Welcome Back

Welcome back to the new school year. I hope that this year, compared to the past two, will provide many opportunities for children and families to join together in a wide range of learning and fun experiences. As I walked around the school over the past week, I have been very pleased to see the children settled, happy and working together so well.

In the two weeks before returning to school it was fantastic to see so many children accessing the Outside School Hours Care Vacation Program again. The children were having so much fun with their activities. A big thanks to Paul Davis and his staff for once again running an outstanding holiday experience for the children.

This year we welcome five new staff members to our great Essex Heights team: Emily O’Mahony (Prep O), Nicoletta Hadzidimitriou (1H), Emily Hine (1W), Carolyn Easdale (4E), Olivia Rose (5R). and Simon Liao (Tutor Initiative and Learning Support). The school is so fortunate to have such high calibre staff joining our school. We wish them well in their time with us and look forward to their contribution to the children and EHPS. Welcome too to Deakin University Pre Service Teaching students Alison M (3L), Amber H (PLZ), and Alicia B (6T) who are with us this term.

Several new children and their families have also joined our community this year. We hope that their time with us will be enjoyable, productive, and worthwhile. If you see new faces at drop off and pick up times, then please make sure that we live up to the Essex Heights value of ‘Friendliness’ and make them feel welcome and part of our great community.

A Special Visit

Yesterday, the Federal Shadow Minister for Education, Tanya Plibersek, visited our school to see how the children are coping within a post COVID19 environment. She was accompanied by Carina Garland, the Labor Candidate for Chisholm, in the next Federal Election. Our visitors were greeted by our School Captains (Keira, Ethan, Evelyn and Partha), who then answered many questions about our school and assisted in guiding our

guests around the different buildings. The visiting party were very impressed by our school, our programs, and most of all by all the students at Essex Heights. I would like to especially thank our School Captains for being great ambassadors for the school and their fellow students. We look forward to another visit from the Shadow Minister in the near future.

Communication

Good communication between home and school is very important so that we all know what is happening in our community and at school. It will also ensure that students benefit the most from all opportunities offered at EHPS. In addition, in these volatile times, accurate and current information regarding school procedures and COVID19 updates are essential. All EHPS families are reminded that we will communicate with you using:

Compass; and
Contact, our school newsletter.

All families have been provided with their own unique login to access Compass. If your Compass access is no longer working, please contact Jo in our School Office to reset your password.

Compass will be the main avenue for communication between home and school. All important messages for parents and carers will be sent through our Compass News Feeds. It is essential that you check Compass regularly for information from school. When you receive a notification requiring your response, please ensure that you action this not later than the specified due date. If you access Compass on a smart device, ensure that you have turned your notifications on so you receive an alert when information is published.

I'd also like to let you know about an update that we hope will be useful to our school families in their use of Compass. You will now find all the resources that you need to access in School Documentation under the Community menu. These include the current copy of the EHPS Information Guide (provided when a student commences at EHPS, and updated as required; all families are encouraged to use this document first when seeking information); and information about uniform, canteen, health matters including the Medication Authority form, CSEF, and much more. We hope that you find this a useful resource.

As advised on Compass, we are also excited to announce that we are changing the delivery of our school newsletter, Contact. It will now be published fortnightly on Friday and distributed via Compass. Each issue will be published as an iNewsletter, created alternately by staff and students. While we encourage you to read each issue of Contact so that you keep up to date with school information, one of the advantages of the iNewsletter format is that you can quickly navigate to information about a particular year level, activity, or other information from the cover page that provides an index for the newsletter. As we transition to this new format and presentation, feedback from the school community would be welcome.

Parent-School Partnership

An effective partnership with families is a very important ingredient to enable all children to reach their highest potential. To be successful at school, our children need support from both home and school.

I encourage all families to support the school and assist your child's learning by ensuring that they:

Attend school every day and arrive on time, ready for the day's learning.
Complete all homework activities given by teachers.
Read daily to develop a love for reading and to improve literacy skills.
Shares school experiences, "what went well today", with you so that you are aware of the many good things in their school life.

Parent Teacher Discussions

We are conducting Parent Teacher Discussions from Monday 14 to Friday 18 February as a first and important step for classroom teachers to get to know your child, and an opportunity for families to share their knowledge of their child with the teacher. I strongly encourage all families to take this opportunity to meet your child's classroom teacher.

