Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope that you were able to have a break over the Easter holiday period and have a recharge. Although the weather wasn’t as nice as it usually is over this holiday break I know that lots of traditional and annual events still continued.

I want to express my gratitude once again to the supportive EEPS parent community who reached out to me with many messages of positive support since my column in the last Newsletter.

Holiday work

Over the holidays the ramp project continued and has made up some ground, so to speak, with the timeline. In addition to the ramp project we also made alterations to the prep classroom environments, continued installing safety edges on many of the external steps and other small jobs. Thank you to all parties who continued to have the interests of our school at the centre of their thoughts and actions.

Giving back

Just before the holidays Billie and Layla M, together with their cousin took part in the Run for the Kids as part of a charity fundraiser for the Good Friday Appeal. They happened to get on the front page of the Herald Sun, complete with their bunny ears and tutus- well done girls, what a great initiative to be involved in.

Student achievements

Congratulations to Hudson D, in Year 6 for his success over the holidays in the recent Whittlesea Pacers Basketball Junior Autumn Classic (Tournament). The team won the finals in their division, which included other EEPS kids, but Hudson was awarded the "Most Respectful" player in the finals series. Well done, Hudson! Achievement with the right attitude is always something to be celebrated.

Year 5 soccer rules

A big thank you to Mrs Vescio and Ms Elliot who developed the EEPS Soccer rules for Year 5 students in the last week of Term 1. Although they were developed with the Year 5 students they certainly could be used by other students as well. Sometimes we find that a lack of clarity around the ‘school rules’ of a game as opposed to the ‘club rules’ can cause some frustration, without a referee present.

Reminders- jewellery and arrival at school

I would like to remind all members of the EEPS community of the school’s expectation around student jewellery. The following is taken from our Student Uniform policy;

Students are not permitted to wear decorative jewellery to school. Stud earrings and sleepers worn in the ears, and watches, are the only acceptable jewellery. Makeup may not be worn at school. Please continue to reinforce this with your child/ren.

Also, just a reminder about the arrival at school in the morning. We have teachers on outside playground supervision duty from 8.45 pm. No child should be arriving at school before 8.30 am in the morning. Students who arrive before this time may be asked to go to OSHC. Could I please ask families to look at your schedules and family arrangements to ensure that children aren’t arriving at school too early in the mornings. Safety and duty of care is of paramount importance to us.

I have spoken to the students at Assembly on Monday about these reminders as well.

Student Teachers

We do have a number of student teachers at EEPS over the next few weeks and I know that everyone will make them feel welcome.

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

Once again EEPS is involved in the Premiers’ Reading Challenge, starting this week. Look out for further information in the Newsletter and thank you to Miss Lapadula and Mrs Hill for organising this opportunity for your children. 

ANZAC Day

Next Monday, 22nd April, we will be hosting our traditional ANZAC Day service at 9.00am in place of our normal assembly. Parents, grandparents and friends are warmly invited to attend.

We are off to a great start to Term 2!