Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope that you and your family have adjusted back into the routines of term after the holidays.  It was a welcome break in a busy week last Thursday and Friday to accompany the Year 3 students and teachers and parent helpers on their camp. A special ‘thank you’ to Mrs Hopper for organising the camp and to our parent helpers who were invaluable. It was a new camp facility for EEPS, one that we were very happy with.

Assembly

It was fantastic to have some Year 1 and 2 students speak at assembly this week. Certificates were also presented to a group of Year 4 students for their participation and efforts in the additional Maths challenges over the last two terms. Thank you to Mrs Egan for coordinating this opportunity.

Five-Point Plan

Last term the Department of Education released their new Teaching and Learning Model. This has come from the new Victorian Curriculum and the new Framework for Improving Student Learning Outcomes (FISO). All of these linked initiatives are tagged ‘2.0’! 

The key parts of the new VTLM, Victorian Teaching and Learning Model, come under two categories:

Elements of learning - Attention, focus and regulation, Knowledge and memory, Retention and recall, and Mastery and application

Elements of teaching - Planning, Enabling learning, Explicit teaching and Supported application

This model provides a ‘guide’ for schools to integrate into their existing Instructional Models, processes and cultures. 

As important as the new model is, there are other integral components that make a school a success. At last term’s Curriculum Day after the concert, I presented the EEPS Five-point plan to staff. As a brief summary here are the 5 components:

1. Mindset - what is our collective mindset on teaching and what philosophical approach and view of the child do we have?

2. Values - what is our shared value Framework for our community?

3. Vibe - how do children ‘feel’ in the classroom and what are the dynamics?

4. Planning - is the teacher planning consistent and aligned to best, evidence-based practice?

5. Delivery - on the ‘floor’ of the classroom how is the lesson conducted

These 5 aspects, when combined will lead to even deeper learning and student improvement. At EEPS we have already done some very strong work in all areas, but we will systematically target these different aspects as part of our new School Strategic Plan.

We have had two highly engaging and informative professional learning sessions already this term around structured literacy, preparing for some fantastic refinements for next year. These sessions have been expertly presented by our senior staff, led by Mrs Egan, Assistant Principal.

Next Monday, two of our senior staff will travel away from our area to visit another school, to further learn about innovative approaches with teaching literacy.

Emergency Management

I have previously referred to the annually updated Emergency Management Plan. This Thursday we will we conduct a practice onsite evacuation to the oval. This may be of need in a real emergency if one or more buildings were inaccessible or as an assembly point for an offsite evacuation. We always learn something from each drill and I think tomorrow will be no different.

Just a reminder that we have a special event this Friday, 18th October - Japanese Day. Parents and carers are warmly welcome to attend our whole school assembly in the Hall, first thing in the morning. If you haven’t had a chance to provide permission and payment for your child to participate if you could do this today, that would be appreciated by the teachers and office staff.

Have a great week and ‘Learning and Growing Together’.