Health & P.E.

District Swimming

On Thursday 13 February, 28 children in the swimming team represented EHPS at the Monash Heights District Swimming event at the Monash Aquatic & Recreation Centre (MARC) in Glen Waverley. The students were very excited to represent their school and certainly should be extremely proud of their efforts. 

All competitors performed their very best and showed great sportsmanship! 

Numerous students received a ribbon for placing in the top three positions and the top four competitors qualified for the division event. 

These results qualified 22 students to participate in the Monash Waverley Division Carnival on Wednesday 5th March at Boroondara Sports Complex. 

Huge thanks to the families for supporting the children. Thanks to John Colley for being a timing judge, and also Nadeeka Colley, for assisting me with marshalling our students for their swimming races whilst Miss Kemp was busy scoring the points at the finish line. 

Our students were extremely well behaved and displayed our terrific Essex Heights sportsmanship, cheering on their teammates. 

It was a great day! 

Fantastic effort by all competitors!

Monique Hocking

Last Thursday Sadie and I, along with twenty-six other students competed in District Swimming. During our time there everyone tried their hardest and had a great time laughing, talking and racing. In conclusion I just wanted to say a really big thank you to all the teachers and parents who came to help out on the day. We were all really proud of our efforts and it was fabulous to have such great support.   

Josh C (Year 6) 

 

I was one of the students who competed in the District Swimming last week. It was a very hot day and everyone was a little nervous, though we encouraged one another to just try our best and most importantly have fun. Many swimmers qualified for the next level which is Division and I qualified with the Freestyle Relay team. Overall, it was an amazing experience to swim and see how everyone had improved. 

A great thanks to Ms Hocking and Miss Kemp for supporting us on the day and preparing everything required. I would highly encourage anyone of you who take swimming lessons to keep going and aim to represent EHPS in future District Swimming competitions and beyond. 

Sadie H (Year 6)

Division Swimming

On Wednesday 5th March 12 Essex Heights students represented Monash Heights District at the Monash Waverley Division Swimming event at the Boroondara Sports Complex in Balwyn North because of their great efforts at the District event. Congratulations to Amali, Liam, Isabella, Julian and Dimitri for their achievements in their individual events. Also, Dimitri, Reece, Julian, Toby, Amali, Emily, Janet, Vicky, Connor, Liam, Isabella and Amiya for their relay performances. All students should be extremely proud of their performances. 

A huge thank you to the parents who drove their children and for their support on the day. 

Liam’s second place has qualified him to compete in the Eastern Metropolitan Region Swimming Carnival on Friday 21st March. Good luck!

Amazing effort by everyone!

Monique Hocking

I was really excited and proud to represent Essex Heights Primary School at the Monash Waverley Division Swimming event. It was an amazing experience, and I was so happy to place 2nd in backstroke and qualify for the region competition.

Swimming is my favourite sport, and I have been training hard, so it felt great to see my efforts pay off. I also really enjoyed competing as part of our relay team. It was fun to work together and support each other.

I can’t wait for the next competition and hope to do my best again! 

Liam (Year 5) 

 

On the 5th of March, I went to compete at Monash Waverley Division Swimming at Boroondara swimming pool. I raced in breaststroke and mixed freestyle relay. I came 5th in breaststroke and our relay team finished 4th. Amiya, Connor and Liam were part of my relay team, we all tried our BEST and did a great job! Although I didn’t make it to Region, I had an amazing time. I really enjoyed the races and cheering for my team mates. I am happy that I can swim for Essex Heights. 

Isabella (Year 5)

 

What a great experience the Essex Heights swim team had competing in the Monash Waverley Division Swimming Competition on Wednesday, 5th of March, 2025! It was an exciting day filled with fast races, great teamwork, and lots of cheering from the sidelines.

At first, I was a little nervous, but having the support of my teammates helped me stay focussed and do my best. Myself, Liam, Dimitri, Julian and Isabella competed in individual events for our age group, which was both challenging and exciting. We all swam our hardest and had a great time representing our school.

In the relay events, I teamed up with Emily, Janet, and Vicki for the 9/10 freestyle relay, while Connor, Liam, Isabella, and Amiya competed in the 11-year freestyle relay. A special congratulations to Dimitri, Reece, Julian, and Toby, who placed third in the 9/10 freestyle relay—what an amazing effort!

A big thank you to Ms Hocking and all those who supported us throughout the day. Whether we won a ribbon or not, we all showed great team spirit and determination. It was an unforgettable experience, and we can’t wait to compete again next year! Go Essex Heights! 

Amali (Year 5)

Karate Clinics 

Last week all classes participated in a Karate session during P.E. lessons with Sensei Kathryn from the Challenge Centre. The children learned some very important life lessons such as respect, sportsmanship, teamwork, encouragement, kindness, resilience and persistence while performing some self-defence Karate actions. 

It was great to see the children working together to perform their personal best for the benefit of their team and congratulate each other whether they won or lost. 

Every child received a certificate of participation and free sessions via the QR code. 

Year 2 Reflection

• Learn from others in your team - teamwork
• Don’t give up when we are losing because we need to do our personal best
• You won’t always win but you need to be a good sport - sportsmanship
• It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s just a game
• Cheer people on and encourage
• Keep practising and trying. Never give up - resilience

Enjoyed:

• Learning how to defend ourselves
• Reaction tag grab game
• Cone game
• Seeing Sensei Kathryn again! 😊

Year 3/4 Reflection

Enjoyed: 

• Loved learning how to defend myself
• Liked playing the warm up team game collecting cones
• Enjoyed grabbing the tags and running away from my partner

Important: 

• Winning and learning when you lose
• Focus and listening with your mind focussed and body still
• Never give up, show resilience and keep trying

Preps Reflection

Enjoyed: 

• Grab the beetle bean bag game
• Partner bean bag carry challenge
• Tree and T yoga pose statues

Important:

• Focus - Eyes on who? Eyes on you!
• Mind focussed and body still
• Learned how to protect ourselves

Year 6 Reflection

• Cheering and encouraging each other - teamwork
• Don’t give up when we are losing because we need to do our personal best
• Leaders are mentors to other students
• You can’t always win
• It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s just a game
• Cheer people on and encourage
• Participate with honesty as you don’t learn anything if you cheat - sportsmanship
• Keep persisting, you can succeed by doing your personal best
• We learn from our mistakes which makes you stronger
• If you fail, try again doing something different - resilience

Enjoyed: 

• Self defence
• Focus and listening very important
• Reaction game – tag grab

House Cross Country 

All Years 3 to 6 students will compete in their Houses in a cross country event on Thursday 3 April within the school grounds and the Essex Heights Reserve oval. 

The House Cross Country event is a healthy, fun and active event that helps to ensure we send the right message about the benefits of physical activity and being active to our students while having fun and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The main focus for this event is to encourage participation and teamwork. 

Students in Year 3 will run one lap of the course (1km), the 9/10 year old age group will run two laps (2km), and 11 years and 12/13 years age groups will run three laps (3km). Age groups are determined by the student’s age on 31 December 2025. 

Family support is appreciated as we encourage all students to participate and get involved. Parents helpers are needed on the day to be marshals on the course. If you’re available and have a current Working with Children Check that you’ve presented at the Office to be recorded, please contact Monique Hocking. More details soon on Compass. 

Qualifying students will represent EHPS at the Monash Heights District cross country event.