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. Excursion Levy - No Pay, No Go (and we don't want any child missing out)
2. Class Reminders - Please Read That Page Carefully
3. Bike Shed - Please Lock

Principal's Message

Welcome to the start of Week 3 of Term 1. We begin our full-on academic curriculum this week after completing the Learning to Learn phase of the year. Our L2L phase is super-important as it sets students up for success. We run through expectations and protocols that help the whole school maintain good order and cohesion. 

This week's iNewsletter contains lots of information that I want parents to fully engage in. I empathise that it has a lot of detail, but at SMPS, we "sweat the small stuff" deliberately and we want the parents to do the same.

I remain eternally grateful for the spirit you show every morning at the front door. I love the way you encourage your children to make eye contact, smile, speak, and show positive and confident body language. Big things start with atoms. All building have foundations and your children are no different. Without a smile and a hello - how can we expect them to create a confident adult in themselves in future years? We also understand that children are unfinished 'products'. We don't expect perfection, we expect effort and intent. That will always be good enough. Your children are shining beacons of their upbringing. And, overwhelmingly, you should be so proud of the job you are doing to raise decent, humble and clever future citizens. The world needs you (and them) as this is sometimes sadly lacking in our civic leaders. 

I live in South Melbourne and walk the streets often. I sometimes pass people in the street who have clearly no home and display tendencies of drug and alcohol dependencies. My heart bleeds for them as they were once little children with the same hopes and dreams we hold for our current youngsters. Something went horribly awry for these souls. They are not hopeless as hope springs eternal for all humans. But, the way back for them is fraught with obstacles that will be monumental to overcome. 

With our children we have a shot at helping them create a wonderful life - one possibly not available to some of these poor souls. The beginnings of life (and human potential) start at the atomic level. Everything we do matters to our children. I hope we can help create the conditions for success for each child at SMPS. Thanks for your trust in that aspiration and the support you give to bring that to fruition.

Getting to Know Your Child Chats This Week!

We currently have over 81% of families that have booked in for their chat. Please see the Compass Newsfeed for details on how to book in or reach out to the classroom teacher. They will be held in the classroom area.

Excursions Levy Fee

Please carefully read the information on the 'School Leaders' page and ensure you pay the excursions levy as a priority to ensure that your child does not miss out on any excursions or in-visits. As always if you need any support with paying please reach out to the office. The events will come out soon on Compass for you to give consent but you can pay for them now.

Device Use Outside of School (Parent Story)

SMPS prides itself on helping students achieve their best.  It’s a school that produces outstanding kids; one of the finest in the State. 

We’ve experienced a parental ‘hiccup’ that has caught us off-guard. It’s a hiccup that Mr. Noel has warned and reminded us of, several times; device/internet use outside of school.

I’m writing this, in the hope that you are not also caught off-guard; if our child has done this, odds are we’re not alone.

Our reasonably mature, well behaved and conscientious child, since the start of the year, typically 2 nights per week, had smuggled their iPhone from the living room to their bedroom (and back again) for use between 2-6am, then ‘power-napped’ prior to school. 

This equates to hundreds of hours of lost sleep, undoubtedly resulting in adverse effects on learning, relationships, as well as mental and physical development.

In our case, we thought we were on the more conservative side of device handling; the iPhone’s passcode is not known, apps require parent approval prior to downloading (family sharing), iMessage is regularly monitored, and we have no social-media (unrelated to Govt. stance).    

The phone was unlocked using FaceID - we wanted to have that as an available method to message us in-case of emergency.   Our child was smart enough to leave the phone face-down in the evening in the living room, so FaceID wouldn’t fail and require the passcode.  

Discussions around phone use and etiquette have occurred regularly at home.  The tiredness we were witnessing was put down to a busy schedule.  We pulled back with sports, and ensured more weekend down-time.

In a way we’re ‘lucky’ as the usage was mostly relatively benign Netflix and YouTube.  Obviously it could have been different, scarily different.  

Our kids are tech savvy, so here’s some practical (iPhone focused) tips that might help; 

• in screen-time look for grey bars (deleted apps) and odd gaps (time zone change workaround)
• Screen-time has a 30 day history limit,
• Consider using a use code (inside screen-time )to lock those settings.  
• Doing that will also prevent time-zone setting changes.
• Ensure screen-recording hasn’t been activated when typing in a passcode.  
• Once an App has received download permission, the permission can not be revoked.  Even if the App is deleted, the App can be re-downloaded without permission unless it’s specifically restricted.   
• Use AI to keep up to date with the latest ‘genius child’ workarounds.