Principal's Message

Well my days!!! What a remarkable night it was on Friday night!!! Despite the weather cutting the night short, the annual ENPS Movie Night and ENPS Talent Quest was a massive success. Wow-wee! Over 980 tickets were sold in the end! The weather was out of our control but the music was rocking and the vibe was high while it lasted. We were disappointed that we couldn't get the movie working in the end in the gym with technical difficulties, however we now have a plan in place this week to continue the fun! (Check out the following page for details.)

Thank you to everyone who supported the event and a massive shout out to Jodie Elliot (School Council), Josh Briggs-Kelly (School Council), Nisa Briggs-Kelly, Ben Suter, Tanya Ward (our Community Engagement Coordinator), the Community Engagement Committee and all School Councillors, Sharon McWhinney, Morgan King, Teresa Heale and all of our wonderful, hardworking staff. So much fun and so many highlights. The Dunk Tank was a hoot and well done to those who got to dunk me (my own family members included)! Thank you to everyone who for being so understanding and supportive that the movie could not go ahead.  

It is hard to believe that this will be the second last newsletter for the year! 

The past two weeks have been yet another celebration of amazing learning at ENPS. The highlights continue to mount and I just love being able to see the learning and growth across all of our classrooms. I can’t wait for you to see it too at the Student Led Conferences this week!

Last week we also had another visit from our kinder friends at Journey Essendon. They got to have a story with me and had some fun on the Inclusive Play Space. Seeing their little faces come to ‘big school’ is pure happiness! While last week our Year Sixes spent two days at Buckley Park College, learning with our teachers, as a part of our getting ready for secondary school program. 

Over the past weeks we have also began the process to decide on our School Leaders for 2026, with well over half of the current Year Five students submitting an Expression of Interest in the first phase of the process for House and/or School Captains. On Friday the House Captains did their speeches to the Year Four and Five cohorts, and we were truly blown away. 

Soon we will also be short listing our School Captain candidates and they will undertake a very comprehensive range of tasks over the coming weeks, including an oral presentation to their peers and Year Four students, an interview with a selection panel, and a group task. 

Congratulations to the students short listed and a massive congratulations to all who expressed interest; you are already magnificent leaders within our school! The 2026 School Captains will be announced on our final Friday school assembly for the year on Friday 19th December.

Staffing News

As we head towards the end of the school year, and the beginning of a new one ahead, we have a number of staffing changes, familiar faces bidding ENPS farewell and new faces joining our staff team in 2026. 

At the end of 2025 we will be very sad to say farewell to Claire Eadington, Joshua D’Souza, Zarah Draper, Laveena Kukanesan, Anthea Christofi and Amy Wirth. Claire is taking up a new Learning Specialist position at Laa Yulta PS, Josh is heading to Overnewton College and Zarah is taking up a position at Wales St PS, while Anthea and Laveena are taking a year to take on some different teaching opportunities and Amy Wirth will resume her Family Leave.

Lana Thomas will begin her family leave in the new school year, as she prepares to have her first baby in January with husband Robin. In 2026 we will also have another ENPS baby with Ayesha Katz and her partner Jonas due for their first baby later in the 2026 school year. 

In 2026 we will also see the return of Emma Gallagher, Shannon Garner and Melanie Stefanou from their Family Leave. 

A huge congratulations to Angelina Cetin, Annie Ioannou, Amy McDonald, Molly Todd, Jonathan McFarland, Matilda Hewett, Ruby Ziogas, Jonah Garvie, Rhys McIntosh and Caimezi Li who have all been successful in continuing their contracts at ENPS for 2026. We are thrilled to have them all continue with us. 

In 2026 we are excited to have a number of new faces join our staff team; Fiona O’Reilly will join us from Broadmeadows PS, Victoria May from Wyndham Park PS and Hannah Bevins as one of our most regular CRTs.

It is always a bittersweet time of the year when we farewell and congratulate existing staff on new opportunities and positions, while welcoming new faces to the team. 

With the completion of the 2026 Foundation Orientation, we can confirm that our 2026 Foundation teaching team will be: Hannah Morris, Jessica Carter, Kirsty Johnson and Tanya Ward. 

We can also confirm that in 2025 our Specialist classes will again be Chinese Mandarin, Physical Education, The Arts (Visual and Performing Arts) and Health and Wellbeing. In 2026 our Chinese Mandarin and Health and Wellbeing classes will continue as roving specialists, working out of the home group classrooms. 

We are still finalising our recruitment processes and teacher allocation to year levels and will communicate the Year One - Six Teaching and Specialist Teams for 2026 in the final newsletter for the year. 

On Friday 12th December, we will have our final Curriculum Day for 2025. Staff will be planning the start of the 2026 school year.

All Foundation to Year Five students will find out their new classes and teachers on our Step Up morning on Tuesday 16th December. 

In 2026 all year levels will continue to operate in the same classrooms as this year. Any room changes due to teacher movements will take place in Week Ten and Eleven. 

2026 Start of School Year and Curriculum Days

The Department of Education (DET) mandates that all schools use the first day of the school year as a curriculum day for teacher planning and preparation. The first curriculum day for 2026 is therefore on Tuesday 27th January. ENPS will also use the second day of the school year, Wednesday 28th January as a Curriculum Day. Staff will be participating in professional learning day with Literacy Consultant, Misty Adoniou, as we focus our learning together on the effective teaching practices in writing across year levels. 

All students, Foundation to Six, will have their first day of school on Thursday 29th January. 

Our Foundation students have already been assigned a staggered start time for this day. Foundation students will have each the Wednesday for the first four weeks off school as a rest day and for their scheduled 1:1 assessments. 

Our final Friday whole school assembly will be held on Friday 19th December at 8:50am. At this assembly we will have all our final announcements and celebrations for the year, including our school band and Christmas celebrations, along with the 2026 Student Leadership announcements and recipient of the Marcus Rosin Scholarship for 2026. The last week will be a big one at ENPS, with Step Up Morning on Tuesday 16th, Year Six Graduation on Wednesday 17th, Year Six Celebration Day at Melton Waves on Thursday 18th and our final day for the year on Friday 19th December, with an early finish of 12:30pm. 

Don’t also forget that we have a Curriculum Day on Friday 12th December! 

Thank you all for your ongoing support.

Have a wonderful week! 

Kate Barletta

Principal