Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

Movie Night was a huge success, once again. Thank you for the really strong support we received from our wonderful community. The raffle was exciting, and it was fantastic to have the CFA on hand for the barbeque. We did raise several thousand dollars, which will go directly to the next playground development project. It was a fun night, and we were lucky with the weather. We didn’t communicate our alternate plans because we remained hopeful that the ‘normal’ night could go ahead! A big thank you to Caroline M for organising such a great raffle.

My Appreciation

I would like to thank the large number of parent helpers who have made significant contributions to the life of the school in recent weeks. To the large band of helpers for the Cross Country and Movie Night, I say ‘thank you’. I extend this appreciation to our wonderful camp parent helpers, for our excursion helpers and to other parents, carers and grandparents who have recently helped.

Speaking of assistance, Mr Coates is in need of a small working bee in the coming weeks to help prepare some art resources. If you can help, then please let him know.

‘Bright Futures Day’

Thank you for the support of the JSC fundraiser for State Schools’ Relief today. All the money raised from our first free dress / themed clothing day for Term 1 will be gratefully received - thank you to our JSC and to our families for this support.

Grounds Improvements

The new fencing and automatic sprinkler system in the EEPS Kitchen Garden is almost complete and marks another fantastic improvement in this area. It will help create a new era in the garden.

Learning and Growing Together

We do speak a lot about what we do to embrace our motto. As educators we are certainly always keen to learn new things and new ways to engage students and improve their learning. Last week I attended a special alumni event at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership in East Melbourne, our Learning Specialists have attended the first of three Professional Learning opportunities organised by the Region, our graduates have been visited by the Regional support staff and we have had two highly engaging learning sessions, as a staff, on the ‘Elements of Learning’, from the new Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0. There is always something on the go.

Music 

Well done to the Copper Strings Ensemble who performed at Eltham High on Monday evening. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend but I have heard really positive feedback on this performance. Well done!

Opportunities

Welcome home to our 19 Year 5 and 6 campers, returning from the Somers School Camp today. It was terrific to visit them, all be it briefly, on Friday and I know families enjoyed visiting on Sunday. It will certainly be an opportunity of a lifetime. I also spoke at Assembly on Monday about the value of taking advantage of small opportunities throughout the year. Cross Country was another one of those - whilst it may not be everyone’s cup of tea there is real value in just ‘giving things a go’ and participating. On this note, please look out for further information regarding ‘Authors @ EEPS’ in the Newsletter and the Science Talent Search, very soon.

Emergency Management

On Tuesday we held our first practice evacuation drill for 2025. We practiced a scenario that involved needing to close down the Hall and the whole school evacuating, onsite, to the Junior Building. This was a smooth operation but we made note of a few improvements, which is the purpose of the drills. This then helps us to update the Emergency Management Plan.

Reminders

Please don’t forget that: 

- tomorrow, Thursday 27th March is the annual school photo day

- next Monday is our 3 Way Conference day. Children are only required to attend school for their 3   Way Conference time 

- next Friday, 4th April, is the last day of Term 1 and we finish at 2.30 pm

Have another great week of Learning and Growing Together.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Principal