Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Welcome families to Week 3 of Term 2. I hope you are all happy and healthy. There are some very important messages in the iNewsletter so please check all pages thoroughly. It takes many hours to produce and we appreciate the respect you show when you read it carefully.

I had communication from a conscientious parent who had spoke to another parent last week around a concern for his child that the class work in the composite Grade 3/4 was pitched at the Grade 3 level and was too easy for his child. Having worked so hard at our school to differentiate the curriculum; my initial feeling was defensiveness. After a couple of minutes of thought I realised that my best response was to encourage any parent with any concern to contact the classroom teacher for a discussion. We can't solve problems that we can't address and I ask all parents, out of fairness, to give the school and the classroom teacher in particular the right of reply. I also encourage any parent to find their voice and contact their child's classroom teacher whenever anything is concerning. We do ask for a respectful approach and not an angry one because that solves nothing and only harms the relationship. Whenever home and school relationships are harmed there is potential for a student to be disadvantaged. Nobody wants this.

So, for anyone out there with a concern - talk to the people who can influence the outcome. That is usually the classroom teacher. You all have your teacher's email address - find your voice and use it kindly so we can help.

Farewell Lucy Kennedy on Family Leave - Good Luck!

It is with mixed emotions that we bid 'good luck' to Lucy Kennedy, our founding member, Team Leader and Grade 2 teacher who has served the school so well. Lucy is taking family leave to have her first child and we are so excited for her. Lucy is an extremely dedicated and caring teacher who set the school up with our small team from day 1. Lucy had mixed emotions on her last day with students and staff on Friday and wanted me to pass on her best wishes to our school community.

We wish Lucy and her new, little family all the best during this exciting time and can't wait to find out (and meet) her child when the time comes in around 6 weeks or so. Thank you, Lucy and good luck on behalf of the SMPS community.

Welcome Back Carmen Britnell

The world keeps on spinning and our wonderful Assistant Principal, Carmen Britnell, returns on Fridays in Term 2 after coming back from Family Leave. She left her little son Lachie in care and had her first day back this week. It is great to have Carmen return so please take the time to see her at the gate on Friday mornings to say hello. 

Carmen will share the main role of Student Wellbeing with Matt who is still with us till the end of Term 2 after which Carmen's time will increase.

New Staff Member - Alysse Piravano

With Lucy leaving to have her child, we have a wonderful, new teacher taking her place in Grade 2A. Her name is Alysse Piravano and she has written a little message below (along with a photo). Alysse will take up the position officially from May 10 and we will have a changeover week coming up due to her needing to give notice to her exiting school. We wish Alysse all the best with her start at the best school in Victoria.

Message from Alysse

Hello everyone! My name is Alysse Pirovano and I am thrilled to be joining the SMPS community as a Grade 2 teacher. I have spent the last 2 and a half years teaching at schools in London and have previously taught at schools in Melbourne as well as schools in Kenya, Tanzania, Cambodia and the Cook Islands as a volunteer teacher. Outside school, I love spending time with friends and family, reading, cooking, and keeping active. I have always been passionate about building relationships with staff and families and working to make a positive impact on all my students. I am so excited to meet you all and to get to know everyone, see you soon. 

Lateness and Absence - Huge Improvement!

I want to begin by sincerely thanking all families who have responded magnificently to my request to get your child to school well before the morning bell. When I first started chasing the issue, we had 52 students late to class on the first morning. Last week, the averages per day were down to about 5. This is a magnificent effort, everyone.

Many teachers conduct reading quizzes between the 8:45am-9:00am and require students to be on the levels to help them with reading questions. Other teachers want students upstairs to set up their table areas so learning can get kicked off right on the 9:00am bell. 

We have improved our data tracking system and all teachers now track lateness data every week and send out parent messages when the numbers start to rise. Emails, phone calls and meetings will occur when students are constantly late or absent.  Sometimes, trains are late and there are traffic jams beyond your control - fine. We are never going to blame anyone for having a tough start to the day and children are never made to feel bad even if they are late for a few days. The issue of lateness or high absence is primarily a school-home issue to solve and that's how we will approach it together.

