Principal's Message

Headlines - Please Note

We encourage you to read this entire newsletter as lots of effort has been put into its production.  Here are the most urgent and important details to read in this edition (not just on this first page):

1. Reminder: School Council Election Papers Due Tuesday, March 10 by 3:45pm
2. Easter Raffle (Leadership Page) We need your donations please
3. Enrolment Form Check (Leadership Page) Return these asap when they come home soon.

Principal's Message

Welcome to the start of Week 7 of a 10-week term. It is NAPLAN Week for our students in Years 3 and 5. We feel that the children are well-prepared and should feel confident going into these tests that they are ready for the experience. We wish them well and thank all parents for supporting us through the journey. 

I write this Principal's Page without AI assistance. Any errors in the following passages are mine and my thoughts are 'original' in the sense they are not machine-generated. 

I attended a professional development session last week and was reminded of a statistic that I had long forgotten. A long-term study of students with learning difficulties at the start of Year 3 showed that students who were behind their peers at that stage had only a 25% chance of "catching up and keeping up" by the time they finished high school. It was a sobering thought. Think that through...If you are behind in Year 3 you will most likely be behind at the end of your schooling. Catching up is extraordinarily difficult once you fall behind. 

There is a theory I am reminded of derived from ancient times. I make only figurative reference here, not a religious one. It is the Matthew Effect, which describes a pattern where those who already have advantages gain even more advantages over time, while those with fewer resources fall further behind.

I have seen it play out over my long career in education. Stronger students (academically) are able to draw on more resources to improve, while weaker academic students lack the foundation to build a bridge into new knowledge. The longer time passes, the more the elastic band stretches to breaking point. 

There is logic to this theory. Think in medical terms where early intervention leads to cure while delayed treatment leads to metastisisation. If we treat early, we can arrest complications later. I deal with student data for a living. I can see early struggles with students in Prep and Year 1 in areas such as Phonics and Early Numeracy acquisition and can make early predictions of difficulties. The same can be said with behaviour. It is written that "angry boys grow into angry men". This pattern of early struggle is somewhat universal across domains.

Our job as adults is to spot these trends and work hard at the earliest point to intervene. I have seen many success stories where parents and teachers work together to spot difficulties (similar to my commentary last week on our Student Dashboards where red = react). We need to treat the issue with intensive instruction at the point of error. 

The fail point is when parents lose contact with their child's teacher and lose faith in the methods used by the school. Any friction or disconnect between home and school then leads to disenfranchisement - which then leads to more student failure. The child pays the long-term price. 

So, what's the lesson? Stay connected. Pay attention. React in partnership. Work hard. Don't become one of the 75% of the statistic that points to low academic levels at the end of high school when your child is struggling in Year 3 (or before). Most importantly, park the ego and work with the school to arrest the problem early with coordinated help.

We have an extraordinary amount of students at high levels of literacy and numeracy. Our school featured on one of the tables of Victorian State success at my principal's meeting this week. We have a formula for success at SMPS that offers a wonderful opportunity where no child falls through the cracks. And we have wonderful students and families who are smart enough to learn and adapt when faced with these problems. 

I have been principal of a secondary school. I once sat with a girl in Year 7 during her English class...a wonderful young lady with her whole life ahead of her. I asked what she wanted to be in future and she replied confidently, "a midwife". I then asked her to read a passage from her book. She couldn't read it. She started to cry. She looked up at me through her misty eyes and said, "I can't read and I am in Year 7. I am not going to make it, am I?" 

It broke my heart. I will never forget her...

Key Event Reminders

Easter Raffle and Hat Parade

• Check School Leaders Page. Donations and volunteers needed please. Our raffle is predicated on your donations in the first place so please give to this fundraiser (and later, buy raffle tickets).

Public Holiday - Labour Day - Monday 9th March

• No school. No OSH Club.

Prep Teddy Bears Picnic - Friday 13th March

• Our Prep Families are invited to the Preps Teddy Bears Picnic on Friday morning. This is a lovely opportunity to get to know each other further and continue building a sense of Community.

Harmony Week (Official Week vs SMPS Week)

• Harmony Weeks official dates are from Monday 16th - Friday 20th March. 
• SMPS will be celebrating the following week Monday 23rd - Friday 27th March.
• This is due to a clash with many other events in the official week, and we wanted to have enough of a clear spotlight on this important week for our wonderfully diverse Community.
• More details to follow