Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024.

We have had a very smooth start to our school year - a few tears, but mostly refreshed students who have been busy re-engaging with friends and building positive routines within their new classrooms.

A very special welcome to all our new students and families, we are excited to have you as a part of our wonderful school community.

Community Night

Thank you to all parents and staff who made the effort to attend our Movie Night Picnic. It was wonderful to see families mingling and our students enjoying the movie while running back and forth to the playground. I don't know about you, but these are the sort of nights that remained in my memories of primary school as I grew up. With lives becoming ever so increasingly busy, it is important that we take time out as a community to catch up and share a meal together.

The community picnic will be an annual event that will alternate between a movie and a band each year.

Sun-Smart and Medical Update

Just a reminder to all parents that students are required to have their hat at school each day. Please ensure that your child’s hat is clearly named to prevent it from going missing.

With the weather heating up and high-level UV, we encourage parents to support their child in applying sunscreen before arriving at school. Sunscreen is also available within learning areas.

A reminder to parents if your child has a medical condition (Asthma, Anaphylaxis, Diabetes etc.) that their management plan is updated and endorsed by a GP and promptly returned to the school front office.

Annual Privacy Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

This information is also available in nine community languages:

Mobile Phones and Wearable Devices Policy

A reminder to families regarding student devices in schools, including mobile phones and smart watches. As outlined in our policy, which is now on our school’s website, this policy has been developed in response to the Ministerial Order banning the use of mobile devices in Victorian schools. This was implemented to provide safe environments for students during school hours. In accordance with this Order, personal mobile phones and wearable digital devices are required to be stored at the administration office. This includes smart watches that are on school mode. Students are required to turn off and hand their mobile device in in the morning before school and collect at the end of the school day unless an exemption has been granted for a serious medical issue.

If a parent or a student has important and urgent information to transmit it will be done through the office. (Please make sure the office has your current contact details).

For future reference, this will be available in the Policy and Procedure tab in the newsletters.

Traffic Management Procedure

Drop of and Pick Up at Epsom

Traffic Management is important at Epsom as it's an extrememly busy road and we want our whole community to feel safe during this time. We need you to please familarise yourselves and anyone else dropping off or picking up your children with our Traffic Management Procedures so you can assist in creating a safe environment.

Some points to remember:

All students MUST be dropped off at the very end of the drive through and utilise the pedestrian path along the fence. All children are to walk to the end of the path towards the single gate at the end of the basketball court. Children being dropped off in the drive through are not to walk through the double gates or the entrance of the school.
U- Turns are not permitted, this is extrememly dangerous and there have been near misses.
Our staff carpark is only for the staff at Epsom Primary School.

For future reference, this will be available in the Policy and Procedure tab in the newsletters.

School Council Elections

School Council elections will take place this term and I encourage parents to read the information below and consider expressing interest for School Council membership in 2024. We have an active and engaged School Council and welcome new members.

For existing members of School Council, if you are at the conclusion of your term of office and are keen to continue on School Council you are still required to self-nominate and complete a nomination form which are available at the front office.

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with their constituting Order and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a School Council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the School Council?

For most primary School Councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

A mandated elected Parent member category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. DET employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school
A mandated elected DET employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of School Council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members
An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the Council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual School Council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help inform and shape the direction of the school.

Parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of Conduct for School Councillors

School Councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004. School councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct – Employees issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

act with honesty and integrity (be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty)
act in good faith in the best interests of the school (work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds)
act fairly and impartially (consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self-interest)
use information appropriately (respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available)
exercise due care, diligence and skill (accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school)
use the position appropriately (not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage)
act in a financially responsible manner (observe all the above principles when making financial decisions)
comply with relevant legislation and policies (know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law)
demonstrate leadership and stewardship (set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable).

Indemnity for School Council members

School councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the Council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the councillor in good faith in:

the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a councillor, or
the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Council.

In other words, School Councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by Council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the School Council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider: standing for election as a member of the School Council or encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

I will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All School Council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual timeline has been varied by the Minister. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent member category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the School Council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, please return it to me via the office, within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt by hand following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on Council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Information regarding our elections will be sent out in a separate post in the next few weeks.

I appreciate your ongoing support. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions. My door is always open, and I am here to support you in any way I can.

Kind regards,

Julie Ladd

Principal

Parent Community Group

Watch this space.