Principal's Message

Hello families of SMPS students. I hope the first two weeks of Term 2 have been a positive experience for your child. It is a pleasure to see each child walk through the front door each day. They are positive, engaging and so beautifully mannered!

Please pencil into your diaries the Celebration of Learning afternoon coming up. We would love families to be visiting the school to see classes run and to stay after school to enjoy entertainment and the sausage sizzle which has become a wonderful annual event. Go to your diary now and put in Wednesday 15th May from 2:40pm to 5:00pm as a commitment.

School Performance

I have included a table below which was published to schools this past week. It is a view of last year's NAPLAN results. It includes data of the percentage of students in the top two 'proficiencies' (Strong and Exceeding) in both SMPS and across Victoria. Basically, it is a temperature check for our school in comparison to the State of Victoria. I put it to staff this week: "If these data sets represented hospitals and their success rates, which hospital would you send your child to for an operation?"

Have a look at the numbers. Which hospital would you send your child to for an operation?

Year 3 NAPLAN 2023

Subjects - Top Two NAPLAN Proficiencies	SMPS	VIC
Reading	93%	70%
Writing	98%	78%
Spelling	88%	61%
Grammar and Punctuation	86%	56%
Numeracy/Mathematics	90%	67%

Year 5 NAPLAN 2023

Subjects - Top Two NAPLAN Proficiencies	SMPS	VIC
Reading	92%	77%
Writing	95%	75%
Spelling	92%	70%
Grammar and Punctuation	84%	64%
Numeracy/Mathematics	95%	68%

Our curriculum design and program is not typical of all schools. We carefully use devices (keeping a close eye on screen time), we ask parents to support homework routines, we have a set curriculum that is explicitly taught and we have high expectations of staff, students and families.

And, in the vast majority of cases (see the data) - it works.

E-Safety

I read with interest that the E-Safety Commissioner is tackling the big social media companies - specifically, how they expose young children to confronting images and ideas. I have stated repeatedly that any child of primary school age who has a social media account is not being cared for to the highest level. I understand this is a confronting statement, but I stand by it unreservedly. Unsupervised children on the internet is just an awful plan. You are exposing your child to the world and all of its potential harms in an unsupervised environment. When else would you do that in normal life?

I love our device program. We expose children to educational content in a supervised manner and our outcomes reflect the effectiveness of this tool. Students also use 'analogue' devices such as pen and paper routinely. It is not a one-size-fits-all scenario at SMPS. Devices are not the only part of our program - but when they are used, students are highly supervised. I urge all parents to never let their child alone with a device unsupervised. And never let your child have a social media profile. It's just wrong on so many levels. But still....it happens. Why?

Executive Functioning in Children

Executive function is a set of mental skills that help people plan, organize, manage their time, pay attention, process information, and manage their behaviour. Executive function issues can affect everything from how a person interacts with other people to their ability to learn and work. Some children have identified disabilities which make executive function really challenging. This article refers to situations where no disability has been identified and what challenges can present in the absence of strong executive function.

SMPS practices a pedagogical approach called Explicit Instruction. This is backed by the Science of Learning where we examine how students learn according to the research. The method of teaching is inside our control. One of the major challenges faced by all schools and teachers is the concept of Executive Function. This part is most often outside the control of the teacher and school.

Executive Function is basically one of student attention. A student cannot learn if they cannot focus. Some of this is an inherited trait. Some of this is learned from home in the child's first five years of life (before school).

In my experience, Executive Function is extremely hard to teach. I don't like saying, "you either have it or you don't", but part of that comment has an element of truth. Dr Anita Archer is the main theorist that we use to guide our assistance with Executive Function and its remediation.

How would you know at home if your child has effective Executive Function (or the ability to concentrate or focus on one thing for an extended period)?

Try reading aloud to your child.

Do they sit still or wriggle?
Do they engage with the story and ask relevant (on point) questions about the story?
Can they sit in the one spot without distraction for at least 5 minutes? Or are they distracted by elements in the environment?
Are their eyes able to follow the text or pictures for at least 5 minutes? Or are their eyes wandering all around the place scanning the environment?
Do they need constant reminders to remain still?

What do I do if I notice my child's Executive Functioning is low and there is no identified disability?

Decrease or eliminate devices and video games (basically, cut screen time on anything that is not educationally based)
Have dinner at the table (no devices or TV) and have a focussed discussion - not allowing multiple distractors to occur
Stay on one topic for at least 5 minutes - no scattergun discussions
Read a picture story book for at least 5 minutes and insist on total focus on the story - no sidebars and no wriggling
Have chats that explore words and concepts in depth - move beyond the surface level and stay on one topic for at least five minutes

Most of life is about developing habits and training. Some of life is about undoing unhelpful habits. Just like giving up smoking, distractions are poor habits developed over a long period of time. Undoing these can be tough as they are intrenched.

The positive of a child with good Executive Function is their ability to pay attention to what is in front of them. The negative about low Executive Function is an inability to focus and concentrate. Time lost in learning compounds and becomes the rubber band that eventually snaps. Like most things in life, early intervention is critical. You don't want to be reacting when things are at a critical stage.

Sadly, I can spot low Executive Functioning at 50 paces. It's the child who can't sit still. The one who answers questions unrelated to the subject in front of the group. The "call out" child when all others are putting up their hands. The child who touches others around him. The child who falls behind when the group are 10 steps ahead. The cure is tough and requires a concerted effort on behalf of the school and home. The outcomes are critical to the future lives of the children affected by this elusive skill. For children with an identified disability, things are different. We make modifications to allow for their development. For others, we should work really hard to correct the issue.

I have spent my life trying to positively alter the trajectory of students for the better. I have been teaching for close to 40 years and it saddens me to say that I can reasonably accurately predict the probable life trajectory of students within the first few months of schooling. In my first year of teaching, my principal said to me, "Angry boys turn into angry men - unless we intervene quickly." In my experience, my principal was right on that score and it flows through to executive function unless we help the child early.

Turning around low executive functioning is one of the hardest jobs in education. Keep an eye on your child and pay attention when your child's teacher says that he has trouble concentrating or focussing. It means a lot to correct that outcome and the only solution is to work together.

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