School Values

Our school values of Respect, Caring, Cooperation, Honesty and Personal Best are not just values for school, they are values for life! When we show respect, caring and cooperation towards others, it creates a far more pleasant, happier environment for everyone. When we are honest and admit if we have done something wrong we take responsibility for our actions. When we take pride in our work and behaviour we demonstrate our personal best. When we follow these values, people want to be around us and we add positivity to our community.

Sadly, staff have been having to provide lots of reminders each day to students about our expectations regarding acceptable behaviour. Too much learning time is being wasted by staff having to:

sort out arguments which have occurred in the yard about who scored a goal in soccer or not sharing equipment
talk to children because they have said mean things to each other
talk to children because they have been hitting, kicking, punching each other
stop teaching because children are not listening or calling out, disrupting the class and stopping learning from occurring.

ALL the staff at LEPS want the children at the school to have a wonderful future. Getting an education is the key to future success in life. It is the key to being able to get a fulfilling job, earning enough money to be able to buy food, clothes, petrol, pay bills and have some left for some treats as well.

BUT supporting children to get an education is not just something in the control of the school staff, it is a partnership between school and home. Parents have responsibility for ensuring their children come to school ready to learn. This means making sure:

your children get enough sleep each night
your children come to school on time every day unless they are sick
you talk with them about the importance of following the school values
you support children to take responsibility for their actions and not make excuses for their antisocial behaviours
you limit the amount of time they spend online and using technology
you spend quality time with them playing outside, reading books together, playing games
you limit sugary snacks and keep them for special occasions not multiple times every day
you make appointments with health care professionals if you are concerned about your child's behaviour so they can access the support they need to thrive.

When children are supported at home, wonderful outcomes can be achieved at school.

Let's all work together so the LEPS children can achieve their greatest dreams!

Staffing Update

We are still in the process of recruiting new staff to cover expected staff leave in term 3. It is a complicated process and can take considerable time given the shortage of teachers at the moment.

I am excited to announce, Will Ponton, who has been working for us as an Education Support Staff member for several years while he completed his university studies to become a teacher, has been appointed to cover 3/4B for the remainder of 2025.

Will knows the students in that class very well and is looking forward to becoming their class teacher. He will commence work with them in the last two weeks of this term.

We are still in the process of recruiting a new staff member to cover 1/2B for term 3 & 4 when Natalie Iverson takes Maternity Leave and Angela Pobjoy takes Long Service Leave.

Ruthi Aitken, who runs our amazing Art program, will be transferring to a different primary school in an ongoing role commencing at the start of term 3. This is a wonderful opportunity for Ruthi and she is very excited about her new role. Ruthi has been a member of LEPS since 2003 and has worked in many different roles across the school in her time. She has always been a passionate supporter of the Arts at LEPS and was instrumental in introducing the Art Show (pre COVID), coordinated the running of the Biannual Concert (pre COVID) and has breathed new life back into our Art program since she returned to LEPS in 2024. We wish her every success in her new role and thank her for all her valuable contribution at LEPS over the years.

We are now recruiting for a new staff member to carry on Ruthi's wonderful art program.

I will be taking some leave from 11 June as I will be travelling overseas with my husband Craig. We are both very excited about this trip as we will be spending time in Denmark, Sweden (home of ABBA), Norway (home of the Vikings), Iceland (which has active volcanoes, waterfalls and icebergs) and London. Did you know that at this time of the year some of these countries have around 22 hours of sunlight!!

One of the things I am most excited about is getting to see puffins who make their home in Arctic regions including Iceland. They arrive in summer to lay their eggs and leave in the colder months.

I am sure I will have lots of great photos and stories to share with you when I return at the start of term 3.

While I am gone, Scott will be the Acting Principal and Julie will be the Acting Assistant Principal.

Linda Richards

Principal

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