From the Principal...

Hello and welcome to the latest newsletter.

Congratulations to our Prep students who participated in their first assembly last week. It was great to have the whole school in the same room again! We also celebrate that this week our Preps commenced full time school. Thanks to the parents who have supported them so well across the first period of school life!

A reminder to everyone of our upcoming long weekend as we acknowledge the Labour Day public holiday on Monday 9th March. Students will resume again on Tuesday 10th March.

Congratulations to the students who have recently been appointed as their class representatives for the MEET and SRC teams across MEPS. We are excited to have these groups form and are looking forward to fostering the student voice and agency across the school. Our students are the focus of all that we do at MEPS and having a group of like minded students gathering to advocate for their peers is a wonderful way to sustain ongoing improvements.

Family Fun night

Thank you to all of the families who came along to enjoy the fun night last week. It was great to see so many people here enjoying the school and some social time. Our students clearly enjoyed the opportunity to have their face painted, enjoy a sausage, participate in the range of games/activities and a bounce on the jumping castles. A fantastic opportunity to have students, parents and staff connecting at our great school.

School Contributions

Thank you to the families who have already paid their 2026 school contributions. Please know the positive impact that your contribution makes to the school. We rely heavily on your support to continue resourcing our school with adequate and appropriate resources.

The 2026 Parent Contributions consist of two categories:

Curriculum Contributions - Curriculum items and activities which the school deems necessary for students to access the curriculum. $250
Other Contributions – Non-curriculum items and activities that relate to the school’s function and objectives. $100 or if you are in a position to support the school with any additional funds, we would be extremely appreciative.

Please note that the Curriculum Contributions are inclusive of all digital subscriptions for this year, meaning we are not asking for parents to pay separately for this educational access.

Easter Raffle

Amazingly, it’s that time again! The Bunny is on the Hop! If you would like to contribute to our Eater raffle, we would be very grateful and you can share in the suite of sweets on offer!

Easter Donations Needed:

We kindly invite MEPS families and friends to donate Easter themed goodies to help us create our wonderful raffle prizes.

Donations can be dropped off at the front office from now until Monday 30 March at 12:00pm.

Purchase Tickets:

To buy tickets please scan the QR code on the attached flyer or click the link below:

https://myschoolconnect.com.au/mt-eliza-ps-raffle

School Review

Next week we have our school review happening right across MEPS. In particular, on Tuesday and Thursday. Any interested and available parents are asked to join our parent feedback session on Tuesday 10th March from 2.45 – 3.15pm in the staffroom. No need to rsvp, just come along if you have a few minutes to spare.

MEPS School Council

Thank you to the parents who’ve nominated for the 2026 School Council. We will now finalise our processes and confirm the composition of the Council in the next newsletter.

Signing In and Out

Please note that MEPS has a legal obligation and duty of care for supervision. Parents/Guardians/Carers are responsible for signing their children in and out of the school via the school office. Please ensure you follow our processes via our Compass kiosk located at the front office. This will provide you with a printed exit/late entry slip.

Students will remain in the classroom until signed out via the office. Students can then be collected by parents from their class by showing the sign out slip.

As we welcome students and families on site from 8.15am please be reminded that earlier than this time, students will be directed to before school care. We also ask that students and parents don’t enter our buildings prior to 8.30am.

Congratulations to Miss McDonald who recently enjoyed her wedding day. Now officially, Mrs Leardi; Simone and Matt had a wonderful wedding and are currently enjoying a short trip together. We look forward to seeing Simone again next week.

Car Parking

Please take extra care when dropping off and picking up your children from school. The front of the school is extra busy at these times and safety is our priority.

We ask that you please consider carefully a few requests. Please:

unless you are legally parked, please do not leave your car
refrain from using the staff carpark or using this as a pedestrian access point
don’t park your car in the kiss and drop zone
when parking in the bays, we ask that you get out of the car and come across to collect your children and escort them back to your car. Calling them across the street is very unsafe in this area
observe the parking signs as the council has been issuing fines of late
ensure your children do not ride or scoot across the front of the school (or inside the grounds at any time)

Excursions and Events in 2026

A reminder to please be aware of the processes for this so as to ensure that your child does not miss out on the broad scope of opportunities across this year.

Our processes are:

Communicating to parents about upcoming activities via Compass
Requesting permission and payment (if required) for activities
Posting reminders about due dates as they approach
Publishing a final end date for payments and permissions
Facilitating logistics for successful event management

In order for this to function effectively parents are asked to note the close off dates for events, and recognise that these final dates are vitally important to the next stage of planning activities. This includes securing our bookings and invoicing with providers, arranging travel and first aid logistics for the activity; etc.

Therefore, please be aware that our close off dates are necessary and that permissions and payments after the published dates will not be possible. We want all students to attend all opportunities and will ensure our communications are timely enough to allow appropriate lead time in supporting permissions, payments and planning to occur. Thank-you for understanding and supporting these processes.

