Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Welcome to the start of Week 7. I hope your week has been positive and those you care about are healthy and happy.  My mother used to say that it is far easier to make a mess than to clean it up. I want to acknowledge all humans who are reading this piece who spend their time creating constructive ventures and approaching life with a charitable and kind mindset (i.e. those who clean things up). In these days of digital sewage polluting our minds, I truly believe that our community overwhelmingly looks at the glass as being half full - credit to you!

Students will be heading into Testing Week where we will conduct a series of evaluations to measure outcomes and the effects of our teaching. More and more, I am being contacted by schools, both local and afar, to visit our school to see what we are doing inside the learning and wellbeing spaces. I am proud that the school's reputation is being spread by word of mouth inside the education scene. We don't market the school, as such, but try the best we can to execute an excellent program. We are not perfect, but we are on the right path and getting better each year. I have faith in the school leaders, teachers and support staff to deliver a quality education. We have a cohesive game plan and we stick to it. 

I wish the students all the best as they display their gains in knowledge and skills during Testing Week.

Report Writing

Teachers are busy assessing student progress as we power towards the half year mark. Staff spent the curriculum day a few weeks ago writing general comments and will now focus their attention on quantifying student outcomes. We have Student Dashboards along with progress reports to roll out in the last week of Term 2. These are colour-coded to ensure you are aware of how your child is going against the expected standard. 

We never want to turn outcomes into competition, but we do expect each child to try their best to reach potential - knowing this differs from child to child. Any outcome that is recorded as 'red' would need to gain your attention. We expect parents to respond to any teacher suggestion for improvement should this ever be the case. Red, of course, is a flag that the rubber band is starting to stretch. We never want the rubber band to snap - it can be a long way back and your child's future chances can be affected if they fall too far behind the cohort. Having been a principal of three high schools throughout my career, I have seen the devastating effects of a child falling significantly behind the group. Doors close, not open, when your child is not highly literate and numerate as they move into high school. 

Parents at SMPS (in my experience) respond really well when any 'reds' are recorded. Their typical response is, "What can I do to help?" We never want parents to panic, but we do expect them to be responsive. I have seen wonderful things happen with student learning when parents roll up their sleeves and get behind their child and the school's program to affect a better outcome. 

Reports and Dashboards will be issued via Compass in a few weeks and invitations to Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews sent out  to all parents. We look forward to lots of celebrations of progress along with responses for intervention so we all work at making sure the rubber band does not stretch and snap.