Infectious Disease
Unfortunately we have had to continue to leave our Infectious Disease update at the top of our bulletin. Over the past week and especially over the weekend we have had numerous Covid Positive cases. We ask that if your child is symptomatic you do not send them to school and we thank you in advance as we acknowledge that this can be challenging, especially for working parents.
There is currently no requirement from the DET that we communicate cases with the community. However out of precaution, we have decided to inform you. If your child does test positive for COVID-19 and/or any other infectious disease we ask you contact the school via email Ivanhoe.east.ps@education.vic.gov.au and it is recommended that they isolate for a minimum of 5 days and not attend school until their symptoms have resolved.
In relation to Covid-19 it is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff:
- If you have symptoms of COVID-19 infection, no matter how mild
- If you are a household or close contact of someone who has COVID-19
- If you are a social contact of someone who has COVID-19.
Rapid Antigen Tests are also available from the front office, please don’t hesitate to come in and collect as needed.
Canteen Survey
We are continually tracking our sales through the canteen and recently Kim Hall our canteen manager and I sat down to discuss a winter menu. We ask that you speak with your child to help complete the voting form for our new canteen menu, alternatively you can do so on behalf of them. The top options will be added to the canteen menu for the rest of Term 2 and into Term 3. We ask that this is completed by Monday morning of next week https://forms.gle/c7Gi82EGbEjQpt5a8
Southern Cross Kids' Camps
Zoe Bloore, our school psychologist is raising money for Southern Cross Kids' Camps which will give abused and neglected children the chance to go on a 5-day camp to create some happy memories.
Please help Zoe to raise money for Australian children who have experienced neglect or abuse as Zoe completes this cycling fundraiser in May.
https://sckc.org.au/profile/zoe-bloore/
2024 Prep Enrolments (Due by July 28th)
Please note that all enrolments, including siblings claims and in zone enrolments need to be submitted by Friday 28th of July. Please collect an enrolment form from our front office or online via our website.
We also have one more Pre-Prep session, on Friday the 2nd of June for all prospective 2024 Foundation students at IEPS, as well as a Prospective Prep Information Night on Wednesday 14th of June. If you are interested in participating please fill out the below form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdxfDlJ3I-8zplUfDAtKq81tupMAE2R29K_Wfp_-D3iG0Cycg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Upcoming Days of Acknowledgement
May 26th – Sorry Day
The first National Sorry Day in 1998 is an Australia wide observance, marking the anniversary of the Bring Them Home report which acknowledged that Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families. If you would like to participate in this day, there is an open invitation to a healing ceremony between 1pm-2pm at Malahang Reserve.
Reconciliation Week
May 27th until June 3rd – Reconciliation Week
Reconciliation Week commemorates two significant milestones in our country’s journey to reconciliation: the 1967 Referendum and the High Court Mabo decision. It is an acknowledgement of our past and a goal for our country’s future.
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 is, Be a Voice for Generations, and encourages all Australians to be a voice in building reconciliation in their everyday lives. The focus is to move past equitable, and to create a reconciled country for all. For this week, IEPS will be participating in the NAIDOC Week competition where they can win a range of prizes. For the younger year levels this will be a colouring in sheet, and the older years will be creating a poem under the theme ‘respecting culture’.
IEPS Food Drive
Foodbank is Australia’s largest food relief organisation, operating on a scale that makes it crucial to the work of the front-line charities who are feeding vulnerable Australians. Foodbank provides more than 70% of the food rescued for food relief organisations nation-wide. The PAG representatives have decided to hold a food drive supporting families in need who are struggling to put food on their table. In week 6 and 7 (Monday 29th May-Friday 9th June), students are encouraged to bring canned food to support those families, couples and children who may go without food on a regular basis. The class that collects the most food cans will win a prize. Please see the poster below for guidelines about what to donate.
2023 School Council parent members and their role
School Council consists of nominated parents and school representatives including Acting Principal Tom Boyle as the Executive Officer and Assistant Principals Amanda Dwyer and Ben Phillips and grade 6 teacher Alexandra Silvestro as Department Employees.
The role of school council is to ensure the
- efficient governance of the school; and
- decisions of the school are in the best interests of students.
For 2023 the parent reps are:
- Helen McBain, School Council President. Helen was previously PTFA president and has been a class rep for several years. Helen has Jock in Year 6.