Some current extra curricular opportunities that our students have been/will enjoy include:

As part of our integrated Steps Through History unit, Year 6 students will participate in the 1000 Steps Kokoda Track Memorial Walk at Mount Dandenong on Wednesday, 25th March. This excursion marks the culmination of their learning around the theme of challenge. Please note that the permission and payment for this activity is due by Wednesday 11 March.

Our Year 1 students are building their excitement towards their Dr Suess Day on Wednesday 11 March. Students are encouraged to wear anything representative of Dr Suess. This will be a fun compliment to the literacy focus in Year 1.

Year 5/6 Bowls excursion has commenced and the students have enjoyed engaging with the extension to our PE program.

The year 3 students enjoyed their incursion on Wednesday as the Victoria Police came and facilitated an engaging and informative session.

Our Year 4 students are enjoying their weekly Oz Harvest program where they explore the wonders of cooking. Developing and following recipes until their fruition has been great to see. Thank you to the parents who have been coming to support this program each Wednesday.

The Year 4 – 6 students are excitedly looking ahead to the beach program.

NAPLAN

Over the next two weeks students in Years 3 and 5 will participate in the annual NAPLAN tests. These tests are nationwide and provide an insight into student performance under strict testing conditions on one particular day. These tests can sometimes come with some level of anxiety and trepidation. Whilst we analyse the results of these tests to help build a picture of students in differing testing scenarios, we are very much aware that student learning evolves and presents in varied ways for all students. These tests are not the only reflection of learning or performance. At MEPS we maintain a focus on holistic learning that represents the progress of the whole child over time. We offer a breadth and depth of curriculum that is not represented in the NAPLAN tests and we are constantly assessing student performance in a range of settings and curriculum areas. If you or your child is experiencing any concerns regarding NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher. Good luck to all the students involved.

Year 3-6 students Children’s University

We are once again offering the Children's University Program here at MEPS!

Led by Swinburne University of Technology, Children's University (CU) aims to nurture aspirations and develop a love of learning. Students enrolled in CU are issued with a Passport to Learning which records their individual learning journey. After the first 30 hours of learning, students are rewarded for their participation at a graduation ceremony hosted on a Swinburne Campus. CU members can graduate multiple times over many years depending on the hours they accrue. Participation in CU is voluntary, where children are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning, choosing what to do from a variety of offerings. All CU learning is designed to inspire children to think about their futures with a greater knowledge of the careers and professions that they could aspire to.

Students are enrolled in CU when they receive their Passport to Learning. The annual fee for 2026 is $40 which includes a passport (if required), administration support at MEPS, access to the learning portal, gown hire, professional photos at graduation and free school holiday family days twice per year.

If your child would like to become a member of CU for 2026, please complete this registration form (https://forms.gle/9QQ56WpShonaw7ic9) and make payment to your school by March 6th, 2026 via Compass.

Tired??

While we know sleep is essential for good health, research shows that many children and young people are not getting enough sleep on school nights. This can affect thinking, concentration, memory, reaction times and mood.

Research shows about 12% of primary school-aged children, a quarter of 12 to 15 year-olds and half of 16 to 17-year-olds don’t get enough sleep on school nights. The recommended amount of time to sleep for primary school-aged children is 9 to 11 hours. For teenagers, it’s 8 to 10 hours.

Signs that your child is not getting enough sleep can include:

low mood and irritability during social interactions
reluctance or arguing about getting off devices and going to bed
falling asleep during the day
difficulties waking up for school and sleeping in late on weekends to catch up
changes to communicating or interacting at home.

You can help your child to improve their sleep by:

establishing a regular sleep pattern and consistent bedtime routine
supporting them to avoid using electronic devices such as smartphones before going to bed and in bed
encouraging your child to exercise and spend time outside in daylight, steering clear of vigorous activity in the hour before sleep
encouraging them to wind down and relax before going to bed.

If your child is still having trouble sleeping, has persistent problems with low mood, excessive daytime sleepiness, restlessness in bed, severe snoring or wakening unrefreshed, despite getting adequate length sleep, they should see a doctor.

For more information on sleep health, you can refer to:

Sleep tips for children and Facts about sleep for parents and school staff, from the Sleep Health Foundation
Why sleep is so important, from the Kids Helpline’s
Sleep explained, from the Better Health Channel.

Sunsmart

Please note the school’s sunsmart policy requires all students to wear their school approved, sunsmart hats until 30th April.

Students are encouraged to bring their own sunscreen and apply as required during the day. Staff will remind students at the start of our break times as a prompt to ensure we are all being sunsmart.

Have a wonderful long weekend ahead and we look forward to seeing everyone safely return to school on Tuesday 10th March.

Kind regards,

Michael

Respect, Resilience, Responsibility, Connectedness and Challenge