Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Welcome to Week 7 of a 10 week term. I hope your long weekend with your family was filled with joy. I write these articles on Saturday morning and the forecast looks spectacular. 

This week, I am thrilled to introduce our first School First Aid Officer, Jo, to the community. Jo is a doctor in her home country who is undertaking studies at Melbourne University. We are so lucky to secure her services. Jo's wage is not included in our state funding - it is funded by YOU! Your incredibly generous support of Parent Contributions allows us to have Jo taking care of the first aid needs of your children. We have about 87% of parents paying their contributions and Jo exists at the school because of you - which is so wonderful. As long as we can achieve 87% payment rates, we can afford a position for Jo. Thank you - sincerely!!!

Jo will work each day from 10:00am to 3:00pm which are the peak times for first aid (encompassing both recess breaks when children are active outside and more likely to have little bumps and bruises). Jo has to leave for class at uni early on one day but her duties will be taken care of by Emma and Kirsty in the office. Both of those wonderful ladies will then be able to focus more on their core work so productivity and the level of care should be excellent all round. Jo will ensure all of our medications and paperwork are up-to-date and will proactively make calls and Compass notifications when required. Note that if you child receives low level care in the first aid office, you may not be notified - just the cases that are more serious. I know you will welcome Jo when you see her in the office space. She has a lovely manner and is a very diligent and caring person. 

I mentioned in last week's Principal's Newsfeed that I would have an extended article about Child Protection and Mandatory Reporting. This is included below and I encourage you all to read it. 

I hope you have a lovely start to the short week. Only four weeks to go until the Term 1 holidays. I hope the year is treating you well so far. 

We need your help with two things:

1. Harmony Day
2. Easter Raffle

Details on how you can help are included below.

Welcome to Jo, our New First Aid Officer 

Hi everyone!

My name is Jo, and I am excited to join the team as the First Aid Officer. My priority is contributing to a safe and supportive environment for everyone at South Melbourne Primary School.

I worked as a GP in the emergency room and critical care unit in private and public hospitals back in Indonesia. Outside of SMPS, I am studying for a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Melbourne. I am excited to bring my knowledge to support school safety. 

A little bit about me: I am a cat person who loves to paint and crochet. I also enjoy riding bikes here in Melbourne. Looking forward to meeting you all soon and taking care of your children. Mr Noel has told me so many wonderful things about your families and your kids - they sound amazing!

Playtime Plan Locations

We shared a few weeks ago that we are trialing having students play in certain locations. This trial has spread out students across all available play spaces and been on a roster throughout the week so all students will get to play in all locations. (Preps continue to play on Level 2 for the rest of Term 1). 

A few good news stories to share:

"I was worried I wouldn't get to play with my brother at recess but I had such a fun time playing what's the time Mr Wolf with some new kids in my grade. I am so excited I made some new friends". - Year 1 Student.

"When I used to go to the park there were lots of older students there using the space, now I get to play soccer with all my friends and we have the park to ourselves on Wednesday!" - Year 2 Student.

"I love having the opportunity to play in the gym at recess because we get access to equipment we wouldn't normally get to use. For example, I got to play tennis once!" - Year 4 Student.

Mr Callum has been collecting feedback from students and whilst it is not perfect yet, we are getting closer to having a less overwhelming play time for students. The next phases will be ensuring that students are taught explicitly games to play when outside, providing equipment to play and offering more clubs and quiet areas to spend playtime. 

Holi Celebration

Many families in our wonderful SMPS community celebrate Holi. The two-day festival will begin on Friday March 14th and continue on Saturday March 15th. The Hindu festival is often referred to as the festival of colours, thanks to the vibrant traditions of throwing coloured powders and water balloons.  On behalf of the Multicultural Committee and the entire SMPS community, we wish everyone celebrating a very happy Holi. 

May this Holi bring you colourful seasons and days filled with prosperity and joy. 

Easter - We need your help

Each year, we run a raffle. It is a lot of fun for the kids during our Easter Hat Parade on the last day of Term 1. We pull out the winners and the children enjoy the spectacle. It cannot happen without you doing two things:

1. Donate a nice Easter chocolate to the school
2. Sell and buy raffle tickets to be in the draw to win prizes

As we have such wonderful support with Parent Contributions (school fees) each year, we choose to run very few fundraising events. This is one of them.

