Principal's Report

Dear EHPS Parents and Carers,

Dance Concert

Wow!!! The two nights of the dance concert this week were spectacular. The attendances were excellent with over 1000 tickets sold across both nights. This is a marvellous example of our amazing and supportive Essex Heights community. This year’s dance concert was an imaginative and dynamic show focusing on the stars of the music scene over the past 60-70 years. 

Our dance concert gives all children the opportunity to experience dance and to build their confidence through perseverance and the excitement of a successful performance. The detailed and energetic choreography combined with recognisable contemporary music made the show fun for all age groups.

The feedback from parents, grandparents, staff, students and other family members has been so positive. For example:

We would like to thank you and the whole staff for the amazing show tonight. 

My girls were full of nerves beforehand and were completely out of their comfort zones, but they were well supported throughout and made to feel safe. When they got off the stage they said they had so much fun and wanted to do it again!

The dance concert was wonderful last night. It was a joy to watch all the dances

The dances were uniformly excellent and the actors in the speaking parts were confident and convincing in their roles. 

Such a great community event. It was honestly so impressive and the whole audience had the best time!

It was amazing! The children and families all loved it. I can’t wait for the next show, what a great way to build a community and school pride. 

Dance concert was AMAZING!! Please pass on my congratulations to everyone on such a wonderful night!

We were all so proud of the way the children prepared and performed. The children’s experience in overcoming their nerves and seeing the result of hard work has been a wonderful learning experience. This was a great example of building resilience and self confidence in our children. A huge thank you to Jack from Momentum Arts Studio leading the artistic side of the concert and to Elisha Cotterell for managing the organisation of the event.

Mother's Day Treat & Stall

A huge thank you to the Parents and Friends Club for organising the Mother’s Day events last Friday. The before school treat was very well attended and mums and special carers were able to get together and share breakfast and a coffee with their loved ones. Later in the day, the children also had a wonderful time selecting gifts from the Mother’s Day Stall. These events again show the Essex Heights spirit and our connectedness as a school community. Thank you to all the PFC volunteers. Your work is truly appreciated.

2025 Student Attitude to School Survey

The following letter is from the Department of Education regarding the upcoming Student Attitude to School Survey

Dear Parent / Caregiver / Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about the 2025 Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), which all government school students in Years 4 to 12 will be invited to complete.

About the survey

The AtoSS is a voluntary student survey offered by the Department of Education every year to help schools and the department understand students' experiences of school. We will ask your child about their thoughts and feelings about their school, their learning, relationships with other students, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

ORIMA Research Pty Ltd has been contracted by the department to manage the collection of the online survey and will provide support to schools through a telephone hotline and email.

This year, the survey will be conducted at your school any time between from 19th May to 13th June.

What are the benefits?

Young people enjoy having a say! This survey has been running for nearly 20 years and helps schools plan programs and activities to improve your child's engagement with school, their wellbeing and their learning. The survey data also helps the Department of Education understand how to improve student learning.

What are the risks?

We don’t expect many risks of participation, but some students may find some questions personal or sensitive. If you agree for your child to take part, they can still skip questions or withdraw at any time whilst completing the survey if it makes them upset or uncomfortable. A teacher will be present during the survey to support students.

The questions come from validated survey instruments used in Australia and around the world. They focus on your child’s strengths and are designed for each year level group.

What will my child be asked to do?

Your child will be invited to complete the survey online during class time using a purpose built secure online survey tool. We are not “testing” your child. Please note:

• Students can choose if they want to take part, skip questions if they don’t want to answer, and can stop doing the survey at any time.
• There are different versions of the survey to let all students take part.
• The survey will take around 20-40 minutes to complete.

How is my child’s privacy protected?

A teacher will give your child a unique login to complete the survey. This unique student login is an assigned identifier that will be used by the department to link data for analysis and research only. Some student demographic data such as year level, gender, age, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status are provided to ORIMA research and linked with the unique student login ID to administer the survey. This information helps to support analysis and research, to paint a clearer picture of how Victorian school students are faring.

ORIMA Research will only use student personal information for research purposes to facilitate the administration and data collection of the Attitudes to School Survey. To keep your child’s survey answers private, ORIMA Research won’t include any personally identifiable data in the survey answers file that is provided to the department.

 All data is stored on servers located in Australia, and only staff who are working on the project can access it.

All information collected about your child will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Data and Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic), as well as the Department’s Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please note that consistent with the above legislation and our policy, there are instances where we may be required by law to share information provided by your child. For example, where there is a threat to your child’s health and safety.

How will results be reported?

The department will only use aggregated state-wide survey data to report on initiatives and this data may also be used in public discussions of issues about student engagement and wellbeing. An example of how survey data has been previously used includes reporting levels of student engagement in the Performance Summary in the Annual Report to the School Community. The department will not share any identifiable student data with any other party.

Your child’s school will only get reports about groups of students. Information about individual students and the student answers data file will not be shared with schools. If there are low numbers of student answers to a question, the report will not show results for this question to protect the privacy of those students.

For more information about this survey, including the questions your child will be asked to answer, please visit the department’s survey information page.

If you would like more information or have any concerns about the survey, please speak to your child’s teacher, or contact the department at school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au.

Yours sincerely,

Department of Education, Victoria

Smart Watches

I would like to remind all families that smart watches are to be turned off during school hours. Any device that has a similar functionality to a mobile phone cannot be brought to school. The EHPS Mobile Phone Policy clearly categorises a smart watch as such a mobile device.

A simple analogue or digital watch may be worn to school to help children tell the time or to learn how to tell the time.

The EHPS Mobile Phone Policy can be found on the school website.  

New play area 

This week we have completed an new and improved play area for the children at the back of the Violet building. The old dead shrubs have gone, replaced by a new garden bed. The dusty dirt that was grass has been removed and replaced by new synthetic grass. This rejuvenated area will now be a wonderful play space for the children. It will also be on outdoor learning space for the classes in the Violet building. At the start of the year, we had already refurbished the tables and seating in that area. The change is outstanding, and the children are very excited about the improved area. 

Before

After

These improvements are great for the children creates a beautiful environment for them and our community. 

Projects like this and the other ones completed around the school in recent times are funded by the school through parent contributions.

Junior School Council 

Our JSC Captains and Vice Captains will be acknowledged at our School Assembly on Monday 26 May (please note changed date from that previously advised). Our State Member for Ashwood, Matt Fregon MP, will attend and present badges and certificates to our students who have taken on this important role.

Student-Free Days

At the School Council meeting on 15 May, the the following days in 2025 when students will not attend school were approved:

• Monday 30 June - Student-Free Day (staff training on numeracy and teaching practice)
• Friday 31 October - Professional Practice Day for staff.
• Monday 3 November - Student-Free Day (staff working on assessment)

Students also don't attend school on Melbourne Cup Day public holiday on Tuesday 4 November. Please ensure you note these dates in your family calendar when your children do not attend school.

I look forward to seeing you around the school. 

Kindest regards,

George Perini

Principal