Principals Report

Dear SEPS Families, 

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2024. We made it!

We have so much to celebrate and be grateful for as we reflect on the year that has been. There are the things we can see such as the new oval, the completion of the administration building and lovely front entry which all help make our school an engaging environment. We are very lucky indeed to work and play in this space each day. There are also the more subtle changes that have been happening behind the scenes. The amazing teachers and support staff at our school have been working like trojans this year to review the way we teach, research latest evidence-based practices, articulate our vision and purpose as educators and refine our pedagogical practices. I am absolutely in awe of our amazing team who have rolled up their sleeves and engaged in the work. We have gained a momentum that might take other school years to achieve. The passion and dedication to wanting the best for your children is next to none. We cannot do it alone though, so I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our parent community for your continued support and partnership. 

(Please see the Teaching and Learning Tab for more information. 

Year 6 Graduation and Final Assembly

We celebrated our Year 6 students at their Graduation on Wednesday evening. A big shout out to the parents who went all out to make the event a beautiful, red-carpet affair. It is always an emotional time as we celebrate the achievements and highlights that the cohort have shared. Our Class of 2024 have been a fantastic group of leaders and we will miss them all as they move on to their secondary colleges. We will have another opportunity to say farewell at our final assembly on Monday at 9am. We will be announcing our new leaders for 2025 so please join us if you have some free time on Monday morning at 9am. To the families who are leaving the SEPS Community at the end of this year, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best.

Changes for 2025

At our final assembly we will also be farewelling some of our wonderful staff, as they embark on their new ventures. We are very sad to be losing such valued members of our team but are happy for what the future has in store for them with moving house, a new baby and interstate travel on the horizon! We wish Mr Johannes Scherpenhuizen, Ms Tilly Gunasekera, Ms Lizzie Parmar, Ms Amanda Stanford and Ms Claire Castrillon all the best for 2025. We also congratulate our wonderful ES member Marc Rositano on his graduation from Uni to become a fully-fledged Primary School Teacher. 

Another big announcement is that our wonderful Wendy Franks will be taking 12 months leave next June to return home to Canada for a year. These departures have had a knock-on effect with our programs. We are unable to replace Mr Scherpenhuizen at this stage (he is irreplaceable as we all know!). Science will be a fulltime F-6 specialist subject and Mrs Kristy Cullen will be joining Wilko to teach Science two days a week. Mr Dave Richardson will be stepping into the office as our Acting Business Manager. Mr Owen Davies will be joining Ms Kate Foster to teach our PE program. We will be returning the Performing Arts to a specialised music room for teachers to continue teaching the Arts programs as part of our general curriculum.  

Music Tuition 

Speaking of music, we currently have 3 external music providers who are tutoring students privately or in small group sessions. We would like to streamline the external music program and ensure that it does not impact on prime learning time in the mornings. 

If you are intending to continue music tuition, would like your child to start learning an instrument OR if you would like to cease private tuition in 2025, please email the office asap so that we can start organising the timetable with the relevant providers  (Poco Music, Music Corp or Adina).     

We wish you all a wonderful and safe holiday season and a very Happy New Year.   

Jane Briffa