Welcome to 2023

Dear parents

The commencement of 2023 is upon us .  I hope you have enjoyed the beautiful weather we have experienced over the break.  I am generally pleased with our school plans and arrangements moving forward but I have some reservations and issues that I wish to explain to our school community.

Through our collective efforts at the end of 2022 we were able to set up a brilliant staffing team and arrangementsfor the education of our students. Last year, School Principals’ were informed that the teacher supply was greatly reduced and when local schools advertised job vacancies, we soon discovered there was ‘no pool of applicants’. Fortunately,we went early with the advertising of staff and selected the best candidates tojoin our team for 2023. I offered flexible arrangements to secure teachers who havean existing relationship with our school. We additionally matched pairstogether to ensure we have great shared classroom practitioners. As you know well, ENPS is really good at forming great teacher teams and this is a prominentfeature and part of the culture of our school. It makes us unique and quality teachers are the most important factorthat influences student learning. ENPS have the best staff and programs.

We have made some important decisions for 2023 in comparison to 2022.  We have added an extra year Prep and Year 4 class (now 24 classes) and specialistteachers for library studies and science. But, the impact of a high number of students exiting year 6 to go to secondaryschools and less students starting Preps has reduced our overall studentnumbers.  The two above mentioned factorshave reduced our financial situation and we are running a deficit account for2023.  This means we have less flexibilityand funds available and this will create limitations.

Additionally, in 2020/21 due to remotelearning and lockdowns and continuing into 2022 we did not have a steady inflow of funds from our fundraising efforts and this is an invaluable source ofrevenue.

From 1^st January 2023, we have to follow new DET guidelines in respect to providing time in lieu for teachers and aides.  What this means is that if teachers work additional hours they are to be released from duties. The school will have to use its own funds to provide additional release for those teachers / aides.  You may have read the media coverage about camps.  Under the new agreement that was approved late 2022, a teacher / aide will accrue hours outside their ‘normal work hours’.  So the evening and night time period is calculated as part of their work period and on average a teacher will gain approximately 3 days of time in lieu for the length of a year 6 camp and approximately two and half days for a short length camp like a year 3 camp.  The school has to fund this and is not permitted to charge parents for the employment of relief teachers who will take the class while the teacher who attended the camp is released off site ie time in lieu for attending the camp.  This is how the agreement affects all schools. It is a financial ‘hit’ costing us approximately $7000 - $8000 for a full camp as we have to ensure time in lieu is given to all staff who attend.  ENPS is exploring how we are going to make this happen as we have 3 camps in term one!  We do not have the funds to meet these guidelines.  As a result, you may have noticed schools are cancelling outdoor education camps and/or reducing the length of camps to ensure they can operate.  I don’t want our children to loose the amazing and valuable experience of going on camps from year 3 onwards.  Hmmm. It’s a significant problem for all schools and won’t be sorted by the union and Department soon because they are schedules for arbitration in May / June.  This does nothing to assist how we make campswork in term one.

On a positive note, we have locked in our school leaders for 2023 and this is exciting news.

Our new School Captains are Isah Anu-Bakr + Phoebe Castens + Niamh Peachy + Yorke Murray

Our new JSC coordinators are ZoeScrimegeour + Olivia Winton

Our new Student Wellbeing leaders are Declan Miller + Amelia Clark + Nathaniel Fu  + Claire Wood

We need 6  people to join council for 2023 so please consider join our team. The election  process will open on Friday 3 February.

As we set up our structure, I encourage parents to actively become involved on site and think about joining our Parents and Friends Association. Please sign up to be a Parent Rep.

I read a great article from the ABC on Monday about what will help with a smooth transition into prep called

'Absolute independence': Forget writing their name, here's what teachers are looking foron the first day of school

Teachers share their tips on what will help with a smoother transition into prep, sayingit's the simpler skills that will often determine how ready a child is for school. Read the full story Shared from ABCapp

Calendar: Events for the whole year are found on the new school website.  We will regularly update this information. Make it your ‘go to’ to search for upcoming events.

2023 Return dates:  Friday 27 January is a teacher only day + Monday30 January our Year One to Year 6 students commence their first school day but note the Prep students have a short day only with their 15 minute interview and will commence 9am – 12.50 pm Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

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