Ashby Display at Westfield Shopping Centre Geelong

Today, Thursday, May 27th through Sunday, May 30th art and school work from Ashby Primary School will be on display at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Geelong's CBD. Ashby is one of four schools that will be featured over the next four days. So if you are doing any shopping this weekend in the CBD, please be sure to check out the school's display which can be found on the first level in the Centre foyer!

Check out our Classroom Blogs!

Many of the Ashby classrooms (including our specialist classes, art and German) try to use blogs to communicate about their activities, so if you haven't checked out your classroom blog recently you might want to! You can find the links to the various Ashby classroom blogs on the Ashby Primary School website. Keeping a classroom blog up to date can be time consuming, so if it's something that interests you, you might want to check with your child's teacher to see if you can help!

Ashby Primary School 2009 Annual Report to the Community Now Available

The primary purpose of annual reporting is to inform parents and the wider school community of the school's successes, activities and achievements throughout the year. The report also provides an opportunity to communicate and publicise the longer term directions for the school. Annual reporting is an important tool for effective governance within schools and the government school system. The 2009 Annual Report to the School Community: Ashby Primary School is now available online as is the Government School Performance Summary: Ashby Primary School. All parents are encouraged to read these public documents.

Fruit and Veg Week, May 17-21

Fruit and Veg Week is part of Home Economics Victoria’s Fruit and Veg Program and encourages students to take part in a variety of activities focusing on healthy eating during the week. Ashby Primary School already participates in the larger Program through activities like Fresh Fruit Friday, classroom cooking and classroom gardening.

During the week many individual classrooms will be engaging in activities related to the goals of the Week, but families at home might also want to participate. Below are some ideas of things you can do:

• Provide children with after school snacks that are fruits or vegetables
• Have children identify fruits or vegetables they have never tasted before and let them try them
• Let children pick what vegetable(s) to include each night with dinner
• Have children help you prepare or cook a healthy snack or meal
• Conduct a craft activity that uses fruits or vegetables like making a vegetable person or using vegetables and fruits as stamps with paint

Junior Playground Mural Progress

Local artist Mark (father of Luca in Grade 3/4H) is painting a mural in the junior playground in the back of the school next to the castles. Mark’s murals are scattered throughout Geelong and we are lucky to have him as our “artist in residence” on this project! The children have assisted Mark in painting some of the mural to date. Check out how its progressing!


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Celebrating National Volunteer Week, May 10-16

Volunteers are an important fixture in our school. They assist children with their reading, provide expertise around topics like biking and gardening, lead and staff programs including Fresh Fruit Friday and the parent managed head lice program and raise additional funds through grants and events. Volunteers help make our school a more vibrant learning environment in so many ways. This week (May 10-16) is National Volunteer Week. Around the country organizations are saying thank you to their volunteers and so we say thank you to all those who volunteer at Ashby!

Thank You Mother's Day Stall Volunteers!

A special thank you to all the moms and dads who assisted with preparing and manning the Mother's Day Stall held for students last Friday. We hope all moms enjoyed their gifts as much as the children enjoyed picking them out!

Walk Safely to School Day Friday 7 May

Walk Safely to School Day is an annual national event when all Primary school children are encouraged to walk and ride safely to school. The event promotes safe pedestrian and cycling behaviour and the associated health and environmental benefits.

Walking and riding all or part of the way to school is an easy, free and sustainable habit for children to develop. Healthy and active children live and learn better and grow up to be healthier and more active adults.

We hope that all Ashby students will participate by using leg and bike power to come to school on the day. The Active Travel Committee will be handing out stickers to those who use active travel and conducting the May Hands Up survey on the day so we are expecting an impressive result!

Don't Forget the Mother’s Day Stall this Friday, May 7th

Based on the success of last year's Mother's Day and Father's Day stalls, Friends of Ashby will be hosting a Mother’s Day Stall this year on Friday, May 7th from 11:30am-2pm for students. There will be small gifts for mum ranging in price from $1-5. Bags will be available for student purchases, but students are also encouraged to bring their own bags. Please note we are also looking for volunteers to help set up and man the stall during this time, see Can You Help for more information.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! Effective communication between school and home is important to children’s learning - the more parents know about activities at school the better they can support their children and the school. Friends of Ashby hopes to assist this communication through our new blog which we are launching today. Regular blog posts will include information about school and other community related activities as well as how you can get involved in supporting the school, so be sure to check back often for new blog posts!