Due to the current COVIDSafe guidelines, all meetings will occur online. You will receive more information, including how to book on Compass, early next week.

School Arrival and Departure

I would like to thank all families for following our COVIDSafe arrival and dismissal procedures. Please remember that children must not be at school prior to 8.30am. Staff

commence yard duty at 8.45am, and there is no supervision of students prior to this time. Please book in to Before School Care if arrival prior to 8.30am is necessary; you must be enrolled in the OSHC program to access Before School Care, and bookings made using the Xplor Home app.

Messages During the School Day

If there are changed plans for the end of the school day, or pick up arrangements for your children, please advise the school as soon as you know about it. Our Office staff will always pass on messages to students, however this requires time and lack of interruptions. Please ensure that messages are communicated by phoning the Office.

It is also important to remember not to email a teacher at the last minute because they are engaged with their class and we cannot guarantee that the message will be seen in time.

Ideally, all arrangements are to be made and communicated clearly to your child before the start of the school day. Our Office staff do not have the time to pass on reminders to your child.

If your child requires a reminder about ongoing or temporary arrangements, have a clear conversation with them the night before, and a reminder in the morning before school; if necessary, you can advise your child's teacher by emailing them the day before using the link provided in Compass.

In summary:

If a message applies to the current school day, you ring the School Office on 9807 4944 as early as possible in the day to ensure there is time to pass the message on.
PLEASE NOTE:
- do not email, and
- on Monday from 2.30pm the whole school will usually be at Assembly and messages cannot be passed on before the end of the school day.
If the message/change is known in advance, i.e. at least the day before:
- Enter an attendance note on Compass, selecting the appropriate category, and
- Email your child's teacher using the link in Compass to advise of the early departure and time of collection.
- On arrival at the school, wait at the front gate in Essex Road, ring the School Office, and your child will be signed out and sent to meet you.

SunSmart - Hats in Term 1

In accordance with our SunSmart policy, I remind all of you that all children are required to wear a SunSmart compliant hat whenever they are outdoors during Term 1. Hats must be in the school uniform bottle green, in legionnaire, wide brimmed or bucket hat style for maximum protection. Ensure your child has their hat with them everyday. Alternatively, students may leave their hat at school so that it is always available. Please also ensure that your child's hat is clearly labelled with their first and last name (preferably), or a least their first name and first letter of their surname, to ensure it can be returned promptly if misplaced. On particularly hot days, we also suggest that students seek shade and drink plenty of water. You will find a SunSmart widget at the bottom of the school website home page which will give you an indication of the UV rating for that day.

Student Illness and Accidents

At this time early in the school year, parents are reminded about the necessity to keep us up to date with contact details (in particular phone numbers and the contact details for the emergency contacts for your family). If your child is ill at school, or suffers an accident, then staff will give immediate care and appropriate first aid. In extreme cases, we may also deem it necessary to call an ambulance before consulting parents, and you need to be aware of this. When it is necessary to contact parents, it is frustrating and delays

conveying information about your child in a timely manner if our contact details are out-of-date. You will soon receive an email with a copy of the information held by the school in your child's record. Please check all the details, and provide all updated information to the School Office so your child's record is up to date. Should there be any changes (contact details, family circumstances e.g. family separation, medical issues) during the school year, please use the school email to inform us in writing of the changed details.

Parents/guardians should also be aware that they are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any ambulance transport costs. Most medical costs will be refundable by Medicare. If you are a member of an ambulance or health insurance fund, you may also be able to claim transport or other expenses from the fund. The Department of Education & Training (DET) does not hold accident insurance for school students.

Is other insurance available? Yes.

There are commercial providers of insurance for students and they can be found online or through your insurance broker.

Students, Parents & Staff Personal Property

Students, staff and visitors often bring personal property to school. This can include mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment, and cars parked on school premises.

Please note that the Department of Education and Training does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it will generally not pay for any loss or damage to such property.

School Photos

School photos will be taken on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 March by The School

Photographer. Watch out for further details soon, including how to place your online order.

Happy Year of the Tiger

Last Tuesday, 1 February, was the most important day in the Chinese calendar with the start of the Lunar New Year, and the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. Happy Lunar New Year to all those in our community celebrating.

It's been a great start to the 2022 school year. I look forward to seeing your children around the school and engaged in their learning.

George Perini

Principal

Happy Birthday