Cheltenham East Primary School Newsletter

Principal's News

Our School Vision

“Cheltenham East students are empowered learners who are flexible thinkers with the skills and knowledge to respond critically and creatively to their world.”

 

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, the Bunurong People and pay our respects to the elders past, present and emerging of the Kulin nation and extend that respect to other indigenous Australians present.

 

Holiday Return

Welcome Back Everyone

I would like to welcome all families back to school for an exciting Term 3.  I did a lot of gardening and reading over the holidays as unfortunately my wife was infected with Covid so we didn’t have many opportunities to get away.  Our focus this term continues to be on building new skills and strategies to improve literacy and numeracy skills and to develop curiosity and inquiry skills through our humanities and science units.  Many special events have been organised for this term including Book Week, Excursions and School Sports Activities.

 

New Shade Sail

Our new shade sail is being installed near the school oval this week and next. The area will be fenced off and the holes dug and poles concreted in. Once the sail goes on, it should provide some shade over the summer months for children in the oval area.

 

 

Roof Modifications

We have had a grant of money allocated to the school for some modifications to the main building roof.  We have had some issues in the past with minor leakages through the corridor roof when we have torrential rain.  The guttering and catchment areas on the roof will be made compliant to stop this issue happening in the future.

 

Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

Parent volunteers are needed for the Bunnings sausage sizzle on Saturday July 23rd. It’s only 2 hours of your time to raise funds for our school. Come along and enjoy a bit of community bonding while helping the school out.  You can register through by clicking the button below.

SIGN UP FOR BUNNINGS BBQ

 

 

Class Dojo/Sentral Notifications & Newsletter

Did you know you can subscribe to our newsletter.  Simply hit the Subscribe button at the bottom of the newsletter and an email will be sent to you.

 

A friendly reminder to turn your Push Notifications on in your mobile device for Sentral and ClassDojo, so you don't miss important information.  ClassDojo and Sentral are the main method of communication to our parents.  

 

To do this on an iPhone simply go to the settings on your mobile device, select Notifications, scroll down till you find both apps ClassDojo and Sentral and select Allow Notifications.

 

On an Android, go to Settings, tap Notifications > App Settings.  Tap the App Class Dojo and Sentral to ON

 

If you need help with any of these, google is a fantastic tool to use.

 

Library Books Wanted

We are after some more books by popular authors to put into our library.  Some families may have books gathering dust at home and they are no longer being read.  If that is the case, why not send them along to a new home as we only have so many copies of popular books the children can access.  The books need to be in reasonable to good condition, (No tears, missing pages etc) so they last.  

 

We are after any of the following books by some of these popular authors: Andy Griffiths, Terry Denton, JK Rowlings, Jeff Kinney, Emily Rodda, Horrible Histories series, CS Lewis. Judy Blume, Alison Lester, Mem Fox, Roald Dahl, Percy Jackson series, Lewis Carroll, Eric Carle, Bill Martin, EB White, Margaret Wild just to name a few. The library monitors are looking forward to processing some more books for our school library.  You can leave the books in boxes labelled Library Books near the office area.

 

Book Week

See Cheltenham East Primary News and Events tab for more information regarding Book Week which will held from Monday 22nd August till Thursday 25th August.

 

Staff News

We welcome Mrs Libby McConchie who has been appointed a tutor for the rest of 2022 and will be working across the junior school in Numeracy Intervention with a variety of children.  Mrs Reid has been on leave this week and will be back on Monday. 

 

Year 5 Sovereign Hill Excursion

The Year 5 students and teachers will be journeying to Sovereign Hill today as part of their Australian History/Gold unit. We hope the weather holds so they have an enjoyable time. They will be gold panning and learning about what life was like when gold was first discovered in that area. They will also learn about Chinese immigration and mining. Thank you to Ms Doutch, Ms Judge, Mr Hughes and parents for their supervision on the trip.

 

Aussie of the Term

Congratulations to Pedro for being selected as the Aussie of the Term and upholding our school values of Courtesy, Co-Operation, Respect and Responsibility so well.

 

Pedro is in year 2 at Cheltenham East PS.

He has a brother called Raf

His parents own a South American bakery in Cheltenham.

His hobby is building things with lego, including model cars and motor bikes.

His sports include hockey and karate.

His favourite food is sushi and his favourite drink is water.

His favourite movie is Hotel Transylvania.

His favourite TV show is Odd Squad

And he likes doing tests at school.

 

Congratulations Pedro!  

 

Enrolments for 2023

It's not too late to enrol for Foundation 2023.  Enrolment forms can be collected at the Office or found on our website.  If you have a child turning 5 by April 30, 2023, please complete an enrolment form and bring in a copy of your child’s birth certificate and immunisation record and we will process the enrolment.  It helps us enormously with planning, if we have a clear indication of enrolments as early as possible.

 

Final Group Tour for Foundation 2023

Our final Group Tour will be held on Thursday July 21st at 9.30.  Please RSVP to the office to book a spot.

 

Children Arriving Early

Parents are reminded that children should not be arriving at school before 8.30am in the morning.  The students are not supervised at this time of the morning as teachers are preparing their classrooms for the day.  Before and After Care facilities are available for parents who have to go to work early.  Students should not be inside the buildings before the first bell unless supervised by a teacher. 

