Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

Well done to the students who participated in the EEPS School Swimming Sports last Thursday. Good luck to the selected team who will be competing in the district carnival this Friday 21st February.

Thank you to those families who were able to visit yesterday for our Open Afternoon and Meet the Teacher. It was lovely to see so many parents and grandparents visiting.

Not Everyone is the Same

As I said at the recent Prep Information Night, school is a place where children learn to interact with children who may be different from themselves. For some children this is almost ‘built in’ but for others this takes more understanding, processing and learning. Right across the school, please continue to discuss with your child/ren that, at school there are going to be other children who will be different to you. They might have had different experiences; their brains might be ‘wired’ differently or they may present differently. Schools are clearly a microcosm of life, and we reflect the reality of what students will experience as they grow up. This is also a theme that I spoke to at Assembly on Monday.

Settling into a New Year - Additional Resources / Supports

Associated with the Department of Education is the independent statutory authority of the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. Whilst this Academy is primarily focused on professional development for teachers and leaders, they have recently started producing new support resources and guides for parents. One that may be of interest is the ‘Settling into a new year’ resource.

Movie Night - Sonic Hedgehog 3

We are very pleased to be holding our annual movie night again, on Friday 21st March on the school oval. This is a fantastic event and a major fundraiser for the school. This year we will be screening Sonic Hedgehog 3, which is sure to be a lot of fun for everyone. Information about tickets will be provided shortly in Compass so please look out for this. One of our parents, Caroline M, has kindly offered to spear head organising donations for our well supported raffle on the night. If any EEPS families, or connected businesses, have any donations for the raffle on the night then please make contact with her. (carolinemelocco@hotmail.com). We will also be needing lots of keen parent helpers on the night. If you are able to help then please sign up here.

School Council Elections

School Council plays an important governance role in a school. The election process for 2025 School Council members starts today and further information is available in the Newsletter. Please have a think whether this is something that you would like to be involved in and we welcome any questions you may have. The school certainly values highly the contributions that members of School Council make to the strategic direction of the school. 

New ICT Devices Strategy

This year we have further refined our ICT device use strategy throughout the school. Previously we have had a number of MacBooks and Notebooks, as well as a large number of iPads. Due to the age of many of these devices, the costs of leases, the unfortunate damage to many of the keyboards and the changing needs of the curriculum, we have moved to an iPad model, with keyboard cases from Year 3 upwards. For the first two weeks of the year our technician, Puneet, has been very busy, commissioning nearly 200 iPads. Some of our student leaders also helped with unpacking and preparing them. For every Prep-Year 2 class there are 8 iPads allocated to each class, with a 1 to 2 ratio for our Year 3-6 students, with the keyboard cases. So far this modification to our device strategy has been very well received by both students and teachers. The students have also been very respectful in how these new devices are being used. I would also like to take the opportunity to remind our school families that we have a lot of modern devices but technology is used by us when it fits into teaching and learning, and not used just because they are there. 

A Couple of Reminders

Parking and Safety on Luck Street

Please remember that the school driveway entrances are not suitable for parking. We have had parents parking in the middle Luck Street driveway. Obviously, this is a major safety concern with the large number of pedestrians, both students and parents who walk down this side of the street.

Compass Permissions

Please continue to keep an eye out for the Compass permission and events notifications that are coming through at a steady pace, this is primarily due to start of the year organisation.

Arrival Time at School

Please also remember, we do not have staff on Yard Duty in the mornings until 8.45 am. No child should be arriving at school, at the absolute earliest before 8.30am. Please ensure that you have arrangements in place in the mornings. Children who regularly arrive early may be sent to OSHC.

Using Play Spaces in the School Day

Whilst we are completely supportive of the school being used by the community out of hours, such as the weekend, it is trickier during school days. We understand, that once you drop off a school aged child that younger siblings may like to play on the playgrounds on the way out. This is perfectly understandable but please be mindful of impact that this has on nearby classes, and not to linger on the playground or play spaces during the school day. Thank you.

I know that all our Prep students, and teachers are looking forward to the Teddy Bears Picnic on Friday!

Have a great week. 

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal