Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3!

It is with much excitement that I write to you as the new Principal of Epsom Primary School. I have really enjoyed my first two weeks at the school and have been made to feel so welcome by students staff and parents.

After 16 years at Strathfieldsaye PS as a classroom teacher, wellbeing coordinator and Assistant Principal I then went on to Bridgewater Primary School, where I have been for the past 2 years as Acting Principal.

I am so excited to be a part of the Epsom Primary School community. I know that the challenge for our school as we move further into the 21st century will be to keep abreast of not only the technological change - but also keeping sight of the bigger picture: educating the 'whole' child for life. One of my main goals here at this school is to empower students to believe in their own ability so that they can have choice in the future.

With a supportive and powerful teaching staff in combination with parents as learning partners, we will achieve this together.

I look forward to meeting you all.

Pyjama Day

Our Junior School Council have done a wonderful job at organising our pyjama day fundraiser for tomorrow. Don't forget to rug your child up in their favourite pyjamas along with a gold coin donation. With the money raised from National Pyjama Day, we will be helping to support the learning of more than 1000 children, funding educational resources and helping to provide stable, positive relationships.

New Staff

A big welcome to our new business manager Sharon Davey. Sharon has joined us from Westbreen Primary School - north of Melbourne. With years of experience in her role, we look forward to drawing on her skills in our administration area.

Netball

Thank you to Miss Fyfield for accompanying our girls netball teams this week. While they didn't take out the grand final flag they were able to score against some really tough teams and displayed great sportsmanship on the day.

Curriculum Day

Our curriculum day is fast approaching with all staff gearing up for some professional development in numeracy with the amazing Michael Ymer. The session will provide teachers with a lot of learning experiences that can be taken straight back to the classroom to trial with students. It will highlight the working mathematically dimension in the curriculum. Differentiating activities so that all students can have success will be an integral part of the day. The most powerful way to learn is to discover for oneself.

Science Week (15th - 19th August)

The future is for everyone to create, and science is helping to build the future. During science week this year over one million people will participate in more than 2000 events across the country. At Epsom Primary School our teachers have been working hard to create some fun activities based on this years theme: Glass: More than meets the eye. It is based on the UN International Year of Glass. It will celebrate the many roles that glass plays in our lives – from phone screens to optical fibre to glassware in labs – plus investigating glass as a part of our sustainable future. The uses for and intrinsic nature of glass in science make it a suitable topic for investigation across all strands of science education.

Student Learning Conferences

A reminder to all parents that student learning conferences will be taking place on the 28th of July.

Parent-teacher interviews are a great opportunity to:

meet and get to know your child's teacher
learn about your child's academic, social and emotional development
help your child's teacher to understand more about your child
share your child's strengths and needs
work with the teacher to help your child do well in school

COMPASS bookings are still open and we would love to see you there as an important partner in your child's learning journey.

Book-Week Dress Up

The theme this year for Book Week is 'Dreaming with your Eyes Open'. This is about stepping into your own story, dreaming with eyes open, listening to story as the first storyteller and learning from friends who help you on your way.

It wouldn't be book week without the traditional dress up so this is a reminder to start dusting some costumes off.

Junior School Council

Our Junior School Council had an exciting week with some big plans being put forward as well as a formal presentation to School Council. This will be an ongoing activity that will help to build student voice, leadership and the development of public speaking skills. The students have come up with some great suggestions for Epsom Primary School - watch this space...

Thank you

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to our Assistant Principal Kate FitzGerald who has done a wonderful job at helping to steer the school over the past year. Her work has made it easier for me to take over as principal and made the transition a smooth process.

Kind regards,

Julie Ladd

Principal

Please call the office or use Compass to explain your child's absence. It is a Department of Education and Training requirement that all student absences are explained. As a school we will be seeking an explanation for all unexplained absences with parents and carers.

Absences

A big thank you to our parents and carers for informing of us of your child/ren's absences. We have been working hard to ensure all absences are explained because we understand that sometimes children need to be away, such as illness or medical appointments. Together we are tackling the problem of unexplained absences and beginning to move forward.

An interesting fact with our data collection shows that we have high unexplained absences on Tuesday's and Friday's.

Please continue to inform us so we can help your child/ren progress and achieve their very best.

Thanks.

- Kate FitzGerald

Prep 2023 Enrollments are now due. Having these in helps us begin our planning for staffing and classrooms for the 2023 school year. Please hand them into the office as soon as possible.

Outside School Hours Care

Call Kerrie on 0410 374 733