Dear BEPS Community

Last year, we introduced Classrooms in Focus (open classroom afternoons) in the junior school as a way of strengthening our connection with families and making student learning more visible. This year, we are excited to extend this initiative across the whole school as part of our ongoing work to build strong parent engagement and deepen understanding of student learning at BEPS.

We have already had three very successful Classrooms in Focus sessions this term in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2.

At BEPS, we value providing parents with opportunities to see and understand the learning that takes place in our classrooms. Classrooms in Focus allows families to visit classrooms and explore student bookwork—an important record of students’ thinking, progress and growth over time. It is a powerful way to see how learning develops throughout the year and across year levels.

Each year level will host one session per semester, inviting parents into classrooms to view student work. These sessions are not formal presentations, but rather an opportunity to walk through the classroom, engage with student work, and gain a clearer picture of everyday learning.

We look forward to welcoming more families into our classrooms across the year.

We are thrilled to share that a much-requested addition is coming to our school next term—a brand new GaGa Pit! Our students have been asking for this for quite some time, and we’re excited to make it a reality. The GaGa Pit has now been ordered and will be installed over the upcoming holidays, ready for students to enjoy when they return. GaGa is a fast-paced, inclusive game that offers fantastic opportunities for shared play, teamwork and friendly competition. It encourages students to challenge their skills, stay active and, most importantly, have fun during play. We can’t wait to see our students enjoying this exciting new addition to our school.

Over the weekend and after school there have been reports of dogs being off leash on the school grounds, and unfortunately staff are finding dog waste left behind on in the mornings.

Just a friendly reminder that dogs are welcome on our school grounds, but they must be always kept on a leash. We also ask owners to please clean up after their pets to help keep our environment safe and clean for all students. If you are in the schoolgrounds and you witness this please remind members of our school community (politely) of our school expectation relating to dogs.

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Pending Strike Action – March 24th

As parents and carers may be aware, staff at our school who are Australian Education Union (AEU) members have been negotiating, alongside teachers, education support staff, assistant principals, and principals from public schools around Victoria, with the state government and Department of Education for improvements to pay and employment conditions. Negotiations have been occurring over the last seven months, and the state government and AEU have not yet come to an agreement.

AEU members are seeking pay increases and reductions to excessive workloads, with the aim of ensuring the retention of existing employees and the attraction of the next generation to enable the ongoing provision of a high-quality education to students. Because there has not been any offer, AEU members are undertaking a vote to endorse industrial action, with the union calling a state-wide 24-hour stop work for Tuesday 24 March, should the government not respond properly to key claims.

The AEU has written to our School Council outlining some of the issues that school staff need resolved, including school funding and staffing shortages, as well as pay and conditions. The union acknowledges that a decision to stop work is not one to be taken lightly and regrets the impact it has on students and their families, with the state government able to avoid such action if a fair and decent offer is made to employees. If the industrial action goes ahead, we will provide our school community with all the information needed to manage the situation. We will keep you all informed via Compass.

Harmony Week takes place across Australia from Monday 16 - Sunday 22 March. Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. At BEPS, we have an inclusive, thriving and diverse learning community from all parts of the world. This makes our school such a wonderful place to learn and grow.

Today students were invited to wear colours that represent them. Students could wear colours of their heritage, cultural attire, or orange (the Harmony Day colour). Please see the table below for the top 10 languages spoken by students at Burwood East PS. We certainly are a global community.

Top 10 Languages at BEPS
English	37.71%
Mandarin	30.08%
Cantonese	6.14%
Hindi	4.66%
Vietnamese	2.54%
Gujarati	2.12%
Chinese	2.12%
Sinhalese	1.69%
Urdu	1.27%
Tamil	1.27%

Smart Watches

We are increasingly seeing students wearing smart watches to school and would like to provide a reminder to families about our expectations.

At school, students are permitted to wear them, but all phone-related functions must be turned off during the school day. This includes the restricting of making or receiving calls, messaging, accessing the internet, or using apps.

The purpose of this is to minimise distractions, support student focus, and ensure a safe and consistent learning environment for all students.

We appreciate your support in reinforcing this expectation with your child before they come to school each day.

Chess Club