Parent & Carers Information

Book Week - Book Stall

Celebrate Book Week - Thursday 24 August

Dress Up Day - Dress as your favourite book character and make a gold coin donation.
Book stall at lunchtime - books will be available in the Canteen courtyard for students and staff to purchase with a gold coin donation.

All funds raised will go to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, a national charity that helps to provide culturally relevant books and learning resources to children and families living in remote Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia.

OLIVIA MONRO, The Harmony Team

First Aid News

There have been some reports of head lice within the school. This is not a cause for serious concern as your child may not be affected, however, head lice are extremely contagious.

It is extremely important to check your child’s head for head lice today. Keep checking every 2 days until there are no head lice found for 10 consecutive days.

Chemical preparations will only kill live lice. The most effective way to eradicate Lice Eggs is to apply conditioner to dry hair and comb through with a lice comb. The eggs will dislodge from the hair enabling them to be disposed of.

If you do find head lice, commence effective treatment immediately and be sure to complete the process of treatment and retreat. This will help prevent head lice from spreading.

There are two main treatment options for head lice:

wet combing using conditioner and a fine-tooth comb.
chemical removal using synthetic or natural insecticides.

The wet combing method is a cheap and effective way to treat head lice. The conditioner doesn’t kill the lice, but it briefly stuns them, making it easier for the nit comb to trap and remove the lice and eggs.

If you decide to use chemical treatment, it is important that you follow the instructions closely. Repeat the chemical treatment in a week to kill any newly hatched eggs.

No single treatment works for everyone. You might need to try a few different treatments or a combination to find the method that works best for you.

If you require any further information contact your local pharmacy, as treatment is readily available and easy to apply, or visit: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au

FIONA CASEY, First Aid Officer

Payment Process and Closing Dates for Excursions and Activities via Compass

Camps, Excursions, and other school based activities that have a financial charge associated with them fall under the Extra-Curricular Items and Activities category of fees and are offered to students on a ‘user pays’ basis. They are offered in addition to the standard curriculum.

Cut off dates for payment and consent on Compass are set by the school to assist us in meeting our financial and duty of care requirements for each event. In support of meeting these obligations, we will not extend due dates for events or take late payments.

Administration staff send an email to families when the event is published and a reminder email five days prior to the event closing date. Students are also reminded by their classroom teachers about events and when payment and consent must be received. If payment or consent is not received by the due date, your child will be excluded from the activity and will be supervised by teachers at school.

If you have received CSEF funding and would like to allocate it towards a Compass Event, or have credit on your family statement that you would like to use, please contact Jacinta D’Avoine (Revenue Administrator) 9430 5118 or email accounts@elthamhs.vic.edu.au to arrange for the allocation to be processed.

Please ensure that if payment is made via CSEF, credit allocation or an alternate method to Compass, please ensure that you consent via Compass prior to the closing date once the allocation has been made or payment has been receipted by the school.

If you are having issues accessing Compass, please contact the school for assistance. Thank you for your support with this matter.

CATHERINE ZERNA, Finance Manager

Grounds Committee

Committee Meeting Date	Working Bee Date
Thursday 17 August	Sunday 27 August
Thursday 14 September	Sunday 15 October
Thursday 23 November	Sunday 3 December

The planned tasks for the day will include garden bed rejuvenation, planting, mowing and brush-cutting, weeding and pruning and sanding of table tops in the courtyard area.

If you would like to attend the upcoming Working Bee please complete the following Microsoft Form by Tuesday 22 August, 2023 to advise of numbers and any dietary requirements.

https://forms.office.com/r/jCN1XUnPqj

Our EHS Grounds Committee is also always looking for new members. If you'd like to get more involved with the school community and help with planning the school outdoor areas and gardens, please contact Anna Panas at pan@elthamhs.vic.edu.au.

Meetings are held on a Thursday evening at the school prior to each Working Bee.

ANNA PANAS, On Behalf of the Grounds Committee

Library News: Judge the book by its cover

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit, volunteer run organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents annual awards to books of literary merit, and for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature.

There are six categories and the winners were announced on Friday 18 August.

To celebrate Book Week and Book of the Year, the Library ran a competition titled “Judge the book by its cover”. Students needed to guess which book would be the winner of Book of the Year for Older Readers. The first six correct entries won a chocolate prize. Congratulations to those students.