Days of Acknowledgement

March 8^th – International Women’s Day

On Friday we celebrate International Women’s Day with the theme ‘Inspire Inclusion’. We promote a more equitable society where we help build women up and ensure a sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment. On this day we acknowledge that there historically has been, and still is a gender discrimination, but we continue to make steps to minimize this gap. IEPS is proud to be building our female students confidence, capabilities and self-belief in what they feel they can achieve now and what they want to achieve in the future.  I would like to personally acknowledge and thank all our female stakeholders as they are integral to the current success and continuous improvement cycle at IEPS.

March 9^th – World Math’s Day

At IEPS we love Math, we love to teach it, learn more about it and apply our critical thinking as we look at real-world problems. In term two we will be having a math focused morning where we invite our families into the classroom, but for now we acknowledge this day by students looking back at what we used to know, now know and how much they have grown as learners. 

March 9^th – Ramadan

Beginning on the evening of the 9^th, Ramadan will continue until the 8^th of April. During this month, those who celebrate take part in a month of fasting, prayer and reflection. We are proud to have a multicultural community, for those students who are participating; families we ask that you reach out to your child’s teacher so that we can make appropriate adjustments to assist them during eating times for this month. We hope you have a blessed Ramadan.

Canteen Substitute March 8^th - ***Place your order by 11:30 am, Thursday 7th March

On Friday, March 8^th our Canteen will be closed (for lunch orders and counter sales) due to our canteen manager Kim taking LSL.

We have located and implemented an alternative and have organised another lunch option for those who are interested. 

Subway Preston West and Canteen Hub are very pleased to be able to offer the Subs For You School Lunch Program at Ivanhoe East Primary School.

• On Friday 8th March
• Please register at www.canteenhub.com.au
• Place your order by 11:30 am, Thursday 7th March
• If you need to cancel your order this can be done via www.canteenhub.com.au under your profile up to the order cut-off time.
• Need help please email help@canteenhub.com or head to the help tab on our homepage.

Please note: as this is being run by Canteen Hub, you will need to place your order and direct all enquiries to Canteen Hub. No late orders will be accepted.

Instrumental Music Update

Kathy Elston has been offered a full-time position at Keysborough College teaching woodwind.  She is sad to leave IEPS but cannot pass up this opportunity. Kathy starts at Keysborough on Tuesday, March 12th.  We are currently working through the process to find a new Instrumental Music teacher and will update our community as soon as we have someone in place.

Lost Opportunities through Late Arrivals and School Absences

Lateness and lost opportunities are a big focus for the Department of Education and our school this year, the accumulated absence or lateness does add up to significant lost learning time. Consider this:

• A student who is late by half an hour each day misses the equivalent of 16.6 days of learning each year.
• An 80% attendance rate is the equivalent of missing one day per week or 40 days of lost learning for the school year which could add up to 2 ½ years from Prep – Year 12.
• 85% attendance equals 30 days of lost learning per year or 2 years from Prep – Year 12.
• 90% attendance equals 1 day per fortnight or 20 days per year equalling one year of absence from Prep – Year 12.
• 95% attendance equals 10 days of lost learning and over half a year of lost opportunities from Prep – Year 12.

Research that the Department of Education is leaning on indicates that there is no safe threshold to missing school. They determined this using a combination of school enrolment figures, attendance records and NAPLAN results provided by the Education Department. They studied patterns of over 415,000 primary and high school students over a five-year time frame. In all analyses, average academic achievement on NAPLAN tests declined with any absence from school and continued to decline as absence rates increased.

Every day of absence made a difference, and this was particularly true for unauthorised absences. The effect of one day of absence was relatively small but added up quickly as more and more days were missed. The effect of missing days accumulated over time, so that school absence not only impacted achievement in the year in which the days were missed but in future years as well. The message is straightforward and well-supported, every day of school that is missed is a lost opportunity, please ensure your child is at school every day!

Please note that we acknowledge due to sickness that this is not always possible and ask that even though we stress the importance of attendance if a child is unwell, especially if they are symptomatic they should stay home until they fully recover. Any students who attend school symptomatic will be sent home by our School nurses as we need to make sure we continue to protect our community by mitigating the spread of infectious illnesses. Furthermore, we acknowledge that there may be special circumstances for some families and we appreciate the current collective effort to support our students in continuous and improved attendance. 

On behalf of the senior school teaching staff, specialists team, and wider leadership team we would like to take a moment to congratulate all students who applied and presented speeches for these positions. It takes courage and dedication to put oneself forward for such roles, and we are incredibly proud of each and every student who participated in the process. Their commitment to leadership and willingness to contribute to our school community are truly commendable.

Without further ado, I am delighted to announce the successful candidates for the following student leadership positions:

The senior school staff and specialist team of 2023 and 2024, as well as the wider leadership team notes that these students have demonstrated exceptional qualities of leadership, responsibility, and dedication, and we have every confidence in their ability to fulfil their roles effectively.

We invite you to the onsite assembly on Friday the 8th of March where the successful candidates will be presented with their 2024 leadership badges. Unfortunately, I will not be able to present these badges as I will be on carers leave on Friday, however Benjamin Phillips will present the badges and I look forward to working with our Student leaders over the course of the year.

Reminders from Last Weeks Bulletin

2nd Hand Uniform Shop Update

2nd Hand Uniform has been in high demand so far this year. Your donations are greatly appreciated, so please keep them coming! Feedback about the uniform swap system has been overwhelmingly positive and is an initiative that that will keep going.

The donation to Upparel was organised due to a large volume of damaged uniform being donated to us and left at school. The alternative was landfill. 

Moving forward, we welcome only IEPS branded jumpers, jackets, hoodies and t-shirts, winter dresses, summer dresses (white trim only), shorts and skorts. Uniform must be free of rips, holes and stains and be in reasonable, overall condition- not too faded.

Any questions, please contact the office or visit any Friday morning from 8.30am.

Privacy Reminder for our School Community

Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. 

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy https://ivanhoeeastps.vic.edu.au/policies describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.