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
Some of our Year 3/4 students will be doing an acknowledgement to Country each Monday morning at 9am over the loud speaker. This week it was Dylan & Izaac from 34B
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which we are gathered and pay our respects to the elders past, present and emerging of the Bunurong people and extend that respect to other indigenous Australians in the community.
HER ROYAL MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
Due to the passing of our Queen overnight, the flags today will fly at half-mast in honor of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
End of Term Dismissal
The last day of this term is on Friday 16th September. A special assembly will take place on the stage area at 2.00pm and the children will be dismissed at 2:30pm on this day. I ask parents to ensure they have arrangements in place for their children to be collected at this time.
Dance Sport
Our Year 5 students will participate in the final week of The My Best Self program next week. It is an experiential wellbeing program targeted at senior primary students which explicitly builds connection and teaches emotional literacy and self-management skills through partner dancing. Throughout the program, students learn to build and maintain respectful relationships and advocate for their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing. Students explore and put into practice emotions, skills and behaviours such as empathy, consent, courage, resilience, communication, connection, team building and goal setting, and reflect on how these affect their decisions, behaviours and relationships. Students develop an understanding of what a respectful relationship looks like and how it feels in person as they engage in partner/ballroom dancing.
The program builds towards a culminating gala which will be held this Thursday night at St Louis PS. This event promotes teamwork and draws the entire school community together in a joyful cultural experience. Good luck to all of our Year 5s.
Parents Committee Funds
The Parent Committee has been working extremely hard on raising funds for the school. Our student leaders have ordered new games to use during wet day timetables and “Chill Out Wednesday” lunchtimes. We are looking at replacing the cricket pitch surface with new matting and a new electronic sign which would be located near the walk in entry of the school on Silver St. Our current cricket pitch surface is worn and has lost much of its colour and desperately needs upgrading. Our old sign is looking worn out and desperately needs an upgrade. A new electronic sign will lift the look of the school and give much needed information to the community. In the long term we are also looking at directing funds towards upgrading the junior playground equipment as well.
Father’s Day
I hope all of our Fathers had a fantastic day last Sunday, I know I was spoiled by my three sons, I have enough liquorice to last me until the end of the year! Thank you to the parents from the Parent Committee who helped plan and execute the Father’s Day stall last Friday. The work that goes into the day is enormous and we all congratulate you on a job well done.
R U OK? DAY SEPTEMBER 8th
R U OK? Day was held on Thursday September the 8th. This was an opportunity to reflect and focus on our own wellbeing and check in with other people. Taking care of your own wellbeing and checking in with friends and family is always an important thing to do for your quality of life. Looking after yourself means you can be at your best for others. R U OK? Day is an opportunity to check in with family, friends and colleagues and share a range of mental health and wellbeing supports available.
Working Bee
There will be a working bee at the school this Sunday, September 11th from 10am to 2pm. This is an opportunity to get important jobs completed. There is a lot of work around the school to do and the more families we have in attendance the more jobs we can tick off. There is a flyer out on Dojo for people to sign up and contribute.
Excellent NAPLAN Results
This week the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results have come out for all schools. All Year 3 and 5 students sat the tests in Term 2 for Reading, Grammar and Punctuation, Writing, Numeracy and Spelling. The results will be used to plan future programs around the strengths and weaknesses of the students. Our school has performed well above expectation in the testing and have come out well in front of the State, our network and similar schools. This is a huge credit to all of our hard working staff at CEPS as well as our amazing students in Years 3 and 5. All Year 3 and 5 parents will receive individual results for their children.
Lockdown Drill
We had a lockdown drill earlier in the week to practise what to do in case of an emergency situation happening outside. This could take the form of any issue happening outside including a dangerous dog running around the grounds, fire happening on the boundary of the school, gas leaks etc. We also hold an evacuation drill to practice getting out of the buildings safely and in a quick manner. The teachers did an excellent job of following the procedures and ensuring the safety of the children.
Cut down on Litter
We actively encourage our students to avoid bringing packets and plastic wrappers (Nude Food) to school. It cuts down on litter and is much better for the environment. A named container is perfect.
Attendance/Punctuality
“It’s not okay to be away!” Every minute counts! When students stay away from school their learning and friendships are affected. When children arrive late, they interrupt the learning of other students as well as valuable teaching time. We really look forward to the support of our families in ensuring our students absolutely maximise their educational possibilities by being here ON TIME, EVERY TIME. All late arrivals and early departures to and from school are documented, including the reasons given. Please inform the school with a reasonable excuse, on all the occasions this occurs.
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.
Child Safe
Child Safe is all about preventing child abuse and keeping our children as safe as we possibly can. Child safety is everybody’s responsibility and previous newsletters have presented what Child Safe means in a school setting and what we are working on as a school and as a community. I have included what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for all community representatives benefit. There will continue to be more information around the Child Safe standards and practices to keep the community informed.
Thought For the Week
Principal
Wayne Bach