From the Assistant Principal

Sleep Routines:

With the sunsets pushing out later and summer upon us, it is getting harder for our students to get to bed with enough time to rest and recover for their next day of learning.  

Sleep not only affects student learning retention, but students’ abilities to self-regulate with their behaviours and emotions.  If you are interested in knowing how long your child should sleep at night, and what are some great ideas for bed time and wake up routines, please see the attached link.

Koorie Tea:

Our Koorie Morning Tea was held last Friday, 28 November.  We had 2 Koorie Education Support Officers (KESOs) in attendance with us.

KESOs are area-based professionals who are members of the local Aboriginal community with an understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the histories.

KESOs provide advice to schools about culturally inclusive learning environments, and the co-ordination of services to facilitate improved engagement of Koorie children and young people.

KESOs play an integral role to engage families, communities, education and service providers to facilitate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners to participate fully in education. They support all learning settings to transition students and families across all learning stages where appropriate: into early years, primary, secondary and further education.

Department of Education: Koorie Education Policy

Koorie Morning Tea in 2026 (9.30-10.30am):

Fri, 27 Feb 

Fri, 22 May 

Fri, 14 Aug 

Fri, 13 Nov 

Year 6 to 7 Step Up:

City of Port Phillip have organised a day to support students going into year 7 with a breakdown of how to set them up for success on Friday, 23 January 2026 from 11am-4pm.  

We know of a few families who we have referred for this service, however, if it is of interest, please send through an email to the school with subject: Step Up Referral.  While there is a flyer attached, all referrals must be sent via the school, so please reach out if you are interested for your student.

Cyber Safety through Inform and Empower:

A week ago, I sent through an information sheet regarding the upcoming social media bans for U16s from Inform and Empower via Compass.  Please see the attached flyer, if you missed this. 

Additionally, our Parent/Carer session from April this year is still available to watch on youtube: https://youtu.be/qkKsYdzIxLc?si=_baDu9qKphborx81 .  I recommend commandeering the 90minutes of time to watch the video as it holds some great insights into our students and screens regarding healthy boundaries and also the dangers embedded within video game platforms, such as Roblox in particular.

E-Safety Parenting Information Sessions:

Two upcoming sessions are available to support parents with the upcoming social media bans coming into effect in December through City of Port Phillip: Digital Parenting: Regulate and Respond and Navigating the Social Media Delay.

Volunteering in 2026:

If you are considering volunteering as a parent/carer helper for reading with students or attending excursions, now is a great time to ensure you have a Working with Children’s Check and that it is up to date.  If you volunteer in our Breakfast Club, we highly encourage you to undertake a Food Handling course, which is free of charge.

Family Food Stall:

Food Parcels are still available and I am happy for you to reach out to me directly.  Additionally, here is a link for other places where you can access food support.  Our last Family Food Stall will be from 3.15pm-3.45pm on Friday, 12 December at the end of our last assembly near the Breakfast Club.  Adults, (and Year 6 students with permission), can come by to collect. 

Transition Day:

Tuesday, 9 December will be a special day for us at SMPPS.  It will be our final Prep Transition day (10-11am), whole school transition morning and most of our Year 6s will head off for a transition day at their secondary school.  More direction will be given via teachers to students closer to the day, but students are strongly encouraged to attend to ensure they get to meet their 2026 teacher and next year’s classmates in person, as this will make for a smoother transition for the 2026 school year.

Kind regards,

Sam Smrekar Thompson

Assistant Principal