Principal’s Report

We are excited to announce that the Swimming Program will be occurring in Weeks 9 and 10 of the term! Please stay tuned for a message via Compass re: how to register and pay for your student/s to participate in the program this year.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped out at this wonderful festival this year – so much talent and amazing music! A BIG thanks to Dan MacEoin for overseeing the whole weekend of festival activities, and a special thank you to Peta Woodyard for her co-ordination of all things food and drink for the whole festival – supported by Bronwyn Thomas-Smith and the Early Act crew and parents running the barbeque (lead by Jacquie Forsythe and Hollie Boniface). Much appreciation to the students and staff at EPS who helped out with arrangements and allowed the use of their spaces for the two days.

ENROLMENT  PROCESS

Our school now uses an online system for new Prep (also called Foundation) enrolments to Victorian government schools, called VicStudents.

To get started:

Visit https://students.educationapps.vic.gov.au/s/ to create an account and complete the online application form by Friday 25 July 2025.  If you would prefer to submit a paper application form, please contact us. We will then review the information submitted and be in contact with you by Friday 8 August 2025.  You should accept one enrolment offer by Friday 22 August 2025. When accepting an offer, you will be required to provide additional personal and health information that will be shared with the school.

Is VicStudents secure?

VicStudents has been assessed by the Department of Education to a high degree of security in line with the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards and is compliant with ISO 27001, the leading international standard for information security.

More information

For more information about enrolling your child into a Victorian government primary school, visit Enrolling in Foundation (Prep).

Please contact us via email: emerald.ps@education.vic.gov.au, or phone 03 5968 4311.  We’re here to help and will get back to you quickly. We look forward to your application and hope you will be joining our school community soon.

PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO ANY FAMILIES YOU KNOW WHO MAY BE INTERESTED.

All families will note on Compass that the Voluntary Curriculum Contribution amounts are accessible there for payment. We understand that 2025 has started as a challenging year for families economically, and so encourage you to make a payment plan for the year, or pay outright when you can. For last year, we were grateful to have had 50% of families pay these contribution amounts, but would really appreciate it if more families could put some money toward these this year, so that we can continue to conduct a full, rich program of learning at EPS. Please contact myself or Fiona Hogben, our Business Manager, for a chat if you would like to discuss payment options further.

Please be advised of the following student free days, when our staff will be completing professional learning activities or parent teacher interviews:

  • Thursday 3rd July – Parent-Teacher Interviews.
  • Monday 21st July – Curriculum Day: New Victorian Learning and Teaching Model 2.0
  • Friday 28th November – Professional Practice Day

For those families using the TheirCare childcare service , they are preparing to have students on the 3rd July, 21st July and 28th November dates: https://theircare.com.au/

  • May Events:
    • Thursday 22nd May – School Council @ 7.30pm
    • Monday 26th May – National Sorry Day
    • Friday 30th May – Assembly
  • June Events:
    • Tuesday 3rd June – Divisional Cross Country (Selected Students)
    • Monday 9th June – Kings Birthday Public Holiday
    • Wednesday 11th June – Grade 5 Market Day
    • Thursday 12th June – Regional Cross Country (Selected Students)
    • Friday 13th June – Assembly
    • Monday 16th – Friday 20th June – Swimming Program (Prep – Grade 3)
    • Thursday 19th – Lightning Premierships 2025 – Grade 6
    • Thursday 19th – School Council @ 7.30pm
    • Monday 23rd – Friday 27th June – Swimming Program (Grade 4 – Grade 6)
    • Friday 27th June – Values Awards Assembly

Emma Clark

Principal

Star of the week!

For his amazing effort in writing about going to Emerald Library.

For your growing confidence and the level of enthusiasm you are bringing to your learning tasks and our classroom!

For his great effort in writing three examples of why having the Super Power of ‘Speed’ would be the best Super Power to have.

For consistently putting 100% effort into all of your classwork!

For his creative ideas about what he would do with the super power of speed! Thanks for always trying your best, Oscar!

For drawing a spinner, dividing the areas into irregular segments and using probability language to describe chance outcomes.

For always having a growth mindset and tackling all problems with a positive attitude!

