Principal's News

School Works

I am writing to confirm that Cheltenham East Primary School will receive $50,000.00 under the Schools Upgrade Fund – Targeted Round for the 2023 school year.  The Schools Upgrade Fund provides funding to improve and upgrade school facilities, to help keep students safe and get their education back on track after the COVID-19 disruptions of the last couple of years. 

Our allocated funding is required to be used on the remaining section of the Eating Area project.  The funding is further required to be spent, or committed to be spent, by 31 December 2023.

Toilet Upgrade

Works on the toilet upgrade commence Wed 21st Dec. Please do not come onsite during this time. 

You will notice that temporary toilets will be positioned for students to use during the school operation times in 2023.  The location of these toilets will be in front of the Aftercare building.  Students will receive education around the change of location whilst the work on our current facility is being carried out.

We are very excited to have this upgrade for our school and look forward to more improvement announcements in the coming months.

Year 6 Graduation 

Thursday 15th December we celebrated the Year 6 Graduation.  The students shared a wonderful school graduation ceremony followed by celebrations arranged by the Year 6 parents.  We wish all our graduating students a restful break and a smooth enjoyable transition to their secondary schools.  We hope that they will take with them, the Cheltenham East Primary School values of being courteous, responsible, co-operative and respectful as they embark on the next phase of their schooling.  It has been our privilege to share in your growing journey.

Volunteers thank you

A lovely morning tea was held for all the volunteers who help our programs run.  Many children, aides and teachers were involved with making scones to be served with jam and cream on the morning of Thu 15th Dec. We appreciate everyone’s efforts to pitch in and pay homage to the adage that it takes a village to raise a child.  Our school crossing supervisors, parent readers, library helpers, bike ed assistants, staffroom cooks, parents association, disco groovers, bbq sizzlers and school councillors, all band together to support the school in many ways.  Thank you one and all. 

Reports Released 

The end of Semester 2 reports were released on Sentral last Thursday 15th December. Year 6 parents and any other families leaving CEPS, will need to download any reports that they would like to keep by Wednesday 21st December, as their Sentral accounts will close following this. 

Leavers

I would like to acknowledge and thank the families who are leaving Cheltenham East Primary School at the end of this year. There are many families who have been with us throughout their children’s schooling from Foundation to Year 6, some who have had a number of children attending who have been with us in excess of 10 years. Thank you to the involvement and support of the following families: 

Student Numbers and Class Sizes 

Our student numbers have decreased over the past few years, with a few families moving interstate following the COVID lockdowns in Victoria and other families moving away to other areas within Victoria.  With reduced student numbers comes a drop in the allocated budget.  After weighing our options up in regard to year group structures next year we have decided on the following: 

Acting Principal -  Mr Robert Ridgeway 

Assistant Principal - Mrs Leisel Ward 

Leading Teacher - Mr Josh Bourke 

Business Manager - Mrs Sue Chase 

Administration Support - Mrs Belinda Ricardo (Mon-Wed) 

Administration Support  - Ms Tara Shimmin (Mon, Thurs-Fri)

Foundation 0A - Mrs Amy Gridley (Mon-Wed) Mrs Renee King (Thurs-Fri) 

Foundation 0B - Ms Katherine Burton

Foundation 0C - Miss Darcie Bull 

Grade 1A - Mrs Samantha Waugh 

Grade 1B - Miss Madeleine Morrow 

Grade 2A - Mrs Amanda Price (Mon*, Thurs-Fri) Mrs Sonia Gabron Uhe (Mon*-Wed) 

Grade 2B - Mrs Kate Burman 

Grade 2C - Ms Lauren Stygall 

Grade 34A - Mrs Julie Beaton (Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri) Mrs Libby McConchie (Thurs) 

Grade 34B - Mr Jason Crebbin and Mrs Robyn Apostolopoulos 

Grade 34C - Ms Rebecca Crawford 

Grade 34D - Ms Stacey Savva 

Grade 34E - Ms Sarah Lazzaro 

Grade 5A - Mr Patrick Hughes 

Grade 5B - Ms Emma Harper 

Grade 6A - Mr Tom Packham 

Grade 6B - Ms Tegan Boucher 

Grade 6C - Mrs Yvonne Kerr 

Integration - Mr Paul Birnsthil, Mrs Debbie Butler, Ms Loretta Conheady, Ms Natasha Davy, Mrs Lisa Nicholson , Mrs Divya Rai, Ms Jen Hartley, Ms Nicole Hawkless, Ms Zehra Erczmann 

