Principal's Report 

Dear Parents & Carers,

SCHOOL TOURS 

On Monday I had the pleasure of meeting a new group of families on our first school tour for the year. I am sure many of you remember the anticipation that comes with researching the local schools in preparation for their first year at big school. It is hard to believe that our new Preps have only been at school for 5 weeks and we are already preparing for next year’s enrolments. I would like to acknowledge our wonderful School Captains, James and Aarya, who joined me on the tour. They did an outstanding job sharing some of their insights about our school. I received glowing comments at the end of the tour, praising their presentation skills. If you have friends or neighbours who are looking to enrol their children in 2025, please let them know that tours can be booked via the link on our website.   

PARENT HELPERS

Mrs Arkey and I have been developing a new literacy intervention program to support students who are displaying reading difficulties and have gaps in their reading development. Our Education Support team are currently training with us to be able to deliver the program to students on a regular basis. Research shows that short, sharp, intervention sessions that are delivered frequently will have the greatest impact on learning. Once trained, this program can also be delivered by parent helpers. If this is something that may be of interest to you and you can afford one or two hours a week during a morning session, please contact me via the office. Many parents that I have worked with in the past find this a very rewarding experience.

The Scholastic Book Club program needs one or two parents who can assist Linda in the library. The role is much less time consuming than it used to be with all orders now online. It now just entails distributing pamphlets to teachers pigeonholes when they arrive and then distributing the book packs to classrooms once per term. The school benefits from a commission on book sales that we are able to spend on new books for the library. If you have a couple of hours to spare a term and would like to assist, please contact the office.  

SCHOOL COUNCIL 

A huge thank you to all of the parents who have nominated to fill vacancies on School Council.  We received more nominations than vacancies so will be going to a ballot. Next week you will receive some information about each of the candidates along with the ballot papers. I will include information on the election process and timetable.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing parents and our School Council President, Scott Bundy for their contribution to the SEPS community. I have only had the opportunity to work with them on council a few times however it is clear that they have been a dynamic team, deeply invested in making our school the best it can be for the students and whole school community. I am sad to be losing some of our wonderful team however I am looking forward to welcoming our new council members on board after the election process. Please look out for more information on COMPASS next week.  

FRIDAY COFFEE MORNINGS  

Georgie and the coffee van will be hosting coffee mornings for parents & carers in each grade on Friday mornings after drop-off. You are invited to gather with other parents from your child’s grade for a chat and warm drink. This will commence on Friday 9th February starting with class 00A and then every Friday onwards. 

Next Friday will be 1B’s turn.

Wish you all a wonderful fortnight ahead!  

Jane Briffa