For her sensational TEEL paragraph on giraffes and focus and dedication to new challenges.

For your constant thirst and passion for knowledge. You are a prime example for your peers! Legend.

For her outstanding effort and excellent understanding when finding probabilities and writing them as fractions! What A STAR!

*6A Peer Award*

For always being ready to learn, focused on task, and for actively seeking feedback to improve her work. Amazing!

For your imaginative persuasive writing piece about why ‘elasticity’ is the best superpower! You used creative vocabulary and clever arguments.

For developing her ideas to create a bear in a boat and then make it float.

For your amazing focus during our learning times and always trying his best. Great effort Lucas.

For being such a switched on learner in our class, always on task and ready!

For always being a great friend, especially when your friends are upset!

For contributing amazing words and sentences in our phonics lessons. Well done!

For accurately describing the chance of events occurring; demonstrating her understanding of probability language.

For his brilliant descriptive writing and always contributing to class explorations!

For his brilliant TEEL paragraph about a character in our class novel, The Beast of Hushing Wood.

For focus and excellent persuasive writing skills during the cold write! I’m all about “Water Powers“ now!

For consistently being kind and caring to classmates. Many of your 5SA peers have shared how much they value your kindness. You are a KINDNESS SUPERSTAR!

For his terrific focus and determination during H.P.V., and for helping others both in the class and the yard. Superstar!

For your convincing cold write on the super power of Invisibility! I loved how you thought about both sides (for/against) and used this to strengthen your argument.

For putting in great effort into his writing and showing growing confidence in attempting to record sounds! What a phonics STAR!

For her great effort in Maths showing how to solve Addition and Subtraction problems using a Number Line.

For staying on task in all of our learning activities this week! Champion!

For her wonderful ideas about why speed is the best super power, and for always trying her very best!

For showing care & kindness when following up on a problem for a child in need.

For your amazing attitude towards your learning and your positive mindset!

For his BRILLIANT maths and reading, you are astounding us all with your efforts!

For her amazing application of new word knowledge into her writing.

For her fabulous focus and effort when learning about finding probabilities and writing them as fractions. You nailed it Harper! What a STAR!

For your focus and dedication towards your Market Day group. You ability to be a ‘cog’ and keep working hard is wonderful to watch. Your dedication to your role also shone through when you borrowed a book about ‘shopping’ from our EPS library. You are a SUPERSTAR!

For showing an amazing attitude towards learning. Even when the work get tricky, Jake shows a true growth mindset and gives his best.

For your engaging cold write on Teleportation. I loved your reasons especially the holiday destination opions!

This week …

Emerald Primary School respects our First Nations people. We are acknowledging National Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week, a time to reflect on our shared history between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people.

🖤💛❤️ What is National Sorry Day?

National Sorry Day is held every year on May 26. It’s a special day in Australia when we remember and say sorry for the hurt caused to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, especially the Stolen Generations.

The Stolen Generations were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken away from their families by the government many years ago. This caused a lot of sadness and pain for those children and their families.

National Sorry Day helps us:

  • Remember what happened in the past.
  • Say sorry for the wrong things that were done.
  • Learn how to be kind, fair, and respectful to everyone.
  • Work together to make sure this never happens again.

🖤💛❤️ National Reconciliation Week at Emerald Primary School 💚💛

27th May – 3rd June 2025 (Tuesday T2W6 – Tuesday T2W7) is Reconciliation Week

Theme: “Bridging Now to Next”

The 2025 theme, “Bridging Now to Next,” encourages us to think about how we can take what we’ve learned in the past and use it to create a better, fairer future for everyone. It’s about building strong, respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all Australians—starting right here in our classrooms and playgrounds.

Throughout the week (and regularly in our classrooms), our students:

  • Listen to Dreamtime stories and learning about the First Nations peoples, the traditional custodians of the land.
  • Create artworks inspired by Aboriginal symbols and storytelling.
  • Learn words from local Aboriginal languages and explore their meanings.
  • Talk about fairness, kindness, and respect—and how we can show these values every day.
  • Teachers teach students the meaning around Reconciliation Week and with this information students will share what reconciliation means to them.

