Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I hope that everyone has had a positive and productive start to the week.

Year 6 student leaders

At assembly on Monday, we thanked our 2025 Year 6 student leaders for their efforts this year. They have contributed in so many ways to help sustain and build the culture of our school. I thank them for hosting assemblies, organising sporting events and fundraisers and for being role models. Thank you also to Mrs Vescio who has worked tirelessly with the Student Leaders this year.

New 2026 Student Leadership

At assembly this week we also announced the 2026 student leadership team. Formal leadership positions are determined through a process of self-nomination, written application, speeches, student voting, and teacher input. The focus throughout the process remains on the skills and attributes students have demonstrated that support and enhance our school values of being Respectful, Responsible and Resilient.

Once again, we had a very large number of nominees this year, which of course naturally means that there are then more people who miss out on a role. Fortunately, at EEPS we value the importance of building leadership qualities among all our students and therefore provide a range of opportunities for Year 6s to contribute as leaders of the school. A Leadership Program throughout the year, Public Speaking Lessons and Gratitude Projects are just a few examples Year 6 students get to demonstrate and strengthen their leadership qualities. We are so proud of all students who nominated for a position showing a willingness and commitment to give back to their school community. I would like to thank Miss Deards for her coordination and to all the Year 5 teachers who supported and encouraged students through the process. Many congratulations to our 2026 student leaders.

School Captains- Coen M and Anne Z

Junior School Council & CORE Leaders- Sylvie D and Charlie C

Sustainability Leaders- Noah L and Ruihan c

Cultural Leaders- Sophie K and Angus R

Library Leaders- Henry C and Isabelle H

Science & Technology Leaders- Guang-Zi L and Celine O

Visual Arts Leaders – Arianne L and Leo R

Performing Arts Leaders – Dylan B and Emily B

Peer Support Leaders- Harriet F, Thea K and Owen H

Norman House Leaders – Ella S and Jack O

Bradman House Leaders – Taylor M and Ruby N

Fraser House Leaders – Taya H and Ollie M

McKay House Leaders – Yash R and Freya S

I thank each and every one of our successful candidates for their commitment to uphold our school values, including abiding by the stated social media policy and to act as a role model for other students both within their cohort and throughout the school.

Year 6 Gratitude Market

On behalf of the school, I wish to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to our school community for the support of the Year 6 Gratitude Market last week. This is an annual tradition at EEPS where our Year 6 students plan and organise their market stall activities. Collectively the market made a little over $8,500 which is an incredible effort. A significant portion will be donated to the three selected charities, Breast Cancer Foundation, the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Pat Cronin Foundation. A special thank you to the Year 6 parents for their generous donations of food, supplies and their time.

Curriculum Day and exciting DE initiatives

Last Friday was a very successful teacher planning day for 2026. As a school we were very excited to continue to plan our sequenced teaching and learning programs anchored in the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 and the Government’s Teaching and Learning Model. We were able to further strengthen our plans for embedding our approach to synthetic systematic literacy and structured literacy.

Transition Day

Yesterday students spent the day in their 2026 classroom with their new classmates and teacher. Although some feeling of apprehension can come with the uncertainty of what next year brings, we do hope that your children came home positive with a growth mindset for the learning and growing that will take place as they embark on the next stage of their schooling. We have also included a special parent resource page to help your child with the transition to a new teacher.

The class structure and teacher allocation is always a very complex process, with many often competing factors to consider. Please trust that we always make considered and thoughtful decisions around these aspects, and have created several drafts of all grades and constantly reviewed and revised them over the last month.

Here is the 2026 EEPS structure, with 28 classes;

Leadership team: Warren Lloyd (Principal), Lisa Joseph (Assistant Principal), Melissa Egan (Assistant Principal)

Leading Teacher: Naomi Brabender

Learning Specialists: Emily Borg, Tash Owen, Mary Vescio

Prep

Sarah Nichols, Gabe Hughes, Katrina Moore, Hannah Glynatsis

Year 1

Hayley Deards, Lyndal Wilmot / Lisa Pascal, Ryan van Oosterwijck, Roslyn Pritsis

Year 2

Steve Arnold, Samantha Keane, Hayley Hopper, Lamya Kwan

Year 3

Emily Borg, Alex Harriman, Jacquie Gasson, Noah Lawton

Year 4

Sophie James, Taleah Arter / Lisa Hallam, Laura Banks, Alicia Buszard, Dan O’Dwyer

Year 5

Tracey Beadles, Nathan Gourzelas, Grace Scaglione, Mary Vescio (5/6)

Year 6

Tash Owen, Sarah Gale, Pauline Farrell, Mary Vescio (5/6)

