28/10/2022

Term 4 SWPBS Focus

Kindness

“If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we might just set the world in the right direction.”

– Martin Kornfeld

Respect, Responsibility, Resilience.

School Vision:

Our school’s vision is to prepare young people to become active, engaged and responsible citizens of the local and global community. 

• We will provide a safe, calm and welcoming learning environment where every child is treated as an individual.

• We will develop children who have a strong relationship to school and their community. The children will have a sense of self & understand how they learn.

• We will build and support an open, healthy and welcoming community that is visible in its practical support for the learning and wellbeing of each child. Children will be encouraged to embrace and celebrate difference and they will experience positive interactions with adults.

• We aim to foster a love of and for our natural environment and nurture a strong sense of stewardship within our students.  Eppalock PS prioritises environmental sustainability.

This week we will acknowledge World Teachers Day on Friday with our staff at school.  We are lucky to have such dedicated, enthusiastic and passionate staff at Eppalock PS who have continued to bring energy and resilience to their role through the challenges of the last few years.  Thanks for the work you do each day. 

This week we will also have our end of year swimming sessions.  With the transition over to the Kangaroo Flat swimming centre this year we will only have two sessions for the end of the year with the aim to have more in 2023 as we should then be able to grab some extra dates. The consent, permission and details are on educateus so please make sure the consent has been completed before Tuesday so that your child can attend.  The weather doesn’t look too good for those days, however we are inside with a heated pool.  Please make sure students have everything they need for the day.  Breaks will alter slightly on this day, however normal lunch and recess items are required.  We are planning to have our fun swimming afternoon later in the term to finish the year.  There is no cost for swimming sessions.

The P/1 group will be off to a local excursion on Wednesday of this week as well.  Please ensure consent has been filled out for this event.

Our final camp experience will take place next week from 9^th November to 11^th November.  Our Grade 3-6 group will be off to Camp Wilkin in Anglesea with Lockwood South PS as a shared experience.  Miss S has been looking after the organisation of this camp and will be attending with Mr Mc and Chris, as well as staff from Lockwood South.  We hope the weather is kind this time around.

We are also currently investigating more camp experiences for 2023 as part of the Positive Start program introduced this year by the Government.  We hope to be able to book something in which will enable another free camp for our students next year.

For those interested in the outcome of our school review, we have not yet received the final report from the reviewer although it won’t be far away.  Damien Jenkyn, our Senior Education Improvement Leader will be out to school on Tuesday to finalise some of the goals and targets for the next cycle of our Strategic plan.  Once the report is completed it will be made available to the school community, school council and also posted on the school website.  I have included the two overarching goals which will direct our broad work for the next four years.

Goal 1

To improve learning growth and achievement for all students in Literacy and Numeracy.

Goal 2.

Empower students to be engaged and self-regulated learners.

2023 Classes

After some continued discussion at school about class sizes for 2023 we are close to finalising what it might look like.  Wednesday night staff will meet to confirm class structures, with some slight changes to be made to ensure our class numbers are kept as low as possible.  If it stays the same in 2023 our 456 class could start with 29, which is not ideal for teaching and learning.  We have had some additional enrolments recently so the school has the possibility of starting 2023 with 63-65 students.  Any final decisions ultimately fall upon myself and staff to make but please be assured that decisions will be made in the best interests of the students.

Covid Updates

Please remember to check out the updated Covid announcement on Educateus recently. Household contacts are able to attend school if they have tested negative and are wearing a mask.  Please remember to get the negative test result before sending any household contacts to school, this helps to keep the whole school well.

School Items for removal

The worm farm has now been removed.  Thanks for your interest.

We do have two old school awnings still at the school which were only removed due to the fire shutters being installed earlier this year so are still in good condition.  If you are interested please contact the office.

Transition Days

These are quickly approaching for both our 2023 families and our Grade 6 students who will be moving to Secondary College in 2023.

A transition note has been sent home for our 2023 Foundation students.  If you think your child may need additional sessions or an altered plan for these days, feel free to contact the office as we can be flexible about how these work.  If you think your child may qualify for additional funding for classroom support, please contact Mr O’Neill.

Grade 6 students moving to secondary school next year will need to be in contact with their chosen secondary school about transition plans as they organise these events without primary school involvement. 

Healthy eating survey results

Thanks to those families who were able to contribute to the survey that has been out for a few weeks.  School Council were able to view and discuss the results at our last school council meeting.  We will communicate some outcomes shortly to our school community.  If you do have a birthday celebration coming up for your child in term 4 and you do want to send something in to share, it is important to contact your child/s classroom teacher first to discuss your plans.  The survey results will be available at the front office for anyone who would like to look through them in detail.

Our healthy eating policy review was delayed due to the foods that week so has been postponed to next meeting.

Let’s have an active fun summer of cricket…   

Strathfieldsaye Jets Cricket Club welcomes new and existing players to register for the 2022/23 season.  Registrations are now open for Junior Blaster (ages 5 to 7), Master Blaster (ages 8 to 10), U11, U12, U14, U16, and Junior Girls teams via the link below:

https://play.cricket.com.au/club/strathfieldsaye-cricket-club/1a3bd37b-87d8-eb11-a7ad-2818780da0cc

We look forward to a fun filled summer of cricketing action for all ages. 

If requiring further information, or any queries in general please feel free to contact us via email strathfieldsayejets@gmail.com or the phone numbers below.

“Live local, Play local”

Brent Yates | Junior President | 0434 730 711

Marc Sherwell | Junior Secretary | 0418 365 461 

Strathfieldsaye Jets CC