Berry Street Educational Model (BSEM)

By the end of 2024 all teaching and education support staff at Elphinstone Primary School will have completed Berry Street training. The Berry Street Education Model helps educators gain new perspectives, strategies and skills to build safer, healthier and more engaging classrooms for all students. For more information visit the Berry Street website https://www.berrystreet.org.au/learning-and-resources/berry-street-education-model

Camps and Excursions

To give our students a full camp experience, we join other small schools in our network to offer a range of activity and educational based camps, operating on a two year cycle. We team up with Chewton, Taradale, Langley and Redesdale Mia Mia Primary Schools. Students in grade 3 and 4 visit Lady Northcote Adventure Camp and Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement and our grade 5 and 6 student enjoy Urban Camp Melbourne, along with Camp Wilkin in Anglesea.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

We are proud to be included in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in 2024, where we aim to bring pleasurable food education to our students. We are in the process of renewing our orchard, introducing more fruit varieties that will be ready for harvest during school times. For further information about the program visit https://www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/

Breakfast Club

Every Wednesday morning, we offer our students a breakfast program supported by the Foodbank Organisation. The program also extends to providing healthy food that we can offer students for snacks or lunch. Details of the program can be found at  https://www.vic.gov.au/school-breakfast-clubs-program

eSmart

All students in grade 4 to 6 at Elphinstone are participating in the Allanah and Madeline Foundation’s eSmart program where students work through a series of modules to obtain an eSmart Digital Licence. ‘Digital technology is part of everyday life for children and young people as they live, learn and play. By developing their digital literacy, young people can harness the opportunities and overcome the challenges they face in a digital world. These skills can help to develop the foundations they need to thrive as they continue their learning journey’ – eSmart website The eSmart Digital Licence modules cover topics including self-regulation, kindness, vigilance and empathy, helping students gain knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs to become positive digital citizens in their class and community.

For more information about eSmart click https://www.alannahandmadeline.org.au/what-we-do/prevention-programs/esmart

Sport

To ensure that our students have every opportunity to participate, we actively seek out other small schools to enter team sports in our district competitions. Sports include Soccer, Football, Netball, Basketball and Cricket. Sometimes we have 3 to 4 schools joining forces to provide an opportunity for students to play their favourite sport! P-2 students also participate in a Kickball Tournament and Tabloid Sports with schools within our community.

Friday Clubs

Every Friday is ‘Fun Friday’ at Elphinstone Primary School! Each afternoon we run a Clubs Program where student choose their electives and we draw on the expertise of our staff, parent and wider community to facilitate them. Some of the clubs that we consistently offer are Cooking, Woodwork, Dance and Drama, Technology, Bike Riding, Lego Challenge and Gardening – to name a few!