From the Principal

Happy 2024

It was sensational to see all our students return to school with such positive energy ready for another jam packed school year. Special welcome to our new students, families and staff. We hope you come to love Lalor East as much as those of us who have been here a while do. Thank you to our families for all your work over the break to ensure students started back so positively all kitted out in our school uniform and with some pretty yummy lunch boxes!

Staffing updates

Brad Jones has returned to us after six months overseas visiting his wife's family and will be working in the Prep -2 team. 

Ruthi Aitken is returning to us after two years away and will be working predominantly in the Art space on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  

Welcome to Nicola Holmes who is joining the 1/2 team in 2024. Nicola will be at LEPS on Thursdays and Fridays and is sharing 1/2B with Angela Pobjoy.

Interviews have been conducted to fill the 1/2C teacher position. We are in the process of finalising these arrangements and hope to have the new teacher start on Monday 19 February. In the meantime, Karen O'Neill will continue to work in the 1/2 team until our new staff member can start.

As you will have seen on the news, there is a severe teacher shortage across many states in Australia and we are grateful to be able to secure a new staff member for our school. Many schools have not been as fortunate.

Ambulance Cover and Accident Insurance

A reminder to families that ambulance and accident insurance are the responsibility of families and not the school. If children are injured at school and an ambulance needs to be called, the cost can be very high. The average cost of a trip in an ambulance is $1200!! The cost of a family membership is only $103.88 ($25.97/quarter). Don't get caught out by not having ambulance cover. Membership details can be found at: https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/membership/ 

Personal Property

We know children love to bring special items to school. Unfortunately, these special/valuable items sometimes go missing or get broken. We encourage families to ensure electrical items, special jewellery and other valuable items do not come to school as we do not have capacity to replace them. Please speak to your child about not 'gifting' special items to friends as this can cause distress to both parties when a child wants an item back and it has been lost.

Under an order from the Minister of Education, Victorian students are not permitted to have access to mobile phones during school hours. Mobile phones must be signed in at the office at the start of the day and not left in school bags. The phones will be kept in a secure location and students can collect them at the end of the day.

School uniform reminders

We are very proud of our uniform options. The funky teal and black colour looks sensational on all students. Lots of thought was put into choosing the items taking into account practical, gender and cultural considerations. Parents, please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform at all times. Below are some reminders based on my observations this week:

• Shorts must be black, loose fitting and knee length. Shorts should be free of logos/stripes etc
• Tight bike shorts or short running shorts are not part of our uniform and should not be worn to school
• Only the official LEPS jacket and polo may be worn 
• Students need to wear the official school black broad brimmed hat (the green hat is no longer part of our uniform)
• Hair accessories need to be black, teal or white
• Earrings need to be small studs or sleepers - long dangly earrings pose a safety risk
• Students may wear a watch (not a smart watch with cellular capabilities) and are discouraged from wearing necklaces, bangles etc as these can a pose safety risk or could be lost.

If your child is not wearing the correct uniform, please visit LOWES at Plenty Valley to purchase school uniform items (polo, jacket, dress, hat). Families with a Health Care Card may be eligible for a State Schools Relief uniform voucher which can be used to purchase uniform items from LOWES. Robyn, Suzanne and Bev in the office, will be happy to help families check their eligibility for the vouchers.

Our Grade 6s look very grown up in their awesome new polos and leavers jackets. Thank you to Robyn, Suzanne and Hannah for all their work in the latter part of 2023 to ensure the students received their new uniform items so early in the new year.  

Our new interschool sports jerseys for basketball and soccer also arrived last week ready for a fun season of competition. 

LINDA RICHARDS

Principal