Dear Parents,

Echuca East Primary School is concerned about the safety and well-being of all our students. Many of you will know someone who is affected by anaphylaxis, a life threatening allergic reaction. Our school does its best to be an allergy aware school. Staff have had training in severe allergy management and we have implemented lots of strategies to help keep students at risk of anaphylaxis as safe as we can. We now have 6 students and 2 staff members who live with the risk of anaphylaxis to foods and insect stings.

We ask that you please consider the children with food allergies when packing your child’s lunch or when sending in food for any occasion, including school excursions. Peanuts and Tree nuts are a major concern for 3 of our students who are affected by anaphylaxis.

Foods that “May contain” traces of Peanuts or Tree Nuts are fine for the non-allergic students to consume at school as long as they do not share food.

Whilst these children are being taught to care for themselves at an age appropriate level, we ask that you help us educate your child on the importance of not sharing food with others, washing hands after eating and calling out to an adult if they think their friend with allergies is sick. With increased awareness and understanding of anaphylaxis, you will be able to help protect those around you.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Student use of mobile phones at school policy

From Term 1, 2020 there is a new mobile phone policy for all government schools. The policy means phones brought to school must be switched off and stored securely during the school day. (Delivered to the office at Echuca East)

The aim of this policy is to provide:

a safe environment to learn without inappropriate mobile phone use (including cyberbullying) or distractions
greater opportunities for social interaction and physical activity during recess and lunchtimes.

The use of technology is important, but the risks and benefits from its use need to be managed, refer to our summary of research articles.

2023 iPad Program

Our iPad program has been revamped this year after changes to DET policy meant we were no longer able to “on sell” to our families and therefore offer payment plan options. All students from grades 1 to 6 will be assigned a school iPad that will stay with the student for three years, at which time the device will be replaced. They are only for school use and will stay at school permanently.

All student owned iPads have now been removed from school management. You should now be able to reset these devices to factory settings (instructions here). If you are unable to do this, you can bring to school for help.

Child Safe Standard 3 : Code of Conduct

Our Child Safety Code of Conduct has been updated in accordance with the new Child Safety Standards introduced July 1, 2022. This should be done in consultation with students, parents and staff before School Council endorsement. You can view the updated Code of Conduct here.

2023 TERM DATES

	Start date	Finish date
Term 1	31 January	6 April
Term 2	24 April	23 June
Term 3	10 July	15 September
Term 4	2 October	20 December

DATES TO REMEMBER

Our calendar can also be viewed in Sentral under the Calendar tile and for more information on what is happening you press the dates that are circled.

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088879415793&mibextid=LQQJ4d

SCHOOL HOURS

ARRIVAL

Doors open at 8:30 am and students go directly to their classrooms.

All students will have hands sanitised as they arrive.

Keep up the great work of getting to school on time. Parents, remember this is your responsibility!

DISMISSAL

All students will be dismissed at 3.15pm, please remember that the back of the oval is currently a construction site so please park in another place and make use of crossings situated in Sutton and Eyre Street.

When parking in residential streets please be mindful of residential driveways we have had a few residents contact us to advise that their driveway/vision have been cut off making it dangerous for them to leave and enter their property.

CONTACT US

21-31 Eyre St, Echuca VIC 3564

Ph (03) 5482 2588

Email echuca.east.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Website https://echucaeastps.vic.edu.au/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EchucaEastPrimarySchool

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Echuca East would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the people whose land we learn and journey on.

We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

CHILD SAFE

Echuca East Primary School is committed to Child safety. The safety and well-being of our students is a primary concern.

We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers. We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all

allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures. To ensure the safety and best interests of all students, we take into account the needs of those with an Aboriginal or Torres strait Islander heritage and those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds.

UNIFORMS

Please be reminded that uniform is compulsory at school. If you need support to get your child back into uniform, please contact the office and we will assist you. On the odd occasion your child is out of uniform, please provide a note.

COMMUNITY NEWS