 

Parent Committee Funds

Thanks to our hard working parent committee we have money to purchase items for the children across the school.  As part of our student agency at CEPS our school captains and myself have been sourcing soccer goals and new banners for the school.  We are also supplying some new sporting equipment to the grades across the school so it can be used outside.  Knights Sport are supplying the soccer goals and installing them in the next two weeks.  The new banners are being supplied by a company called Print Smart and should be here within 10 days.  These are for the school to use at sports meetings and at house events. 

 

 

Where face masks are strongly recommended

We strongly recommend wearing a mask if you:

  • are in an indoor setting
  • can’t physically distance, such as at entry or exit points to large events
  • have any COVID-19 symptoms, or
  • are with people who may be vulnerable to COVID-19.

Face masks are mandatory for everyone aged 8 years and above in the following settings:

  • After being tested for COVID-19 and awaiting results.
  • If you have COVID-19 or are a close contact and are leaving the premises for a permitted reason.
  • In a public indoor space if you are a close contact.
  • A household contact of a positive case.  Please advise your child's teacher.

 

Benefits of wearing a face mask

Wearing a face mask can help protect you and those around you. Face masks can stop viruses spreading in the air when you talk, cough, sneeze and laugh, which lowers your chance of spreading or catching the virus.

 

Exceptions for not wearing a face mask

A face mask is not mandatory in the following situations:

  • Infants and children under 8 years of age.
  • Persons who have a physical or mental health condition, or disability, which makes wearing a face covering unsuitable, including persons with obstructed breathing, a serious skin condition of the face, an intellectual disability, a mental health condition or persons who have experienced trauma.
  • Persons communicating with those who are deaf or hard of hearing and visibility of the mouth is essential for communication.
  • Persons for whom the nature of their work means that wearing a face mask creates a risk to health and safety.
  • Persons for whom the nature of their work means that clear enunciation or visibility of their mouth is essential. For example, broadcasting.
  • The person is working by themselves in an enclosed indoor space such as in an empty classroom unless or until another person enters that space.
  • The person is a professional sportsperson when training or competing.
  • While engaged in any strenuous physical exercise such as running or cycling.
  • When riding a bicycle or motorcycle.
  • When consuming medicine, food, or drink.
  • When smoking or vaping (including e-cigarettes) while stationary.
  • When undergoing specific dental or medical care or treatment to the extent that such care or treatment requires no face mask be worn.
  • When receiving or providing a service and it is not reasonably practicable to receive or provide that service wearing a face covering.
  • When escaping harm or the risk of harm, including harm relating to family violence or violence of another person.
  • When asked to remove the face mask to ascertain identity. For instance, when asked by police, security, bank, or post office staff to remove a face mask to ascertain identity.
  • For emergency purposes.
  • When required or authorised by law.
  • Where doing so is not safe.

24/7 Coronavirus Hotline

If you suspect you may have COVID-19 call the dedicated hotline – open 24 hours, 7 days. The COVIDSafe Information hotline diverts to the national hotline every day from 8pm to 8am.

 

New Child Safe Standards

The Department have recently released 11 new Child Safe Standards for all schools to implement from July onwards. We originally operated with 7 child safe standards which we as a school adhered to based on a royal commission around child abuse in the period of 2013-2017. The differences between the old and new standards are listed below:

New requirements to keep children and students safe are: 

  • the involvement of families and students in child safety efforts
  • schools’ focus on safety for Aboriginal students
  • better management of the risk of child abuse in online environments
  • governance, systems and processes to keep students safe

 

Schools must update their child safety strategies, policies, and practices to comply with the new standards. All members of the school community should be aware of the need to protect our young and vulnerable children from all forms of abuse. These standards set policies and procedures into place to prevent child abuse and support victims of child abuse in all school communities. There will be more information to come in the following weeks around the Child safe Standards for the community to learn from.

Rapid Antigen Testing

The Victorian Government is providing up to three further deliveries of rapid antigen tests in Term 3 and again in Term 4 to schools. It is recommended that Rapid Antigen Tests are used by students and staff when symptomatic or a close contact of a positive case. 

 

Vaccinations for students

As part of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, all school staff and all students aged 5 and over are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Staff and students are strongly encouraged to ensure they keep up-to-date with all recommended and available vaccinations as vaccinations are the best way to protect individuals, families and school communities from the spread of COVID-19. 

Household contacts attending school who are over 8 years of age are required to wear face masks indoors unless they have a valid exception. 

Parents/carers are able to leave isolation if other arrangements cannot be made to transport their non-infectious child via private vehicle to and/or from school. The person leaving self-isolation must travel directly to and from the location, making no stops, unless there is an emergency or as required by law. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to deliver the person to and from school and must wear a face covering whilst outside the place of self-isolation.

 

School Uniform Reminder

We appreciate that there are times when students are out of uniform for legitimate reasons and these will be accepted via a note from home. However, a prompt response to this reason should see students return to full school uniform as soon as possible. As we end Term 2, there is ample opportunity for students and parents to refocus on the school’s uniform guidelines and as such, it expected that all students are in full school uniform to start Term 3.

 

Cut down on Litter 

We actively encourage our students to avoid bringing packets and plastic wrappers (Nude Food) to school. It cuts down on litter and is much better for the environment. A named container is perfect. 

 

School Values

The children will continue working closely together through the coming winter months. This is a great time to reinforce our school values of RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, COURTESY and CO-OPERATION with all children. Filling someone’s bucket of kindness should be a priority for all children and adults. Helping others is to be encouraged by everyone and can be done in a variety of ways. It is great to see our Year 6 children looking after the younger children out in the yard.

 

 

Thought For the Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Principal

Wayne Bach