Our Pedagogies of Belonging lessons

Each week we do lessons specifically designed to develop an understanding of the personal social capabilities of the Australian Curriculum and to connect students with our school values and Ascot Assets.

This past week, as part of a theme of Kindness, we have been learning about Sympathy and Empathy.

Empathy is a strong connecting behaviour, while Sympathy is actually disconnecting in its effect, i.e. it drives people away from you.

• Empathy is the feeling with people; communicating that you understand how someone is feeling without trying to make things better.
• Sympathy is acknowledging how someone is feeling; not necessarily understanding it; often involves trying to silver-line things or make better.

Below is a video from Brene Brown on Empathy and Sympathy .. it has some cartoon elements so you could show and discuss with your children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBTYViDPlQ

This is also a nice short video on how Empathy works where Sympathy can’t which you can show the students.  I love the final line .. “Empathy is what can help someone get up and going again”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f0eSejlzLo  

See below some of the lovely stimulus and work done by Yr ½ with Ms Cutler.

Enrolments for 2026

 I can’t believe that it is that time already that I need to be asking about your enrolment intentions and life changes for 2026!  We understand that personal circumstances change OR that you may have longer ago already made other plans for continuing the education of your children beyond our Ascot. 

Firstly, can I say a sincere thank you for entrusting them to us for this important part of their life and learning so far. It has been a pleasure and a privilege, and we wish you all the very best.  For those families both with children leaving and other children continuing with us, we are honoured.

It would help me greatly to have as accurate information as possible on student enrolment numbers for next year to enable me to be strategic in my workforce planning and class grouping considerations.

If your family is leaving our school and not returning in 2026, please complete the form sent to you by email and return it to our school office staff as soon as possible or simply email Admin@ascotss.eq.edu.au with the following details if that is easier with the information listed below.

Permission for extended holidays – exemptions

We also appreciate that families often travel overseas for extended periods over the summer holiday period. School resumes on Tuesday 27 January 2026. If you will be returning to school after this date, please contact our school office at the above email also so that they can assist you with the necessary documentation to retain enrolments and class placements.

School Review Report

Many thanks to the 200 staff students and parents who contributed to our school review recently. The executive summary report is attached for your reading pleasure. I think they have captured our strengths and next steps accurately. I look forward to working with you and the students to develop our strategic plan Aspiring@Ascot 2026-2030.  A Key strategy here is to refine our school vision to create an enduring one. We will progress this more in 2026.

Some of my favourite parts of the summary include:

• Acknowledging the investment in our indoor and outdoor learning environments “adding a little bit of magic”
• “vital support of the P&C”
• Teachers’ commitment to using research-evidence and collegial sharing
• And the final line “students describe this school as “amazing”.

Again .. thank you for helping us become what is possible. 

Opportunity for Year 6 students

APPLY NOW for QACI Brilliant Futures  - a two-year selective-entry preparation program for student participation in Year 7 and Year 8. Current Year 6 students are welcome to APPLY NOW. 

QACI Brilliant Futures provides impactful, collaborative extra-curricular learning experiences aligned with the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile, including inquiry, critical thinking and reflection.

Learn more: https://qaci.eq.edu.au/enrolments/brilliant-futures-brisbane-program

These students impressed their teachers with their approach to learning in a variety of ways over the past week. Congratulations!

Week 3

Week 4

Congratulations to these students who are mastering our school expectations and earnt a Boarding Pass that put them into our weekly draw at Assembly. With thanks to the P & C for their support, our winners receive an ice block or home bake from the Tuckshop.

Individual Sporting Achievements

Halle  and Evie (Year 5) have had a busy few weeks of representative sport! A particular highlight being that over the school holidays, both girls competed in the Junior State Cup for Brothers Touch in Rockhampton. While their team didn’t make the finals, Evie was awarded Player’s Player and Halle was named MVP at the presentation night. In addition both girls have been selected to play in the National Youth Championships in Coffs Harbour on 1-4 October. These are  great achievements and we wish the girls well at the championships.

Congratulations to Lara (Year 6) on an outstanding gymnastics performance at the recent Border Challenge. This prestigious national-level event features the top 50 Level 7 athletes from across Australia. Despite returning from a 35-day overseas holiday just before the competition, Lara showed incredible resilience and determination, placing 4th All-Around and 4th on bars. Her team also achieved an impressive 2nd place overall. An amazing achievement and a true testament to her dedication and talent – well done, Lara!

A huge congratulations to Katherine  (Year 5) on her outstanding results at the Queensland School Sport State Championships! She placed 3rd in her age group in an incredibly close race, finishing just three seconds behind first place. To top it off, she was also part of the relay team made up of the top five runners from each region — and they came 1st! Running the final leg, she showed incredible determination and speed, overtaking the leading runner from Met East right before the finish line. What an exceptional performance across both days – well done!

City District Track and Field Carnival

Congratulations to all students who represented Ascot at the City District Track and Field Carnival last week! Even with a smaller team this year, our students competed with great determination and team spirit, resulting in an outstanding achievement — winning the Overall Percentage Trophy and placing 3rd overall. A big thank you to the staff who helped with running events on the carnival days and to the parents for their ongoing encouragement and support. We now look forward to seeing how our selected students perform at the Met North Carnival in August. Well done, Team Ascot!

There were many fine performances across the 2 days of competition and we were very proud of their attitude and efforts. Congratulations to all but we acknowledge below those students who have made it through to the regional carnival based on their results in the following events:

In addition, quite a few of our 9 year olds (who don’t progress to regional competition yet), also performed extremely well, which augers well for future athletic competitions. Noteworthy performances include:

Angelica  (long jump 2^nd, shot put 6^th), Lulu  (800m/200m -2^nd), Sofia  (800m 1^st), Bernie  (800m 1^st), Savannah  (800m 4^th) and Achilles  (long jump 6^th). Congratulations to these students and we hope they enjoyed their first experience at district level competition.

We are in the process of developing a Landscape Master Plan which has involved extensive consultation with students and teachers to gain their perspectives on our outdoor spaces for learning and play and what they'd like to see in the future.

We'd now love to hear input from our parent and local community members, so please come along to meet the team from Fred St Architects, listen to the feedback they received and share your thoughts and ideas. 

The event will commence at 5.30pm with cheese and wine with the presentation and feedback session running from 6-7pm. This will then be followed by the P&C meeting for those that would like to stay on.

Please RSVP via the following link to assist us with catering numbers and we look forward to seeing you there!

https://events.humanitix.com/landscape-management-masterplan-presentation

The Uniform Shop will be closed tomorrow, Monday 11th August.

Please note, Flexischools orders will be processed as normal and without delay.

The Uniform Shop will re-open on Thursday, 14th August.

We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Lost Property

The lost property shelves have now been moved to the area underneath D Block – Admin.   This is to make it more visible and accessible, and easier to maintain.  The cleaners will place any items in the cupboard here at the end of each day. 

This newsletter section provides a great opportunity for local businesses to engage with our parent community. If you would like your business to be a part of this or for more information, please email us at comms@ascotsspandc.org.