From the Assistant Principal

School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS):

Last term our SWPBS school team led professional learning for our staff on our AGP Curriculum Day.  We covered topics such as clarifying expected behaviour, the functions of behaviour, and how we can modify environments to support discouraging problem behaviours and encouraging expected behaviours. Our team has had an additional day in week 3 to undergo more professional learning, and will again meet in week 5 to finish the modules and begin to look at our next steps to support us in our process.  We have several more staff meetings set this term to relay professional learning to staff and look forward to sharing more about this as the term unfolds.

Upstander:

A particular area of passion of mine is the Upstander approach to proactively combat racism, bullying and other unkindnesses in our world.  This approach talks about how anyone witnessing unkindness of any level can choose a strategy to support the victim in the situation.  Strategies can include: calling it out, getting someone to help and more.  Last year we began actively teaching this in our classrooms and I briefly shared this in a staff meeting last week.  We will be doing more work in this space around Upstander with more dedicated time in term 3.

Cyber Safety:

We are fortunate to have received a subsidy for Cyber Safety sessions at our school with thanks to our School Council President Katrina Walker and Trish Wan partnering with our local Community Bank.  These sessions continue to be run by Inform and Empower and are a wonderful resource for our community to support our students to navigate a digital world. Our parent/carer session was Thursday, 24 April at 7-9pm online.   This session was attended by many of our community and is still accessible to watch via a recording: www.informandempower.com.au/schools-webinars/south-melbourne-park.  Karly and Marty shared lots of practical strategies for helping us support our kids with safe screen use.  The biggest eye opener for me was the section shared around Roblox and the concerning factors present.  If you haven’t had a watch, it is definitely worth the two hours.  Additionally, Karly discussed two resources for our parents/carers to support them in parenting children who use screens:

eSafety Commissioner:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/cyberbullying

Kids Helpline:

https://kidshelpline.com.au/cyberbullying

Breakfast Club:

Breakfast Club is with us every morning from Monday through Friday.  The friendly volunteers will be ready to serve up a nutritious breakfast piece of toast or some cereal from 8.45-8.58am.   Please know that if your child arrives for 8:58am, our aim is to feed them, but have them get to class on time too.  This means they may just receive a piece of toast with margarine as these can be made in advance and given out quickly.  For specific topping requests, we ask you to arrive closer to 8.45am.  I spoke to our students at our last assembly about remembering their manners because kindness is free but it also matters.

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. 

Second Hand Uniform Stall:

We are seeking any pre-loved uniform items which your child may have outgrown and are still in good condition. Particularly helpful would be size 8s and 10s, as we tend to have a surplus of the smaller sizes.  If you would like to drop them off, please take them to the office and let our admin staff know that these items are for our Second Hand Uniform Stall.

Regards,

Sam Smrekar Thompson

samantha.smrekarthompson@education.vic.gov.au

Assistant Principal