- Emily Baxter, Vice President. Emily has Arthur in Prep and has immigrated from the UK to live in the area with her husband who grew up in East Ivanhoe. Emily has Arthur in Foundation.
- Josh Hunter, Treasurer. Josh has joined School Council this year. Josh is an experienced IT Project manager and has Chloe in Year 6 and Hamish in Year 4.
- Kate O’Callaghan has been involved in School Council for several years and was previously joint School Council president with Luisa Ford. Kate has Darcy in Year 6.
- Fred Purcell. Fred joined School Council last year. Fred oversees the facilities subcommittee of council. He was previously on School Council at Fitzroy Primary School. Fred has Annika in Year 4 and Elsa in Year 6.
- Bob Wootton. Bob has been on School Council for a number of years and advises on the policy committee. He has An in Year 6 and Miki in Year 4.
- Donna White. Donna joined Council this year and represents the PTFA. She is actively involved in the fundraising activities of the school. Donna has Zachary in Year 1 and Zire in Year 3.
Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser
Thank you to everyone that was able to help on the day and leading up to last Saturday May 20th where IEPS hosted the Bunnings BBQ at Fairfield Bunnings. A special thank you to Amanda Lynch, Susan McEwan, Helen McBain, Foodworks and Nelson Alexander as well as all community members who volunteered their time. We were able to raise close to $1600 and it was a great opportunity for us to further engage with our wider community.
May 23rd – Hoodie up Day
Yesterday students put their hoodies up for Autism awareness month. On this day we raise awareness and understanding, as well as support the wellbeing of individuals and families of those who are diagnosed with Autism. There were a range of opportunities for students to better understand neurodiversity through daily activities that they would usually participate in, but with a lens of how these support our neurodiverse students.
Reminders from Previous Newsletters
Cyber Safety and Social Media
We are all living in extraordinary and rapidly changing times. Children today have access to more technology and functions than ever before, and keeping up with this as parents, carers and teachers can be challenging.
It has been brought to our attention that students are using online platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft.
The usage of these apps occurs outside of school hours, at night, and over the weekend and sometimes things that are posted and/or sent can negatively impact students' academic, social, and emotional well-being. We appreciate that our students feel comfortable coming forward to talk to their classroom teacher and members of leadership, however we have been informed that many students are hiding their digital footprint from their parents.
We have a proactive approach to support our students with their learning and this includes their ability to navigate the digital world. We strongly encourage you to have a conversation with your child about their digital footprint. Please note that many of these platforms are 13+, however, if your student is accessing these applications we implore you to sit with them and have a conversation about how to use these apps safely. Make sure all privacy settings are turned on and they know that they can speak to a trusted adult if they are unsure about anything.
We are currently doing the following to educate our school community to ensure a safe online environment for all our students:
- As per the DET Policy on Mobile Phones, we are proactively collecting devices from students in the morning before the start of school and returning them at the end of the day. This is to ensure no transmitting devices are accessible throughout the school day.
- We have partnered with the Cyber Safety Project. They ran student sessions last term as well as a parent session. There are 3 more parent webinars on offer, all of this is available through our school bulletin. We also have access, and classes are using curriculum-aligned lessons for students using online tools safely.
- Senior School students will also be working on receiving a digital license to become eSmart students throughout the next term.
Further resources
- We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the Cyber Safety Project and subscribe to their newsletter via https://cybersafetyproject.com.au/
- On top of this, the following website https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents is free to access and has great resources to support parents in all the big issues around the use of digital technologies and we urge you to read through this information.
- We also ask that you familiarise yourself with the following information, which outlines how to protect information and report any harmful content based on each specific application https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide.
- There is a great app called Beacon which is available via the App Store. This is a cyber safety educational app designed to keep parents and carers up-to-date with trusted, tailored information, to help keep their kids safe online.
We thank you for your ongoing support and awareness of this issue.
IEPS Lunchtime Clubs Timetable - 2023
For Your Diaries
Please refer to IEPS Important Dates below for Term 2 important dates.
Follow Us
A reminder that we now have a community Instagram account, this account is used to connect with our wider community, promote school events and give an insight into our facilities, incursions, excursions, and all of the wonderful teaching & learning that is happening at IEPS. You can follow our movements by networking with us @ivanhoeeastprimaryschool on Instagram.
Regards,
Tom Boyle
Acting Principal
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