Principal's Report 

Dear BEPS Community,

What a Spectacular Production!

Our school production was an incredible celebration of student voice, talent and teamwork. Based on a script developed from the ideas of our imaginative Year 6 cohort, this performance wasn’t just a show, it was a powerful message brought to life on stage.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to our dedicated parents and families for your ongoing support, costume help and cheers from the audience. And of course, a huge congratulations to our fabulous cast and crew; your creativity and commitment over the past few months truly paid off. You brought your characters to life with passion, humour and heart, both on and off the stage, proudly representing BEPS.

The performance reminded us of something important: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle and Respect our Planet. Through song, dance and storytelling, we followed the unforgettable journey of THE BEPS Chicken and the wise lessons shared by Turtle, the Lunos, Percy the Plant, and of course, THE Chicken itself.

Let’s not forget their important messages:

• If you see rubbish on the ground, pick it up don’t just walk past.

• If you notice a dripping tap, turn it off - small actions make a big difference.

   

This is our community. Let’s be the role models our students can look up to. You never know when THE Chicken might pop in to check on us!

A huge thank you to all staff for their work, and congratulations to Rochelle, who directed The Legend of the BEPS Chicken with incredible dedication and vision. Rochelle’s whole-school direction, tireless energy, and thoughtful guidance brought the script to life and supported our students in developing rich, meaningful character portrayals. Through creative scenes with songs, refining timing to encourage creativity, Rochelle’s work was instrumental in creating a performance that truly created moments reflecting the talent of all our students.

China Trip

This Sunday morning, eight of our incredible Year 6 students and three staff members will take off on a journey of a lifetime to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang to visit our sister school. As I will be also travelling to China with the students, Teri will lead the school with Edwina’s support.

This visit is more than just a trip, it’s a great opportunity for cultural exchange, global learning, and deepening our international connections. We are so proud of our travellers for stepping outside their comfort zones, and we wish them a safe, exciting and inspiring adventure! We look forward to their presentation at assembly on their return

Planning for 2026

We are currently planning staffing and classes for 2026. Please let us know if you are planning a move and will not be attending BEPS next year so that we are able to make the best plans possible with accurate numbers.

The class structure for classes in 2026 at this stage is:

• Foundation x 3 classes

• Year 1 X 2 classes

• Year 2 x 3 classes

•  Year 3 x 3 class

• Year 4 x 4 classes

• Year 5 x 3 classes

• Year 6 x 4 classes

In Term 4, we commence the process of organising students into classes for 2026. Students will be asked to name between 3 to 5 students who they work well with and empower each other’s learning. Teachers use this, along with their knowledge of students’ academic, social and emotional skills, to place students into class groupings that they believe will maximise learning for all. School is a nurturing environment where students are encouraged to work with diverse people, be open minded, view things from multiple perspectives and tolerate differences. Students are encouraged to problem-solve to resolve conflicts and find solutions to meet the needs of the group.

Foundation 2026

On Thursday, we were thrilled to host our first Foundation Transition session for 2026 families! It was a fantastic opportunity to welcome both new students and parents into our school community.

Our future BEPS students explored our learning environment and got a taste of school life by participating in engaging specialist activities. Meanwhile, parents took part in sessions learning about our maths teaching approach and the TeamKids before and after school care program.

This marks the first step in a positive and supportive transition journey for our incoming Foundation students. We’re so excited to support these families as they prepare for the start of their primary school adventure in 2026.

We look forward to the sessions ahead and can’t wait to get to know each of our newest BEPS learners even more!

Important Dates

A few dates for the diary as we move into Term 4:

• Monday 3rd November - Pupil-free day

  • Students do not attend school (Team Kids will operate on the day)

• Tuesday 4th November – The school will be closed on Melbourne Cup Day. As this is a public holiday Team Kids do not run a service on this day. 

Reminder - Parents Approaching Students

A reminder to all parents that we strongly encourage you to speak to class teachers when an issue or concern arises that relates directly to something that has happened in the classroom/playground. Parents must never address the issue with another child, nor approach the parents of the other child/ren (students being confronted by an adult is quite distressing). The matter must be dealt with in the first instance through the class teacher, and where required through leadership. 

Sometimes what has happened or been said in the classroom/playground is taken out of context or is exaggerated; or both sides of the issue are not presented.  When such matters are discussed widely, or when passing information from one party to another, the facts can often be distorted and inaccurate. If an incident occurs at school and has been dealt with at school, it should be left as a school issue and should not be discussed outside of the group of people it directly involves.

Parents are welcome to discuss an incident with the class teacher who has dealt with it for further information or clarification.  However, I reiterate, due to confidentiality, the matter should not be discussed with other parents in the school community.  Parents may sometimes not agree with the way a staff member deals with a classroom/playground incident between two or more children. Just like two different sets of parents may approach the same inappropriate behaviour differently — one may choose to ignore the incident, the other may choose to reprimand with some form of consequence — each teacher deals with inappropriate behaviour differently too; often based on the best information they have possession of at the time. At BEPS we are working with students to action solutions to issues which arise around learning, friendships and disputes, and I think parents would agree this is a lifelong skill which requires building strategies and unconditional support.

We encourage communication and a great deal of patience and understanding with our restorative practice approach. I can’t emphasise enough the importance of good parent-teacher communication — it is much easier to solve problems, feel reassured and be confident in what is happening in the classroom when there are open channels of communication between home and school

Yours in Partnership,

Darren