Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Welcome back to the 2024 academic year. I hope you and your child(ren) are excited about the prospect of return on Tuesday.  I know that the staff is fired up and ready to go. The weather over summer has been mixed, but I count my blessings as I don't really enjoy super-hot temperatures.  

Much has happened inside our building over the break. Every level has been enhanced to include extra acoustic treatment with works including:

• Soft panels on walls to absorb sound
• Learning levels being carpetted with acoustic coverings to lessen the reverberation caused by hard floorings
• Extra walls put in strategic areas to stop sound movement through the building
• Some walls and raised surfaces removed to allow for increased traffic flow and more spacious classroom organisation
• Doors installed into the toilet foyers on each level

In all, we will have about $1m spent on the project when it is complete. I am very grateful to the Department of Education and the Victorian Schools Building Authority in realising there were issues with noise and then stepping up to the plate to allow for mitigation. No school is perfect, but we try really hard to make  the environment conducive to learning. 

Some of the budget remains unspent as we will use Term 1 to evaluate the effects of phase one before doing out best to mitigate any remaining issues. I know you will all appreciate the work done so far. To this end, please consider the opportunity on Tuesday (day one of school for all students) to accompany your child to their new learning level to check things out. 

Meet the Team

The vast majority of this iNewsletter is given over to our wonderful staff. We want you to personify your experience at SMPS. We are all humans after all, doing the best we can with what we've got. We value people over everything so I hope you spend some time reading the staff profiles to get to know the team supporting your family.

All classrooms and specialists are fully staffed so you can rest assured that we are on top of things. Enjoy the read.

Success in 2024

What will success look like in 2024 for SMPS? It will involve continuing the very high level of student achievement according to student outcome data (which is a positive outlier in the state and among nearby schools). We also strive to make sure students can make a friend and keep them. We closely monitor the happiness quotient of students. 

Aspiring to ensure students are safe, happy, connected and achieving is our ultimate goal. Success means using our measures to improve year-on-year. We have loads of data showing the school is in an incredibly healthy space and we want to push those boundaries to the limit in a relaxed, yet highly professional, environment.

In 2024, we will be particularly focussing on building resilience in our students. Our academic focus will be on challenging and extending students in Mathematics. We are also looking forward to making even more improvements to our reporting process, particularly Seesaw in Prep to Year 3 and Semester Reports across the school.

I welcome returning families and students along with the newbies to 2024. We have the best students, families and staff in Victoria so let's make the most of this opportunity together. We welcome you to the journey.

I am incredibly privileged to be principal of this fine school. I am indebted to all families for making this so. Your support and positive energy means so much to every staff member - myself especially. If you want your child to succeed (as I know you all do), then having your support behind the staff means that we succeed. You can't have one without the other. 

All the best for another wonderful year of care and learning at SMPS in 2024.

Roadworks Around School Parking Areas

Once again, there are some significant infrastructure works going on around the school which will make parking and drop off really challenging until it is cleared. I strongly suggest a 'park and walk' strategy if you feel you must drive your car. I am unsure how long the works will continue, but Ferrars Street beside the school looks very busy.