Issue 10

19 April 2017

S C H O O L V A L U E S

Care and Compassion – Care for self and others

Honesty and Trustworthiness – Be honest, sincere and seek the truth

Respect – Treat others with consideration and regard: respect another person’s point of view

Responsibility—Be accountable for one’s own actions, resolve differences in constructive,

non violent and peaceful ways; contribute to society and civic life, take care of the environment

149 Patons Road, Axe Creek Vic 3551

Telephone: 5439 6366

Email: eppalock.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Website: http://www.eppalockps.vic.edu.au

Term 2 is here!! We are back! Another exciting term at Eppalock PS has begun. We hope all families enjoyed some quality time together and our students continued to display our school values at home. It is important for our students to understand that our school values extend beyond the school gates and should always continue to be part of how they conduct themselves. We encourage parents to speak these values around the house as often as necessary. Below we have included some statements from our Grade 2/3 students about our school values and what they mean to them. BBQ Fundraiser at Easter

Many thanks to those families who gave up some of their Easter Sunday to assist with the BBQ fundraiser, some families even did a double shift, which is amazing. It was a great day with quite a bit of money raised for the school. The final total for the day will be announced at school council tomorrow night, and in the newsletter next week, once it has been counted. A huge thanks to Kevin Reade for nominating our school for the opportunity, and his guidance on the day and in the lead up to the event. Kevin did a mountain of work for this event organising everything and everyone. Thanks also to Nikki Mannes for her overall organisation and rounding up of the troops.

NAPLAN These assessments are coming up in May. Tuesday 9

th – Thursday 11

th are the main Naplan days. If you have

any questions or concerns regarding these assessments please come and speak with Mr O’Neill at school. Foodshare Just a reminder that we have signed up to the Foodshare program again in 2017. If you would benefit from some extra food items from time to time, please let us know at school and we can put aside a box for you. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of this program we will have a range of items available each week for families to help themselves to. Most of this will sit in the open space area with some plastic bags. Special request boxes will be put aside in the staffroom for pick up. It will usually be at school on a Wednesday morning, so drop in that day and grab a few things. Living Green Excursion Eppalock PS has been lucky enough to be invited to a fantastic learning opportunity in Cohuna next Thursday the 27

th April. A note went home yesterday in regards to this event. The whole school will be attending the day and we

do require the permission note to be returned. No money is required for the excursion. The bus will leave from school at 8:00am on this day. As mentioned in the letter yesterday the school bus will run one hour earlier in the morning to ensure students are at school by 7.50 am. If your child is catching the bus to school on the 27th, please make sure they are at their appointed bus stop one hour earlier than normal. We have been advised that there will be a sausage in bread supplied on the day however we strongly recommend that students bring extra food for lunch and snacks as well as water.

TRIVIA NIGHT—SATURDAY 6TH MAY—SEE ATTACED NOTICE— WE NEED TO FINALISE NUMBERS!

Hobbies and Clubs—We would like to start this program again in Week 5 – Friday May 25th and run through until

the end of term. If you are able to volunteer an hour of your time on a Friday afternoon from 2:15-3:15pm please contact Mr O’Neill at school. We have had Sal running some Bush Survival skills in term 1, which the students loved. An offer of some Movie Making in term 2 looks amazing, however we will need a few extra parents to make Hobbies and Clubs a success. If you would like to help but are not sure of what to do, come and have a chat with one of the teachers at school.

A special welcome to Harry and his family. Harry has joined our school and is P/1. From all reports Harry has settled in very well and has been made feel very welcome by our friendly students. Another special welcome to Miss Grace Coard and Miss Tara Whittaker who are both studying teaching and will be at our school this term. Grace will be based in the P/1 room with Mrs Lindhe and Tara will work across the 2-6 area.

Awards—Congratulations to the following students for being nominated for an award—Liselle, Baylee and Daisy. These will be presented at Monday’s assembly. Kiwanis Award comes to Eppalock PS—Just a reminder about the Kiwanis award which Tilly won at the end of last term. Teachers will be looking out for another student this term. It is a great award and should be one that all students continually strive for. Junior School Council—Our proposed events for term 2 will be taken to School Council tomorrow night for approval. We will announce the events and dates in the newsletter next week. After School Activities in Term 2—Starting week 3 of this term, we will be trialling some voluntary after school activities on a Tuesday and Wednesday night at school. Tuesday will be Chess Club from 3:30-4:30pm, run in the 4/5/6 room and Wednesday night will be a Net Set Go Netball program run by Sal Symes on the basketball court. A sign up/permission note will go home shortly. There will be a small cost involved in each program to ensure our adult volunteers have a regular group – parents can choose to pay for the full length of the program or pay a slightly higher weekly fee per session. These trial activities will run between 6-8 weeks each. Keep an eye out for sign ups. Any money collected from activities will be put back into the school in some way. Working with Children Checks—It was fantastic to see so many of our school community following up with Working with Children documentation. It is stated in our Child Safe document that all volunteers at Eppalock PS will have one of these in place when coming into the school. It is not too late to follow up this requirement. Reminders:

Please continue to encourage children to aim for 200 nights of recorded reading for the year. We will be chasing up where our students are at in the next week or so and present some awards at school. Home reading should be recorded in the school diary or reading journal (depending on class requirements) to qualify for an award.

