Principal's Message

2020. It's here already! It’s going to be another exceptional year, I can feel it already. It was wonderful to see the students enjoying one another's company as they got back together and the playground games all started again. There were stories to share about holiday adventures, family outings, lazy days at home playing cricket in the backyard and kicking a soccer ball in the park. There has been a buzz of excitement all week as well as a calmness and a focus on learning. 

Once again it reminded me of what a special place we ‘belong’ to here at SMDP. On Tuesday, we celebrated our Opening School Mass as a parish community. Our theme of the mass was ‘Belonging’. 

At SMDP we strongly believe that we belong to a

school community

parish community

learning community. 

We know that when parents and staff work in partnership, learners thrive and their performance is enhanced. Students who have that sense of belonging grow, feel connected and achieve great things. We look forward to working with you this year.

Our new preps started on Thursday full of enthusiasm and excitement. To our new prep parents, a very warm welcome, and to all our other parents, it is great to see you back ready for a new year ahead.

Preps have only been here for a few days and already they are getting into the swing of things. Thanks parents! It is very obvious that you have 'talked up' school because beyond a little tear or two, the children are very settled. They are quickly picking up school routines, they are listening to bells and getting themselves to the right place at the right time and they are finding friends in our playground. It's early days but the signs are very promising.  Now it is up to us to continue your work and get the best out of each and every one.

We warmly welcome a number of new families to our school: 

Cubillejo, Macaraig, Mardon, Patel, Sarin, Shetty, Shrivastava, Siedlarz, Soetedja, Sparkes, Vemuri, Bandari, Bhankharak,  Bollinkonda, Varey, Cox, C Desai, Efstathakos, Guuduru, Prasetya, F Singh, Yared, Portelli, L Nguyen, Thankadurai Sumakumari, V Sharma, Vetrivelan, Nkurunziza and Dau.

We wish you many happy memories ahead for your children's time at SMDP and we look forward to working in partnership with you in educating your children. It is our strong desire to help your children to thrive, not just academically but socially, emotionally and spiritually as well. 

Once again I would like to introduce our enthusiastic and hardworking staff.

Classroom Teachers

Specialist Staff

Leadership Team

Latest Coronavirus Update 

Further to my message last week, I am writing to provide you with updated advice about the novel coronavirus outbreak relating to people arriving in Australia from mainland China.

Any child returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) who was in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020 is to be isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China.

This recommendation applies only to children who were in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020. It does not apply to students that left mainland China before 1 February 2020.

As previously advised, parents of students that have been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus case or that have arrived in Australia from Hubei Province should ensure that their child is isolated at home and does not attend school for 14 days.

Attached is an updated factsheet provided by the Victorian Government providing advice and information about the novel coronavirus.

You can also access further information and updates from the following websites:

For Victorian updates to the current incident, go to: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/novelcoronavirus

For national updates: https://www.health.gov.au/news/latest-information-about-novel-coronavirus

For international updates: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/novel-coronavirus

WHO resources: https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

The well-being of your child continues to be of paramount importance to me and our school staff. I will continue to share information and advice about the coronavirus outbreak as it becomes available.

Start of Year School BBQ and Picnic

Our welcoming school BBQ and Picnic is on this Friday 7th February from 5:30 - 7:00pm. You can bring your own picnic or there are sausages and veggie burgers available to purchase for $2.50 (CASH ONLY). 

There will be an ice cream van for families to purchase a treat as well as jumping castles and a DJ for the students to enjoy.

Come and catch up with old friends or make some new ones. Everyone is warmly welcome to celebrate the beginning of the school year as a school community.  

The Jumping Castles have been very generously donated by the Ashton family - Ciara in Year 1 and Carter in Year 3. Thank you. 

School Uniform

Let’s make 2020 the year that all students wear their correct uniform every day with pride. All students are expected to wear full summer school uniform including the correct leather school shoes. RUNNERS ARE FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION LESSONS AND SPORT DAYS ONLY. 

Our school uniform promotes our wonderful students to the wider community. It shows respect for themselves and others and ensures equality for every child. Students must wear our correct uniform and wear it with pride and confidence. Parents of students who are not wearing the correct uniform will be informed by a letter. If the student continues to wear incorrect uniform a parent meeting will be organised to discuss the issue with me. 

Important Traffic Management

At the beginning of the year parents/guardians need to be reminded of the traffic management at SMDP. We believe we have created a safe and working system to car drop and pick up our students and we need all drivers to follow these rules for the safety of our students.

I have included a map below to remind drivers that the school should be approached in the direction of the arrows. When coming up Bladin street into Hillman and right hand turn  into Bellin then left hand turns into the school. When leaving the school turn left into Bellin street and right into Campbell street

NOTE: No right hand turns in or out of the school.

When entering the school and you are dropping your child off at our ‘Drop Off Zone’, no parents should be exiting their car. This is a ‘Drop Off’ Zone only. Cars that park in this area prevent the flow of traffic. If you decide to park in our car park to walk your child into school, please be aware that the left hand of the car park is staff parking only. I would also suggest parking in either Pearce Street or Campbell Streets to walk your child/children's safety into school.

Wishing everyone a happy start to the school year. I want you to know that you belong to a wonderful school. I am so proud of our achievements as we build a learning community together where all our students are happy, feel safe and learn to love learning.

God bless.

Dan Ryan

Principal

St Martin de Porres Primary School is committed 

to creating an environment where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children within our care is paramount.

2020 School Closure Days

Listed below are our school closure days for 2020. Please note these are student free days. Staff use these days to further develop their learning.

• Friday 24th April  - Visible Learning
• Friday 5th June - Learning & Teaching Sprints
• Friday 28th August - Visible Learning
• Thursday 17th & Friday 18th September - Catholic Identity
• Monday 2nd November - Report Writing

These dates may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control.