From the Assistant Principal
BE INVOLVED, BE CONNECTED
NAIDOC Week:
This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy. NAIDOC week runs 6-13 July 2025. As with every year, NAIDOC Week runs over school holidays. The advantage to this means our school can spend more time engaging with NAIDOC content in term 3, rather than solely over the course of one week. I look forward to sharing some aspects of our SMPPS recognition of NAIDOC Week once term 3 is well-underway. If you are interested in learning more, please visit the following sites.
https://www.naidoc.org.au/local-events/local-naidoc-week-events
Every Day Counts, Every Minute Counts
Did you know that missing one day of school per fortnight is the same as missing 4 whole weeks of school per year? We miss our students when they aren’t here. Learning is cumulative and builds each day. We know that illness and medical appointments cannot be helped, however, the more your child is at school, the more opportunities to learn and grow. Please do your best to bring your child to school during soft start, so they are ready to learn at 9am.
Playground Tours
We have successfully completed a second round of playground tours last Thursday. Just as we did at the beginning of the year, Ms. Arnold, Ms. Davis and I each took classes around all of the play areas to discuss how we play in the passive play spaces (bodies slow, voices low; the blocks/planks are for building, etc.) and the active play spaces (taking turns, certain ball games in certain areas, etc.). The aim with this round was to remind students and staff of the expectations of looking after our school by being responsible, being kind while playing and being an active learner by being an Upstander when they see something they can help with. Upstanders speak up when something is wrong, which can look like calling it out themselves, or seeking the help of a teacher wearing a fluorescent vest to assist. As we have had a number of new students start with us since the tours in the first 2 weeks of school in February, now even our newbies know how we sit on the Kick-Off Big Steps, (which are looking amazing—big shout out to Ms. Michael, Ms. Davis and all the parent helpers who painted/taped/supported), instead of playing tiggy on them or jumping off of them.
School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS):
This week we had several progression steps taken in our SWPBS staff meeting. We unveiled a first draft of our school matrix to staff to have them evaluate the aspects of it to determine if behaviours that underpinned values were observable, measurable, positively stated, understandable and always applicable. For example, “Use kind words” underpins “Be Kind” when kids are playing in our play spaces. Additionally, we discussed the difference between contingent attention, attention based upon performance of a behaviour, vs. non-contingent attention, attention provided regardless of performance, which includes: greetings, proximity, smiles, sharing a task and conversations. We discussed how non-contingent attention is an aspect of importance for our staff at SMPPS as relationships are key to keeping “Kids at the Heart.”
Parent Resources
I subscribe to a number of different services for parenting support and a few gems that have popped up in time for this newsletter are as follows:
City of Port Phillip
For parents of children under the age of 8:
A program offer for parents regarding the Solihull approach (video: All about the Solihull Approach and its training in emotional health and wellbeing for children) parenting using methods to develop the relationship between parent and child.
Parent Factsheets on Self-Regulation for kids:
https://beyou.edu.au/resources/fact-sheets/social-and-emotional-learning/self-regulation
ParentZone Eastern Term 3 Parenting Programs (see attached flier):
https://www.anglicarevic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Whats-On-Guide-PZ-East-Term-3-2025.pdf
I wish you all a safe and restful school holidays and look forward to seeing everyone in term 3!
Regards,
Sam Smrekar Thompson
Assistant Principal