LOTE - Ms Stella Mondy

Music - Mrs Susan Digby 

Phys Ed - Mrs Rebecca Robinson  

Art/Literacy Intervention - Ms Suzanne Reid

Literacy Intervention - Mrs Deborah Douglas, Mrs Kerry Emmanouil, Ms Samantha Collins 

Tutor - TBC 

Maintenance - Mr Jonathan Cartwright

Farewell

It is with excitement and some sadness that 4 of our staff will not return to CEPS in 2023. We wish them much success and happiness in their new endeavours.  Of particular note, I wish to congratulate Kerrie Presnell for the last 22 years she has dedicated to education and the Cheltenham East community.  We will definitely miss your sunny smile Kerrie, and your wealth of knowledge.  Our best wishes are also extended to Lauren Doutch, Mairead Judge and Morgan Humphris as they move onto exciting times.

Final Days…. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as the Acting Principal of Cheltenham East Primary School this term. I would like to thank all the staff for their dedication, care, professionalism and for always striving for the best for our students.  I would like to thank Josh Bourke for his excellent work and support as Acting Assistant Principal.  Also my thanks is extended to Sue, Belinda and Tara in the office, who keep our school running through thick and thin.  They are incredible – thank you. 

A reminder that Tuesday 20th December will be the final day of term for the students.  The students will be dismissed at 1.30pm.  The 2023 school year starts for students on Monday 30th January, with Foundation students commencing Tuesday 31st January.

I thank the community for all your support this year and wish you all a happy and healthy holiday time. 

Leisel Ward 

Acting Principal 

19/12/2022

Dear Cheltenham East Primary Families,            

As we continue to refine and enhance the programs and opportunities we provide for our students and families, we have just concluded conducting a thorough Tender process to review the Outside of School Hours Care Program at our school. 

As a result of this process we are pleased to announce that School Council have made the decision to appoint TeamKids as our new OSHC provider to now provide Before, After and Vacation Care at our school. 

TeamKids will be commencing with the Before and After Care Service when students return on Monday 30th January. Their Vacation Care program at our school will start in Autumn on Tuesday 11th April, 2023.

We are confident that the partnership that we now have with TeamKids will benefit all students and families at our school.

Service, Parent Fees & Times

Please note, through discussions with School Council, TeamKids will be offering lower parent fees for Before and After Care and providing a holiday program (Vacation Care) at our school over each school holiday period. They will also offer Curriculum Day care for every pupil-free day held throughout the year.

^These fees will be significantly reduced when the family’s eligibility for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is applied to the total cost of the day. Families will only be charged the “Gap” after their CCS is applied. Individual family circumstances will affect the CCS rebate. Further information can be found at www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/child-care-subsidy.

ABOUT TEAMKIDS

TeamKids are proud to be independently owned and run by teachers. 

Unique to the industry, TeamKids will employ a qualified full-time co-ordinator, known as a Director of Service, at our school. 

The Director of Service has two overarching responsibilities, and that is to: 

1. Implement age-appropriate experiences that are engaging and fun, but also create learning environments that are warm, unique and stimulating, a place where children don’t have to go, they want to go. 
2. Ensure consistency of staff, provide an exemplary level of communication with the children and parents and build a strong, genuine relationship with the school and the broader community. 

In addition to this, TeamKids have set a new standard in the OSHC space in their offerings that:

• Build parental and student confidence through the quality of outstanding programs and communication.

• Create child–led programs that enrich and extend the children in meaningful ways as their TeamKids Clubs. 
• Establish long-lasting relationships with our school by having complete community engagement, enhancing what already makes our school special.
• Provide industry-leading educator-to-student ratios of 1:10.

Further information will be supplied in the coming weeks with information events to be announced and family handbooks supplied to all members of the community.

All families will need to register for free with TeamKids. 

If you have not used TeamKids before then you will need to register your child and add your bookings. 

Please go to the website www.teamkids.com.au and select the program and follow the enrolment instructions.

If you have used TeamKids before, please contact their Customer Service Team and they will link your account. You will then just need to add your desired bookings. 

TeamKids’ local Customer Service team is always there to help. Please contact their Customer Service team via email info@teamkids.com.au or phone 1300 035 000, press #1 if you have any questions.