Dear Families,

We can hardly believe that we are already more than halfway through Term 1! Following the success of our Start Strong Program, during which teachers introduced Berry St strategies, explored our school values (Gleams), and established class expectations and routines, our educators are now fully focused on delivering the Semester One curriculum.

In recent weeks, teachers have been developing and releasing Learning Tasks for the various units covered so far. Most subject areas already have at least one task available for parents to review. You can easily access these tasks through your child’s Compass portal under the academic reports section.

To assist you further, we have provided instructions on how to access your child’s Learning Tasks on the Compass newsfeed and at the end of this page. More assessment tasks for each subject will be rolled out throughout Terms 1 and 2. The goal is for these tasks to collectively form a comprehensive summary of all assessments for each subject, which will be included in the Semester report.

We encourage you to take advantage of these resources and stay engaged with your child’s learning progress.

Student Progress Interviews

Student Progress Interviews will be held in the last week of this term, 4-7pm on Monday 31st March and 4-7pm Tuesday 1st April. We plan to continue to run these as virtual meetings on Webex. Teachers and parents find that the virtual student progress meetings saved travel and transition time and allowed more flexibility, especially for working parents. Meetings will be held after school and may take a different format in the different Learning Communities. More information about the specific arrangements and booking times will be made available later this week.

School Photos

Our whole school individual and class photos with MSP Photography are scheduled to be taken on Tuesday 11th March 2025. Confirmation will be sent home via your children over the coming weeks. We will be having a catch-up day on Tuesday 25th March for any students who were absent. Please add these dates to your calendar.

Parent Classroom Volunteers Update

We have posted an online Parent Volunteer Training program on Compass with the following links to the training slides for parent volunteers to access and complete. Please note that all Parent Volunteers who assist in any way during the school day; in the classroom, incursions, excursions, sporting activities, School Council activities, camps etc. must have signed our ‘Child Safety Code of Conduct’ and hold a current ‘Working With Children’s Card’. You will need to present your ‘Working With Children’s Card’ to the office so we can take a photocopy and keep a register of expiry dates for our records.

Applications are available online at

https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply.

So that together staff and parents can maximise the opportunities for learning and teaching, the following expectations provide clear guidelines for all members of our school community who wish to volunteer their time and assist in the classroom and at the school.

Classroom helpers are expected to maintain CONFIDENTIALITY at all times. Any observations about children in relation to their ability, standards of work, behavior and/or personal matters must not be discussed with anyone.
The classroom teacher is responsible for all decisions related to classroom management and student behavior. Classroom helpers are expected to support the decisions of the teaching staff.
Classroom helpers are expected to act with discretion and courtesy both within and outside the classroom.
Classroom helpers are to provide a Working with Children Check and the signed confidentiality agreement to the school office prior to beginning in classrooms.

2026 Sibling Foundation Enrolments

In 2024 the Department of Education (DE) released a new state-wide Foundation (Prep) enrolment timeline. The timeline advises families when and how to enrol their child into Foundation (Prep) at a Victorian government primary school, including Essendon Primary School and applies to all children starting Foundation (Prep) in 2026. As of Tuesday 22th April families will be able download the ‘Foundation (Prep) Enrolment Information Pack for Parents/Carers for the 2026 school year’ from the Starting School webpage.

As our student numbers are slightly below our ceiling, it will not be necessary for families to submit an application. If families have a child eligible for enrolment in Prep at EPS in 2026 you are welcome to pick up, complete and submit our official enrolment form any time before Friday 25 July 2025.

We plan to start our Pre-School Story Time and to schedule Foundation Getting to know you Transition Meetings (when the Foundation Coordinator & Well-being Assistant Principal meet with the children and their families) in Term 3, 2025.

Maximising Learning Time

Student learning time is a precious commodity, and the structure of our school day generally has a two-hour literacy block, followed by a numeracy session. Parents could assist us with this support by ensuring your child is on time every day and does not come late to school and arranging to catch up with teachers for a chat at the end of the day instead of the start of the school day.

It is also important to note that as part of our Child Safety Strategy ALL SCHOOL GATES ARE LOCKED PROMPTLY AT 9AM to allow yard duty teachers to assist with students entering the school building. The gates on Shaftesbury St (gate C) and Nicholson St (gate D) will be locked during the music, leaving the driveway gate (B) on Raleigh St open until after the 9am bell. If you arrive once the music has started, it would be best to drop the children off at this gate. We also suggest that parents who are near the front of the school plan to leave the yard via this gate to avoid the disappointment of arriving at a gate that has already been locked. Students who are dropped off after the bell will need to be dropped near the entrance on Nicholson St. We apologise for any inconvenience these arrangements may cause and very much appreciate your support.

Traffic Management

There continues to be challenges with traffic management at the start and the end of the school day. Occasionally there has been tension caused by the congestion of traffic around drop off and pick up times and this is compounded by the very limited parking space. Nicholson and Raleigh streets have all been designated drop off zones by the local council, between 8am and 9am in the morning and 3pm and 4pm in the afternoon. I understand that tension and issues develop when people leave their vehicles unattended, park over residents’ driveways, double park or park on the nature strip. Could all parents and family members please be patient with each other, follow traffic management rules and parking signs to ensure a steady flow of traffic and particularly, ensure safety to all pedestrians, especially our students. There has also been a particular concern raised about the safe behaviour of children being dropped off at the Nicholson Street drop off zones at the beginning of the school day. Could parents please make sure children exit the car from the left-hand side of the vehicle and follow the footpath around to the school gate rather than running across the road in front of cars and traffic? If you have time, please consider parking a little further away and enjoy the fresh air and a short walk.

We look forward to another year of working together, to ensure our school provides the best opportunities possible for each of our students.

Christine Nash

Principal

Chess Club