Principal's Message 

Everyone knows how much I love birthdays but did you know it was our birthday last week? ENPS turned 106 on Wednesday 9th September. Thanks to Ruby (3SM) and Logan (1AM) for helping the celebration with a special ENPS birthday gift. 

It is hard to believe we are already wrapping up Term Three! It feels just like yesterday we were starting the new school year. There is no doubt that Term Three has been amazing! I had a delightful lunch last Thursday with our School Wide Positive Behaviour token winners Evie (1MV) and Sara (3VM) along with their friends, Abigail and Aylin.  

It has also been a very special week welcoming back past students as Year 10 Work Experience students from Buckley Park College. Throughout the term we have also had past students for work experience from Strathmore Secondary College and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School for their community service. How lovely it has been to have them come back and show a genuine interest in teaching as a potential career path.

Community Engagement @ ENPS

Last Friday was Footy Day and everyone had a ball (pun intended!). This year we made a change to Footy Day by bringing it ahead a week to give everyone a fun filled day of footy activities, with additional time for each year level to really enjoy the vast array of rotations on offer. In the past it has always been on the last day of term and subsequently was a shorter day than usual. The full day was a big hit and thank you to all staff involved in making the day a success, along with everyone who wore their footy colours, whatever the code! I especially loved seeing all of the local footy teams represented this year and even some NFL even made an appearance!  

Our Community Engagement Team have also met this week, hard at work reflecting on the Trivia and Games evening, and planning ahead for our 2027 Trivia and Games night! Make sure you keep an eye out for details and save the date for 2027! Planning for the ENPS end of year Movie Night is also well underway. 

There are so many ways parents and carers can get involved and support our community engagement events. Please think about how you can be involved in Term Four! We really need your help to make these wonderful events happen for our school. 

Exceeding Expectations @ ENPS

This term has been full of incredible individual and team achievements. 

Most recently we congratulate our Divisional Athletics Team, who exceeded expectations in their sporting and sportsmanship achievements last week. On Wednesday 8th September, we had our largest number of students compete at the Division Carnival and they were remarkable! Congratulations to Raf (6GU), Georgia (6GU), Jas (6HB), Sami (5AC), Ana (5RZ), Cooper (4IW), Ollie (4CG) and Max (4CT), who will now all go on now to compete at the Regional Athletics Carnival in October. Congratulations to all that represented ENPS! 

A congratulations also to our Volleyball team who this week have progressed to the next level of competition, now heading to the Regional tournament. A great win this week girls against St Peter’s East Keilor! 

While yesterday I had the absolute pleasure to join our Junior (3/4) Hoop Time teams as they took on the round robin style tournament at Coburg Basketball Stadium. The boys team excelled, winning their final, while the girl’s team remained undefeated (although didn’t have finals in their category). Congratulations to both Year 3/4 teams and their Year Six coaches, (Millie, Zadie, Ethan and Alex), led by our staff coaches, Sian Watson and Cassie Lehmann.  

We also took a moment at our whole school assembly today to celebrate and recognise the individual achievements of a number of our students exceeding expectations in extra-curricular areas. Congratulations to Easton (3KO) in the Australian National Snow Skiing Championships, Stella (3SM) in Taekwondo, Elisha (3MG) in the 2026 Maths Talent Quest, Clarence (5JM) for his gymnastics achievements and Ali (6AI) and Sophia (4CT) for their judo achievements! Check out some of these achievements on the Celebrating Student Achievement and Beyond the Bell pages of our newsletter!  

Staffing Updates  

As we head to the end of the term, we have a few staff updates to share. This Friday we farewell Sian Watson as she heads off on Family Leave to prepare for baby #2! We are thrilled for Sian, Taylah and Parker and can’t wait to hear the safe arrival announcement of their little girl after the holidays!

From the start of Term Three we officially welcome Morgan Carver to our ENPS and PE team. Morgan will be joining us three days a week in Term Four, and full time in 2027. In Term Four, Morgan will be working in PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. Welcome Morgan! Andrew Whitby will also increase his days in PE and Health and Wellbeing next term, with an additional two days a week. 

With the school holidays, we also have a number of staff taking advantage of an extended holiday with additional leave. Alice McKenzie is already off and travelling through Europe. Alice M will return in Week Three of our new term! Sharon McWhinney is also on extended leave in the USA, and we will see her back for the start of next term. After the holidays, Sarah Groves will be taking leave for the first two weeks of the term.  We wish them all safe travels and a wonderful time! 

2027 Planning

It is also the time of the year that we are planning for the next year ahead! We ask that if you and your family are planning on leaving ENPS at the end of 2026, please let the school office know as soon as you are in a position to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.) 

We can also now confirm the start to the 2027 school year will be a little different to the past. 

For the start of Term One 2027 we will have two whole school Curriculum Days (student free days) on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th January and a Professional Practice Day (student free day) for Foundation to Year Five on Friday 29th January. Only Year Six students will begin on Friday 29th January, in preparation for their Year Six Leadership Camp on Monday 1st February. All Foundation to Year Five students will have their first day of school on Monday 1st February. Foundation students will have assigned staggered start times on their first day and no school on Wednesdays in the month of February. 

Foundation 2027 Orientation

Next term we begin the orientation and transition to school program for our new Foundation students for 2027! We are so excited to get to know them and their families. A reminder to our 2027 Foundation families that we have already begun using Compass to send out our communications to you (and welcome to your first newsletter for some!). Please make sure you have your Compass login and can access. Compass guides are included in this newsletter and please contact the office if you have any questions.  

Thank you all again for your ongoing support. It really means the world to us all. Please stay safe and look out for each other in our community over the upcoming school holidays. I'll be heading to the city for a little stay-cation and to enjoy the footy finals lead up. 

Term Four will be another adventure and we will do it all together, whatever comes our way. Have a happy and safe school holidays to you all! 

Kate Barletta

Principal