Principal’s Report

Welcome Back to Term 4!

Welcome back to all our students, families and staff for what promises to be another exciting and action-packed term at Emerald Primary School! We hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable break and is feeling refreshed and ready for the term ahead.

There is plenty happening across the school this term, including our Grade 6 Production, Rotary Speech Night, visits from our 2027 Prep students as part of their transition program, the final Human-Powered Vehicle event for the year, and Grade 4 Camp, along with all the wonderful learning, activities and opportunities that make up life at Emerald Primary School.

We look forward to a fantastic Term 4 and to sharing all the special moments and achievements with our school community along the way.

Building and Grounds Updates

There has been plenty happening around our school over the holidays and as we begin Term 4! A range of building and grounds works have been underway, including upgrades to our Shelter-in-Place areas and the Administration/Junior School Building to ensure we are well prepared for the upcoming bushfire season. Some other minor indoor building works have also been completed. Over the holidays, we also saw the completion of new pathways to support safer movement around the school, along with some gorgeous special additions to our Friendship Tree area – with more exciting details to come!

A big vote of thanks to Julia Weir (our School Council Building and Grounds Co-ordinator), Hugo Weir, Corey Powell and Peta Woodyard for all their hard work and care in creating and developing the Friendship Tree space. This project is ongoing but well and truly on the way to completion. We also acknowledge all of the support from our amazing School Council members to make this project possible. In addition, we would like to make special mention of the beautiful wooden seats designed, prepared and donated by John from Tree Range Arborists – a true local community supporter. We are so grateful for the time, creativity and effort that has gone into making this such a special area for our students and school community.

Enrolments and Exits 2027

We are coming into an important time of year regarding planning for 2027. If you are aware of any families who are looking at enquiring to enrol at EPS and have not submitted enrolment forms for next year, please encourage them to contact the school ASAP. Also, if you are exiting the school at the end of this year, please let us know as soon as possible so we can include this in our planning.

Planning Classes for 2027

As we start Term 4, teachers begin the process of creating classes for 2027 to establish the best learning environment for them again with their peers. There are several factors that are considered in finding the best balance for each grade such as:

Achievement levels
Behavioural challenges
Interpersonal relationships between students
Teacher recommendations

Achieving even a semi-equal distribution of these factors simultaneously is no small feat! Our priority is creating a high performing and positive classroom environment ensuring a stimulating space for students to achieve their best.

As a result, requests for classes based on interpersonal relationships between students, in writing, will be accepted until Friday 30^th October (emerald.ps@education.vic.gov.au).

Please note – all grade teachers will go through a process in coming weeks whereby they ask students in their classes to give them a short list of which students they would like to be with in 2027 because they learn well with them, and/or they are students who make them feel happy and safe in the classroom, which is a separate process to any parent/carer requests submitted by email.

Requests for individual teachers will not be accepted and the final decision on all student placements rests with myself and the teaching team, after due consideration of all related factors. I thank you for your cooperation and understanding in supporting what is best for all of our students at EPS and look forward to a positive and exciting start to 2027 – which will come around quicker than we know it.

Absences and Compass

If your student is absent from school, we request that parents/carers please complete absence notes for the time they are away.

This can be done on Compass by selecting ‘Add Attendance Note’ and filling in the details, and can be done prior to, on the day of, or after the absence has occurred.

If your student has been absent and a reason has not been recorded there will be a notification on your Compass homepage.

We appreciate your co-operation in ensuring our attendance records are up-to-date and complete. The Department of Education requires us to follow these up regularly.

If you do not have access to Compass, please or call/drop in for assistance setting up your Compass log in.

Being SunSmart for Term 4

A reminder to all students to please wear their hat from the start of this term outside in order to ensure protection against the sun for Term 4. Hats can be purchased from the Uniform Shop for $16. Students without hats to wear at break times will be directed to play in the undercover area.

Changes to the Way We Use Class Dojo

As we continue to look at the best ways to communicate with our school community, we will be making some changes to how we use Class Dojo from Term 4. Class Dojo will continue to be used for whole-school and grade cohort posts, including sharing important information, reminders and celebrations with families. However, the direct messaging function between individual parents/carers and staff members will no longer be used for communication.

If you have a question, concern or matter you would like to discuss with your child’s teacher, we encourage you to touch base with them briefly before or after school, where appropriate, or contact the school to arrange a meeting time. You can also email the school emerald.ps@education.vic.gov.au and your message will be directed to the appropriate staff member. For anything urgent that needs to be addressed on the day, please contact the school office by phone so that we can ensure the message is received promptly.

We appreciate that families are busy and that communication between home and school is an important part of supporting our students. These changes will help us ensure that communication is managed consistently, that staff have appropriate time to focus on teaching and learning during the school day, and that parents and carers have the opportunity to discuss concerns directly and constructively.

Important Health Information for EPS

Please see attached some very important information in regards to protecting the health of a student at Emerald Primary School. Your support and co-operation is very much appreciated.

Important Letter from Monash Childrens Hospital 2026

EPS Student Free/Curriculum Days 2026

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

Friday 4^th December – Assessment & Reporting Day

For those families using the TheirCare childcare service, they are preparing to have students on the 4^th December dates: https://theircare.com.au/

Exciting Events & Must-Know Dates!

Term 4:
October Events:
- Monday 5th October – Friday 9th October – Grade 6 Production Rehearsals
- Monday 12th October – Tuesday 13th October – Grade 6 Production Rehearsals
- Wednesday 14th October – Grade 6 Production Matinee @1pm
- Thursday 15th October – Grade 6 Production Evening Show @6.30pm
- Friday 16th October – Grade 6 Production Evening Show @6.30pm
- Thursday 22nd October – School Council @ 7.15pm