Dear EEPS parents and carers,

Welcome back to Term 2 and a special welcome to the new families who have joined our school community this term. I hope that everyone had a restful break over the holidays, and you had some valuable family time.

Holiday Works

Over the holidays we have undertaken another impactful landscaping project around the rotunda. Matt, and the crew at RocketBox, have been fantastic and this is the second project they have completed at EEPS. We also had new doors installed in OSHC, complete with new furniture. Thank you to Trish Bostock for coordinating these tasks over the break.

I would also like to sincerely thank Mrs Jackson and Miss Lapadula, who came in several times over the break to stain the fence around the new ‘fairy garden’ on Level 2. They have both been very generous with their time.

Staff Update

As Miss Ashleigh Harris very shortly departs on family leave, I am pleased to welcome Mrs Melanie Goetz to the EEPS staff on a Wednesday in class 1A. Mrs Hallam, has kindly agreed to increase her time fraction and will be teaching Miss Harris’ art classes.

Congratulations to Ms Madeline Elliot and to Ms Rachel Schopf, who are both pregnant and leaving towards the end of the term, or the beginning of next. A double congratulations to Ms Schopf, on her recent, ‘low-key’ wedding over the recent break. As always, the school will communicate to families of 5/6S and 5E students regarding teacher replacements as the process unfolds.

Japanese Prep - Year 6

I am also very pleased to announce that we will be able to continue to teach Japanese to all children across the school again, after, a temporary staffing challenge in Term 1. Ms Dania Margerison is joining the EEPS staff for the rest of the year to teach both Year 5 and 6 and also to pick up some of the lessons that Ms Harris had been teaching. A very warm welcome to Dania.

Student Achievement

Congratulations to Piper W for being selected to play hockey at State level, Piper is part of the Red Devils hockey team - well done Piper! Please also remember that the school is always very happy to hear of the achievements of all EEPS students in out of school endeavours, whether they be sporting, cultural or musical.

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

Plato once said, ‘Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything’. The importance of reading cannot be underestimated. We are very pleased to be involved again in the Premiers’ Reading Challenge in 2025. Look out for additional information in the Newsletter this week.

ANZAC Day

This Thursday morning at 9.00am we will be hosting our traditional ANZAC Day Service in the Hall. Families are very welcome to attend. Many of our students will also represent the school on Friday at the Dawn Service at the Eltham Cenotaph. I thank them in advance for their support of this important National commemorative event.

Welcome to Country

As a part of the EEPS Reconciliation Action Plan Working Party, the school has organised an official ‘Welcome to Country’ and smoking ceremony on Monday 5th May, in place of our normal assembly that day. All EEPS community members are warmly invited. The school views this as another opportunity to celebrate the rich history and culture of our First Nations peoples. The ceremony will be conducted by a Wurundjeri Elder. Gaining some background knowledge of ‘Welcome to Country’ is part of the learning focus for this short, first week of term.

EEPS Vacation Care - Team Kids

I am very pleased to officially announce that School Council has selected TeamKids to operate our inaugural vacation care program starting on the next holiday break, Monday 27th June. The school will be having several meetings throughout the term to help make the establishment of the vacation care program as smooth as possible. Further information, including booking information, will be sent next Monday 28th April in a direct Compass Newsfeed. This is a very exciting development for the school. This service will be just for EEPS children.

Democracy Sausage Sizzle

With the election coming up on Saturday 3rd May the school would again like to hold a Democracy sausage sizzle. We did this, only for the first time, at the last State election and would like to capitalise on the success we had. Please see the attached flyer and have a think if you could volunteer a couple of hours of your time on Saturday week. Here is the link to a sign-up page.

We have a lot of activities and initiatives on the go, and I look forward to another positive and rewarding term of ‘Learning and Growing Together’.

Kind regards

Warren Lloyd

Princi

Premiers Reading Challenge