Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope that you are having a good week and settling back into the routines of another school term.

Welcome to Country

On Monday it was great to welcome Aunty Annette, a Wurundjeri Elder, to Eltham East Primary School. She did a traditional Welcome to Country, complete with a traditional smoking ceremony. We were lucky with the mild weather so we could hold this gathering on the oval outside. Thank you to the parents who were able to attend and I hope that everyone got something from the experience.

Sausage Sizzle

Thank you to the group of parents and senior students who helped out with the Election day sausage sizzle on Saturday. Again, the weather helped and it was a great success. We certainly had many comments from the public about how impressive it was to have some of the EEPS students helping out. Thank you to the EEPS community for coming along. We raised over $2,500 which will be going directly towards new Literacy resources in our Junior school - thank you!

Sporting Developments

This week the Preps and Year 1’s start their weekly PMP lessons in the Hall. PMP stands for Perceptual Motor Program and is designed to help develop gross motor skills for our younger students. Thank you to all the parents who have offered to help. Also, Year 3 and 4 swimming starts in a different format than previous years. This year we are trialling one lesson a week for several weeks, as opposed to all the lessons in one week. The rationale for this is around being more accommodating if students are unwell and also it is more aligned to the evidence of learning and best practice for teaching children how to swim.

Interschool Sport and Concussion

It was lovely to see the Year 6 students compete in their first round of Interschool sport last Friday against St Francis Xavier, Montmorency. Related to this is the topic of sport injuries. Whilst care is always taken both at school and during out of school sporting events, accidents do happen. If an injury occurs playing sport then we would follow our processes and first aid policy, including those in relation to concussion. Please also remember to let your child’s classroom teacher know, and PE teacher, if your child/ren is injured whilst playing weekend sports. This applies to all injuries, but specifically in relation to head injuries.

Mother’s Day and Special Person’s Day

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I hope that all our EEPS mums, grandmothers, Aunties and female figures, have a lovely day and enjoy the special student created artwork that has been lovingly created over the last few weeks.

As a school we also respect that not all families are the same, so we hope that Sunday is filled with love and connectedness regardless of your family structure.

Learning and Growing Together

During this fortnight we have had many different professional development opportunities for staff across the school. Some of these have included:

- a whole school session on getting the most out of our new student data management system

- a session for staff around PDA, Pathological Demand Avoidance, with two expert clinicians from Western Australia

- a weekend learning attended by two senior staff around sharing best practice

- The Principal Conference attended by Melissa Egan and myself, focusing on the neuroscience of learning

- a second day for the EEPS Learning Specialists on the implementation of the new Victorian and Learning Model

- sub-school learning around phonemic awareness and the use of a new reading diagnostic strategy for Year 2-6

As a school we know that the best way to continue to improve student learning outcomes and experiences is to continually improve our skills and capabilities with clear school goals. We are proud of this ongoing commitment.

EEPS Colour Run

We are very excited about the forthcoming EEPS Colour Run on Thursday 22nd May, after lunch. Those of you who were at EEPS last year will remember the ‘R-mazing Race’, which was an incredibly successful and positive community event. We are hoping that inaugural colour run, will be similar. This is a special event to continue to foster community connections within the student body and with our parents and carers. At the same time, it will also act as a fundraiser to continue to support the ongoing development of the EEPS’ grounds and facilities. I know that many parents are excited and ready to splash paint dye over their children! Please look out for more information in the Newsletter this week and over the next two weeks.

I look forward to attending our second, special excursion to listen to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on Friday.

Lastly, I wish Miss Ashleigh Harris all the best as she goes on family leave. We look forward to hearing some more good news in a few weeks’ time!

Have a great week.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal

Learning @ EEPS - Prep to Year 6