Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the 2026 Boite Schools Choir at Melbourne Town Hall. Quite simply, if you haven’t heard a massed choir before, you need to put this on your bucket list. Once again, our wonderful EEPS choristers shone brightly on stage. This year the performance was titled, ‘Akoma - the Heart’ and was a magical journey through the songs and rhythms of Ghana. Thank you to Mr Day for all his efforts with the choir.

Mentor Groups

The EEPS Mentor groups, that are held on a fortnightly basis, have started to find their own rhythm. This week we focused further around the ‘kindness matters at our school’ message with a detailed look at examples of kindness. This connects with our whole school drone photo on Friday 21st August for National Week against Bullying and Violence, more on that next week.

ICAS

Good luck to the large number of students who have chosen to participate in the ICAS tests over the next three weeks. For those who do not know, ICAS stands for International Competitions and Assessments for Schools. It is a voluntary, skill-based academic competition and assessment program designed for primary and secondary school students.

Principals’ Day

It was a true delight to receive some lovely cards from students, and emails from parents for Principals’ Day on Friday. Thank you to the EEPS community for these tokens of appreciation.

Student Achievements

Parents may have seen the recent short clips that were filmed with me talking to different students. This is a new development to help acknowledge and celebrate the incredible depth of talent in our student body but also as a way to encourage others. At any time, please contact me if your child has had significant achievements outside of school, for example in AMEB music exams, or sporting achievements and I would be happy to interview them too! 

Learning and Growing Together

For the past couple of years, in the EEPS Library, it has been wonderful to welcome back ex EEPS students who volunteer and assist with the library program and in the BER. Not only is their ongoing assistance incredibly helpful to us it also helps to build the confidence of our volunteers who are studying to be library technicians. Thank you to Mrs Casale for her efforts in the library and for Bree and Eloise who do a fabulous job of supporting EEPS.

Positive Feedback on Social Media

Last week I neglected to write about the really positive comment on the Eltham Life Facebook page ten days ago. It was in relation to our students walking home from school, using the crossings appropriately and safely and interacting positively with others. It is always heart-warming to see this type of positive press. Whilst we have unlimited good news stories every day, these don’t always get reported.

Book Week / Industrial Action

I sent out a direct Compass Newsfeed on Monday, with an update yesterday, in relation to the planned industrial action next Wednesday 19th August. At this stage, our Book Week activities will continue. This included an author focussed experience for all students in addition to the dress up day and gold coin donation to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. However, as we evaluate the coinciding of these events we will keep everyone updated.

Concert Tickets

There appeared to be a technical glitch with the ‘More than Music’ ticket sales last Thursday morning. Thank you to those parents who alerted us and for the EEPS community remaining respectful of the need to accommodate all our families in the auditorium on the night. We have less than a month to go before we perform the world premiere of ‘More than Music’.

OSHC Update

As I reported to School Council last week, some staff changes in our school-run OSHC service has led to a really positively focused environment in our facility. I thank Jess, Marrisa and Signe for their leadership of the service this year. Professional Development is important for everyone as is feedback, so we are surveying all our OSHC staff in the interests of continuous improvement.

Butterfly Mural

Thank you to the parents who have expressed interest in helping to restore the iconic light blue butterfly wall that is patchy in places. If other members of our community, including grandparents, may be able to assist then please let the office know.

Have a great week of Learning and Growing Together.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal