Principal's Message

Dear Families,

What an exciting last day of term. Earlier in the week we were told that two ministers were coming to launch the 2024 premier’s Reading Challenge. It was only 45 minutes before that we were told that the Premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allan was coming and would be reading to the students in 12C. The 2 Ministers accompanying the Premier were Minister Melissa Horne, Minister for Local Government and Minister Lizzie Blandford Minister for Children and Minister for Disability. The School Captains shared an acknowledgement of country that had been developed by students in 5/6 before then handing over to the Premier. The students in 1/2C and the School Captains were excellent Ambassadors of the school. Oh, and yes, we were also host to an array of Department of Education personnell and media. We received many congratulations on a very successful event.

Term one has been full of events. All of our students and staff settled in well and made an excellent start to the school year.  Term 1 events have included the Open Classroom afternoon, the Year 2 Urban Camp, 5/6 District Gala Sports Days, Year Level Excursions and more recently, in week 8, the EPS working bee, Book Fair, Harmony Day Parade, Cultural Diversity celebrations and Ride to School Day. Thank you very much to Etsuka and the Specialist Team for organising such fun filled days on Friday and Monday.  Please take the time to check out the many pages and photos in this newsletter of these events.

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.

The Friday Food Stall has become a tradition at Essendon Primary School over the past 15 years.  It is a great way to raise additional funds for the classroom, build community spirit, foster family relations and educate our students.  In previous years the funds raised have allowed Learning Communities to purchase additional resources, classroom furniture and accessories that otherwise would not be possible within our current funding. Friday Food Stalls will be held on a fortnightly basis with classes rostered on once for the year. Parents will be asked to provide their child with appropriate food item/s, which will then be sold on a Friday afternoon after the final bell to the rest of the school community.  We are in the process of organising a schedule for Terms 2 and 3 which we will publish at the start of next term. We hope you can join us and we look forward to seeing families enjoy the community atmosphere at these Friday Food Stalls during the course of the year.

2025 Foundation Enrolments

To coincide with the 2025 Foundation Enrolments timeline which will commence on the 15th April (please see the school Enrolments page for more information, Mary and I will be conducting Foundation Tours and Information Sessions at 9:30am on the first 3 Fridays of next term. We will also be offering Pre-school Story Time each Friday morning for 45 minutes, starting at 9:15am from Friday 10th May. Pre-schoolers from all different ages are welcome. 

We hope everyone has an exciting, enjoyable and safe two-week break and we look forward to seeing you on Monday 15th April for the start of Term 2.

Warm regards,

Christine Nash

Principal