Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Hello wonderful families of SMPS. Welcome (on Monday) to the beginning of Term 4, 2026. It is an 11-week term, with the last week a little truncated. Please remember to get your child (and yourselves) conditioned to daylight saving time which begins on Sunday, October 4. 

I hope your child(ren) and those you care about are safe and happy after the two week break. There's a particular beauty in the first morning back - school bags a little stiffer, shoes a little tighter, everyone slightly out of rhythm. It passes quickly, but I always notice it.

Term 4 is the transition between the old and the new year so it holds a level of importance for the students. We want to finish off strongly and not trail away (every minute is precious) and also set up for success in 2027. There is a balance to be maintained. 

I would ask staff, students and families to project and ask the same question: "What would success look like in Term 4?" The drivers of success are best controlled by the person trying to achieve the goal. If we adopt a victim mentality, then success is contingent on what the world does to us - and that is unpredictable. It also offers a "too easy" escape from responsibility. If we adopt the "I would be successful if only the world would do this for me" stance, we will be forever at the mercy of the world around us.

Success for me would be the continued development of our staff to be their best each day. Sure, in this scenario, I rely on the staff to respond to the stimulus I (and other leaders) put into the environment - but I can control the inputs. As an example, my first week back is full of meetings with Year Level Teams in my office to review the data from Term 3 and set goals and actions towards improving those outcomes in Term 4 (before meeting with these same teams again later in the term to review the goals).

What goals do you have for your child(ren) in Term 4? Can you articulate them? Or are you sending them off each day just hoping for the best?

Of course, being too agenda-driven for your child can overcorrect the pendulum. Childhood is an organic process in part and so it should be. As adults, though, we also know where our children need to improve and we play a huge part in helping them grow and learn. What is your role in balancing the pendulum?

As I read more about AI and the prevailing winds of the current global climate, I can see a complex world ahead for our young ones. Cluttering their minds too much with this complexity would lead to unnecessary anxiety. However, putting our heads in the sand would seem counterintuitive.

The school is here to support great outcomes for children as it serves to care for and educate them. The partnership we form is crucial. Your trust in the institution of school is crucial and any erosion of that trust undermines the child themselves. Trust is a valuable commodity in these days of social media where institutions are being eroded with speculation founded on sand. 

Whatever else this term asks of us, I'll take my cue from the children themselves. They don't arrive on Monday morning worrying about the year ahead. They arrive wanting to see their friends and show someone what they did on the holidays. There's a lesson in that for the rest of us, too.

I look forward to working together for an excellent outcome as we all strive to do better tomorrow than we did today. See you at the front gate this week with your smiling faces. Now those faces are really worth looking forward to...

Sunsmart

Please label those school hats with your child's (clear) name and grade. It is tough to get a lost hat back to your child without you doing this. No Hat, No Play (stay in shade) for Term 4.

Meeting Requests and Reasonable Timeframes

Recently, a number of parents have reached out to teachers requesting a face-to-face meeting, with an expectation that this can happen within a day or two of the request being made. I want to address this directly, because I think a little context will help.

Our teachers do a great deal outside the classroom. After the final bell, they are in team meetings, planning sessions, professional learning, coaching conversations and their own preparation for the following day. A teacher's calendar after 3:30pm is rarely as empty as it looks from the outside.

When you request a meeting, please know that we absolutely want to meet with you - your child's education is a genuine partnership between home and school, and that requires conversation. The best way to arrange this is to email your child's classroom teacher directly. Where there is no immediate safety, wellbeing or health concern, please expect the meeting to be arranged in the following week or so, rather than within days. This isn't about parents being unimportant - it is about your teacher being able to give you their full attention, rather than a rushed ten minutes squeezed between two other commitments.

If your matter is urgent - a medical issue or a serious wellbeing concern - please phone the General Office rather than emailing. Our office team will triage the request and make sure it is addressed without delay. If you are not sure whether something counts as urgent, we would ask you to make a sensible judgement call before phoning, given how busy our office team are day to day. 

A good rule of thumb: if it cannot reasonably wait a few days, it is likely urgent enough to call.

Key Dates - Term 4

• Monday 5 October: First Day Back for Students for Term 4
• Friday 16 October: Whole School Assembly (parents welcome)
• Monday 2 November: Curriculum Day for Report Writing (no classes, OSHClub operating)
• Tuesday 3 November: Melbourne Cup Holiday (no classes)
• Friday 13 November: Whole School Assembly (parents welcome)
• Wednesday 16 December: Final Whole School Assembly (parents welcome)
• Thursday 17 December: Activities Day - Finishes 2:30pm

• Friday 18 December: Student Free Day (OSHClub operating)

   

(Thursday 28 January: First Day of 2027 for students)