Principal’s Report
Emma Clark
Principal
This week …
A massive thank you to Willem K 5SB for kindly donating a wonderful Diary of a Wimpy Kid painting to the Library.
Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
EarlyAct is a Rotary initiative that was started at Emerald Primary School in 2024 for students in Years 5 and 6, and has gone from strength to strength in the ensuing 18 months. The idea behind EarlyAct is to come together to make positive change in the community and the Emerald Primary School members have certainly been doing that!
Last year, EarlyAct undertook a number of projects successfully, including supporting First Responders’ Day, fundraising for the Ukraine arm of UNICEF, providing finance for 17 wheelchairs for children in developing countries, and making rope ladders for damaged tree canopies with the assistance of Ecology and Restoration Australia.
One project that was started last year but wasn’t completed was fundraising for a new tap on the school oval which the students felt was a necessary addition to the school. We have been making slow but steady gains with fundraising by using the Container Deposit Scheme, and this term have also introduced the ‘Small Change for a Big Change’ initiative, with all students encouraged to bring along their small coins to add to the classroom collection bottles. At the end of this term we will have a coin trail day in the school gym, with students from the classroom with the longest coin trail to receive a surprise!
Recently, EarlyAct ran a sausage sizzle at the Hills Ukelele Festival which was held at the school. Parents and students got on board to assist with the barbecue throughout the day, and I am excited to announce that we made a fantastic profit of $585, which will go towards the tap fund! Congratulations to the following students and their parents who gave up precious weekend time to help on the day and make it such a success:
Amberlie P., Mitchell A., Odin S., Xavier O., Matilda N., Campbell B., Indie T., Jack S., Indianna Mc. and Scarlett K.
Many thanks also to those people who have offered their knowledge and expertise to assist with the installation of the tap. This is what community is all about!
I look forward to bringing you further news of the good deeds and positive change brought about by EarlyAct further down the track!
Kerith Cummins
EarlyAct Coordinator
Rotary Club of Emerald & District
On Monday our Grade 4 students participated in the Hoop Time Basketball Tournament at Dandenong Basketball Stadium. We entered 10 teams and students were placed in a competition that was in line with their skills, experience and knowledge.
Our students had a great time, while demonstrating excellent skills and sportsmanship!
Congratulations to all students and in particular the following teams:
Our 6 Rookie Teams- Giving basketball a try and having so much fun!
Future Stars Mixed team- Runners Up (Only losing Grand Final)
Future Stars Girls team- Demonstrating excellent team spirit!
Girls All Star Team- Runners Up (Only losing Grand Final)
Boys All Star Team- Winners! (Now progress to Regional Finals later in the year!)
Thanks to all the teachers and parents who assisted with coaching and scoring on the day!
Matt Stella
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 …
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:
- filling out the online survey
- attending an in-person pop-up session
More info: Shape our future waste services webpage
