Principal's Message

Happy Harmony Day!

What a way to celebrate our cultural diversity! At GEPS we have 27 different language groups - including Arabic, Dari, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Mandarin, Tongan and many more!

Our staff is also very bilingual and, together with students, we celebrate difference whilst all still learning and playing the GEPS way!

Young Leaders Day

Next Tuesday 25 March our 10 Student Leaders will attend the National Young Leaders Day at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. They will hear from a range of speakers about leadership and making an impact. Thank you to Mrs Faghani and Mrs Wahiba, who will travel with them.

Can you swim?

Swim Scheme is an offering from the Department of Education, targeting students in Year 2 (and above) in a learn to swim program. This is such a fabulous opportunity - the Department pays for the swim teachers, parents just need to pay for pool entry and bus hire. It lasts for 2 weeks and a teacher takes them to the pool. An online note, via Compass was put on Events this week. If you are interested - it's the first 60 in and paid that will get in!

Keeping teachers in the workforce...

This week, I attended a conference (with Miss Ballouk and Mrs Faghani) on strategies to attract and retain teachers. This was part of our work with The Connection and included leaders from all across the country.

Did you know that a survey of Australian teachers in 2022 showed only 28% intended on staying in the profession?

Did you know that Early Career teachers often quit because of workload and demands?

Did you know that 20% of teachers registered in Australia are not working in schools?

These were just some of the questions we addressed at the conference. Some good news was around the high sense of belonging most teachers felt to their school and the profession. We learnt that it is crucial for teachers to feel:

• a shared purpose in the work
• valued for what they do
• a connection to the students they teach 
• supported from their leaders, and
• Joy!

At GEPS, we're doing well on these 3 indicators  - we have a strong shared purpose; we have Think Tank, small teams and 4Cs which enable deep collaboration and our 2025 theme of The Power of Joy!

Dance Team

Congratulations to our 2025 GEPS Dance Team! 

We wish you all the best in your preparation for your audition in Term 2. If successful our dance team will represent GEPS at the 2025 Our Spectacular at the Sydney Opera House in September.

Community BBQ

Wednesday 2nd April is our Community BBQ - an opportunity for parents and staff to mingle, have a sausage, ice cream or coffee and enjoy our community vibe!  Everyone is welcome and there is nothing to pay! 

It's our way of saying thank you for a great term and acknowledging that we are all working together for student growth in this Year of Joy!

Celebrate together!

Our end of term Celebration Assembly is Monday 7 April. Please come and join us in celebrating behaviour, achievement, effort and the joy of learning!

L Reynolds

Principal