Principal’s Report

We are very excited that the EPS Fair is not far away now! There will be lots of useful information and requests for help coming home over the coming weeks. It is always a great day for our school community to come together and raise funds for the school, to create the best environment possible for our students. Thank you to Peta Woodyard and her amazing team for all of the hard work they are doing in the background to prepare for this fantastic event.

Emerald Primary School, in collaboration with the Railway Dog and Hard Road Brewery are inviting you to a special event Working Bee on the 19th of October from 1pm to 3pm. Following the Working Bee, we will head to the Railway Dog for some well-earned refreshments – with samples being supplied by Hard Road Brewery. Please rsvp via the below link so we can get numbers for catering purposes. Work to be done is laying mulch, chain-sawing, removing branches and weeding. Tools required: Wheelbarrows, Chainsaws, Pitchforks, Rakes, Shovels. It will be a fun event and we look forward to lots of people attending to keep our beautiful school looking its best, and to prepare for our School Fair!
RSVP: https://forms.gle/nGyJ61SZdA1ZqpVf8

Due to price increases in all uniform pieces from the wholesale company, we have had to add a small increase to many of our uniform items. Please see the new price list in this newsletter. As always, let us know if you need any assistance in purchasing uniform, and we will also continue to try to have good quality second-hand uniform items for sale.

Please note that all teaching staff are required to have one further Professional Practice Day for this term, when they will complete assessments, planning and other school tasks for their professional learning. For this term, we will be scheduling this day for all teachers on Monday 4th November. Replacement teachers (mostly whom the students know well!) have been employed for this day, so there will be a school program on this day, however, it will look somewhat different to normal school days. We generally have lower attendance numbers on this day with families using this opportunity to have short holidays. Please contact me at the school if you have any queries.

The new before and after school care service has started this term at Emerald Primary School. It is running out of the Senior Learning Centre in the open space near the Grade 4/Grade 5 classrooms. Please reach out to the school if you have any queries or concerns. If you would like to know more, or enrol your student for this program, which runs from 6.30am to 8.45am, and 3.45pm to 6.30pm, every day, please head to the following website:

https://theircare.com.au/

During coming weeks, we have Monash Health workers at school delivering the ‘Feeling Safe Together Program’ to Prep – Grade 5 students and ‘Safety Online and Respectful Relationships (SOARR)’ to Grade 6 students.
The focus of the program is protective behaviours, and the sessions take a proactive approach.

This program has been designed following research into protective behaviour education programs from both Australia and abroad. Schools are in unique positions to be able to reach children to raise awareness on a range of issues that can impact on a child’s learning and development. The program is aimed at raising awareness of safety, our personal safety and the environment around us. The sessions are tailored to be age appropriate. An outline of the program and some information tips for parents and carers is attached.

Research clearly states that children who understand prevention techniques are not only at less risk of being abused or bullied, but they are also more self-confident and better able to judge the safety of situations they meet in daily life. However, we must remember, it is ultimately the responsibility of the adults caring for the child to seek support or report if they are concerned about a child’s wellbeing.

When we talk to children about staying safe in a calm and caring way, we are indicating to the children that if they are confused about something that is happening, they should never feel that something is SO bad that they can’t tell anyone. We all have the right to feel safe!

All SECASA workshops are mapped to relevant State and National curriculum guidelines. 

Feeling Safe Together – Junior Program (Foundation – grade 2)

  • Learning to recognise and name emotions.
  • Identifying early warning signs when feeling unsafe.
  • Creating a personal safety network of trusted adults.
  • Understanding the difference between secrets and surprises.
  • Understanding of the correct terminology for body parts.
  • Developing an understanding of body safety rules.

Feeling Safe Together – Middle Program (Grade 3 & 4)

  • Exploring emotions and how they manifest in the body.
  • Recognising unsafe situations and knowing when to seek help.
  • Knowing the difference between safe and unsafe secrets.
  • Understanding of the correct terminology for body parts.
  • Learning the rules of body safety and cybersafety.
  • Building a personal safety network and knowing how to use it.

Feeling Safe Together – Senior Program (Grade 5)

  • Understanding personal rights, including the right to safety, participation, and protection.
  • Exploring the fight, flight, and freeze response and recognising early warning signs of danger.
  • Creating a personal safety network of trusted adults who will listen, believe, and take action if needed.
  • Learning the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviours through scenarios.
  • Understanding of the correct terminology for body parts.
  • Understanding the impacts of sharing or receiving private images and knowing where to get help.
  • Recognising the importance of consent and respecting personal boundaries.

Safety Online and Respectful Relationships (SOARR) – Grade 6 

  • Safer online practices and managing their digital footprint.
  • Respectful online behaviour and preventing cyberbullying.
  • Social media pressures and their impact on self-esteem.
  • Sexting, consent, and handling inappropriate content.
  • Understanding online grooming and online scammers.
  • Encouraging students to seek help from trusted adults.

The SOARR program is endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider. 

Please see attachments which were also sent with the Compass message today for a comprehensive overview of the programs. Also attached was a copy of ‘Our Early Warning Signs poster’ and ‘My Body Rules poster’.
Additionally, you can find detailed information about the program on this website by following this link: Schools Program > SECASA

If parents/carers would prefer their child/children to not participate in this program, please send an email to: emerald.ps@education.vic.gov.au by Monday 14th October 9:00am to opt out of the program.

Please contact myself, Carice D’Rozario (Assistant Principal) or Bianca Appleby (Student Wellbeing & Inclusion Leader) at 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.

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.

  • Wednesday 16th October – Japanese Day
  • Special Event – Working Bee & Beer-Tasting: Saturday 19th October – 1pm to 3pm (see Emma’s report or Compass)
  • Saturday 19th October – Grade 6 H.P.V. team – Casey Fields – 9.00am to 5.00pm
  • Thursday 24th October – Regional Athletics (selected students)
  • Saturday 26th October @ 11.30am – 4pm – School Fair
  • Sunday 27th October – Grade 6 H.P.V. team – Lang Lang
  • 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 …

Canteen News

The Canteen is organising a special  Lunch offer for Japanese Day. This is a pre order lunch only and all orders MUST be in by Monday 14th October 10pm.  This special lunch is not available to purchase on the day.

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 

Upcoming Events …

Student Action Team Items!

Community News

Share This Newlsetter!

Canteen News!

Friday Meal Deal

Nacho’s

With sour cream, cheese and salsa

+

 Zooper dooper

$7.50

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