Courage/Codes and Crowns- Wellbeing session for students and parents

This is a wonderful opportunity for our school community so if your child is in Grades Three to Six, please sign up for the evening session. If you registered for this event previously, you do not need to re-register. We are aiming to have 100% attendance on the night so please ensure that you capitalise on this opportunity.

The school is paying to have this program run and we would love to have as much as of our community attend this as possible. The date for the parent session is Wednesday the 25^th of February from 6PM.

For females, Please ensure your seats are saved for the evening session by RSVP email to Megan on: https://courageandcrowns.com/eppalock-primary-school-crowns

For the males, Please save this date in your calendars and rsvp via this link: https://courageandcrowns.com/eppalock-primary-school-codes

AFL Tipping Competition

We are running our annual footy tipping competition through the AFL tipping interface. Below is the competition code for all those interested in joining. I was away on Long Service Leave last year so I am unsure of who won the tipping, if you happen to know, please get in touch!

Regardless, we look forward to having people involved in the tipping competition for a bit of fun and friendly banter! Go Pies!

Comp Code: GJSP29OA

School Council Positions

This year, there are three positions to be nominated on our wonderful School Council, all of which are parent positions. Once School Council approves the timeline, the dates will be posted in the newsletter. We would encourage family members who are interested to self-nominate when the forms are posted. Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. It is important to have an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

 If you are at all interested, please contact Andrew. Nomination forms can be found at the front office with Nikki.

Crazy Bingo

After chatting with Tan, it sounds like Crazy Bingo was another hit! Thank you to the families who came along and made the night so enjoyable. I have been told of a bit of a follow up tradition of basketball seems to be in development and was another fun aspect of the evening. We hope all who came along enjoyed the evening, shared a laugh and connected with our wider community.

Hobbies and Clubs

Tan is spearheading our Friday afternoon Hobbies and clubs program and has emailed out some communication for all families. If you are at all interested in volunteering, please let Tan know as soon as possible. We look forward to having as many parents come in for this great opportunity.

OSHC Adventures

All families should enrol your child into OSHC Adventures as a precautionary measure in case of emergency as staff duty of care finishes at 3:45PM. Students are not able to be accepted into the OSHC Adventures program without relevant paperwork being completed prior to a child attending. OSHC Adventures operates 5 days a week from 3:15 to 6PM. If families are unable to collect children by 3:30, students will be sent to the OHSC program. More information can be found on their website:

https://oshcadventures.com.au/enrol-now

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 11th March 2026 and finishes on Monday 23rd March 2026. Over the coming weeks, students will become familiar with the testing platform and features. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Andrew directly.

Visitors and Volunteers- Working with Children Check and Red Lanyard

All visitors (except when at assembly) and volunteers MUST have a current Working With Children Check. This is in line with our Visitors and Volunteers policies. All visitors and volunteers must have the check and be signed in at the front office, once this is complete, visitors and volunteers will receive a red lanyard. We would encourage all family members to have an up to date Working With Children’s check.

Updating Student’s Medical History

We would like all families to update their child’s medical records to ensure that we have all relevant and updated information to begin 2026. This form has been sent home and we are asking that families complete it and send it back as soon as possible.

Many thanks,
Andrew

P/1- Cloe.F - Cloe has consistently demonstarated our class expectations and takes initiative to help others. Cloe has had an excellent start to Grade One.

2/3/4- Sarah.H - For showing resilience at the start of the new school year and for being a great assistant by kindly helping others.

4/5/6- lachlan -  Lachlan has had a great start to Grade Six, showcasing his skills as a leader and role model. He has been consistently demonstrating our school values and trying his best.  He should be proud of himself. 
             

                       Watjarang  

                                  Yuliwil    

                                               Bunjil   

Permission Notes
Athletics - uEducateUs - Whole school 
Cross Country - uEducateUs - 3-6 students

Both payments are to be made on My School Connect unless you plan on using SSB or CSEF. 
Please contact Nikki via email if you would like to use SSB or CSEF 



2026 Curriculum Contributions and Voluntry Contributions can be pd via MSC.  Thankyou to those that have already paid.  These contributions help to go towards the cost of implementing the programs the students use every day.   
                           

HATS 

Hats are required in TERM 1 and can be purchased via MSC anytime.  We now also have a larger size hat that can be purchased through the MSC site.  
Hats and Beanies will still be required to buy through MY SCHOOL CONNECT until we have no stock on site then we will have hats and beanies available on the new EDUTHREADS uniform store. 


NEW ONLINE UNIFORM STORE

You can now order the new uniforms through here

 https://eduthreads.com.au/collections/eppalock-primary-school 






 
                                                                     

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and are excited to be back at school. 2026 is a year of change for me as I go part time, sharing the role with Karen Rees. We have lots of new books for the van and are looking forward to getting back to our wonderful schools.

On my off days I’m going to be spending lots of time with my granddaughter Nora. This is a photo of my first day off for 2026… can you see where we went? After many years away I’ll be back at Toddler Reading Time each week at the library and I can’t wait!

Happy Reading, Mrs G ?

Hi All,

The kids are well and truly settled in and ready for an exciting final term for 2025!

In wellbeing, the classrooms are diving back into Respectful Relationships, and are focusing on Positive Coping, where students develop language around coping, critically reflect on their coping and strategies and extend their repertoire of positive coping strategies.

While we have moved on from Friendology this term, we will revisit some components throughout the term, and when the need arises. We encourage families to do the same! A great one to know and to talk about is Friendship Fires: those little disagreements that can be normal in a healthy friendship (even as adults!). Grades 2-6 have explored this, and use this language often to talk about conflicts that happen in the yard.

You can read a great blog post about it here:

https://urstrong.com/resource/friendship-fire-or-mean-on-purpose/

There is also a fantastic visual that explains some strategies for Friendship Fires and Mean on Purpose:

Until next time!

Kellie

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• eppalock.ps@education.vic.gov.au
• 5439 6366