Important Reminders

Annual Privacy Reminder for our School Community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. 

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy - information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic

• Arabic

• Dari

• Gujarati

• Mandarin

• Somali

• Sudanese

• Turkish

• Urdu

• Vietnamese

Mobile Phones in Schools

A reminder that the Department of Education has in place a mobile phone ban that requires students who bring mobiles phones to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours.

The department is requiring all schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced from the start of the school year.

The ban applies equally to all government schools right across the state.

This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions.

By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause.

We ask for the support of all our families, staff and students in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school.

Further information

Exceptions: For a small number of students with particular health needs, an exception to the policy may be granted. Please contact a member of our Executive Team if you would like to discuss this.

Emergencies: In the event of an emergency or if you need to immediately contact your child, I ask that families contact the school office who will pass on a message as required.

School mobile phone policy: A copy of our school’s local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available here. 

Parent support: The Mobile phones in schools webpage provides links to resources for families to help them balance their children’s time using mobile phones.

If you have further questions, please contact the office.

School Insurance

Please be advised that the Department (which includes our school) does not have personal accident insurance for students.

If a student is injured at school or while participating in a school activity (including offsite) and requires medical treatment, parents/carers are responsible for all of their child’s medical expenses. This includes transport costs such as ambulance costs (which may include an air ambulance if considered necessary).

The Department (which includes our school) does not have personal property insurance for staff and/or students.

Items of personal property that are lost, stolen or damaged at school or during school excursions are not the responsibility of Essendon North Primary School or the Department. Staff and students are reminded not to bring items of value to school or on school excursions.

Essendon North Primary School encourages parents/carers to consider obtaining their own accident insurance for students and property of value that may be brought to school.

Media and Local Walk Consent

In Term Four 2025, Essendon North Primary School released three ongoing media consent forms and one annual local walk consentform to families in Compass. Thank you to the parents and carers who have already completed preferences for their child/ren.

If you have not yet completed your child's ongoing media consent or annual 2026 local walk forms and wish to provide consent, please head to Course Confirmation/School Payments in Compass and follow the prompts. Instructions are attached below.

Please be aware that only consent forms with a status of Complete will indicate that your consent has been provided. If the status of any consent forms shows as Not Started or In Progress, we will assume that you do not wish to provide consent. 

We thank you for you cooperation to ensure your preferences are actioned. 

*Please note that as one of the purposes of our newsletter is to celebrate successes and acknowledge achievements at ENPS, students' first names and work samples may be published throughout this newsletter. No surnames will be shown.

No Pet Dogs at School

Whilst Essendon North Primary School understands that many families in our school community keep dogs as pets, to ensure that our school remains a safe and inclusive place for everyone, pet dogs are not permitted on school grounds under any circumstances. 

Our school community is diverse, and may include people that are allergic or uncomfortable around dogs. We ask that families please leave their pet dogs at home or wait with their dogs four metres away from school gates.

We thank families for their cooperation in keeping ENPS' school grounds safe for all members of our community.

Before/After School Supervision

Student safety at Essendon North Primary School is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school. 

School staff are rostered on for playground duty during recess and lunch, and are on the entrance gates before school and after school. School grounds are supervised at the entry gates before school from 8:30am. After school, staff are allocated to supervise the exit gates until 3:30pm. In order to ensure the safety of all students, a reminder to families that our playgrounds are out of bounds before and after school. This includes the Foundation Playground, oval and Inclusive Play Space. Students on school grounds outside these times are not supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity). 

Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students and/or family members do not enter Essendon North Primary School outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity (i.e. sports practice). Families are encouraged to contact TeamKids on 1300 035 000 or refer to https://teamkids.com.au for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community. 

A copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy can be found on our school website, or by contacting the office. This policy includes Essendon North Primary School’s student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.

Respectful Behaviour within our School Community

When parents, carers and school staff work together as one team, our students do better. Everyone at school, particularly staff and parents/carers, play a role in making school a better place for learning and work.

Parents, carers and school staff have a relationship that can last many years. This is an opportunity to work together to create a positive relationship in the best interests of your child. When this relationship is built on respect and trust, students learn better and feel like they belong in the school.

Every member of our school community has a right to feel safe and be protected.

The department’s Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy describes the positive behaviour expected from parents, carers, and other adults in Victorian school communities. The policy sets clear standards of behaviour to create a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning environment for students, staff and adults.

There are also resources to support safe and respectful relationships in our school community, including information about getting involved in the school, advice on how to raise a concern or complaint, and parenting support resources. You can find the policy and these resources here.

For more information on how to engage positively with our school, please contact our Principal Kate Barletta.

School Policies

We wish to advise our community that the following Essendon North Primary School policies have been recently updated in line with Department of Education review cycles:

• Acceptable Use Agreement (AUA) (2026-2028)
• Anaphylaxis (2026-2027)
• Asthma (2026-2027)
• Yard Duty and Supervision (2026-2028)

All current ENPS policies may also be viewed on the Policies page of our school website.