Principal's News
Our School Vision
“Cheltenham East students are empowered learners who are flexible thinkers with the skills and knowledge to respond critically and creatively to their world.”
Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, the Bunurong People and pay our respects to the elders past, present and emerging of the Kulin nation and extend that respect to other indigenous Australians present.
It’s been an extremely busy week with NAPLAN being conducted, Cross Country on Friday for Years 3-6 children, Foundation Tours, Foundation barbecue on Saturday and the working bee on Sunday. Well done to our Year 3 and 5 teachers for successfully supervising our students during the NAPLAN fortnight. It was a lot of hard work but the teachers and children got through it!
Pupil Free Day Monday May 30th
For Term 2, 2022, the Department of Education and Training has provided schools with the option to hold each teacher’s allocated Professional Practice Day on the same day for all staff. This is to enable the most effective and efficient use of this day.
As a result, we have scheduled our school’s Professional Practice Day for Monday May 30th. Students will therefore not be required to attend school on this day.
This is in addition to June 22nd which is an advertised Curriculum Day, when students do not attend school, but will attend 10min Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences. Sign-up times will become available later in the term.
NAPLAN Testing
The National Assessment of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was conducted with all Year 3 & 5 students this week. Most of these tests were in electronic form and completed on computers apart from the Year 3 writing test. The children did well to maintain focus and get through the tests. These assessments provide a snapshot of where each students’ learning is currently placed and this information, combined with the comprehensive teacher assessments conducted all year, assist in identifying student academic achievement as well as learning needs for the future.
Foundation BBQ
The Foundation BBQ morning was a great success despite the inclement weather with many families turning up on the day and exploring the school and finding out about the programs we run. Mr Bourke and myself ran school tours and answered questions from families.
Thankyou to the Foundation team for putting the program together and opening up their classrooms on the day. Thankyou also to the Parents Committee for cooking the BBQ. Those sausages tasted delicious. Thankyou also goes to Mrs Gabron-Uhe, Mrs Digby and Mrs Robinson for helping out on the morning.
Enrolments for 2023
If you have a child commencing at school in Foundation (Prep) for 2023, please call by the office and collect an enrolment pack, and leave your details including email address and child’s name etc, so we can keep you updated.
If you know of neighbours with Foundation 2023 students who may wish to enrol, or organise a tour, please let them know.
GROUP TOURS
Monday 23rd May - AVAILABLE
Places are filling fast so spread the word. Enrolments are open and we ask that siblings coming to Cheltenham East Primary in 2023 please enrol now.
Federal Election on 21st May 2022
As most of you know our school hall is being used as a polling station for the elections on Saturday and we are running a BBQ to cater for the hungry voters. All slots are filled and hopefully the weather is good so we can raise much needed funds particularly for the installation of new soccer goals on the oval. A huge thankyou to Tracey Nathan and the committee for their hard work in getting fundraising efforts off the ground this year.
Working Bee
Thankyou to the amazing families who turned up and supported the working Bee on Sunday. Luckily we were greeted by some sunshine and could tackle the jobs without weather interruptions. We completed a lot of jobs including painting of the art room portable, weeding garden beds, cleaning up the front entrance way gardens and planting new plants, cleaning the bike path area, trimming and cleaning the garden area around the after care room, cleaning up the indigenous garden and pulling apart old seating, raking up leaves and debris around the eating area and using the gerni to clean the BER entry way.
Thankyou to the following families:
Johnston, Hardiman, Robinson, Stephenson, Appleby-Clarke, Allett, Le, Davies, Roche, Francis, Peters, Ng, Van Der Nol, Polmans and Yip.
Apologies if I have missed anyone.
Cross Country
Thankyou to Mrs Robinson for organising and running a successful cross country last Friday. It all went very smoothly and the children enjoyed themselves. Thankyou also to the volunteers who gave up their time and helped on the day. The leading runners will represent our school at the District Cross Country.
Students Attitude to School Survey
Each year, the DET issues an Attitude to School Survey to all Years 4, 5 & 6 students. These surveys are designed to identify the positive aspects of school life for students, as well as identifying if there are areas to be considered for improvement. Student Engagement and Well-being are at the forefront of our students’ success at school so the feedback provided will lead to positive outcomes for the children. Students in Grade 4, 5 and 6 will complete these surveys next week and we look forward to receiving the results later in the year.
School Parking Warning
A reminder to all Parents who are dropping off and picking up at the 2 minute zones in Coolac St and Silver St. There will be Council parking officers around who will give you an infringement notice if you stay longer than the time indicated on the sign. The 2 minute zones are designed to be a kiss and go spot, not a permanent parking area. If you are parking for longer than 2 minutes, please find an alternative park to avoid a costly fine.
Please also make sure you are not parked over someone’s driveway or too close to corners as it obstructs views and can be dangerous.
Road Safety
Please use the supervised crossing at all times when arriving and leaving the school grounds. This is for the safety of all our students, parents and the greater community. We have had near misses reported to the school, where bike riders and walkers are not crossing at the supervised crossing and have been nearly struck by a car. If you are crossing a road to and from school, you should be walking your bike across the supervised crossing and always wearing your helmet. We want all our students to arrive and leave school in a safe manner. Can you please talk to your children regarding the safety of riding and walking across roads and general road safety.
COVID Update
RATs will continue to be distributed to you as they have been throughout this school year for the remainder of this term.
However, from Monday 23 May 2022, students will no longer be recommended to undertake either twice weekly RATs in mainstream schools or 5 days a week in specialist schools.
RATs however will continue to be required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7 day period) or who have symptoms.
The ongoing supply of RATs to families in our school will ensure that parents and carers will have them should they need them if their child is a household contact or has symptoms.
Families must continue to notify the Department of Health and the school if their child returns a positive RAT result. Additionally, you should inform us if any of your children are household contacts.
Thank you also to all families who has got their child vaccinated. Vaccination continues to remain the best way to protect students and staff in our school.
Getting vaccinated is easy and bookings can be done via the coronavirus website. If you have any questions about the vaccines, I encourage you to speak to your GP or a health practitioner.
School Values
The children will continue working closely together through the coming winter months. This is a great time to reinforce our school values of RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, COURTESY and CO-OPERATION with all children. Filling someone’s bucket of kindness should be a priority for all children and adults. Helping others is to be encouraged by everyone and can be done in a variety of ways. It is great to see our Year 6 children looking after the younger children out in the yard.
Volunteer Gardeners
Some of our year 6 students volunteered to help out in the garden this week which Mr Jon appreciated!
Thought For the Week
Principal
Wayne Bach