Principals' Page

GRIP- Young Leaders Course

Last week we had the pleasure of taking our School Captains and Wellbeing Captains to the GRIP- Young Leaders Course. Below is what Aritha & Maise had to say about the day.

'On Monday, the 12th of February, the School Captains, Maisie and Aritha and the Wellbeing leaders, Chloe and Gianna went to a GRIP leadership conference. We went into the city at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. First, we did some fun activities to get to know the other leaders from other schools.

We learnt the four steps to being a good leader. To step up, step in, step out and step closer. We were taught about the things we have to sacrifice to be a good leader. One was sacrificing what others might think of us. We are now able to think of good ideas to help our school and community. We learnt about things that leaders often forget like following through with an idea after commencing it. At the very end we had a question and answer session with the GRIP leadership team. It was an awesome experience and we learnt so much! Thank you to Mrs Elliott and Mr Corso for driving us to the event and supervising us. We had a great day.'

Clubs at HEPS

In week 3 we started our lunch time clubs. These clubs are open to all students across the school, however, there may be limited spots in some clubs due to limited resources or space. Our students will be given a reminder by the classroom teachers when clubs will be running. We hope to support all students to access these clubs and further develop their social skills and friendships through meaningful and practical experiences.

NAPLAN- Year 3 & 5 Students

We are preparing to take part in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Year 3 & 5 students this term. This year NAPLAN will occur in Term 1.  All tests will be online, except for the Year 3 writing assessment which will be handwritten on paper. All tests will occur from Wednesday 13th until Monday 18th March between 9:10 AM-11:00 AM. Catch up tests will occur if your child does miss a test.

Please email the school or contact your child's teacher for further information regarding NAPLAN.

The tests will occur on the following days:

Attendance 

In 2023 Heathmont East Primary School made a concerted effort to lower student absenteeism.  In 2022 there were over 1,675 days of unexplained absence across the year. In 2023 we reduced this number by 60% to 679.  This amazing effort has meant that far more of our students were in classrooms learning and in the playground socialising with their peers. 

If your child is absent, it is a department requirement for a reason to be provided to school.  We will continue to call all parents and guardians of students who are absent without reason.     

The following information is from the Department of Education

EVERY DAY COUNTS

PRIMARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

SCHOOL IS BETTER WHEN YOUR CHILD IS THERE

Why it’s important

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.

If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.

Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

Getting in early

Attendance patterns are established early – a child regularly missing days in kindergarten or in the early years of school will often continue to miss classes in the later years, and receive lower test scores than their classmates.

It’s vital that students go to school every day – even in the early years of primary school.

IN VICTORIA SCHOOL IS COMPULSORY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 6 -17 YEARS

Student Absences

The main reasons for absence are:

Sickness – There are always times when students need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and developing good sleep patterns, eating well and exercising regularly can make a big difference.

Family holidays - It's vital that holidays are planned during school holidays where possible, and not during the term. If you are planning to go on holiday during term time, make sure that you talk to your child’s school in advance, and work with them to develop an absence learning plan.

“Day off” – Think twice before letting your child have a “day off” as they could fall behind their classmates – every day counts.

Truancy – This is when students choose not to go to school without their parent’s permission. There can be many reasons for truancy. The best way to address this is for schools and parents to work together.

School refusal - School refusing children will experience significant emotional distress not only when going to school but also at the thought of going to school; they may be absent from school for weeks or even months at a time. School refusal differs from truancy as children generally stay home with the knowledge of the parents and despite their best efforts to encourage their child to go to school. See: My child or teenager has anxiety

BEING AWAY FROM SCHOOL FOR ONE DAY A FORTNIGHT EQUALS MISSING 1.5 YEARS OVER 13 YEARS OF SCHOOL

Home Reading

One of the most important routines that children need to re-establish with the return to school is a home reading routine. The school expectation is that all students from Foundation – Year 6 read at home daily. Children in the lower primary years benefit from reading with an adult as much as possible. Reading is an essential life skill with benefits that flow on to many other aspects of learning. 

Many studies have shown that engaging in regular reading:

• Increases general knowledge and conceptual understanding of the world   around us
• Enhances comprehension
• Expands vocabulary, due to ongoing exposure to new words and concepts in a range of varied contexts
• Improves spelling due to continual exposure to words and patterns
• Heightens empathy from understanding differing points of view
• Leads to stronger writing as students learn about writing structure and genres from exposure to quality models of cohesive and creative writing
• Increases acceptance of differences, disability, and other cultures
• Results in higher levels of creativity and imagination
• Improves concentration and ability to focus
• Results in greater overall wellbeing. Neuroscience has shown that reading calms the mind and relaxes the body.

You are also welcome to speak to your child’s teacher, the team leader or Mr. Corso if you need further advice around this.

Working Bee

A reminder that the first Working Bee for 2024 will occur on Sunday 3rd March. We are encouraging the whole family to attend the working bee and make it a community event. As always, a BBQ will be provided once all jobs are completed. See below for more information. 

School Council Nominations

School council is an essential and important part of our school. We highly value the input perspective parent members provide to our council. It is the time of year again that we call for nominations to be part of the council for a period of two years. This year we have four parent vacancies with a further community position to be co-opted by the new school council. We do encourage parents to nominate and further information is available through our previous Compass post. The closing date for nominations is 4pm on the 28th February.

Capital Works

We are continuing to have regular meetings with Architects, the Victorian Schools Building Authority and the DET regarding the planning for our capital works project. We are very excited that the planned four classrooms will have attached learning pods for individual and small group work, access to outdoor learning space, storage for bags and classroom supplies and teacher workspaces. Student toilets and a meeting/resource room will also feature in the new build.