Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Over the past few weeks, we have had significant staff absences within the School Office team. This lack of staff has been the reason that we postponed the scheduled newsletter. As this month has quickly passed, we are now fast approaching the end of the school year. Teachers are busily working with the children to assess their learning and point of growth in preparation for reporting. 

Year 4 Camp

Yesterday I attended the Year 4 Camp at Mount Evelyn. The accommodation and facilities are excellent. The children were having such a marvellous time. They were involved in activities such as Flying Fox, Candle making, Archery, Low Ropes, Laser Tag and the Reptile Experience. The children were all engaged and thoroughly enjoying being together and building their teamwork.

I am reliably informed that the children were very tired by the day and far more sleep was enjoyed by all last night!!!!

Our happy campers returned this afternoon with great memories of a very exciting Year 4 Camp.

School Uniform Supplier

As advised in the last Contact newsletter, Spartan School World is our new uniform supplier. 

PSW ceased selling our uniform on Friday 4 November. 

Refer to the School Uniform page of this newsletter for more information, including store details, link to the online store, and the price list.

Staffing for 2023

In 2023 Carolyn Wilson will be returning to a full time classroom role. She will be the Coordinator of Year 1. I want to thank her for her tireless commitment to the Assistant Principal role over the past six years. Her empathy and overwhelming focus on student wellbeing and families has made our school community stronger. 

I am very pleased to announce that Elisha Cotterell will be the new Assistant Principal who will join our Principal Team. Elisha brings a wealth of experience to this role. Ina and I are really looking forward to working with her in 2023. 

The Coordinators for 2023 are:

Our two Learning Specialists for 2023 will be:

Both Renée and Kelvin will lead the development of best practice teaching at Essex Heights. They will play a pivotal role in the planning of learning with teams and the implementation of our new four-year School Strategic Plan.

A few staff have decided to take leave next year. We are sad that they are leaving us temporarily, but their personal priorities are very important too. Maria Capsalis and Emma Ung are taking leave for all of 2023. Karen Watts is taking time to follow family priorities. We are very pleased that she will however continue to work at Essex Heights as a CRT so that the children will be seeing her throughout next year. Nicoletta Hadzidimitriou is also leaving the school and is travelling overseas. We wish her safe travels and look forward to hearing of her adventures.

Next year all specialist subjects will run for one hour per week. As a result, we needed to employ additional staff to cover the extra time needed to cover all 24 classes. We are very pleased to have appointed excellent new staff to join us in 2023. They are Emily Zajc, Amber Hardy, Monique Hocking, Alicia Boles, Amanda Tait, Grace John and Rowena Lin. They are all excited to join our team and we are looking forward to their contribution in the coming years.

2026 Term Dates & the Commonwealth Games

There have been changes to Victorian school term dates for 2026. This will provide an opportunity for Victorian communities to participate more broadly in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place across regional Victoria from Tuesday 17 March to Sunday 29 March 2026, with Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton hosting a range of activities and events for 20 different sports and 9 para-sports. 

The 2026 Victorian school term dates are:

Term 1:  Tuesday 27 January to Friday 13 March 2026 

Term 2:  Monday 30 March to Friday 19 June 2026

Term 3:  Monday 6 July to Friday 18 September 2026

Term 4:  Monday 5 October to Friday 18 December 2026.

For the list of school term dates until the end of 2030, refer to School term dates and holidays in Victoria link: https://www.vic.gov.au/school-term-dates-and-holidays-victoria

Prep 2023

Our Prep numbers continue to grow. We expect about 95 children to start at Essex Heights next year, and as a result we will run five classes.  We have conducted three very successful and well attended transition days for the incoming Prep children. 

The final session of their school transition program is their Orientation Day next week. 

A huge thanks must go the current Prep team, Carolyn Wilson, Emma Ung, Julie Zuk and Kelvin Tang for coordinating all aspects of the transition sessions as well as the information sessions for the new parents.

Welcome & Farewell

We welcome the following students and their families to the EHPS community:

• Niki R (2O)
• Krish A (5U)

Farewell to the following student and their family:

• Yan C (PM) 

All the best at your new school in Western Australia.

Democracy at work!!!!

Tomorrow the Year 6 parents and students are conducting a cake stall and Election BBQ as a fundraiser for the Year 6 Graduation later in the term. Make a point of exercising your democratic right by buying a sausage and cake.

Oh, make sure you vote too!!!! 😊

See you around the school. 

Kindest regards,

George Perini

Principal