Term 1 SWPBS Focus - Responsibility

This week we are focssing on responsibility regarding the use of our fantsatic library and MARC Van. At assembly on Friday, students discussed what this means and looks like. Being responsible in our library means we always take care of the books, we don’t crease or fold the corners, we use bookmarks. We need to make sure that if we do not know where to return our books to, we must put them in the black book box and a library monitor will return them to the correct spot. We also need ot make sure that we return our books in a timely fashion.

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.

Swimming Permission Notes

Please ensure that your child/ren arrive to school promptly this week as we are going to Kangaroo Flat for our swimming program. We are encouraging children to come to school with the bathers on underneath their uniform so that they are ready for their lessons in a timely and prompt manner. We would also encourage families to pack a little more to eat during this week. There is a timetable change for the students, with lunch occurring upon our arrival back at school from 11:30-12:15 and recess taking place in the afternoons, from 1:45-2:15PM.

Soccer on Tuesdays

The students had an absolute blast playing soccer last week. The feedback from the students has been extremely positive. On another very encouraging note, the soccer coach who came in and delivered the lessons made the comment about how polite and well behaved the students were, a credit to them.

 MARC Van

MARC Van began last Wednesday and the students were very excited to have Sue Gentry back on site for the MARC program. It was great to see so many happy faces leaving on Wednesday with new books in their hands.

School Council Positions

At this point, the school did not receive enough nominations to go to a ballot vote. At this point in time, we can declare our council members for 2023. I would like to thank and acknowledge all councillors for their involvement in shaping our future direction for 2023. As we still have two positions available, please feel free to contact me directly if you are interested.

• Alicia Martin
• Julian Hall
• Steve Becker
• Amy Haw
• John Petrie
• Kevin Reade
• Brittany Edwards
• Lydia Fehring (DET)
• Andrew King (DET)

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Thursday, March 30th where council will elect the office bearers and our School Council meeting will follow on from there.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher interview are taking place on March 22^nd from 12:30-6:30PM. Parents can book interview times with classroom teachers through the uEducatesUs platform. The interview booking aspect of uEducateUs will be available this Friday from 3:30PM. Furthermore, if you would also like to have a meeting with Andrew King to discuss your child or would like him to attend your meeting with the classroom teacher, please call the school to arrange this.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing for Year Three and Five students begins from March 13^th and will be spread across that week. If you have any concerns regarding NAPLAN or your child undertaking NAPLAN testing, please do not hesitate to call the school.

Lots of Socks Day

On Friday the 17^th, we are celebrating Lots of Socks Day. Lots of Socks Day will encourage conversation about World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), celebrated each year on 21 March. All you need to do is choose some socks that are going to get noticed, they might be mismatched sock or colourful socks, whatever takes your fancy. Please also bring along a gold coin donation for Down Syndrome Australia - GJSC members will collect the coins in the morning.  We look forward to celebrating this day together.

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.

School Council (SC) Update

As part of our goal to remain transparent and provide effective communication between SC and the school community, we will aim to write a short report after each SC meeting as well as any important updates that we can’t wait to tell you. If you have any feedback or would like to discuss anything with SC, please email Alicia Martin Alicia.Martin@education.vic.gov.au

Our last SC meeting was held Thursday 9^th February. It was exciting to introduce Mr Andrew King as our Acting Principal for Term 1 and welcome Lydia Fehring as the DET representative. We hope they enjoy their time on SC.

News from this meeting

• Election Timeline for 2023 approved as follows:

Monday 13th February 2023 - Notice of election and call for nominations.

This year, there are four positions to be nominated on our wonderful School Council. So, if you’re interested please complete a nomination form and hand in to school.

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 30th March 2023 – AGM & First council meeting to elect office bearers (the Principal will preside)

• SC are investigating the possible installation of a UV Filtration system.
• SC have renewed a contract for the photocopier, this includes a new model machine and cheaper rates per page!
• SC endorsed the plans to upgrade the sensory garden and approved the submission for a department grant to cover the costs.
• On the radar is road safety around our school. Mr King will continue the work from previous years to improve road safety for our kids. Plans to record vehicle numbers and driver speeds.

Thanks for reading, remember if you would like to get involved, grab a nomination form and submit it to the school, and/or you have any feedback or would like to discuss anything with SC, please email Alicia Martin Alicia.Martin@education.vic.gov.au

Cheers

Alicia Martin

School Council President

This week we spent time outside on the play equipment and at the base.

We painted on canvas.

Cooking activities this week included making sausage rolls and baked potatoes.

On Tuesday, Maggie came for our fourth session of dancing.

https://www.eppalockps.vic.edu.au/source/Sunflower%20Dancers%20-%20Eppalock%20-%20Term%202%202023%20(3).pdf

It is with regret that I write to inform you that we have made the difficult decision to cancel our School Photo Fundraiser.  

Eppalock Primary School will no longer be running the Chris Epworth Photography sessions 2023.

Unfortunately we just could not get enough bookings on either date proposed to make the event still viable. 

We have spoken with Chris Epworth, the Photographer, and he will arrange for everyone to receive their paid booking fee refunded in full. This should occur over the coming couple of weeks.

I will make contact with everyone in about 3-weeks time to make sure that you have each received your full refund money. If you have any questions though in the meantime,  please don't hesitate to email or contact me on: 0418 390 824and I'll follow up.

On behalf of the School, I want to say a HUGE thank you for supporting this fundraiser. It has been a fantastic event in planning, that branched out well into our local community, so I'm disappointed that we were not able to bring it to fruition. Thank you.

We'll stay in touch though and bring you many more wonderful Eppalock PS fundraising opportunities.

Sal Symes