Please have a close read of the next page of this iNewsletter (School Leaders Page) to find out the details of the Easter Raffle and how you can help. It falls flat unless we get your support - and we don't do 'flat' at SMPS.

Harmony Day - Please Support

Harmony Week is a celebration to recognise the rich multiculturalism of our country. It is a day of inclusion and respect so that everyone may feel a sense of belonging. This year, we will celebrate at SMPS on Friday the 21st of March, and we invite students to wear clothing representative of their culture or the colour orange on the day. Students are asked to bring along a gold coin donation, with the proceeds going toward the SMPS Multicultural Committee. Funds raised will support the development of a cultural space within our school. 

We will be holding a special assembly on the 21st of March to mark the celebration that will begin at approximately 2:45 pm. Families are welcome to attend. We are privileged to have a culturally diverse community at SMPS and look forward to sharing and learning more about the cultures within our school community.

Uniform Feedback

Once per term we conduct a Spot-Check on school uniform to reveal the level of support and compliance with our School Uniform Policy. This occurred last week. It showed that 89% of students were following the correct uniform completely. The most common inconsistencies were not having the correct shoes or socks. 

Please check that black leather (polishable) shoes, and navy socks are part of the kit. 

We sincerely thank every parent for supporting our school uniform policy. Being an inner-city school where children play on the adjacent park makes it imperative for safety that uniform is worn for identification. We also love the feeling of team that goes with wearing such a beautiful school uniform!

Mandatory Reporting

If a child says, "Daddy hit me!" to a staff member, we are bound by law to make a call to Child Protection (Department of Families, Fairness and Housing - DFFH). Whether we think it is true or not is immaterial. If we form a view that the child could be in any danger, a call is made. It magnifies if there are marks on a child. 

If a child says, "Daddy hit me!" and we don't make the call, we are potentially breaking the law and our career (not to mention the safety of the child) is at risk. 

Oftentimes, a parent makes the assumption that the school made a call to Child Protection and contacts the school asking, "Why didn't you inform me first?" The simple answer is - we are neither required nor encouraged to do so. 

As principal, parents who have had Child Protection involvement sometimes come to me asking what is going on. I understand the approach, but, quite honestly, most times I am not aware that a call has been made by a staff member. They are not required to inform me. The law is clear - any person working in a school can form a view of a child safety concern and call Child Protection and keep it to themselves. Even if I did know about it, I am not required or encouraged to say anything to a parent. I let Child Protection make their determination and the family are involved via DFFH or the Police. 

Police are sometimes involved in cases where a claim has been made and Child Protection choose to escalate due to their own concerns. Police and Child Protection have the right to come to the school and interview the child. Whilst this can be a shock to parents, this is often par for the course. 

As a parent myself, I can only imagine the stress of finding out via Child Protection or the Police that my own child was interviewed at the school without my knowledge. Parents often think, "But it is my child and I have the right to know." But, if you take a step back from the emotion, you can see the logic of not informing the parent. Imagine if there was a serious case of abuse by a parent - who should find out last? The parent, of course. 

Every school has instances of reports being made to Child Protection. It is very common. Most of the cases have a simple explanation and are resolved with minimal intervention. Others require more heavy support to solve.

As a school, we make no assumptions or judgments on 'guilt' around any case - we just execute our duties under the law. We keep the strictest of confidence, observing the Privacy Act where only those needing to know are informed. This is a tight and well-managed circle. 

I said in my Newsfeed last week - "Would you rather we made 100 calls to Child Protection and save one child's life? Or not make the calls to save 99 parent egos." My answer to this question is simple.

Our school was not built to protect parent's egos - we were built to care for and educate children.

In essence, we can't protect every child, every minute, of every day from harm. Walking on the pavement has a risk. Being in a playground has a risk. We don't offer 1:1 security detail for every child. But we can take reasonable steps to protect children from harm - especially when they self-identify that the risk might be present in their lives. 

Child Protection is there not to prosecute parents and to cause them harm and distress. Child Protection is there to support the safety of children. Laws exist that are very clear that schools have a duty of care to report claims of harm to children. I can't say, "Don't be shocked if Child Protection knock on your door" - because it wold be a shock when it happens. I can say that despite its downside, the law is there to try its best to protect children from harm. 

Teachers and school staff have a role to report claims in case something lies underneath the claim. If the child works out to be safe after a chat with Child Protection, then we all move on and watch the sun rise on another day on earth secure in the knowledge that we did our best.