Principal's Report 

Dear Parents & Carers, 

This week I finally had the opportunity to meet with our School Council members. School council members bring diverse views to the council and work together to develop a shared vision for the improvement of the school and student outcomes. It is wonderful to have such a proactive group of parent and teachers working together on the Sandy East PS council. We will be looking for new parent representatives on both School Council and the Parents & Friends Association (PFA). We discussed the opportunity to revamp our PFA next year and would love to have as many new voices and ideas as possible. Please consider joining us on one of these groups next year and don’t hesitate to contact the office if you would like more information. 

As you will be aware, a new mobile phone policy for all Victorian government schools came into effect in 2020. This Ministerial policy was formally issued by the Minister for Education under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) and outlines the requirements of the Minister for Education relating to students using mobile phones during school hours. Schools have been asked to ensure that a collective effort is made to ensure the effective implementation of our local mobile phone policy. As such, I encourage families to review our policy and discuss it with your child/ren. The policy can be located on the School Website. I will send a compass notification next week, outlining more details regarding the policy and school expectations. Please note that the main change to the policy will be that devices will be stored in the administration office and not in classrooms. Students will be expected to hand their phone in at the office when they arrive at school and then collect it at the office at the end of the day. Students may start practising this process from now with full implementation being enforced in 2024.   

On Monday we began the first of our Early Years Interviews (EYI) with our incoming Foundation students. It has been a delight meeting our very excited and enthusiastic future Preppies and getting to know a little more about them and their families. The EYI is just another opportunity for us to provide our new students with a positive transition to school. The interview takes around 40 minutes with each child. The information we gather aims to identify areas of strength and assists us to understand any extra supports that we must consider during the first few weeks of school to ensure that we set all of our students up for success. 

I met with our architects and builders this week. We finally have an official start date of January 8. The builders will be putting up site fencing on that day so all access via Holloway Drive side entrance will be blocked when we return next year. This means front access will only be via the office and through the gymnasium. Our Stop & Go zone will cease to be in operation next year to ensure the safety of pedestrians entering the school. We will publish a reminder on Compass before we return in 2024. 

Wishing you all a wonderful fortnight ahead!

Jane Briffa