Term 1 SWPBS Focus - Responsibility

This week, we are foccusing on being reposible for our sports equipment. We are very fortunate to have a vast variety of equipment to use when we play, being responsible means that we pack away our equipment when we are done using it. If we are done and someone else wants to use it, it is important that we disucss the responsibilty of putting the sports equipment back in the correct spot.

House Captains

At our Friday assembly, we were able to recognise our three House Captains for 2023. It was lovely to hear from Lydia about the journey the students have been on, and it is great to see the Year 5 students stepping into leadership roles. We would like to acknowledge the following students and their respective houses that they will lead in 2023.

      Watjarang                            Bunjil                         Yalawil
   Frankie James                  Ryan Becker              Axl Norfolk-Birch                                                                                                             

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.

A Great Start to the Year

We have had a wonderful start to our school year. It has been wonderful to watch the students coming into school with smiles on their faces, eager and keen to see their friends, teachers and other families. The sense of community and belonging are very tangible and it certainly makes for a positive experience for all.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the Crazy Bingo night, no doubt there was lots of laughter and we hope that everyone thoroughly enjoyed their night, networking and forging new relationships.

Message from the School Captains

Hi! We are Annika and Daisy. We would like to change up our weekly hobbies and club’s groups and make them a bit more interesting! We also thought that this might be a chance to get more parent community involvement, so we decided to get the cogs moving as quickly as possible. We didn’t just want to choose some things alone, so we thought we could get some student voice. We put up posters in each classroom with a pad of sticky notes, and asked everyone to write down their ideas, so that we can try to make some of them happen! If any of the parents have expertise or like doing anything in particular – such as sports, crafts, art, cooking, sewing – we would love to work with you, so please talk to us!

Swimming Permission Notes

Swimming permission notes went home today. Please read through them thoroughly and fill them out as appropriate and return them as soon as possible. If you need support regarding payment or how to pay using the My Schools Connect App, please contact the school.

School Council Positions

• This year, there are a four positions to be nominated on our wonderful School Council. 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. Below are the important dates, outlining the nomination process for these positions:
  Monday 13th February 2023 - Notice of election and call for nominations
• Monday 20^th February 2023 - Closing date for nominations
• Monday 27^th February 2023 - The date by which the list of candidates and nominators will be posted
• Wednesday 1^st March 2023 - The date by which ballot papers will be prepared and distributed
• Wednesday 8th March 2023 - Close of ballot
• Thursday 9^th March 2023 – Vote Count
• Friday 10^th March 2023 – Declaration of poll
• Thursday 23rd March 2023 – AGM & First council meeting to elect office bearers (the Principal will preside)

Reading at Home

Reminders

• If your child is displaying any flu or cold-like symptoms, please keep them home.
• EPS Broad brimmed hats are to be worn at recess and lunch.
• Adults in families are reminded to download the uEducateUs app to their mobile device.
• Please ensure longer hair is tied back each day when coming to school.
• Any changes to regular pick up routines are best communicated via phone and speaking directly to a staff member so that it can be recorded in the after school pick up folder. We cannot always guarantee an email will be seen in time during the day.
• Staff duty of care begins at 8:45am in the morning.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website

https://www.eppalockps.vic.edu.au/page/72/Policies

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese