Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope that the term is starting to settle into familiar routines. It was lovely to have our first assembly for the term on Monday. We also received photos from parents of many EEPS siblings wearing their Eltham East school uniforms as a part of their Year 12 celebrations! Time can certainly fly by.

Appreciation

The Year 3 camp last week was a great success. I would like to sincerely thank the teachers, Education Support staff, and parents who accompanied our large cohort of Year 3s to camp. I enjoyed canoeing with all the groups over the action packed two days.

Uniform

Please look out for the additional Compass Newsfeed explaining the revised EEPS Student Dress Code uniform update. My apologies that this wasn’t sent last term. A further Newsfeed has also been sent to Year 4 and 5 parents regarding the new house tops. 

Positive Parenting Group

Please see attached an interesting, free, online series of workshops on ‘Positive Parenting Group’, aimed at parents of 5-10year olds. This is part of the ‘Positive Parenting Program’ and facilitated by Berry Street.

Our Approach and Request

As we head into a long and busy term, I would like to take the opportunity to remind parents again about the best way to approach situations with your child that may not go to plan.

My request to parents and carers is that, when your child comes home after something has happened, please adopt the same approach, and follow this guide:

1. Allow a little time to space, rather than immediately contacting the school
2. If possible, wait until both parents (where applicable) can be present
3. Listen for your child to tell you the part one- what they actually heard, saw, experienced or witnessed
4. Be curious…seek to understand what was leading up to the event and exactly what their role in it was
5. Listen for the part two - what they are uncertain about
6. Think and reflect upon this information yourself
7. Respectfully seek further clarification from the teacher, as your child only ever has one perspective and mostly, there are generally different perspectives, with a more comprehensive view of events. Please resist doing your own detective work by asking or inquiring for more information from other parents or directly approaching other children. 

Following this stepped process will produce the best outcomes for your child.

When I do offer advice or requests from time to time, it comes from my combined knowledge and experience with working with thousands of children and families over many years.

Learning and Growing Together

This week we had the first of a two-part staff learning session geared around being ‘Ready to Learn’. This was a great Professional Learning session, following on from our powerful all-day session with Dr Judi Newman earlier in the year.

Vacation Care Dates - Summer 2026

I am also pleased to let everyone know that the Summer Team Kids Vacation care dates have been finalised for 2026. The vacation care will run from Monday 5th January to Friday 23rd January. There will not be a care program on Tuesday 27th January, the first student free day, as this time is used by our OSHC staff to prepare for the year ahead, which has always been the case. 

Reminders

We look forward to our ‘Journey Through Asia’ day this Friday. Please make sure that you have provided the necessary permissions. Likewise for the Music Aviva special music incursion next Thursday, 23rd October.

Coming Up…

The JSC and Student Leadership team are very pleased to announce that they are hosting a student disco at lunch time in a couple of weeks’ time. They are very enthusiastic about this initiative which will raise funds for an electronic display sign for the school, to help keep everyone informed about upcoming events. Please look out for more information in the newsletter and the accompanying Compass event. 

Some key dates

Monday 3rd November (Cup Monday) - Student Free day. OSHC program being offered

Tuesday 11th November - Remembrance Day service

Tuesday 2nd and Thursday 4th December - Market Days

Wednesday 3rd December - Family picnic 4:00-6:00pm

Friday 5th December - Student Free day. OSHC program offered

Tuesday 9th December - Transition Day

Friday 19th December - Passing of the Keys ceremony 9:00 am, end of the school year 1:00pm

Have a great week of Learning and Growing Together.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal