What a fabulous two weeks at ENPS! There has been much going on and so many wonderful things to celebrate and look forward to. There have been exhibitions, orientations, special visits and sporting achievements!

World Teachers’ Day

Today we acknowledged and celebrated our ENPS teachers for World Teachers' Day! We are so fortunate to have such a committed and dedicated teaching staff at our school. Each and every one our teachers exceeds expectations every day, so a huge thank you to our ENPS teaching staff! You are all truly wonderful! Each and every day I am personally inspired by you all.

Year Six Exhibition

An incredible highlight was the Year Six Exhibition yesterday. Exhibition is a significant milestone event in the journey of a learner in our school and the remarkable depth of learning and demonstration of inquiry was certainly showcased yesterday. To be a part of Exhibition yesterday; to hear their TEDx Talks and see their stalls was amazing. The efforts and learning from our Year Six students were inspiring! The hard work, commitment and dedication of our Year Six Team (along with our Specialist teachers and all staff as group mentors) is remarkable. A truly special event at ENPS and thank you to everyone involved.

Sporting Achievement

Congratulations to Raf (5JG) along with Nivaan (5AC), Sam (4CT) and Max (3AC) for their remarkable efforts last week at the Regional Athletics Carnival! Raf ran a fantastic race in the 200m sprint winning his heat yet just missing out on progressing to the State Carnival by 100th of a second! The boys’ relay with Raf, Nivaan, Sam and Max finished in fifth. What an amazing achievement from them all!

Student of the Week Lunch Awards

It has been another great two weeks of Thursday lunches with Student of the Week token award recipients! Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with Raine (FLT) and her friend Charlotte along with our first second time recipient, Xavi (1NV) and his friend Autumn. This week it was a very special lunch with Ali (4CG), Tiearra (5JG) and Ellie (4CG) and friends Soren, Isabella and Lucy. (I look forward to lunching with our fourth winner Mason in future!)

Staffing News

We welcome a new baby to our ENPS family this week, with baby Daniel McIntosh arriving safely on Monday to parents Rhys and Erika McIntosh and big sister Sophie! Congratulations to them all.

2026 Foundation

This week we also had our 2026 Foundation students continue their orientation program with the first of four Wednesday morning sessions. We have 78 new Foundation students joining us at this stage in 2026! We look forward to spending time with them over the coming three Wednesdays as they transition to ‘big’ school and we all get to know each other more. A special thank you to Cleo K for my gorgeous drawing!

Kinder Visit

This week we have also had a special visit from the kinder kids at Villa Bambini Essendon North and Essendon services. I had a fabulous time reading stories to our special visitors, while their highlight was most definitely playing on the playgrounds!

Community Engagement: Movie Night

We have lots of wonderful things happening this term to connect our families to our school and each other. Make sure you save the date for our Movie Night on Friday 28th November. This year’s movie was announced at assembly this afternoon with 'Bad Guys 2' the winner. It is always a tremendous night!!! Fingers crossed for the weather to be on our side for our outdoor cinema! Last year we sold over 900 tickets! A reminder that all families are welcome to our Movie Night, including our new families for 2026! Tickets are on sale now!

Monday 3rd November

This coming Monday 3rd November (day before Melbourne Cup), ENPS will be operating an alternate day of learning and teaching. The school will be open, however historically attendance is significantly reduced due to families taking the opportunity to have a long weekend. To support the release of a number of teachers across each year level, arrangements for Monday 3rd November will include mixed teachers, condensed classes from Foundation - Year Six and an alternate program for the day.

A reminder that the school is closed on Tuesday 4th November for Melbourne Cup Day.

2026 Planning

As you can appreciate, it is the time of year when we are establishing our grade structures and staffing for the new school year ahead. We have already begun our recruitment processes and aim to have our 2026 staffing finalised in the coming weeks.

We can now confirm that the Foundation team for 2026 will be Hannah Morris, Kirsty Johnson, Jessica Carter and Tanya Ward. As we approach the end of the year, we will confirm our Year One – Six teaching teams as soon as we are in a position to do so.

In 2026, we have a projected enrolment of 605 students. We can confirm that we will maintain our model of straight year levels and will maintain 28 classes; four classes at each year level.

Every year at ENPS we value and respect the opportunity for students to have voice in their following year’s class placement. This year, we are going to be doing something a little different. This year we will be sending home a slip for your child to talk through with you their suggested peers who they learn well with, as possibilities for their next year’s class. Your child will nominate five peers as possible classmates from the cohort, noting that your child will be placed with at least one of those five students. The slip is to be return to school, signed by both the child and the parent/carer by a nominated due date. Students who do not return the slip will still have the opportunity in class to complete their choices. I also take the opportunity to remind families that student voice is just one aspect of the class allocation process, with extensive staff input and consideration. We trial this new format in the hope to alleviate the situation following Step Up Morning and when parents and/or students complain about their child’s class placement.

If your child has special educational needs that you believe require special consideration when determining class placement in 2026, please let me know about this in writing. Please note this is not about requesting or selecting your child’s teacher, rather that we are aware of any additional factors that need to be taken into consideration for 2026. Please email me directly by Monday 10th November.

A reminder that we ask that if you and your family are planning on leaving ENPS at the end of 2025, please let the school office know as soon as you are in a position to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.)

Buildings and Grounds

We have a few great things happening now and in the coming weeks for our school. The Year Five/Six playground is currently undergoing a refurbishment and out of action while being fix and updated. Over the coming weeks we will be sanding back and polishing the gymnasium floor, as well as painting the gym in January ready for the start of the new school year.

2026 Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Following the State Government announcement two weeks ago, we remind our Year Two families that there will not be a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) 1:1 program in Year Three in 2026. For further information regarding our Technology and BYOD program, please check out the section in this newsletter.

Communication at ENPS

We also would like acknowledge that at this time of year, there is also an influx in information for the new school year ahead. Please continue to regularly check Compass - we use Compass for all our communication with homes. Communication is a shared responsibility - we know that it can be a lot to keep up with and really appreciate your support. It is important to us that our families have all the information that they need to have an understanding of what is happening at ENPS and why we do what we do.

Road Safety Around Schools

I take the opportunity to again urge everyone to be vigilant and safe on the roads, especially around schools. Every morning and afternoon on yard duty, along with our Executive Team members, we are constantly faced with people in a hurry, losing patience and being unsafe on our surrounding roads. We are not traffic managers, however the constant requests for safe drop off areas, not to do U turns, not to park in driveways or to slow down, are much too frequent, necessary and sadly, not well received. May we all take a moment to reflect on our responsibilities as drivers to keep everyone safe.

Community Feedback

Thank you to the families who have been providing us with value insight and feedback over the past months through our community surveys relating to our BYOD program, and more recently our generalised community survey. A summary of feedback from the BYOD survey is provided in this newsletter. Thank you also to the 12 families who gave us really honest and productive feedback though the community survey, which will will share more about in coming newsletters.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend and for those taking an extra-long weekend, stay safe and we will see you all back on Wednesday! Happy Halloween to everyone celebrating and trick or treating tonight.

I look forward to the coming week and UMatter Day next Friday 7th November!

Kate Barletta

Principal

TeamKids

ENPS' Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service provider

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