Principal's Message

Dear Families,

This will be the last newsletter for the term. 

We are very excited to finally release the master plan for the playground upgrade and to see that the temporary fences are up and the construction is about to begin.

Friday 4th July is the last day of Term 2, with the assembly commencing at 2.00pm and a 2.30pm dismissal.  If it is raining, we will endeavour to hold the assembly in the gym with students needing to return to their classrooms at the end of assembly to collect their bags.  Please make sure you arrange to have your child/ren picked up by 2.30pm on Friday 4th July.

Your child’s Semester 1 reports will be available on your child’s Compass portal on Tuesday 1st July. Click on the link 2025- Semester 1 Report, on the Reports tab to access and download this report. Please refer to the “Semester 1 Reports Explained” page in this newsletter for a detailed explanation of the reports.

Term 2 was action packed starting with a series of 2026 Foundation tours for parents interested in finding out more about our school. In the second half of the term, we held a Pre-school story time each Friday morning so that prospective 2026 Foundation Students became familiar with the school. The Peer Support program was again very successful. Teams of teachers continued to participate in action research, professional learning forums and workshops around the implementation of the Berry Street Education Model, inclusive teaching strategies, School Wide Positive Behaviour Support and the new 2.0 Victorian Curriculum. 

Other activities over the term have included: The whole school ANZAC assembly, Year 5 and 6 Winter Interschool Sport competition, 3-6 and District Cross Country, Inquiry excursions and incursions, Mother’s Day Breakfast, Mother’s Day Stall and Friday Food Stalls. Thank you so very, very much to our parent community for your tireless work and continued support.

Term 3 is only 9 weeks and is shaping up to be a very busy term. 

Monday 21st July is a student free curriculum day for teachers to work on designing and developing lessons for our new School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) Matrix.

Tuesday 22nd July will be the first day of Term 3 for students.

Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th July is the Year 3/4 Camp at Lake Dewar

Tuesday 29th July is the official 175th Anniversary of Essendon Primary School. Teaching teams have a variety of fun activities for their students to celebrate during the first 2 weeks.

Some time in Week 3 Foundation students will be celebrating their 100 days of learning. 

Wednesday 6th August is the AMCMaths Challenge

Friday 8th August will be the Essendon Primary School Athletics Day.  As in previous years the Prep to Year 2 athletics events will be held at school and the Year 3 to Year 6 athletics events at the ‘Aberfeldie Athletics track in Aberfeldie.  We recognise the significant difficulties and dilemma this arrangement provides to parents with students in each of these age groups.  However, the most compelling consideration is the time required to bus over 400 students to and from Aberfeldie whilst trying to accommodate and coordinate all junior and senior events on different rotations within the time remaining.  We realise it would be a very long day for Prep to 2 students, with considerable time waiting for the next event.  This arrangement will allow us to complete all events and have sufficient time for students to get together as a whole school at the end of the day, around 3:15pm to hand out awards at a special assembly.  We apologise for the difficulty this arrangement will present to some parents, particularly those who have children at both venues but believe the moderate pace of the day’s events and the ability to get together at the end of the day as a whole school to celebrate achievements will be invaluable. 

National Science Week is in Week 4, Monday 11th to Friday 15th August. The 2025 schools’ theme is “Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language.”  The Specialist PLT has organised some Science excursions for each of the Year Level groups. 

Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week is in Week 5, Monday 18th to 22nd August with the book parade being held on Friday 22nd August. The theme for Book Week 2025 is "Book an Adventure!" This theme is meant to inspire young readers to explore the worlds that books open up and celebrate 80 years of Children's Book Week. Leadership and the Specialist PLT will be planning a variety of activities for students to participate in during the week. 

Monday 1st September will be the Potato Olympics Opening Ceremony for the launch of the Potato Olympics and Literacy and Numeracy Week in Week 7.

Week 8 will be our usual Planning Week for Term 4. And then, before we all realise, it will be the end of Term 3. 

It is important to note that the Term 3 Student Progress Parent/ Teacher interviews Student Progress Interviews are scheduled to take place virtually, on Webex on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th September, 4pm -7pm, in the last week of Term 3. Appointment times will be set up on Compass and made available for families to book. More information to come.

As you can see it is going to be a very busy Term. I hope everyone has an exciting, enjoyable and safe two-week break and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 22nd July for the start of Term 3.

Christine Nash

Principal