Reconciliation is not just a word—it’s something we do together. By learning, listening, and caring, we are helping to build a bridge from now to next—a future where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.

In the #NRW2025 theme artwork created by Kalkadoon woman Bree Buttenshaw, native plants − which are known for regenerating after fire and thriving through adversity − symbolise our collective strength and the possibilities of renewal. This is a time for growth, reflection, and commitment to walking together.

EPS Families are invited to the Cardinia Shire Reconciliation Week event. This special occasion is dedicated to celebrating and strengthening the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.

Event Details:

Date: Tuesday, 27 May

Time: 1pm – 2:30pm

Location: Worrell Reserve, 402 Belgrave-Gembrook Road, Emerald (Wurundjeri Land)

Join us for an exciting event, featuring

Welcome to Country, smoking ceremony, and performance by Djirri Djirri Dancers

Exciting opening of an art exhibition

Family-friendly activities

Afternoon tea

Mrs Appleby will be taking our School Captains and Koorie Students to the event. If any other families would like to come along with their children, feel free to contact Mrs Appleby for more details.

A picture holds 1000 maths concepts. This week we are sending home an image that incudes 16 Tangram images for your family to explore. You will find a list of activities attached to the image that you may complete as a family, you may also like to make up your own tasks and questions. The activities are separated into Junior, Middle and Senior as suggestions however you may choose any of the activities to complete. We hope you enjoy exploring some maths as a family.

See below for some online options for engaging maths games you could explore at home as a family:

Duolingo is an increasing popular language learning website and app which can be accessed for free to learn many different languages, including Japanese. It’s fun and motivating to learn with quirky Duolingo characters and points are earned for practising. We are encouraging students from Grade 3 – 6 to join the EPS Duolingo classroom and spend some time practising Japanese skills each week. An advantage of joining the EPS classroom is that students will have unlimited “hearts” so they can feel free to make mistakes without losing “hearts”.

While it is free to use, you will regularly see ads for their paid service. Rest assured; there’s no need to join the paid service.

And if students are already learning with Duolingo, they can join the EPS classroom and take their learning history with them – they don’t have to start from scratch.

In Grade 3 and 4, we have had a strong focus on learning the 46 hiragana characters and Duolingo can be a great support to learning to read hiragana.

To join the EPS class from a computer, follow the link below.

www.duolingo.com/classroom/jfbvww

If you currently have an account, you can use the code jfbvww to join the EPS class.

To join from a smartphone or tablet, see the attached information.

Looking forward to seeing lots of names on the leaderboard!

Sonia Sensei

Upcoming Events …

Konnichiwa families,

It seems that sooo many people are travelling to Japan recently. But if you can’t be in Japan and still want to experience some of the unique culture, you might be interested in Japan Festival, which will be held on Sunday 25 May at Box Hill Town Hall. There will be entertainment, food vans, stalls, demonstrations and more. It’s $3 for kids 11 years and under and $5 for 12 years and over. It’s a great day out for the whole family.

For more details: https://www.jcv-au.org/japanfestival/

If so please bring them to the Emerald SES to be recycled. Emerald Primary School is now a registered donation partner with the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme. So your rubbish can be recycled and each empty container earns 10c. Please donate the money you collect to our school, so we can fundraise for more drink taps on the school oval.

Community News

Have your say on the future of waste services in Cardinia Shire, including household bin frequency, the proposed glass only service, hard waste collection and green waste disposal.

Council is renewing their Waste Resource and Recovery Strategy. This strategy serves as a 10-year roadmap for the future direction of Council’s waste services, education and advocacy.

Community feedback will help create a draft strategy. In early 2026, the community will be invited to share their thoughts on the draft, before the strategy is finalised.

You can provide feedback until Wednesday 9 July by:

  • attending an in-person pop-up session

More info: Shape our future waste services webpage

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Canteen News!

Friday Meal Deal

Mac & Cheese

Croquettes (3)

&

Chill J – Blueberry

Chill J is a 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice drinks

It is All Natural with No Preservative/ No Artificial Flavours or Colours & No Added Sugar

$8.00

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