Principal's Message
It has been an enormous two weeks at ENPS, with so much going on and so many wonderful things to celebrate and look forward to. There have been exhibitions, incursions, book launches and sporting achievements; the works!
Year Six Exhibition
An incredible highlight for the week was the Year Six Exhibition yesterday. Exhibition is a significant milestone event in the journey of a learner in a IB PYP school and the remarkable depth of learning and demonstration of inquiry was certainly showcased yesterday.
As parent of a Year Six student this year, like many families, I lived through the lead up to Exhibition through my eldest child and I have been truly blown away by the power of Exhibition and the process of inquiry throughout the past months on my child. As a mentor to a group of Year Six students, I have also witnessed their growth and development through the process. To be a part of Exhibition yesterday; to hear their TEDx Talks and see their stalls was amazing. The efforts and learning from our Year Six students was mind blowing! The hard work, commitment and dedication of our Year Six Team (along with our Specialist teachers and all staff as group mentors) is phenomenal. A truly special event at ENPS and thank you to everyone involved.
Celebrating Writers
This Tuesday we also celebrated our Year Three to Six enrichment writers at a very special book launch! As a part of our Enrichment Program at ENPS, Carole Upton works alongside identified students to further extend and enrich their capacity as writers. The book launch this week showcased their efforts and published narratives. It was great to have their families join in the launch and recognise their commitment as writers. A huge shout out to Carole Upton for all of her efforts in making the launch happen and for binding all of the stories into incredible hard cover keepsakes for the students. We hope to have a selection of these stories on display in the library soon!
Family Maths Afternoon
It was so wonderful to see our parent information session overflowing with participants last Wednesday as a part of our Family Maths Afternoon. We acknowledge that learning and teaching has shifted dramatically since the days we were all at school, and we very much value building the knowledge and understanding of our parent community, along with our changes in practice. Thank you to everyone who came along to the parent information session, and to the Family Maths Afternoon. There was certainly a buzz around the school as everyone participated in the Mathematical Scavenger Hunt! Please keep an eye out for more parent information and education sessions coming up.
World Teachers’ Day
Last Friday we acknowledged and celebrated our ENPS teachers for World Teachers' Day! We are so fortunate to such a committed and dedicated teaching staff at our school. Each and every one our teachers exceeds expectations every day, so our ‘hats are off to teachers’!
Gordon’s Retirement
Today we celebrated and recognised Gordon Bell at a special assembly. After 22 years involved with ENPS, Gordon has now retired from his role as Crossing Guard with Moonee Valley City Council. It has been fantastic to have Gordon out of hospital this week and back for our assembly today. We are so grateful for Gordon’s contributions to our school and community over the past 22 years and wish him all the very best in retirement.
Diwali
Today we also recognised the start to Diwali. Thank you to Anya and her mother, Anusha, for sharing with us the significance of Diwali for our Hindi, Jain, and Sikh families around the world and in our ENPS community. Anusha shared with us not only the significance of Diwali, but also an understanding and appreciation of the traditional sari. It was lovely to see our staff take the opportunity to get dressed up in traditional costume too.
2025 Foundation
Last week we also had our 2025 Foundation Parent Information evening on Tuesday evening and this Wednesday our 2025 Foundation students had continued their orientation program with the first of four Wednesday morning sessions. We have 90 new Foundation students joining us at this stage in 2025! We look forward to spending time with them over the coming three Wednesdays as they transition to ‘big’ school and we all get to know each other more. A special thank you to Charlotte for my gorgeous drawing!
Community Engagement
We have lots of wonderful things happening this term to connect our families to our school and each other. Make sure you save the date for our Movie Night on Friday 29th November. Tickets go on sale on Monday! This year’s movie is Despicable Me 4. It is always a tremendous night!!! Fingers crossed for the weather to be on our side for our outdoor cinema! A reminder that all families are welcome to our Movie Night, including our new families for 2025!
Monday 4th November
This coming Monday 4th November (day before Melbourne Cup), ENPS will be operating an alternate day of learning and teaching. The school will be open, however historically attendance is significantly reduced due to families taking the opportunity to have a long weekend. To support the release of a number of teachers across each year level, arrangements for Monday 4th November will include mixed teachers, condensed classes from Foundation - Year Six and an alternate program for the day.
2025 Planning
As you can appreciate, it is the time of year when we are establishing our grade structures and staffing for the new school year ahead. We have already begun our recruitment processes and aim to have our 2025 staffing finalised in the coming weeks. Once finalised, we will then confirm our teaching teams as we approach the end of the year.
In 2025, we have a projected enrolment of 620 students. We can confirm that we will maintain our model of straight year levels and will maintain 28 classes; four classes at each year level.
If your child has special educational needs that you believe require special consideration when determining class placement in 2025, please let me know about this in writing. Please note this is not about requesting or selecting your child’s teacher, rather that we are aware of any additional factors that need to be taken into consideration for 2025. Please email me directly by Monday 11th November.
A reminder that we ask that if you and your family are planning on leaving ENPS at the end of 2024, please let the school office know as soon as you are in a position to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.)
2025 Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Our Year Twos are about the begin transitioning to having 1:1 devices at school as Year Threes in 2025. Information will soon be sent out on Compass for our parent information session on Thursday 28th November (3:30 - 4pm), so please make sure you keep up to date with all communication.
Communication at ENPS
We also would like acknowledge that at this time of year, there is also an influx in information for the new school year ahead. Please continue to regularly check Compass - we use Compass for all our communication with homes. Communication is a shared responsibility - we know that it can be a lot to keep up with and really appreciate your support. It is important to us that our families have all the information that they need to have an understanding of what is happening at ENPS and why we do what we do.
Road Safety Around Schools
Following the devastating news this week that has rocked our colleagues and the community at Auburn South Primary School, I take the opportunity to again urge everyone to be vigilant and safe on the roads, especially around schools. Every morning and afternoon on yard duty, along with our Executive Team members, we are constantly faced with people in a hurry, losing patience and being unsafe on our surrounding roads. We are not traffic managers, however the constant requests for safe drop off areas, not to do U turns, not to park in driveways or to slow down, are much too frequent, necessary and sadly, not well received. May we all take the tragedy of this week as a stark reminder of our responsibilities as drivers to keep everyone safe. As Principal, I do not want to ever have to make that call to a family.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.
I look forward to the coming week and UMatter Day next Friday 8th November!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kate Barletta
Principal