Everyone knows how much I love birthdays but did you know it was our birthday this week? ENPS turned 105 on Tuesday 9th September. It is hard to believe it has already been five years since our centenary celebrations right in the middle of the covid lockdowns! Who remembers our 100th birthday party live on Webex from the front garden and birthday cupcakes that could only shared with the students from essential workers who were onsite that day?

How crazy it is now to be wrapping up on Term Three too! It feels just like yesterday we were starting the new school year. With just one week to go, there is no doubt that Term Three has been amazing!

Last Friday was a fantastic morning for our VIP and Father’s Day open morning! Thank you to everyone who came along. There were so many VIPs across the school! It was such a special morning for all of our dads, granddads, uncles, male role models and special people who came along to celebrate together. We truly have such a wonderful and very special community at ENPS!

Congratulations to our Divisional Athletics Team, who have been exceeding expectations in their sporting and sportsmanship achievements this week. On Wednesday, we had eight students compete. Congratulations to Raf (5JG) who will go on to compete in the 100m and 200m sprints, and the 9-10 year old boys relay team (Raf 5JG, Nivaan 5AC, Max 3AC and Sam 4CT) at the Regional Athletics Carnival. Congratulations to all that represented ENPS!

But Thursday lunches are still my weekly highlight! I had a delightful lunch last week with Alby (FHM), Elda (2LK) and Sara (2LK) with their friends Zoe, Billie and Sarah. Sara and Zoe even bought a list of ideas of how to improve our school with them to share with me! Yesterday it was a lunch outside with Lexi (4IW) and Cooper (3SM), and their friends Evie and Santiago.

Staff Professional Learning

Curriculum Days are much more than a student free day! While there were no students at school today, staff were incredibly busy learning together. With just four curriculum days each year, maximising our learning together on these days is an absolute priority.

Today our teaching and education support staff have been learning and building confidence with the revised Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0) and Victorian Curriculum 2.0. Staff have been deepening their individual and collective knowledge and practical application of the updated curriculum achievement standards and content descriptors, mapping our curriculum and working in teams to align our curriculum vertically and horizontally across year levels.

We have revised units of learning, comparing with our pre-existing Programme of Inquiry, while reshaping in line with curriculum revisions for 2026. This has been a significant undertaking for our school as we try to maintain the integrity of inquiry learning and hold on to our school’s commitment to and passion for teaching through this framework.

With these changes and expectations impacting Victorian Government schools, at ENPS, we are having to really reflect and review how we approach learning and teaching, and in particular, how it impacts our ability to maintain learning and teaching through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) framework. Our staff are working exceptionally hard to navigate through these complexities yet actively embracing evidence-based research to continually improve our practice and pedagogy. However, there will be changes from 2026.

We look forward to sharing more with our community over the coming weeks as well as providing further opportunities for feedback from our families as we move into 2026.

Staffing Updates

Congratulations to Kirsty Johnson, as the successful applicant to officially take over the teaching of FAM for the remainder of the year. We are thrilled to have Kirsty continue as a part of our Foundation team!

We also congratulate Joseph Labagala on a new position. Joseph will be finishing up at ENPS next Friday to begin a new role as Facilities Manager at Glengala PS in Sunshine. We thank Joseph for his contributions to ENPS over the almost six years he has been with us and wish him all the very best with this great opportunity. We are incredibly fortunate to therefore be welcoming back Stuart Upton to our staff team! Stuart will take on a Groundskeeper role each morning from Term Four.

Community Feedback Opportunities

Thank you to the 79 families that have provided feedback through our Digital Technologies Survey. This has provided a fantastic insight into device use and family perceptions of our Digital Technologies use across the school. We look forward to sharing that feedback with you all next term!

Thank you also to the 59 families who have completed the Department of Education’s Parent and Carer Opinion Survey. 12% of our 490 families have completed that. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey will remain open online until Friday 19th September 2025, so there is still time. Check your email for the survey link and information. Your voice is important to us and we thank you for taking a few moments to share that with us as partners in learning for your child/ren.

Community Engagement - Movie Night

Momentum is certainly building and word is spreading around our school about our annual Movie Night! Groups of students are already rehearsing in preparation for the Talent Quest!

Our School Council and Community Engagement Committee have been in full swing planning this wonderful event however we must have parent support this year if the event is to go ahead. Please take a moment to review the Movie Night page this newsletter. With 490 families in the school, we have to have at least 100 parent volunteers on the night to make the event a success. Can you help? Please let us know. (Keep an eye out for more information via Compass.)

2026 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 2025, please let the school office know as soon as you are in a position to do so. (This excludes Year Six students.)

Foundation 2026 Orientation

Next term we begin the orientation and transition to school program for our new Foundation students for 2026! We are so excited to get to know them and their families. A reminder to our 2026 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.

Footy Day

Next week we have Footy Day to look forward on Thursday. With the Dees out of finals contention (yet again) and season over for 2025, I am reviving my Queensland roots to cheer on the Gold Coast Suns this weekend.

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 Ballarat over the break for a week of vintage and veteran cars with my dad and brother for the National Model T Ford Rally!

Term Four will be another adventure and we will do it all together, whatever comes our way.

Kate Barletta

Principal

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