From Mr Ridgway

Reconciliation Week 2025

This week, the staff and students acknowledged and celebrated Reconciliation Week by engaging in a range of activities to reflect and learn more about the shared histories, cultures and achievements of our First Nations Peoples, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.  It is important that we continue to educate students as we build towards creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Division Cross Country

A huge congratulations to our amazing CEPS students who competed at the Division Cross Country event on Wednesday! Charley, Bronte, Indi, Nousha, Mia, Elise, Alisha, Jamie, Sam B, and Noah all proudly represented our school.  

Following Division Cross Country, two Year 6 students have qualified for the Regional Cross Country by finishing in the top 10. What an outstanding achievement! Best of luck to Charley N and Sam B as they now race for a place in the State Cross Country event.

Cognitive Load Theory

At Cheltenham East Primary School, we are committed to ensuring every student has the best chance to succeed by carefully managing the cognitive demands of learning. Informed by the Department of Education’s Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM) 2.0, our teaching teams are working to reduce extraneous load, which is any unnecessary or distracting information and by using clear, consistent instructional routines, visual supports, and learning-focused environments. Lessons are designed with a strong focus on chunking content into manageable steps and minimising distractions so students can focus their attention where it matters most.

At the same time, we are working to maximise intrinsic load by ensuring learning tasks are purposeful, appropriately challenging, and connected to prior knowledge. Through explicit teaching, worked examples, and guided practice, students are supported to engage with the curriculum to embed understanding. 

World Oceans Day

The Junior School Council are promoting World Ocean Day this Term by organising a Fundraising/dress-up day on Friday, 6 June.  We would like everyone to bring along a gold coin and come to school dressed up in the colour blue, or you could come dressed as a sea creature, a pirate, a mermaid or merman, it’s up to you.  We can’t wait to see everyone in their World Ocean Day costumes. 

We look forward to having a fun time as well as a chance to learn more about our waterways and what we can all do to help look after them. All money raised will go to the Dolphin Research Institute. 

Nude Food

Nude Food is back at CEPS. There is a lot of rubbish in the bins, so we need to reduce the amount of waste around the school.  Please try to put your food in containers or bring a bento-style lunchbox. We are also asking students to take packaging home in their lunch boxes. Current exemptions from the nude food challenge include juice boxes, yoghurt tubs/pouches, fruit cups, and le snacks (or similar).  

The golden apple will be awarded to the year level with the highest percentage of nude food lunchboxes each week, and those students will be rewarded with an additional 15min of play time after lunch on Fridays. 

A huge shout out to Mrs Spain for reintroducing Nude Food, and her husband Craig for cre 

Have a great weekend,

Robert Ridgway