From the Principal

Welcome back

We have had a very busy first two weeks back. The students have settled in well and there has been lots of positive vibes and focused energy in the classrooms. Let's hope we can sustain this throughout the term so we can really maximise student learning!

Welcome back to Natalie Iverson who has returned to us two days a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, after having family leave for the arrival of Archie in the second half of 2025. Natalie will be working with some grade 2 and grade 4 students each week to help boost their Numeracy skills. One group at each level will focus on filling some gaps so students can progress to the next level with more confidence. The other group at each level will be focusing on extending their already impressive numeracy skills.

I am also excited to welcome Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Howard to our incredible Education Support team. Lizzie comes to LEPS highly recommended and it already seems she has been part of our team for longer than two weeks.  Lizzie will we working with a number of different students across the school. We have been in the process of employing additional Education Support staff due the success of our Disability Inclusion Profile (DIP) funding applications.

Attendance HERO Awards for Term 2

Last term we introduced our Attendance HERO Awards in a bid to improve student attendances. As I said at the time, we cannot improve student academic results if students are not at school. 

There are days when children should not be at school. These are the days when they are generally sick and the best place for them is at home. What we are aiming to do is reduce the number of days students are absent for reasons other than sickness including their birthday, having a late night, going to the airport to drop off or collect relatives, or they just want to stay at home.

Since term 2, all students who attend on the day, receive a Focus on the Good ticket. Students can use the points from these tickets to exchange for rewards. The other component of the new system is students who achieve our 95% Attendance Target get to attend a special morning tea with Scott, Julie and me.  

In pleasing news, the number of students reaching our 95% Attendance Target increased by 16 students!! Well done everyone!

• 100% Attendance: 28 students (16 more than term 1)

• 95% Attendance: 56 students (same as last term)

• 84 students reached our Attendance Target.

Let's hope we can keep increasing the number of students at school every day in term 3 and reach 100 students attending the Term 3 celebratory morning tea. I think we can!

NAIDOC Week Celebrations

NAIDOC Week celebrations typically fall during the July holidays but we still like to acknowledge our First Nations people by celebrating when school resumes. NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.

I feel we still have much to learn from our First Nations people and NAIDOC Week celebrations are just one small way to keep the important role they have played in Australia in the front of people's minds. Make sure you take the time to look at all the wonderful work the students completed on the day on one of the later pages in this week's Jumbunna.

Industrial Action

Thank you to all our families for your support during this time of Industrial Action. We know that Stop Work days impact our families and this is even more challenging when the stop work is called at short notice. Your words of encouragement, support and kind gestures have been greatly appreciated.

The staff at LEPS are very passionate about education and particularly the students at our school. They do not like taking stop work action but sometimes hard decisions need to be made create improvement for all, students, families and staff. We are fortunate we live in a country where we have freedom of speech and the right to take industrial action to improve working conditions. 

I would like to say that the stop work on Thursday 23 July, will be the last, but there is potential for further days of strike action until an agreement is reached between the State Government and the Australian Education Union. We will try to give you as much notice as possible, but it is a good time to keep up with news reports regarding the current Industrial action.

We will be holding our Three Way Conferences on Thursday 6 August from 11am to 7:15pm. Students ONLY come to school for the time of their appointment. This is a chance for students to share their successes with their parents/guardians/carers and to discuss their goals for the second half of the year.

It is important for ALL parents/guardians/carers to attend these appointments. It shows your child that you value education and that you care about their learning. Log into Compass and make an appointment if you have not already done so. Interpreters are available. We look forward to seeing you on the day.

TheirCare will be running a program on the day for families who need to utilise the service.

LINDA RICHARDS

PRINCIPAL