Dear Families,

Over the past 2 weeks students and teachers in Years 5 and 3 have been working on a series of NAPLAN (National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy) Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, and Mathematics assessments. Year 3s finished their assessments last week. One of our school traditions in celebration of their concentrated efforts and hard work is to treat students with chips in the park at the end of the 2 weeks. Year 3 & 5 students celebrated their success at Windy Hill this week.

Fundraising

Each year our school strives to provide the best in educational and extracurricular resources to our students. To achieve our goals, we rely on fundraising, donations and the support of parent helpers throughout the year. Last year our school community worked hard to raise enough funds to allow us to purchase new monkey bars! This year we will be focusing on smaller items, our first being an outdoor chess set.

Easter Raffle

Fundraising is a great way to get involved with our school community whilst making some new friends. If you're interested in getting involved, or have any suggestions/feedback, please contact myself at haticekolevski1@gmail.com Our first fundraiser for the year will be the Easter raffle and we are in need of donations!! We are looking for donations to put hampers together. If you are able to donate any of the following it would be much appreciated: Easter Confectionery, hampers, Easter books, gift cards, baskets or colouring books. Please drop donations off at the school office

The Friday Food Stall has been a beloved tradition at Essendon Primary School for the past 15 years. It serves as an excellent opportunity to raise additional funds for classrooms, foster community spirit, and strengthen family connections. In previous years, the funds raised have enabled Learning Communities to acquire valuable resources, classroom furniture, and accessories that would not have been possible within our current funding constraints. We will hold the Friday Food Stalls on a fortnightly basis, with each class rostered to participate once during the year. Parents will be asked to provide appropriate food items, which will be sold on Friday afternoons after the final bell to the school community. A schedule for Terms 2 and 3 will be published at the beginning of next term, and we hope you can join us to enjoy the vibrant community atmosphere at these events throughout the year.

Ride 2 School Friday 21st March

National Ride2School Day is a fantastic opportunity for students and school communities across Australia to promote a healthier lifestyle by encouraging walking and riding to school. We invite all students to participate and get creative with their travel choices on this special day! To enhance the experience, our friends at Bicycle Network will be at the school from 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM to conduct FREE bicycle safety checks. Additionally, an obstacle course will be set up on the Oval, providing a fun way for students to practice their riding skills. For more information, please refer to the Ride2School page in this newsletter.

Closed Classroom

We are thrilled to announce that the construction of additional walls to create a new closed classroom in the Year 1/2 Learning Community has been completed! School Council have been applying for grants over the past few years with no success. The cost had been quite prohibitive as it required engineering due to the high ceilings. Thanks to the generous contributions from our parents to the EPS Building Fund over the past eight years, we have finally been able to make this project a reality. We are now just waiting for the finishing touches before one of the Year 1/2 classes can move into the new space over the upcoming school holidays.

Thank you for your continued support as we strive to enhance our learning environment for all students!

Christine Nash

Principal

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