Principal's Perspective

Welcome Back

We are very excited to have all of the students return to school this week. It is lovely to see all of the students enjoying being back at school, catching up with their teachers and their friends. This term will be another busy term with many events planned for students across the school. Sports events, camps, incursions, excurstions, and cross country just to name a few.

We also have the PA movie night happening tonight, a big thank you to our Parents’ Association and volunteers who have made this event possible.

We have had new soccer goals installed over the holiday period. These goals were made possible because of the the Parents’ Association through their diligent fundraising activities. We thank the Parents’ Association for all of their efforts to enhance the programs and facilities that our school can offer. The students were delighted to see the goals on the first day of school and they have been well used this past week at every opportunity.

During the holidays we had a number of building and ground works completed (gutter cleaning, grounds maintenance etc), including the enclosure of the overhanging classroom areas near the COLA.

This was a directive from WorkSafe who deemed this area unsafe for students. The enclosure has met the requirement and approval from WorkSafe who inspected the works this week.

Staffing

This term we welcome Laveena Kukanesan to ASPS as the class teacher for 5A, as Julian van Marle steps into the role of Performing Arts teacher. Laveena is excited to be working with students and be a part of the ASPS community.

We also need to thank and say farewell to two of our long standing education support staff who are both moving onto new and excititing opportunities. 

A very big thank you to both Saige Fletcher and Amanda Miller for their dedication and commitment to the students at Auburn South Primary School over many years.

Saige and Amanda have worked with and assisted many students during their time, providing individual support and working with teachers and families to enhance the learning opportunities for the students they worked with. 

As the team leader, Saige has coordinated the education/integration support team, provided coaching and mentoring, while problem solving and being flexible at all times.

We thank both Amanda and Saige for their work and wish them the very best in their new endeavours.

Continued Industrial Action

As parents and carers know, staff at our school who are members of the Australian Education Union (AEU) have been involved in long-running negotiations with the state government and the

Department of Education for improved pay and conditions.

Despite an increased number of ongoing negotiations and the commencement of industrial action, including the statewide full day stopwork last term, there is still no fair offer on the table to address the key issues facing public school staff. 

Victoria’s public schools remain the lowest funded in the country, teachers are the lowest paid, with education support staff and school leaders underpaid as well. School staff also continue to face significant workload pressures. Staffing shortages continue to be experienced in public schools across the state.

As part of the campaign, AEU members will be taking further industrial action, including half-day stopworks on a rolling, region-by-region basis. This means each school will be affected once. We understand this can cause disruption for students and families. Staff are taking this action because they care deeply about public education and want to see our schools properly funded, and to receive fair pay and conditions, all of which are critical to a prosperous future for Victoria’s public school students.

Union members at Auburn South Primary School will stop work for half a day on Tuesday June 9th. We will continue to keep families informed about any action that may affect our school community.

Racism

At ASPS we value the diversity of culture, ethnicity, and faith of all our students. We are proud of our diversity, and everyone is welcome at our school.

It has come to our attention some racist incidents have not supported these values. This has included using racist language and slurs. This behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at our school. We are taking immediate action as part of our commitment to make our school a safe and inclusive place for everyone.

Celebrating the diversity of our community makes us stronger, kinder and innovative. We are committed to ensuring that students from all backgrounds feel accepted, supported and are empowered to learn.

To achieve our values and aims, everyone at Auburn South Primary School plays an important role, and we are writing to ask for your support.

We ask that you support your child/ren to:

• understand that we celebrate diversity and multicultural inclusion
• understand the importance of everyone at school being treated with respect
• understand that Auburn South Primary School takes racism very seriously
• understand that the school will support students if they experience or see their classmates experience this racism
• discuss with your child/ren the impact of using racist slurs and the harm it may cause other students, and the importance of using respectful language at school and in the broader community.

Your partnership in reinforcing these values at home will significantly help create a more respectful and inclusive environment at school. For more information, please see Racism: talking with children and teens, Raising Children Network.

We thank all families for working together to stamp out racism and provide a caring and supportive environment for everyone at Auburn South Primary School.

Warm regards,

Travis