Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

Welcome back to term 4 and a very warm welcome to the families who have joined us this week. It is also great to be back after a four-week trip overseas. In the life of a school, term 4 is always a busy but exciting term and it certainly helps to have the longer sunlight days and warmer weather.

I would like to thank Mrs Lisa Joseph who was Acting Principal in my short absence. I had some great feedback about the Art Show, the 3 Way Conferences and the tales of the echidna. I saw the Facebook post from Paris, and whilst a world away I couldn’t help but be reminded about how lucky we are to have such wonderful native animals in Australia and at EEPS. Not only are we doing something right for the Eltham Copper Butterfly (ECB) habitat we are also providing the right environment for a variety of other creatures!

Holiday News

We have had a number of projects completed over the holiday break:

- repainting of the Year 3 & 4 portables

- new vinyl in the BER toilet and kitchen areas

- new noticeboards in many classrooms

- replacement deck for the BER

A big thank you to Garry Wynne and to Trish Bostock for organising and coordinating all these jobs.

ECB Update

During the holidays we also had some additional work in our ECB sanctuary, thanks to the assistance from Nillumbik Council and Acacia Land Management. Here is an extract of the email from Nicole Drever, the Environmental Works Officer:

Council has organised another round of grant funding for Acacia to do a day of ECB habitat management works during the school holidays. The works will focus on grassy weed control and also some coppicing of the Sweet Bursaria to keep it at a height that is preferable to the ECB.

Also, in October Council will run the larvae monitoring program in conjunction with Fo ECB and Wildlife Ecology – the EEPS population will be included in the program. Two surveys will be conducted at EEPS during the month of October (anyone will be welcome to help out with this too).

Staff Update

At the end of last term, we were very pleased to welcome Mrs Pauline Farrell to the Year 5/6 team. Pauline has settled in really well and I know the 5/6 class have been delighted to have her in the class. We also welcome Scarlett Besiroglu, as an additional Educational Support to assist this term. Congratulations to Ms Elliott, for the safe arrival of a beautiful baby girl, Sophie! We wish her and her family all the best as they settle into a new routine.

Parent Social Media Reminders

Thank you to all the parents who remember to interact in positive ways when messaging in the Year level WhatsApp group. Like with children, it is sometimes helpful, to have reminders as adults. As per my communication earlier in the year, please remember that communications using these channels are governed by the Respectful Behaviours in the School Community DET policy. Whilst there are always complex things happening in the world and passion for causes is both admirable and important, please remember to keep discussions around school topics.

Uniforms

I did refer to a separate Newsfeed coming shortly about uniform updates. My apologies that this wasn’t forthcoming. It will be coming later in the week, but please be assured that there really are very minimal changes and certainly no radical overhaul.

Curriculum Days

Just a reminder that the two remaining Curriculum Days are scheduled for:

Monday 3rd November (Cup Monday) - this will be an additional report writing day

Friday 5th December - this will be used for 2026 curriculum planning

The 2026 Curriculum Days and Variation to School Hours Day dates will be advertised to parents before the end of this term.

I look forward to joining our Year 3 students on Thursday for the exciting overnight camp to Camp Weekaway in Benloch, near Lancefield.

Reminders

Please help your child/ren remember their school hats as they are compulsory when outside in Term 4. Secondly, please remember to approve on Compass participation in the Journey Through Asia Day, Friday 17th October.

Have a great first week of ‘Learning and Growing Together’.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal

Authors @ EEPS