Principals' Page

Education Open Night

Thank you to all parents, students and our local community that attended our Open Night last Thursday night. There was so much to see and do starting with our 2025 perspective parent information session presented by our current Foundation teachers and amazing School Captains. We had beautiful performances by our instrumental students plus a full house turn up to watch the Choir sing in our GYM. The JSC cake stall was a delightful success, offering an array of delicious homemade treats. Student-led tours provided visitors with insightful glimpses into our school's dynamic environment. Additionally, the book sale was another huge success and classrooms were bursting with fun and exciting STEAM activities.

Education Support Staff- Thank you

Yesterday, we celebrated the work of our wonderful Education Support (ES) at HEPS. Education Support Personnel Day is a day to honour and recognise the extraordinary contribution Education Support staff make to education. We thank our ES staff for all that they do in classrooms, in the office, in the sickbay, in the garden and supporting our students with additional needs. Our school wouldn’t run as smoothly as it does without the support of every one of our ES staff members - so to the HEPS ES team we say THANK-YOU.

Sustainability Award

We are very excited to have been named as finalists in the Sustainability Victoria awards for Curriculum Leadership School of the Year. This recognises the commitment HEPS has to educating our students around their ability to undertake sustainable actions at our school and wider community. On the 4th June, Mr Corso, Mrs Whitfield and our Sustainability leaders will attend the award ceremony at the MCG. We are proud of the program we offer at our school and have fingers crossed that we will win the award for 2024. 

Capital Works

We are continuing to work with the Department of Education, the Victorian Schools' Building Authority and architects on the Capital Works project. A potential new master plan has been created for our school. This as a concept identifies as several stages, dependant on funding many years into the future. The staging ensures that the school can continue to operate and our students’ learning and wellbeing during building remains our priority. 

The first stage of building has been identified through discussions and investigations with the aim of providing the best possible outcomes for students, staff and the community. This has necessitated change from our original thoughts of a block of classrooms. This will now consist of an administration area inclusive of new and improved first aid facilities, meeting rooms, improved accessibility for all members of the community and the provision of a more visible face for the school. The building works will also include a new student toilet block. When construction is completed the current administration area will be repurposed for teaching and learning.

While we were not successful in being identified for future funding in the 2024 budget, we are hoping to achieve further funding in the 2025 budget.

TEACHER LEARNING

Last Friday the HEPS staff participated in a day of learning with Ryan Gill.  The focus of the day was creating a culture of thinking.  This is part of work we have been engaged in for the past two years, learning skills to teach our students the dispositions needed for the future.  We worked together on the day discussing and workshopping ways to teach our students how to be better thinkers and problem solvers.  It was a lot of fun and all our staff felt inspired and empowered to try some interesting ideas in the classroom.  

Here is an example of this kind of learning in our classrooms from this week.  In this Sustainability lesson, Ruby Whitfield is asking the students to note down what they See, Think and Wonder about how seeds grow.  By displaying their ideas, it makes students' thinking visible.  

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK- 27th May-3rd June

National Reconciliation Week runs from 27th May - to 3rd June. The theme ‘Now More Than Ever’ is a reminder to us all that Now More Than Ever we need connection, we need change, and we need reconciliation. National Reconciliation week is a great time to reflect on our shared cultures, history and explore how to continue to build the reconciliation process in Australia. Next week students will participate in activities related to this topic. For more information please see link  https://www.reconciliation.org.au/our-work/national-reconciliation-week/

Working Bee- Save the date