Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope everyone has had a good week so far. I have lots to write about this week, so I will try and keep each section brief!

Mother’s Day

I do hope that our EEPS families had a lovely day on Sunday for Mother’s Day. I hope that the artwork was appreciated and will find a special place to hang in your house! Whilst a day that is centred around mums and female family figures, we respect that all households are different, so hopefully everyone had a lovely day as a family.

Opportunity for Girls

Whilst we always strive to have equal opportunity in curriculum and plan activities for all students; we have noticed that girls are underrepresented when using the outdoor play spaces at recess and lunchtime. To help redress this balance and responding to a Junior School Council initiative, we trialled a ‘girls only’ first half of oval play on Monday. The feedback is that it was very successful.

First Nations Student Action Group

In addition to the school Reconciliation Action Plan working party, Ms James and Ms Simula, have also got the ball rolling on a First Nations Student Action Group. This group, working with our Cultural Leaders, will meet on a Thursday. I look forward to lots of learning for these students and working on some positive action in the school.

Pre-Service Teachers

Currently we have a large number of Pre-Service Teachers at EEPS. Please make them welcome if you come across them. Not only do PSTs help our own teachers reflect on their practice they also provide additional amazing learning experiences for our students to enhance their learning.

Thank you to Parent Helpers

With lots of things on the go I wanted to take the opportunity to again express the school’s gratitude for the very strong parent support we receive, especially on excursions and activities.

Water Works Update

Recently, we have had our fire hydrant system tested, which is a standard, semi-regular occurrence. It did temporarily fail a couple of tests, but after some immediate and fairly extensive rectifications everything is back on track. EEPS is a large school on a large site, so it is understandable that maintenance upgrades are a constant thing.

Lost Property

Our lost property cupboard, located outside the Art room, is overflowing with a very large number of jumpers! Please remind your child/ren to have a look in there for missing jumpers, especially as the weather is getting cooler.

Kindness Matters

I have mentioned the ever-increasing focus on ‘kindness’, across the school. This is a repeat of a Social Media post earlier in the week;

Connected to our whole school PLC Cycle of Inquiry regarding the teaching of vocabulary throughout the school, it was a great opportunity for our Principal, Mr Lloyd, to do a short lesson on the word 'kind', this morning at Assembly. This links directly to our EEPS Values Framework and the value of being respectful and coincides with a concentrated campaign around the slogan, 'kindness matters at our school'. Thank you to our wonderful community members, students, staff and parents, who model this every single day.

Attitude to School Survey: Year 4-6

Please look out for a separate Compass Newsfeed to parents of students in Years 4-6 regarding the annual student Attitude to School Survey that is coming up in a few weeks’ time.

Look out for separate Newsfeed.

Student Achievement - Writing

Congratulations to Keira T, who is having her book published in conjunction with the Eltham Bookshop. Keira’s book is called, ‘Stronger Than Before’ and will be launched on Sunday 24th May. Well done, Keira!

School Saving Bonus

Just a reminder that many families still have money left over as part of the School Savings Bonus. Money can be transferred between siblings and can be used for incursions and excursions, but not for uniforms. The portal has closed so if you need to check your balance please check with the office.

Apraxia Awareness Day

This Thursday May 14th is Apraxia Awareness Day. I include a reflection on Apraxia of Speech from one of our parents, acknowledging that we have several children at EEPS with this condition:

Apraxia of speech (also known as verbal dyspraxia or CAS, in children), is a rare condition that causes speech motor planning and coordination issues. This makes it difficult to move the mouth to say clear sounds or words, even though the child knows what they want to say. It is a lifelong condition requiring ongoing and intensive speech therapy. Communication is vital in just about everything we do in school and society in general, so apraxia can cause immense frustration for the child who knows what they want to say but cannot always be understood by others.

Preps in Action - Open morning

Please help us by spreading the word about our ‘Preps in Action’ Open morning next Wednesday, 20th May. It is sure to be a great morning for new and prospective prep parents and students.

Have a great week of ‘Learning and Growing Together’.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal

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