Dear Families,

Welcome to our first newsletter for the 2024 school year. I hope everyone enjoyed the summer break and the first 3 weeks of school. Thank you very much to the many families who came along to our Open Classrooms afternoon with special thanks to the parents Alex T, Love N, Niamh K, Bianca K, Todd M, Kerith S who volunteered their time to setup and run the BBQ. It was a great opportunity for families to see where their child is learning, meet the teachers and then have the chance to make connections with other families. Thank you to everyone for supporting this event.

The Foundation students have now been at school for 8 days and have already settled into the routine of the school day. A lot of this can be attributed to the Essendon Primary School Prep Buddy program, which is an important part of the Foundation students’ successful transition. It is equally as significant and exciting for the year 5 students who have all very proudly taken on this responsibility and have been very caring and supportive with their charge during buddy activities and in the yard. We have often seen a year 5 student assist and console their Foundation buddy if they have misplaced their hat, taken a fall, have lost sight of their friend or don’t quite know where to go at the end of play time. It has been a brilliant start to the school year for all students, but especially our Foundation and Year 5 students.

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to the new families who join us this year and a very big welcome back to our ongoing students, their families and our staff. We look forward to another year of working together to ensure our school provides the best opportunities possible for each of our students. I would like to introduce and welcome our new Learning Specialists Leah Gibson (Mathematics Coordinator and Pedagogy Coach) and Laura Wandke (Literacy Coordinator and Pedagogy Coach). Heather Fletcher will continue on as our Inclusion Coach. Lauren Barry who is our newly appointed Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader has just returned from 7 years family leave to this full-time position. Danielle Cuff has also returned to EPS after 12 months family leave and will be providing time release for our Learning Specialists. We have also been very busy over the past year in seeking funding and recruiting a further 5 Education Support (ES) personnel to support in classroom with a further 2 or 3 yet to employ, once we secure further funding. Our new ES staff are Andrew Francis, Anh Nguyen, Mary Jane Riddiford, Oscar Gale and Helena Xuereb

Learning Communities

Year level cohorts are referred to as Learning Communities.

Foundation Learning Community- Monique Vrzovski (Team Leader) and Jacinta Wirth with the support of ES staff; Payton Frost and Luke Davison

1/2 Learning Community- Laura Wandke (Team Leader), Carly Ridley, Jared Cottrill, Alysse Carland, Kate Feeney and Brittany Soutter with the support of ES staff; Elwyn Faustin, Nicole Stevenson, Andrew Francis, Anh Nguyen, Mary Jane Riddiford, Heather Di Scipio and Maria Rio.

3/4 Learning Community- Leah Gibson (Team Leader), Laura White, Tristen Tabe, Kate Robinson and Amanda Scarborough with the support of ES staff; Lee Fisk, Anya Harrison, Priyanka Jain and Helena Xuereb

5/6 Learning Community- Jen Bradby (Team Leader), Phoebe Goldby, Bree Bullock, Amanda Barrell & Gerry Schultz with the support of ES staff; Julie Cuthbert and Oscar Gale

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Specialist Team

Etsuka LOTE Japanese (Team Leader)

Samantha Blease The Arts

Trish Murray Science

Tom Hilbrich Physical Education and Sport

Office Staff

Natasha Young Business Manager

Renee Mcgrath Enrolment officer

Rebecca Horne Reception & Building and Maintenance

Vicki Stakemire Reception

Parent Teacher Communication

The school and teachers are keen to open the channels of communication between the classroom teacher and parents to support each child’s learning. This can be done easily via your child’s Compass portal. Parents are encouraged to raise any issues or concerns they have about their child’s learning needs directly with the classroom teacher either via email, phone message, note or briefly in person after school. Parents are very welcome to give leadership or those who are at a gate a quick message to relay to the teachers about anything they need to know about your child’s day or morning. In the afternoon your child’s homegroup teacher will be at their allocated gate if you want to ask some questions or have a quick chat. I will be at the gates on Raleigh St before and after school most days and I am always happy to have a chat and answer or follow-up on any questions you might have. For longer more sensitive conversations I would suggest you leave a message with the office or send a quick email asking the teacher for a call back. Hopefully these various options will work for most and help families feel connected.

Parent Information Videos

In recent years we have found that making information videos available suits most people, especially those with long working hours and busy lives. Each teaching team are in the process of creating information videos about this year’s learning in their learning community. These will be made available with a link uploaded on to your compass portal in the near future. If you have any further questions after viewing these, please email your Homegroup teacher or ask the relevant person at the gates.

Classroom Parent Volunteers

We have had many requests and offers from parents to assist in the learning spaces. It is important to note that all Parent Volunteers who assist in the classroom must have completed the Essendon Primary School Parent Volunteers Training Session in any year after 2017. Our Virtual Parent Volunteer Training module is available on your Compass Newsfeed. It is also important to note that all Parent Volunteers who assist in anyway during the school day; in the classroom, incursions, excursions, sporting activities, fundraising activities, camps etc. must have signed our ‘Child Safety Code of Conduct’ and have 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 on line at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply. Teachers are keen to secure parent assistance in the classroom as soon as we are able so if you are interested, please email your child’s Home Group via the Compass Portal.

Library Support

Gerry Schultze continues in the role of Library Coordinator and very much needs parent volunteer support, guidance and assistance in the form of a parent Library Sub-Committee. Gerry is responsible for the purchase of books, subscriptions, shelving etc. and for overseeing the organisation of our libraries. We are hoping that parent volunteers will help us manage the processing (covering, cataloguing etc.) of new purchases. We would like the Library Sub-Committee to help us sort through and organise the many books that are currently in storage, cull what is well worn and loved or no longer suitable and advise us on purchases and ways to better manage and organise. If you are interest in assisting us please send any offers of interest and assistance to the school email address Essendon.ps@education.vic.gvo.au

Whole School Assembly

Our first whole school assembly will be held at 3:00pm on Thursday 22nd February when our new Foundation students to be 'welcomed' into their house team by their House Captains. The house teams are named after the streets surrounding the school - Raleigh, Shaftesbury, Brewster and Nicholson. Students can wear their house colours to school on the day of their PE class, and later in the year when they participate in Athletics Day to represent their house team.

There are many more whole school and year level events being organised. Dates for arrangements that have been confirmed can be found on the Compass Calendar, EPS website calendar and on the Important Events page in this newsletter. We look forward to another year of working together, to ensure our school provides the best opportunities possible for each of our students.

Warm regards,

Christine Nash

Principal

Wellbeing at EPS

Supporting the wellbeing of our Essendon Primary School community