Principal's Message

Well what another big two weeks at ENPS! Term Four always seems to happen so quickly and so much is always going on! Who would think it is only the end of Week Two of Term Four? Who can believe there is only nine weeks till we are finished again for another year?!

It is such an exciting time of year; the Year Sixes are working so hard on preparing for their Exhibition - their final showcase of learning for their primary school years, while we welcome our 2026 Foundation students beginning last week with their story time session. I had such a blast reading to them last Friday. Reading stories is one of my absolute favourite things to do and I just loved starting to get to know our future students and their families. The Year Four (future buddies) students were tremendous guest readers last week too! 

While we had over 60 of our new little people come along to start familiarising themselves with school for story time, we had the Foundation Parent Information Night on Wednesday. Many of the new students also had a play session after school, as a part of the transition program. This is a great way for them to become familiar with the Foundation classrooms, while we also get to know them all better. We look forward to seeing more of them next week for the final play session before the Wednesday orientation session begin at the end of October. 

Meanwhile the School and House Captains were in the spotlight filming their Acknowledgement of Country video for the Foundation Information night… one take wonders they certainly are (mostly!) 

As for Exhibition, it is so fantastic to see and hear the Year Sixes so invested in their learning for Exhibition. The focus on science this year is going to again be a real stand out! Make sure you keep Thursday 30th October free to come along and see Exhibition! Also check out their updates in the newsletter and at our assemblies. It truly is a remarkable event!

Congratulations to our Year Three students who held their own mini exhibition this week too, showcasing their amazing prototypes and inquiries into sustainability. 

And while we are on a roll celebrating, make sure you check out this newsletter for our 2025 NAPLAN results update. What a fantastic achievement from our Year Three and Five students and exemplary demonstration of the incredible learning and teaching that we do at ENPS.

Big Plans for ENPS: Advocating for Capital Works Upgrades! 

Last Friday, our School Council representatives and Executive Team had a captive audience with Danny Pearson MP, along with representatives from the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) and the Minister for Education, Ben Carroll’s office, in our quest for significant capital works funding for our school. 

What we actively seek from the State Government is an estimated $20 million to refurbish the school administration and office areas, as well as the demolition of the existing arts buildings to be replaced with a state-of-the-art Science, Technology, Visual and Performing Arts precinct. While they may sound like grand plans, ENPS is one of a very small number of state government primary schools in Melbourne that has not been the recipient of significant capital works improvement in 15 years and we believe it is our time for a major buildings upgrade. Check out the School Council page for more about this and other updates!

Staffing Update

This term we have already welcomed one new ENPS baby to our ranks. Andrew Whitby and his wife, Bec, welcomed their baby boy, Ollie in the holiday break. Congratulations to Andrew and Bec!

Rhys McIntosh will be heading off at the end of next week to begin family leave as he and his partner Erika prepare to welcome their second child. We can't wait to hear of the next safe arrival in the coming weeks!

Big congratulations also to Morgan King who married Paddy on the holiday break, and to Serena Walker on her engagement to partner Wade! Such happy staff news upon our return to school - congratulations to all! 

This term Julie Schenk (library) continues extended leave with family in the UK and we are so incredibly grateful to Sandra Magro and Kerrie Dwyer as our remarkable stand in library volunteers! Sue Elsbury (PE) is also continuing extended leave following back surgery last term. We hope to see Sue return before the end of the year. We have also welcomed Stuart Upton back in our Groundskeeper role.

Continuous Improvement and Community Feedback

As communicated last newsletter, the Victorian Government and Department of Education have been significantly reviewing and updating the Victorian Curriculum. Through these updates, we have used this as an opportunity to really reflect and review how we approach learning and teaching, and in particular, how it impacts our ability to maintain learning and teaching through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) framework. Our staff are working exceptionally hard to navigate through these complexities yet actively embracing evidence-based research to continually improve our practice and pedagogy. However, we know that there will be changes from 2026. 

As an opportunity for feedback, we invite parents, carers and guardians to complete a brief survey to have your voice on what you value and areas you feel can be improved. This survey is an opportunity to share your perspectives, voice and opinions to our School Improvement Team with meaningful data to make informed decisions moving forward. We acknowledge that this survey is additional to the 2025 ORIMA Parent/Carer/Guardian Survey, however we believe it will collate pivotal information that is directly relevant to our context. Please complete the survey by Friday 24th October. 

Changes to Digital Device use in Primary Schools

While we have been undertaking a very timely review of our use of digital devices at ENPS and in particular our BYOD program, yesterday, the Victorian Government announced significant changes ahead for digital device use in primary schools. Please read the important information in this newsletter regarding the required changes from 2027, and subsequent changes we will be implementing from 2026.

2026 Planning

We are now well into our planning for the 2026 school year. A reminder that we ask that if you and your family are planning on leaving ENPS at the end of 2025, please let the school office know as soon as you are able to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.)

Have a wonderful weekend, stay safe and thank goodness for daylight saving! I hope to see many of our families next Wednesday for our fabulous Family Maths Afternoon!

Kate Barletta

Principal