Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Well, we have reached the end of the line. The year 2023 is nearly done and dusted. We conducted our last assembly on Friday where Santa made a visit. He sure is a funny, old fellow, that Santa!

It was a great assembly with hundreds of parents in attendance. We had the chance to farewell our wonderful Grade 6 students who have done themselves proud throughout their time at South Melbourne Primary School. I had the pleasure of attending their Graduation Ceremony on Thursday night last week. The staff are extremely proud of the students and wish them all the best in their secondary school endeavours. We know they will do well.

We also conducted our annual Staff versus Students basketball game which is always a hoot!

Please remember the arrangement for this coming week. Most parents have indicated they will be taking an early holiday and their child will not be attending this week. The school is operational on Monday and Tuesday but with a modified program due to the low numbers. Students will not be in their normal classes but instead will be involved in cross-age activities. The start and end time of the day will be normal for students to attend.

There are no classes on Wednesday. Please do not send your child. Wednesday is a Professional Learning Day for all staff. The OSHClub will be operating and you will need to book online to be involved in this service. It will run all day but no normal classes will occur.

I want to finish by thanking the wonderful parents of SMPS. Your support of me, as principal, and the entire staff is truly amazing. We could not be more grateful to have such a wonderful community.

Lastly, thanks to the most wonderful students in the UNIVERSE. We really love these kids and will miss them during the break. Well done and good luck to any families moving from the school. Thanks for your support too.  Have a safe and happy journey through life.

If you celebrate Christmas - have a merry one. To everyone else, stay safe and have a happy holiday. See you back at school on Tuesday, January 30 at 8:45am.

Specialist Subjects 2024

In 2024, we will be running the following specialist subjects:

• Music and Performing Arts
• Visual Arts
• Physical Education
• Mandarin

Note that DigiTech drops off the list as we reinstate Mandarin after the lengthy search for a suitable teacher. Miss Hope did a great job with DigiTech and she is moving house and school so we have to replace that subject with another. Thanks Miss Hope - your work was magnificent!

New and Exiting Staff in 2024

The following pages are filled with welcomes and farewells - as is always the case towards the end of any year. There is also information around which teachers are in which classes in 2024. Last week, we operated a very successful "meet your new teacher" session and lots of smiles came back as the children finished these sessions. We are very excited about our new staff team as we seek to get even better in 2024 and beyond.

I wish all departing staff the very best and thank them for their passion and dedication during their time at SMPS. We hope they always feel part of our family and consider our doors open. 

Whilst it is always sad to say goodbye, it is also wonderful to recognise and be grateful for the connection made to students and our community along the way. Take the time to read the stories of these wonderful people. They will all be missed. How lovely to have met them along the way. At our final assembly on Friday, we farewelled these wonderful people in person. 

Please check out all pages for welcomes and farewell messages.