Support and Specialists

Learning Support- Angela Lapadula, Kara Jackson, Andrea Rabak

Visual Art- Blair Coates, Lisa Hallam

Japanese- Simone Flanagan, Amy Simula

PE- Kristian Bain, Steph Mirecki

Music- Jason Day, Lesley Cromer

Library- Patty Casale

Sustainability and Biodiversity - Kara Jackson

Creative Media- Lexie Hartney

Mental Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Leading Teacher- Naomi Brabender

Disability Inclusion Support- Lisa Pascal

Support teachers-Lisa Hallam, Kara Jackson, Lexie Hartney, Linda Kovacevic

Education Support Staff –Di Tucker, Amy Eaton, Gita Patamia, Andrea Rabak, Tim Donoghue, Amanda Russell, Rachel Corkery, Raymie Hall, Emily Cottier, Nikki da Luz, Janelle Georgiadis, Jane McCarthy, Ann Creek

First Aid—Chris Hill, TBA (all teachers at EEPS have First Aid training)

Office- Julianne Roberts, Lesley Searle, Melissa McCarthy (Business Manager)

Staff departures

Every year always brings some staff movement. Mrs Abbey McCauley, is moving to a school much closer to home and will take her EEPS teaching experiences with her to the new setting at Lilydale High School. Ms Josie Anzelmi is taking up a short-term position at Rosanna Primary School for 2026 and hopefully will return to EEPS with many new skills and experiences. Ms Dania Margerison, has also assisted the school this year by teaching in the Japanese program, is also leaving and we wish her all the best in the next phase of her career.

One of our aides, Scarlett B, is also leaving after a short while to take up a permanent position at Research Primary School. We also farewell Nicole Johnston who has helped care for our kitchen garden over the last couple of years. Thank you, Nicole, for your efforts in the garden and more broadly.

We also extend our best wishes to Mrs Rebecca Peters and Mrs Lina Raundino as they both take a year’s break away from EEPS to pursue other interests.

We wish all our leaving staff our very best as they embark on a new phase in their life journey in 2026. We will be able to officially say goodbye to them all at our final assembly on Friday 19th December.

Staff arrivals

With change becomes opportunity for EEPS. To ensure that we have committed and caring classroom teachers for our classes in 2026 we have four excellent passionate new teachers.

Welcome to the following staff;

-Mr Daniel O’Dwyer- Mr O’Dwyer comes to EEPs after two years teaching at Ivanhoe East Primary and experience teaching in the Northern Territory in very diverse settings.

-Mr Noah Lawton- Mr Lawton comes to EEPS having recently moved to Melbourne from country Victoria and is looking forward to starting his teaching career at EEPS.

-Ms Alicia Buszard- Ms Buszard, having completed a final year teaching round at EEPS, is also very excited to start teaching with EEPS.

-Ms Amy Simula- Ms Simula comes to EEPS, to teach in our Japanese program, after a long and varied career.

-We also welcome some new Education Support staff, Ms Janelle Georgiadis and Ms Jane McCarthy, and Ann Creek to support our EEPS Kitchen Garden.

I look forward to the energy that these staff members will bring to EEPS.

Student Reports

Next week the 2025 Semester 2 reports will be available on Compass. The semester reports are the culmination of your child’s interaction, engagement and results in the teaching and learning program during the semester. These reports actually take an incredibly large amount of time to collate and write so please take the time to go through them together with your child. Thank you to the teachers for their efforts with the reports.

New employment opportunity- Frist Aid Educational Support Role

Following on from my recent newsletter item advertising a couple of part-time employment options at EEPS we are now also looking for an additional part-time first aid Education Support staff member from next year. This would be a 3 day a week position, 9.30-3.00, for a first aid trained person. All other training around processes would be provided. The days would be Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. If you are interested, or know of anyone who maybe, then please contact Melissa McCarthy, Business Manager, in the School Office, or send your CV to eltham.east.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

Furniture moving

If anyone has a couple of spare hours next Wednesday afternoon then please let the office know as we have a small amount of classroom furniture to move in preparation for 2026.

End of year Christmas Sing-along

We are also very pleased to introduce, for the first time, a special Christmas Carols Sing-along for the students next Wednesday 17th December at lunchtime. We will promote this internally to the students. The purpose- to have a fun time!

Thank you to those families who attended our End of Year / Christmas Family Picnic last week. It was lovely to have so many people attend, and the musical items were very well received. Thank you to the families who were able to assist with setting up, selling sausages and helping with the pack up.

Only one week to go in the 2025 school year!

Warren Lloyd

Principal