Welcome to the 2025 School Year!

We welcome our students, staff, families and community members as we begin the 2025 school year. We are grateful for the ongoing support from our families in helping our students re-engage with their learning and school routines. This time of year, can be busy for families, we truly appreciate your efforts in ensuring your children arrive on time, prepared for their lessons and ready to learn.

Students are now engaged with their units of study. If you notice that your child is becoming reluctant to come to school, please take the time to speak with their classroom teacher. Just like adults, students can feel fatigued or overwhelmed as they adjust to the demands of their academic studies. We are here to support both our students and families during this transition.

If your child is settling well into the school year, we encourage you to take a moment to celebrate their successes. Be specific in acknowledging the progress they’ve made, whether it is in their daily or weekly experiences. Recognising their growth will help them feel proud and motivated as they continue to develop.

I am pleased to be returning to Aspley in 2025, continuing my journey that began in 2023. These past two years have been a rewarding opportunity to work with our dedicated community, staff and students to create a positive school environment focused on academic achievement and the wellbeing of our students. As I continue in my role as Principal, I look forward to furthering our work together.

A special thank you goes to our Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) and School Council for their unwavering support of our school community. Their collaboration has been invaluable in supporting my transition to the school and in helping to drive our strategic initiatives. We express our gratitude to the P&C for assisting our families with the all-important school uniforms. Our students look amazing and wear the uniforms with pride. 

We remain committed to providing the best educational experience for your child, we look forward to another successful year together.

Annual Implementation Plan – School Improvement

At Aspley State School, we are committed to providing high-quality education for every student. As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure excellence, we prepare an Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) each year. This plan outlines an explicit improvement agenda over a 12-month period and aligns with our long-term School Strategic Plan.

For 2025, our AIP focuses on three main priorities aligned with our strategic goals:

1. Educational Leadership and Teaching Expertise in English (link): Excellence in teaching and learning underpinned by the Australian Curriculum (AC).

Our first priority will centre on English as our Explicit Improvement Agenda (EIA), with a focus on teaching practices aligned with the Australian Curriculum. Teachers will engage in targeted professional development and collaborative planning to strengthen their teaching of English across all year levels. This initiative directly supports the Department of Education Equity and Excellence Strategy (link), which aims to provide all students with the opportunity to succeed.

2. Educational Leadership and Teaching Expertise: Implementing a whole-school approach for the teaching of reading through the Australian Curriculum.

The second priority of our plan is to continue to develop and refine a whole-school approach to reading. With a focus on enhancing reading proficiency across all stages of learning delivering a multi-tiered approach, ensuring that all learners make measurable progress.

3. Educational Leadership and Teaching Expertise : A focus on wellbeing and engagement, fostering confidence and resilience for all. Creating meaningful pathways for every student is key to lifting their learning experience and learning outcomes.

The third priority will focus on a sense of belonging and connection to school. Support teachers will deliver developmentally appropriate learning experiences via the Play is the Way (link) program and Respectful Relationships (link) program. Our strategies will aim to engage students in learning and create an environment where all students feel safe, supported and valued.

Our AIP will be finalised this term, once endorsed by the region it will be shared with our community. Our AIP will provide a clear roadmap for the year ahead, with set targets, ensuring that we stay focused on what matters most for our students and their future success.

Back to School Notices

As we settle into the new school year, we remind our community and our students to be mindful of the school routines and our school expectations.

School Uniform

The school Uniform Dress Code (link)  is located on our school website. The school uniform is worn with pride by all students.  It offers an inclusive approach, supporting all student’s engagement at school as well as being comfortable, smart and sun safe.  Classroom teachers are taking time to ensure all students are aware of the dress code expectations.  Teachers will touch base with parents and caregivers, to confirm if you or your family require clarification or support with the dress code.  The formal uniform is worn from Year 1 – 6 on a Monday for assembly, special occasions and the school photos. The sports uniform should be worn on other days and for Physical Education lessons.

Attendance

Every day at school is an opportunity to grow, learn and flourish.  We understand that from time to time students will need to be away.  If your child needs to be away, contact the school office.  We will send you a text message regarding your child’s absence, if we did not receive a notification from you about their absence.  We ask that you reply to this message to confirm the reason for their absence.

School Routines

Students should not be dropped off at school prior to 8:15 am.  Staff are on duty from 8:15 am to offer supervision, student safety is a priority. Our outside hours school care, Camp Australia, can assist with before and after school care arrangements.  Please see our administration staff for the Camp Australia contact details. 

• Year 1-6 students are invited to wait outside the hall (eastern side), from 8:15 am Monday to Friday. Prep students can wait near there precinct at this time. Staff are on duty from 8:15 am and can offer supervision.
• The school bell will ring at 8:45 am, to signal a transition to class which will commence at 8:50 am. Classroom teachers will mark the class roll for daily attendance at 9:00 am.  A late slip should be collected from the office if students arrive after 9:00 am.
• School concludes at 3:00 pm. There is staff on supervision at the drop-off and pick-up zone on Maundrell Terrace and Horn Road.  Please confirm your family pick up location, in the afternoon.
• Our office is open from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm Monday to Friday, if you need to contact us feel free to email admin@aspleyss.eq.edu.au or phone 3863 9111.
• All student mobile phones are handed into our office at the start of the school day, for safe keeping. Wearable devices, such as smartwatches must be switched off so that phone calls or other notifications cannot be sent or received during the school hours.
• Assembly is held every Monday in our school hall, from 2:00 pm.  A whole school (P-6) assembly is held in the first and last week of the term.  The P-2 assembly is held on the even weeks of the term and the Year 3-6 assembly is held on the odd weeks.  We celebrate our student achievements, share school and P&C messages at this time.

Car Park Update: Working Together for a Safe Solution

As many of you are aware, the ongoing car park works on Horn Road are still in progress. We understand the inconvenience this has caused for students, staff, parents and local residents.

A recent update was received from our regional facilities team, that the project is progressing and is now expected to be finalised in early March. We have shared our community disappointment and frustrations with the delays to the relevant stakeholders, including the Brisbane City Council (BCC), Transport and Main Roads (TMR), the regional facilities team and contractors involved in the project.

Please be assured that the school is doing everything within its capacity to ensure that students, parents and our community have the safest possible options during this time. We continue to work closely with the BCC, TMR and contractors to address the situation and make sure that the car park project is completed as soon as possible.

In the interim, we need the support of everyone who uses the roads around the school, whether as pedestrians or drivers. We ask that pedestrians use the safest routes available to cross the roads and that drivers remain mindful of oncoming traffic and students around the school zones. During the first two weeks of school, we have ensured additional staff are on duty to assist with drop-off and pick-up procedures and to help manage traffic flow as best we can.

We recognise the concerns and frustrations that have been raised by families and community members regarding the current situation. We have responded to each communication with appreciation and respect and we continue to work with the relevant authorities to address the challenges being faced. We are grateful for the patience and consideration shown by our school community.

The Metropolitan North Regional Facilities Team has offered their ongoing support and should you have any questions or concerns about the car park project, they have offered for the Aspley community to contact them directly.  Best contact is Tony Clark, Infrastructure Advisor Regional Operations – Metro North and North Coast Region, Tony.CLARK@qed.qld.gov.au

If you have any further enquiries or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the school. We encourage you to reach out to the appropriate stakeholders as outlined above, to assist in streamlining your requests for information.

Thank you for your cooperation at this time as we continue to work together.