Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope that you have had a good week, so far. On Tuesday afternoon it was a great privilege to attend the Melbourne Town Hall for Boite Schools Chorus. As the School wrote on Facebook:

Celebration…it was an honour for the Eltham East Primary School choir to be performing at the Melbourne Town Hall today as part of the Boite Schools Chorus 2025. This year the Boite presented ‘Mai Fali Eh! Songs and Stories of Timor-Leste’, to mark the 50-year anniversary of the Timorese community in Melbourne. It was also special to have the Timor-Leste President as a very special audience member. Well done to everyone involved, what a great afternoon.

National Week of Action Against Violence and Bullying

This week has a National focus concerning preventing violence and bullying of all types. The ‘Bullying No Way: National week of action’ runs from Monday 11th to Friday 15th August. This is timely for all schools to continue to create safe and respectful school environments and address all forms of bullying, including online. This year’s theme is ‘Be bold. Be kind. Speak up’. It encourages students and school staff to speak up and foster safe spaces where everyone feels supported and respected and all voices are heard and valued. This week, like all weeks at EEPS, all students will continue to have a focus on this in their CORE, Social and Emotional Learning lessons. We will also be taking another whole school drone photo later this week with a very strong message.

Parent / Carer Opinion Survey

Every year the Department conducts surveys of teachers, students and parents / carers. The 2025 teacher and student surveys have been completed. This just leaves the 2025 parent and carer survey, which opens on Monday and will be open for several weeks. Further information about this survey will be sent as a direct Compass Newsfeed. We really do value your input, so please try and make a few minutes in the busyness of family life to provide this valuable feedback.

Safe School Crossings - New Campaign

We have mentioned previously the importance of everyone learning to use the school crossings safely. I am pleased to announce that the Department of Transport has launched a new campaign to help promote school crossing safety, called, Safe Crossings, Safe Kids. Comprehensive information is available here. Please read the poster published in the Newsletter. Here are the 8 key points for drivers:

1.Slow down around school crossings at a speed slow enough to stop safely, if necessary.

2.Stop if a handheld "Stop" sign is displayed and you must give way when school crossings flags are displayed.

3.Stop and wait until the school crossing is clear of all pedestrians including supervisors.

4.Stop if a child or adult is about to cross or is crossing, even if there is no crossing supervisor.

5.Never overtake a vehicle stopping or stopped at the crossing.

6.Never let children get in or out of your vehicle when stopped waiting at a school crossing.

7.Respect School Crossing Supervisors, they're trained to support children's safety.

8.Always watch out for children near schools and if you see a school crossing, use it.

At school crossings, all road users need to be alert, including pedestrians. Always look and listen for approaching traffic from each direction before crossing. Pedestrians need to be sure that drivers or riders have seen them and are stopping.

Nillumbik Reconciliation Group

Hopefully some of our community members were able to attend the special Nillumbik Reconciliation Group gathering on Saturday at the Barak bushland area in Eltham. My apologies for the very late notice about this event last week, but I had only just been made aware of it before we communicated to all families.

Opportunities

As a school we always have a lens on how we can continue to provide different opportunities and experiences for the students as they move through their primary years. We did have an Expression of Interest, recently communicated to families regarding possible additional lunchtime or afterschool activities provided by an external provider. After a considered discussion at School Council this week, it has been decided not to proceed with engagement with this provider at this stage. This was largely due to some less than positive feedback from other sources around the company. It was also due to legitimate Child Safety concerns around supervision of the groups, especially in the light of complexities around the Working with Children Check system. Whilst this decision was made it certainly doesn’t mean that we will not continue to look for other opportunities. I am also pleased to report that the additional, school-based lunchtime activities organised by our student leaders and teachers have been well received.

Coming Up

A reminder that next Thursday, 21st August we will be having our inaugural Book Week dress up book parade. As this will also be a JSC fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, please remember to bring a gold coin donation to assist this valuable cause.

Have a great week of Learning and Growing Together.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal

Learning @ EEPS - Prep to Year 6