From the Assistant Principal

Koorie Tea:

I am excited to confirm our next Koorie Morning Tea will be held Friday, 28 November from 9.15-10.15am next to our Breakfast Club area.  We will be following up actions suggested from our last meeting and discussing next steps on our journey to develop a “safe space” for our Koorie students to enable connection and support a sense of belonging here at South Melbourne Park.

School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS):

We are currently in consultation with our Student Representative Council (SRC) on our school-wide behaviour matrix.  This document outlines how we want to see our school values of Be Kind, Be Responsible and Be an Active Learner displayed and used across our school, both in our classrooms and when we play at play times. 

The aim of generating a matrix is to ensure there are consistent expectations across our school community. For example, when we are on the passive play spaces (predominantly the turfed areas), “we use a calm voice.”  By identifying these expectations, we aim to support predictability and shared language for our students, staff and broader community when on campus.  Once our SRC have consulted, the matrix will be taken to our Wellbeing Subcommittee to gain parent/carer insights.   This document will be a working document where we will then be targeting individual expectations during wellbeing lessons through explicit instruction next year. 

Smile Squad:

Once again, we will be hosting Smile Squad at our school from Monday, 17 November through Friday, 5 December. Smile Squad are a free Dental Health service where your child can receive a dental health check-up on-site at school during school hours.  Please see the Qr code to register, or alternatively, pick up a paper form from the office to provide consent.  Students will need to be registered by this Friday, 7 November to secure a time slot.

Different Not Less:

Different Not Less is a parent-led peer support group for families of children at SMPPS who may be neuro or physically diverse, or with additional needs.

Different Not Less parent group’s purpose is to provide a safe and supportive space for parents/caregivers to come together, share their experiences, learn from one another and build connections around neurodiverse and physically diverse children, and those with additional needs.

The group’s primary function is to foster supportive conversations (including emotional, informational, practical and social support), create opportunities for face-to-face catch-ups, and nurture a strong sense of community and belonging.

For more information, please scan the Qr Code below:

Prep 2026 Transition Sessions:

Our incoming Prep cohort of 2026 will begin their transition sessions this month.  We have three transition sessions where 2026 Prep students will attend school from 10am-11am in a prep classroom.  The first two sessions will NOT be with the cohort nor teacher for next year, however we aim to get them allotted their classroom and teacher for the third and final session.  During each of these sessions, while the students are in the classroom, parents/carers will be down in the staff room learning about SMPPS.  After each session, the Second-Hand Uniform Stall will be open to families who would like to purchase from 11-11.30am.  After the third session, when families receive their Compass log-in details, there will also be a few parent volunteers helping families to download Compass, Qkr and log in.  If you’d like to help, we would appreciate any clean, pre-loved uniform pieces your child has outgrown to be delivered to the office. 

Parent Zone:

Parent Zone are hosting many parent workshops this term, such as Talking Teens, Surviving Separation, Tuning into Kids and Emotion-Focused Parenting.  For more information, please see their newsletter:

https://www.anglicarevic.org.au/about-us/newsletters/eastern-parentzone-term-4-2025/

Art Show:

Just a quick shoutout, as I know Ms. Arnold will have a larger shoutout in her section of the newsletter, to all of the staff, students and families who made our Art Show 2025 a memorable experience.  Many thanks to Lou Pedersen and crew, Kaila Michaels and Jess Obushak.  Also, an honourable mention to Svetlana in year 4 who said I was dunked 37 times!

Happy November!

Sam Smrekar Thompson

Assistant Principal