Ms Hartney is on Long Service Leave until May 20th. Mr O’Neill will be in the 2/3 class for the first 2 weeks

of term – after this time the class will be split P-2 & 3-6. Mrs Lindhe will take the P-2 and Mr O’Neill the 3-6.

Di Riepsamen will also spend some time away from school in May to embark on an amazing learning opportunity. During this time Mr O’Neill will mostly cover the class as a 3-6 group.

Thanks Mr O’Neill

Congratulations Jess and Tilly!

You did a terrific job reading your narrative (imaginative story) about the Easter Bunny to the whole school on the last day of term. The 4/5/6s have had a narrative writing focus this term, with an emphasis on strong characters, settings, problems, even bigger problems and solutions. For this task we brainstormed over 25 problems that the Easter Bunny could have at Easter time and then students worked in pairs to write a narrative centred around one of these problems, or one of their own. We'll share the rest with you next term!

TRIVIA NIGHT SATURDAY 6TH MAY

2017

WE NEED NUMBERS—

HAVE YOU BOOKED YOUR

TABLE / SEAT?

EARLY BIRD TICKETS AT $16.00 PER PERSON HAS BEEN EXTENDED BUT CLOSES THIS FRIDAY, 21ST APRIL

GET YOURSELF ORGANISED AND

LOCK IN THE DATE WITH FAMILY

AND FRIENDS

COME ALONG FOR A FUN-FILLED

EVENING

LOTS OF PRIZES

SILENT AUCTION

LOTS OF LAUGHS

BOOK YOUR SEAT /

TABLE NOW

CONTACT THE SCHOOL OFFICE

5439 6366

BABY-SITTING AVAILABLE ON SITE ON THE NIGHT AT A NOMINAL FEE

IMPORTANT DATES APRIL Friday 21st PE Tuesday 25th ANZAC DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY Wednesday 26th MARC LIBRARY Thursday 27th LIVING GREEN excursion to Cohuna (P-6) Friday 28th SCOPE Mothers’ Day Art Activity (P-6) MAY Friday 5th PIE WARMER LUNCH 8th—12th NAPLAN WEEK (Grade 3 and Grade 5) Thursday 11th MARC LIBRARY Friday 12th CROSS COUNTRY (Grade 3,4,5,6) Friday 19th SPECIAL SOUP LUNCH DAY

22nd—26th EDUCATION WEEK

Thursday 25th MARC LIBRARY

Friday 26th PIE WARMER LUNCH

JUNE

Monday 12th QUEENS BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Friday 30th LAST DAY TERM 2—1.30 pm finish

JULY

Monday 17th FIRST DAY TERM 3

AUGUST 24th—25th GRADE 3/4/5/6 CAMP (Urban Camp Melbourne)

CONGRATULATIONS LYDIA Lydia has been nominated for the Powercor Game Changer Leadership Award which celebrates women in Regional Victoria who lead the way by driving and embracing change. Lydia, as we all know, is very passionate about her work and strives to make a huge difference in her community. Some of Lydia’s achievements include being the driving force for our community kitchen, helping educators increase indigenous awareness in classrooms, introducing environmental science programs to schools and being a strong advocator for nature based play at kinders. Congratulations Lydia we are all very proud of you and the work you do and we wish you well.

School Bank Day will be TUESDAY—

anyone wishing to use this facilities must

have their passbook etc handed in at the

office by 9.00 am on a Tuesday morning.

TRIVIA NIGHT SILENT AUCTION: We are needing everyone's help now to seek items to include in our Silent Auction. This raises THE MOST money on the night, so if possible we need people's help to find items to auction. There is a list at the front office - please see if you can put your name down to approach someone/a business. There will be a signed letter from the Principal to take with you. And on the night for all of us - it's an incredible opportunity to get gym lessons, holiday programs, dinner's/evenings out etc - for a BARGAIN PRICE!!!!

Can someone approach some bakeries in town? Can you approach the pubs/hotels for dinner vouchers? Can someone approach the liquor marts for bottles of wine / spirits? Can someone check out the coffee drive-thru places for vouchers? Can someone approach the pubs and hotels for gift/dinner vouchers? Can someone approach Toyworld? Can someone approach Bunnings?

ALSO: We can accept goods and services for this fundraiser - can you offer any services or do you know someone/a business that can?

fencing babysitting tree planting labour handyman services catering for parties birthday cake making baking for school lunches (provided as a box of goodies to freeze ready for term lunches) a few hours of gardening / weeding gutter clearing tutoring for secondary age students electrical work sorting out home stereo/electronics systems for tvs/sound systems etc

Last year we had parents donating 1-10hrs of their time against these services to put on a voucher to auction off.... Can you offer a few hours for us to auction off?? We're hoping to raise more than $3,000 with your help.

EPPALOCK / AXE CREEK COMMUNITY PLAYGROUP Mondays 1.30 pm – 3.15 pm Thursdays 1.30 pm – 3.15 pm

Gold coin donation per child

Fruit snack provided

Inside/outside play, craft, playdoh, stories, cooking and the occasional excursion

Great company and a hot ‘cuppa’ for parents / carers