From the Principal

Grade 5-6 Portsea Camp

Twenty eight excited grade 5/6s headed off with Scott, Julie, Hannah and Amanda for two wonderful nights and three adventure filled days to Portsea Camp on Monday 4 March. I know they will have a wonderful time challenging themselves with the different activities while also challenging themselves by being away from their family. 

In the thirty years I have been at LEPS I have attended many camps over the years. They have all been fun and have been a terrific way to get to know the students outside the regular school environment. Students learn valuable lessons about how to be resilient and also expand their ability to be independent. The memories from camp last a lifetime and are a right of passage.

We were disappointed only twenty eight children opted to attend camp (half of our 5/6 cohort). Normally more children attend camp than this. While we understand that there are unprecedented financial challenges for families at the moment, in some cases, children did not attend because parents were concerned about their child being away from home. 

It is a fine balance as a parent between wanting to help and care for our children and stifling a child's opportunities to develop their independence from us. I am always surprised with the number of parents I see carrying their child's (or multiple children's) school bags when they arrive at the beginning or leave at end of the day. Simple things like getting children to carry their school bag are one simple way to help children develop important life skills. It helps develop their sense of accomplishment and improves their willingness to tackle other more challenging tasks in the future.

With student numbers so low for camp this year, we will need to gather information from our families about the long term viability of our camping program. Some options to consider are camp only running every second year, expanding the camp program to include grade 4-6's, or cancelling the program all together. Personally, I would hate to see the camping program cancelled but in the end, if not enough students attend camp, it is too costly from a staffing perspective for the camp to continue in its current format. 

School Council Elections

I am very excited to announce the election of the following parents to the Lalor East Primary School Council:

• Amanda Bull (mother of Nash, Chase and Bonnie)
• Tina Robinson (mother of Zoe)
• Charles Li (father of Scarlett)
• Aliscia Rech (mother of Chloe).

As the number of nominations was equal to the number of vacancies, a ballot was not required.

We look forward to working with the new parents and continuing the School Council's important work in our school.

Thank you to Lilly Tran, Katie Nelson, Elizabeth Vecchio for their commitment to our school and being active members of our School Council over the last two years. 

Behaviour in the student toilets

We have ongoing concerns about the behaviour of students in the toilets. The cleaners regularly report to me about finding whole toilet rolls shoved in the toilet, toilet rolls being urinated on (boys' toilets), the walls and floors being urinated on, and soap being wasted and smeared over the mirrors. On other occasions children stand on the toilet seats, peer over the dividers into other cubicles or just chat to each other! Staggering!!

When we do speak to children about these types of antisocial behaviours they always tell us  they would not do these things at home! I would have been extremely shocked if they were allowed to do these things at home. Can I ask parents to please remind children about showing our values of Caring, Cooperation, Respect and Personal Best when using the school facilities. The facilities are used by lots of children and they all deserve to use a clean space and not be disturbed by others.

Important Dates

Monday 11 March is Labour Day which means no school for anyone!

Friday 22 March is a Curriculum Day for staff and no school for students. 

Staff will be working to update our Behaviour Matrix and also our response to Minor and Major Student Behaviours. Our grade 5/6 student leaders have already had their say in the changes they thing are needed. We will share the updated document with our community once the work is completed. These two documents are the cornerstone of our work in relation to our School Wide Positive Behaviours Support Program.

TheirCare will be offering a service on this day. Please contact TheirCare to book your child in for this day.

Monday 25 and Wednesday 27 March - Meet the Teacher Interviews - information about booking times was sent via Compass on Monday 4 March. Interviews can be booked via Compass as either face to face or online based on feedback from families last year. Bookings close 11 March at 3:30pm.

We are lookingforward to seeing all our families (physically or digitally) at the interviews!

LINDA RICHARDS

Principal