Dear Endeavour Hills Specialist School community members,

Welcome back to all our students, families and staff. I hope you all had a wonderful and restful break. I have taken the opportunity to reflect on the first term of 2024.

Our school continues to grow in student numbers. This has necessitated a change in class sizes across the school. A lot of planning and preparation goes into the make-up of class groupings, and across the school I have seen the students settle into their new classes, learning places and in some cases school.

Our foundation students spent part of the first term learning about school. There is a lot to learn about new routines, friends, environment and expectations. The staff worked very hard to build positive relationships and set the students up with a positive start to their school journey. Routines are now established, and the students are enjoying learning letters, sounds, colours, numbers, moving their bodies, exploring playgrounds, and making new friends.

Across the other learning places, I have witnessed many examples of our students demonstrating our school value of Be Kind. Students have been welcoming new friends and helping them on the playground and in the classroom. At lunchtime it is lovely to look out of the staffroom window and see the students actively engaged in a robust game of basketball or tag.

I am so happy to welcome the following staff who have joined our school community this term:

Peppermint:

Tara – Classroom Teacher

Heath:

Hannah – Classroom Teacher

Acacia

Ferdiana – Education Support
Quyen – Education Support

Banksia:

Rachel – Classroom Teacher

Bursaria:

Dinithi – Education Support

Allied Health

Sara – Speech Pathologist
Fiona – Speech Pathologist

Specialists:

Ryan – PE

Facilities

Andrew – Maintenance officer

A reminder that educational programs begin at 9am. Arriving late can cause a child to become dysregulated as they may not know what is happening or the expectations for the day.

Keep in mind that in order to ensure the safety of all our students and that our staff are sufficiently supported, classrooms will not be disturbed during morning tea or lunch times.

Parents/carers who are dropping off students late or picking them up early will be asked to wait in admin until all classes and staff are back in the classrooms before being phoned.

Please note the times classes will not be disturbed below;

Morning tea + Outside play, 10:45am - 11:15am
Lunch + Outside play, 12:45pm - 1:45pm
After 2:30pm

Next week will see our students only attend school from Monday 22nd - Wednesday 24th of April. Thursday 25th is the ANZAC public holiday (school closed) and Friday 26th is our first Professional Practice Day (student free) of the year.

Week 3 of this term will be a busy one for our school. It starts off with our 2024 School Photo Day on Monday 29th of April and will follow through with SSG meetings throughout the week. Your child's classroom teacher will be making contact soon to organise a meeting.

Please remember to regularly check Compass as we often post important information, reminders, excursion/incursion information on this portal.

I look forward to another term of working with families and staff in supporting your children.

Kind Regards,

Karen Hunt

Message from the MP