When tracking our data, we will have certain 'trigger points'. For attendance, it will be when it falls below 90% for the year. For lateness, per term, see the table below for thresholds:

The last thing we want to do is to be in conflict with parents - we are a team. But, the team goal has to be "All children in class, on time, every day". In the table, you will notice that the more days late equals the more severe an action, right up until we have to consider the involvement of Child Protection (as we have to do under law). Let's hope we don't even get close to this as we all understand the importance of students being in class, on time, each day.

Team Leaders

We have wonderful Team Leaders at SMPS. These teachers have assumed a leadership role within the school whereby they are the next port of call for support for students, staff and parents when an issue gets a bit tricky. Here is a list of the Team Leaders for each grade level:

• Prep: Sophie Coote
• Grade 1: Susie Patch
• Grade 2: Nadeeka Pussalle
• Grade 3/4: Kate Alcock
• Grade 5/6: Jo May
• Specialists: Cam Smith

Remember, your child's classroom teacher is the first port-of-call when you have an issue around your child. Keep these Team Leaders in mind if you feel you need to 'escalate' an issue to receive a second opinion. I am extremely proud of these Team Leaders. Their passion, commitment and skill as teachers and leaders represents the brand of our school magnificently.

Morning Routine Change at Drop Off

With some of the stricter aspects of COVID restrictions slowly lifting, we are able to promote more family engagement in the yard. A change we have made since the start of the term is to allow family members and children into the yard together for the morning drop off. I still notice many parents dropping and going at the front gate - but feel free to enter the yard and spend a few minutes watching your children play in the forecourt (if you wish). Remember that our staff duties start at 8:45am and it is not appropriate to leave till that duty time begins - otherwise, your child is technically unsupervised.  

If the front gate is closed but not locked and you get to school at about 8:40am, feel free to come in and supervise your own child in the forecourt for the last few minutes before the duty teacher arrives.

Just keep in mind that many children (especially those in Grades 3-6) have reading quizzes in the mornings so they may want to go straight upstairs at 8:45am. 

Victorian Chief Health Officer - Message to Victorian Schools and their Communities

I would like to take this opportunity to thank students, staff, teachers, parents and carers for ensuring a safe and successful start to the 2021 school year and to thank you for your cooperation during the short period of remote learning in February during the circuit breaker restrictions. 

As Term 2 commences, schools continue to be able to operate with a largely normal program of activity, enabling important on-site activities to return, such as school open days and working bees, with appropriate health and safety measures in place. 

Throughout the pandemic, Victorian schools have rapidly and successfully adapted to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, embedding COVIDSafe principles by reinforcing good behaviours, creating safe spaces, adapting activities, and responding quickly to COVID-19 risk. 

While we have seen outbreaks emerge in Victoria, we have also witnessed our capacity to respond quickly to limit the impact of these outbreaks.

Given the current very low risk of COVID-19 transmission in the community, continued high rates of testing and wastewater monitoring, and continued observance of health and safety measures in schools; those with medical vulnerabilities or their carers can feel reassured to continue to safely work and learn on school sites, and enjoy the benefits of doing so. 

It is crucial, however, for everyone to remain vigilant by staying home when unwell, performing regular hand hygiene, wearing a mask when required and maintaining physical distancing from others when practical. 

Should cases of COVID-19 increase again in the community, I am confident that with COVIDSafe plans in place, alongside our ability to quickly identify and respond to cases, schools remain safe places for all staff and students. I also continue to be reassured by evidence that children are less impacted by the virus and are less likely to develop severe illness. 

The school community continues to have an important role to promote COVID-19 testing when a student or staff member has any symptoms, no matter how mild, and ensuring they remain home until they are well. Getting tested and staying home until results are known is critical to limiting community transmission.

Adj Clin Prof Brett Sutton

Victorian Chief Health Officer