From the Assistant Principal

Thank you!

As we move into the end of the school year, I have so many wonderful humans I’d like to thank that have supported SMPPS’ Wellbeing this year.  Leila Greenfield has led our Wellbeing Subcommittee this year.  Our 2025 aim was to harness this space to engage more of our community through increased accessibility, such as translating the school newsletter.  Leila also reignited our Family Food Stall during assemblies and we are ever so grateful. I would additionally like to thank members Laura Dix and Emma Diepenhorst, for their constant and thoughtful support in the Wellbeing Subcommittee. 

I’d like to thank Helen Shaw who leads Breakfast Club and the entire troupe of Volunteers who make Breakfast Club such a warm, welcoming space.  These parents continue to make sure we have full student bellies ready to learn all year long. 

I’d like to thank Mel Jones and her work for the Second-Hand Uniform Stall.  Mel continues to keep this space glowing and organised, and puts in lots of additional hours; thank you Mel! 

I’d like to thank City of Port Phillip for their continuing support offering us recess time clubs on a Friday.  These have been a huge continuing success and Bethany Roche and Ruby Martin have worked tirelessly to continue to priortise our community partnership in 2025.  If you would like more information regarding Skinners’ Playground’s Holiday program, please see here.

And finally, I’d like to thank Mel Davis and Johanne Abbott for their support having stepped out of the classroom this year to support students’ overall wellbeing, both through their work on the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support team and through their work supporting staffs’ and students’ wellbeing throughout the year.

Koorie Tea:

Steph Briggs, our Koorie Education Support Officer, has a biography, attached here, in case you’d like to learn a bit more about her. 

We’ve had to change the last date for Koorie Morning Teas in 2026, please see below.

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

Fri, 27 Feb 

Fri, 22 May 

Fri, 14 Aug 

*Fri, 6 Nov 

Smile Squad:

Smile Squad finished up on Monday, 8 December and shared the following:

We would like to sincerely thank you for all your help in organising our visit, and to all the staff who have supported us throughout — you have all been wonderful!

Some students will require further visits at our clinic. We have already spoken with some of their parents by phone, and this has been noted in the students’ dental reports, which were issued after their visits.

Please assure families of any students we may have missed that they are welcome to contact the Better Health Network Dental Clinic on 132 246 to arrange an appointment.Our clinic is located at 341 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205.

We will also contact the parents of any students we may have missed to arrange appointments at BHN Dental Clinic, South Melbourne.

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 (WWCC) 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. Additionally, there will be a Volunteer Induction early next year on-site where we will share our new 2026 WWCC sign-in process held on: Friday, 6 February from 9.15am-9.45am in the staff room.

Parent Zone

Parent Zone have wonderful parent learning opportunities to continue to share how to tackle some of the parent challenges with us today.  Their current offerings include a parenting podcast with discussion on how to navigate child anxiety, getting your kids to listen and topics, such as School Refusal.  For more information, click the link here.

Emerald Hill Library

For those of you sticking around town over the summer, I encourage you to step into the air conditioned, book-filled Emerald Hill Library to continue building your familial relationship with books.  Often our local libraries have summer events on for kids of all ages.  For more information around operating hours and events, please see here.

Have a wonderful and safe school holidays, and we’ll see you in 2026,

Sam Smrekar Thompson

Assistant Principal