Principal's Item 

Dear parents, carers and friends of EEPS,

I would like to start by expressing deep gratitude to and thanking the parent helpers and teachers who so willingly, and happily took our Year 5 students away on camp last week. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit but I have heard many great stories. I also hope that our EEPS families who celebrated Greek Orthodox Easter enjoyed the festivities on Sunday.

Student initiatives

At EEPS, we are always receptive to a variety of different student initiatives. Some of these come through the JSC (Junior School Council,) whilst others don’t. I was very excited to help one of our Year 4 Students, James, establish a Year 4 Garden Crew, to help care for our lovely school environment at lunchtimes. Also, last week two Year 4 students, Fionn and Henry, approached me to start up a lunchtime basketball group. Sometimes, ideas may not work, or the timing is not quite right, but we do try to support and encourage our students with these endeavours, wherever and whenever possible.

Concert update - Heroes

Concert excitement is already starting to grow, with many students willing to audition for speaking parts, which is absolutely fantastic.  Whilst there are no changes to our existing practices around the Concert, an additional Newsfeed will be sent to all families in the next few days, to outline key information. There is also a schedule of Concert newsfeed items provided leading up to the event. Please keep an eye out for these, hopefully ensuring a smooth experience.

School improvement 

A couple of years ago, following feedback from one of the Department parent surveys, there was a perception that the school had not communicated around ‘school improvement’. Since then, I have tried to be very proactive in letting parents and carers know what is happening especially in relation to our annual school goals. I know as the Principal, that the biggest impact I have on student learning is through our teachers, and ensuring that they continually have the required skills, knowledge and dispositions to help all children in this endeavour. To this end we offer high quality professional learning for teachers. This week hasn’t been any different, when we were pleased to provide a session with staff around Behavioural Load Theory. The session was facilitated by John, our Educational Improvement Leader from the Diverse Learner Hub. On Tuesday, EEPS Principal class attended the Principal Area forum and, of course, we have the Validation Day of the school review today. 

Supports for parents and carers

Last week I wrote about the importance of us all learning to amicably solve problems and frustrations in peaceful and productive ways. This was in response to the recent publicity regarding increased violence in the community, especially towards women. As a school we know that one of the key protective factors for student is strong, healthy parents. We also know, that, from time to time, we all need help and I neglected to include some useful links and resources. They are listed below if any parents need to reach out;

Lifeline 13 11 44

1800 Respect 1800 737 732

Parentline 13 22 89

Please also remember that these resources are also listed on our website.

Preps in Action - Open Afternoon for Future Families

Please help us by spreading the word to prospective future families, about our ‘Preps in Action’ open afternoon next Wednesday, 15th May. It is sure to be a great afternoon for new prep parents and students.

Please don’t forget our very popular Walk to School Day is on Friday.  Excitement is also growing for the Year 6 Camp, and I am also looking forward to visiting our Year 6s at Camp Woorabinda, Gippsland.

Have a great week of Learning and Growing Together.