Wow what a couple of weeks (yet again) at ENPS!

CIS Preparatory Visit Reflection

This week has been an incredible experience to once again host a Council of International Schools (CIS) Visiting Team. From Tuesday to today, Dr Helena Sobulis (CIS School Support and Evaluation Officer) and Wilma Culton (Principal Serpell Primary School) have observed classes, met with and talked to staff, students, parents and School Councillors, gaining an insight and reviewing absolutely everything we do at ENPS with the lens of continuous improvement to provide commendations, recommendations and feedback aligned with the eight domains and standards for international educational excellence.

I often am asked what being accredited with the CIS means to our school and why we opt to strive for such a high level of international standard as a Victorian Government School. Reflecting over the course of the week, I have thought about this a lot.

Being accredited with the Council of International Schools, encapsulates our school’s Guiding Statements; our vision, mission, tag line and values. How can we as a school community hold ourselves accountable to being ‘Global Learners and Leaders, Exceeding Expectations,’ to ‘maximising our potential’ or being ‘Brave, Bold and Connected’ if we don’t have anything to measure that against? How do we ensure that what we do as a school is at the highest possible standard, if we don’t ask the right questions that evaluate what we do? How do we continuously improve, if we don’t evaluate ourselves against the highest quality of education from not just Victoria or Australia, but internationally?

The CIS and the International Baccalaureate (IB) do exactly this. They rigorously and explicitly evaluate all aspects of our school as provider of education. They seek evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, to demonstrate our level of standard compliance. They see and hear for themselves by spending time with us, and meeting with all members of our community, to gain insight and perspectives, as well as to seek areas for improvement.

In the coming month we will receive a comprehensive report from the CIS Preparatory Visit. This will include commendations and recommendations for future growth and development. Over the coming 18 months, we will continue a deep dive into what we do, reflective of feedback and insights from the Preparatory Visit, to undertake a further Self-Study. This self-study will investigate four key projects identified through this process; learning and teaching of Mathematics, learning and teaching of Literacy, effective learning intervention and differentiation, and learning and teaching for English as Additional Language (EAL) learners. These projects align with the emergence of a revised curriculum coming in 2025. The Self-Study will culminate with a further evaluation visit in early 2026.

Being accredited with the CIS is intentionally rigorous and extensive. No stone is left unturned when evaluating what we do, how and why we do it at ENPS. This is something we are incredibly proud of at ENPS. We are the only Victorian Government Primary School to hold both international accreditations. We hope this makes you proud to be a part of our ENPS community too.

Sporting Update

A huge congratulations to the 51 students from Years 3-6 who competed on Wednesday at the Essendon District Athletics Carnival. What incredible athletes we have at ENPS. We now a number of students heading to the next round of competition at the Divisional Carnival in early September. What great examples of maximising their potential and exceeding expectations!

And what about our Mini Hooptimers from Year One/Two, along with their Year Six coaches, participating this week in Hooptime!

A huge shout out also to Easton from Year One who is our first ever ENPS representative giant slalom snow skier! What an achievement!!

Make sure you check out our Celebrating Student Achievement page for more sporting and achievement updates.

Staffing

We are very excited to announce the safe arrival of baby Isla Rose D’Souza last week. A huge congratulations to new parents, Josh D’Souza and his wife Bronte. We are still eagerly awaiting word of the arrival of Mina Stephen’s baby too. This week sees Sian Wilson begin her family leave too. A little earlier than anticipated, however we wish Sian and Taylah all the best too for the safe arrival of their baby boy.

Have you ever noticed the ENPS staff have something in common on certain days? Around once a month, ENPS staff have a subtle dress up day! You may have spotted loads of animal print this Wednesday as a great example of this. Keep an eye out and see if you can work out the theme. We certainly have lots of fun as a staff at ENPS!

House Team Shirts - Official Launch

The time has come and we can finally announce the official launch of our much anticipated ENPS House Team Shirts! Check out the newsletter page for launch details and how and when to purchase the shirts. PSW almost let the cat out of the bag early, however please note that shirts cannot be worn until our launch day on Friday 13th September! Child and adult sizes of all four house team shirts will be on sale in store and online through PSW from Monday 2nd September. Keep an eye out for more information regarding when students will be allowed to wear their house team shirts as a part of our school uniform.

Parent/Carer Opinion Surveys

A reminder that the DET Parent/Carer/Guardian Opinion Survey is still open for your feedback. All surveys are confidential and anonymous, yet provide us with incredible rich insights and perspectives which we value enormously. To date we have had 89 of our 494 families respond to the Parent survey. We thank them for their feedback and sincerely hope to hear from many more before the survey closes on Friday 30th August.

2025 Planning

2025 planning is now underway. We ask that if you and your family are planning on leaving ENPS at the end of 2024, please let the school office know as soon as you are in a position to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.) We are also now open for enrolments across all year levels for 2025.

Thank you again to everyone who has been a part of our CIS Preparatory visit! In particular, to all of the students, parents, staff and school councillors who participated in meetings with the CIS team, we are so grateful for your voice and insight. And to our incredible staff - thank you for everything you do, every day for our students and community.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Kate Barletta

Principal

Doutta Stars Cricket Club