Principal’s Report

As per recent notifications to families, we have been working through a process to try to put a Before School and After School Care provider in place for students to access a care program onsite at EPS, for the start of Term 4.

I can let you know now that we have been successful in engaging a provider. Thank you to all families who were able to give their input and feedback on this topic and the needs for our community.

We now need to wait for the government approvals process to occur – this will be the last hurdle. I will be in back in contact very soon hopefully with final confirmation and further details re: enrolment process etc.

Please note that we will be conducting Practice Safety Drills next week at Emerald Primary School, whereby students and staff will be evacuated to the Shelter-In-Place for our school (which is the Stadium), or to an outdoor part of the school away from a potential risk, or undertake a Lockdown Drill for a potential intruder. This is part of our regular drill schedule. After all students and staff follow the emergency procedures, the Incident Management Team will meet to debrief and discuss improvements to our protocols and procedures. Please contact the school if you have any queries.

Please ensure your children have their hats at school from next week onwards and into Term 4 as per our school Sun Smart Policy – hopefully this will encourage the sun to stay out! We ask that students wear their hats in the playground during recess and lunch. As part of our SunSmart Policy, all students need to wear hats in the yard for all of Term 1 and Term 4. We have this school policy of making sure students wear broad-rimmed hats (not caps) for all times outside, to protect from the sun. Besides recesses and lunchtimes, this also includes outside grade activities like games and physical education lessons. We ask that parents support this policy by ensuring your child has the right type of hat (part of the uniform) and please make sure the hats are named and in good condition. Hats are available for purchase from the Uniform Shop for $16.

WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 5th August to Friday 20th September 2024.

All families are invited to participate in the survey.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to your child’s teacher, or the school directly for survey guides in your language.

The survey results will be communicated to parents / caregivers / guardians through annual reporting and via the school website.

We are gradually moving to our new school Facebook page. It is a closed group so that we can improve on safety and privacy. If you do a search for “Emerald Primary School”, it is the first one that comes up.

The older page called “Emerald Primary School – Parents Group” will be phased out this year – so jump on board as soon as you can!

  • Friday 20th September – favourite sport, athlete or sporting team.

Pertussis Exclusion Guidelines (legislated for primary schools, recommended for secondary schools but not legislated):

Cases: Exclude the child for 21 days after the onset of cough or until they have completed 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment (return on day 6). Exclusion can only be enacted for ‘Confirmed’ cases of pertussis.

Contacts: Contacts aged less than 7 years in the same room as the case who have not received three effective doses of pertussis vaccine should be excluded for 14 days after the last exposure to the infectious case, or until they have taken 5 days of a course of effective antibiotic treatment. This also applies to a case’s siblings (if in the same household) if under 7.

From healthdirect.gov.au

Symptoms: Cold-like symptoms including runny nose, sneezing, mild dry cough, fever. The cough may also worsen as time goes on.

It is a contagious illness.

Can cause serious health problems in babies.

Vaccination is the best protection against whooping cough. Pregnant women and adults who have contact with babies should get a booster vaccine.

Please send a message to the school email, emerald.ps@education.vic.gov.au , if you have any queries.

  • Thursday 12th September – Murrundindi
  • Friday 20th September – Favourite sport, athlete or sporting team dress up day
  • Friday 20th September @2.30pm – Finish Term 3

NEXT TERM

  • Monday 7th October – Term 4 Commences (don’t forget your school hat!)
  • Wednesday 16th October – Japanese Day
  • Saturday 26th October @ 11.30am – 4pm – School Fair
  • Wednesday 30th October – Friday 1st November – Grade 4 Camp
  • Tuesday 5th November – Melbourne Cup Public Holiday
  • Monday 11th November – Friday 15th November – Grade 6 Camp

Emma Clark

Principal

This week …

Upcoming Events …

Japanese Day – October 16

Konnichiwa!

Japanese Day will be a whole day of Japan-related activities, entertainment, art, craft, workshops, music, games, incursions and more! Two years ago, our first Japanese Day was a huge success. Please read the following information to see how you can help us to make this year even better!

Costumes

Dressing up is a highlight of the day and we will have a costume parade with the whole school. But please don’t buy a costume. In class, we’re talking about how to be creative and use things that we already have. Please see the slides for more ideas and inspiration.

Helpers

We are looking for adults who can help us with any of the following: sushi making, martial arts, calligraphy. Please contact Sonia Sensei via the office if you can help.

Odd socks

This may sound strange but we are collecting clean socks to use for an activity. If you have any odd socks, old socks, baby socks etc that you no longer need, please send the washed socks to school. The class that collects the most socks will win a prize!

Little toys

If you are tidying up and sorting out at home and find any unwanted small toys, please bring them to Sonia Sensei. We are looking for toys that are no bigger than an egg so we can put them into a capsule toy machine. For example; little figurines, key rings, cute erasers, fake jewels etc. We’ll use them as rewards and prizes on Japanese Day.

Thank you so much for your support.

Sonia Sensei

See Costumes ideas 2024 here 

Student Action Team Items!

Community News

The Rotary Club of Emerald & District yearly hold an event called “The Kids Fun Run with Puffing Billy”.  This event allows for kids between 3 years old and 12 (split into 7 age groups) to run with Puffing Billy  and help to raise funds to support sick children – the last four events have seen us donate $196,000 to Monash Children’s Hospital and again this year the money collected will go to Monash Children’s Hospital – Cancer Centre. Since we commenced holding this fundraiser in 2002, we have donated $771,250 to aid children.

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Canteen News!

Friday Meal Deal

Ravioli

+

Vanilla mousse

$7.50

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