pay for

• School Voluntary Contributions and P&C Contributions
• excursions
• library bags
• canteen orders

Student Update Forms

It is important that our school’s database is up to date with student’s current details.  Families can update their child’s details held at the school by completing an online form on the Ashdale Primary School website.  This is located under the home tab, or use the following link, 

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

Legends

P&C News

The P&C have been hard at work as we get into the second semester. Our President and Vice President went to the WACSSO conference over the weekend and were inspired by some incredible speakers, including the Minister for Education Dr Tony Buti, the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Jacqueline McGowan-Jones and some incredible student representatives (among many others). The theme was ‘Yours, Mine, Ours: Taking Collective Care of our Children’ and was based on the notion that it ‘takes a village to raise a child’. It really reiterated that it is our collective responsibility to support and encourage our young people at Ashdale and in the wider community to reach their potential, and that we all have a role to play in their development. 

As we head towards the end of term three our P&C fundraising committee are really picking up the pace and preparations for our second-ever Colour Run on Thursday 21st September are well under way! Congratulations to LA1 for being the first class to have the most profiles set up. If you haven’t already, please make sure you set up a profile for your child so you can start raising funds for our school - you can follow this link to get started:  https://www.schoolfunrun.com.au/  

All funds raised by the Colour Run will go towards a new ninja course play area which will be enjoyed by our Ashdale students and is an excellent cause. Keep an eye out for updates via thhe P&C facebook page and Connect as we get closer to the day. 

Erryn Siva 
Ashdale P&C President

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