School News Update

Principal's Perspective

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we head into week five of term we congratulate our prep students on their first month at school. Prep students have been finishing a little earlier at 3:15 pm, however, from Monday will finish at 3:30 pm. As this will be new for our prep students and their parents and we have everyone in the school leaving around the same time, please remember to be patient when entering and exiting the grounds after school.

Thank you to the parents who provided feedback after the letter I sent out last week regarding respectful and courteous driving on our roads. Police have been out with an increased presence and will continue to do so. On the spot infringement notices will be issued as they deem necessary. Please remember to do the right thing for the benefit of everyone in our community.

In an effort to make a substantial and ongoing impact on the rubbish situation, we have been encouraging all students to be using the bins around the quadrangle. This is the dedicated eating area for recess and lunch play. While it isn’t quite perfect, the impact has been quite noticeable and student behaviour is changing, ensuring we have less rubbish around the yard. Please remind your child to be environmentally friendly by eating in the quadrangle and putting rubbish in the bin. If your child is eating in the grounds after school, please ensure that rubbish is either put into the bin or taken home with you.

This year has been a busy year from day one with parents, students, staff and our wonderful PA members all contributing to making ASPS a great place of learning and engagement. I would like to thank the PA president Necole Reszka and the PA committee and volunteers for their amazing work in organising the welcome picnic for families and the recent prep parent evening. Both events were well attended with many social connections made, lively conversations had, fun moments shared and even some dancing included along the way! Please consider participating in some of their upcoming events as I’m sure that you will enjoy yourselves.

Behind the scenes the leadership and administration teams have been working hard to streamline and improve some of our school functions and processes. This includes additional improvements and support for our Department of Education supplied ICT technician to increase the capacity and functionality of our network, ensuring students and staff have access to Wi-Fi when and where they need it. It also includes an upgrade of a number of switches to improve access and speed.

Other systems and processes will be streamlined over time for not only students and staff but parents and carers also. Stay tuned over the next few months for more to come.

Our school review process has been a positive experience with much information gleaned by the panel members during day two – the fieldwork day. Our school reviewer, two challenge partners and the area Senior Education Improvement Leader (SEIL), met with parents, students and staff this week to collect information and ideas, and listened to feedback and responses to questions in order to get a ‘full’ perspective of ASPS. 

We look forward to day three on Tuesday 10th March for the leadership team and all panel members to regroup and determine areas of focus, set goals and key improvement strategies for the four-year school strategic plan. 

Once the draft school strategic plan has been completed it will be sent off for quality assurance before submission and approval by the Department of Education. It can then be shared with our school community. 

Many thanks to the parents who participated in meeting and discussion with the school reviewer and the SEIL.

I also thank everyone who recently nominated for school council membership. While announcing our newest and also re-elected members, I did not include the entire school council membership in that communication, as some are mid-way through their two-year term (which will end in 2027 for those members).

Our 2026 school council members are:

Have a great rest of your week.

Thank you,

Travis Paterson, Principal                      

Rhian ap Rees, Assistant Principal    

Centennial Brick Fundraiser Reopened for 2026

**closes Saturday 28 Feb