Principal’s Report
Our first meeting of the new School Council committee for 2023 will be held tomorrow night at 7.15pm in the School Staff Room. Looking forward to welcoming our new members! There are still a few places left on Council, so please drop into the meeting if you would like to find out more, or give Emma a call at the school on 5968 4311.
On behalf of Council, I would like to thank our retiring members Sharon Scott, Marianne Thomson and Karen Charters, who have supported the group and our school with our school improvements, events and efforts to fundraise over the last few years. We really appreciate your involvement.
The next Curriculum Day for our school will be held on Monday 24th April – please note that there are no students required at school that day, as staff will all be undertaking professional learning in the areas of literacy teaching, numeracy teaching and wellbeing support. Thus, the first day of Term 2 will be the day after ANZAC Day – Wednesday 26th April.
Join us for a morning of community spirit and hands-on fun! Our school’s first working bee for the year is happening on Saturday, March 25th from 10am to 12pm. We’ll have jobs for everyone, including mulching the playgrounds, oval and veggie garden, and weeding the front of the school. We’ll provide a morning tea to keep you fuelled. We would love it if could bring your gloves and any gardening tools you have, like wheelbarrows, shovels, mulching forks, or metal rakes. Don’t worry if you don’t have any, we’ll have some provided too!
Please sign in on arrival with one of the EPS staff. We can’t wait to see you there and make our school a better place for our students!
Well done to all of our EPS representatives at District Swimming. You should all be proud of the following results:
- Girls Relay Team achieved 3rd place in Freestyle Relay and 3rd place in the Medley relay: Matilda, Charli, Imogen, Isla
- Boys Relay Team competed in the Freestyle and Medley relays: Callan, Elliot, Ethan and Edmund (Jesse out injured)
- Isla: 2nd in 50m breaststroke
- Matilda: 1st in 50m Backstroke and 50m BreaststrokeCongratulations to Matilda and Isla, who have made it to Regionals on Friday 24th March – we wish you good luck in your events!Well done also to Will, Riley, Ollie and Miles, who also competed in a relay and some individual events. Great work team!(Thank you to Kristie Holden for her support with this report and the great photos!)
Emerald Primary School will be acknowledging and celebrating Harmony Week from Monday 20th – Sunday 26th March.
‘Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.
It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.’
Staff will be completing activities in their classroom to celebrate diversity and encourage inclusiveness.
Friday 24th March 2023 will be an out of uniform day, where students can wear orange, rainbow colours or traditional cultural clothing to bookend our celebrations of Harmony Week.
Emma Clark
Principal
Parents & Carers who hold a Centrelink Pensioner Concession card or Health Care Card which is current from 30th January 2023 (Start of Term 1) are eligible to receive CSEF – $125 per year.
This money can only be used for Camps, Sports events & excursions.
Please contact the School Office if you have not applied and would like an Application form.
We will also need to take a copy of your eligible card.
Last week we kicked off Motto Nihongo (More Japanese), a free after-school session for Grade 5 and 6 students who want even more chance to learn and practice their Nihongo. It runs after school on Thursdays from 3.45pm – 4.15pm in the Japanese room. We’ll use games and activities to communicate with each other in Nihongo. Students will need parent permission to attend. If your child is interested, please contact me at : Sonia.morison@education.vic.gov.au
Sonia Morison (Sonia Sensei)
Hi! My name is Azieza Noor and I am a muslim. I was born in a muslim family and ever since I was brought into this world I have been taught all about my religion and now I’m here to share it with you.
A muslim is a person that comes from the religion, Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion that comes with the holy book called ‘Al Quran’. The Quran is very important to us muslims as it teaches us how to be a good muslim and how to do things from waking up to going to sleep. It teaches us to be humble and kind.
We learn to be kind from the last ever messenger of god; Prophet Muhammed. He was a good example of how to be a good muslim and showed us how to make God happy. If muslims do what prophet Muhammed did then that is called a ‘sunnah’. If you do a Sunnah then that can get you good deeds as you are following the actions of the best muslim man on earth. The time of prophet Muhammed was a long time ago but he was the closest to our time so that’s why we call him OUR prophet because he has the most modern life than all the other messengers [25 mentioned in the Quran] and is most suitable to our world.
[All messengers mentioned in the Quran are prophets but not all prophets are messengers. God sends prophets to a certain community to spread the word of god and then moved to a higher place to become a messenger and they DO the things that a good muslim would do if they picked]Being a good muslim means to also be good hearted. In the Quran it quotes “The person who treats others kindly and thinks well of them, will find that his/her intention will remain true, he will feel at ease, his heart will be sound and Allah [god] will protect him/her from evil and calamity”.
Being kind means to also put yourself into other people’s shoes. In Islam we have something called Ramadan which is coming up on the twenty third of March to the twenty first of April and it is expected for muslims to fast from the age of puberty. Ramadan is when you fast for thirty days. When we fast, we don’t allow ourselves to eat or drink until sunset. There are other types of fasting but in islam we keep it simple and just don’t eat or drink anything. Some people think that we starve ourselves for thirty days but that’s not true and it’s physically impossible too. We can eat from sunset to sunrise so don’t worry, we aren’t starving ourselves.
The most common reason of why we fast is to feel what the people that don’t have food feel. It makes us recognize all that God has given us and teaches us to be grateful for what we have. The scientific reason of why we fast comes from a study carried out by scientists in the USA that found that the mental focus achieved during Ramadan increases the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which causes the body to produce more brain cells, thus improving brain function. It also keeps us healthy by giving our tummy a rest and we are also not supposed to eat quickly and a lot of food once we break our fast or else you will get really sick. You are supposed to eat slowly because you didn’t eat for a few hours, how can your tummy take a lot of food all at once.
Ramadan is also a test of patience. We have to resist ourselves to food and water. Ramadan happens every year to keep us healthy and in shape to keep yourself happy and active all year long so you aren’t sitting inside using your phone for the whole day.
People that are on their period, pregnant and breastfeeding and sick aren’t expected to fast but are expected to pay back. [fast when the compulsory 30 days of fasting is over] Unlike people that are disabled, diabetic and under the age of puberty aren’t expected to fast and aren’t expected to pay back either.
So yeah, my religion is quite confusing but as someone that has grown up in a muslim surroundings, it’s not confusing to me. I am very honoured to be able to teach you the little bits of my religion even though I wrote all this in 3 pages but I hope you learned something from reading. Thank you for your time. Bye
Some of our gorgeous school crossing helpers!!
Emerald Primary School will be celebrating Harmony Week (from Monday 20th March – Sunday 26th March) by recognising our diversity and understanding how important it is to bring together Australians from all different backgrounds.
It is about inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone. No matter what a person’s cultural background
Harmony Day is Tuesday 21st March.
EPS will be showing our support on Friday 24th March by wearing orange,
rainbow colours or traditional cultural clothing.
Community News
Canteen Special!
Friday Meal Deal
Pumpkin Soup with a Dinner Roll
&
Orange & Mango Slushie
$6.50
Breaking up is hard to do!!!!!!!!
It’s time for the canteen to break up with single use straws, these will not be available in 2023
More than 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s ocean every year and over 90% is single use plastic.
So let’s say bye bye to straws and hello to BYO. We highly recommend reusable options over all disposables. Students can purchase a reusable silicone straw in its own case with the school Emblem for $4 from the canteen (over the counter or via online) or uniform shop.
