A message from the Principal

I wanted to start this week by saying a very big thank you to everyone who recognised Principal’s Day last week. I was genuinely touched by the lovely messages, kind words and the wonderful celebration at Friday’s assembly. It was a slightly overwhelming amount of attention for someone who spends most assemblies trying to direct the attention elsewhere, but it was very much appreciated.

This year marks my tenth year as Principal of St Kilda Park Primary School, which feels like a significant milestone and one that has had me reflecting a little on just how much has happened and changed over that time.

A decade at a school contains an enormous amount of life. There have been hundreds of assemblies, concerts, camps, fetes, discos, sporting events, graduations and celebrations. We have welcomed and farewelled many hundreds of students and families, as well as some wonderful staff members. We have celebrated successes, navigated challenges and, somewhere in the middle of all of that, dealt with a global pandemic, closed the school gates and somehow reinvented school through remote learning from our homes.

The school itself has also changed enormously. The way we teach, the curriculum we deliver, the way we use assessment and data, and our approaches to wellbeing, inclusion and supporting individual students have all evolved significantly. Particularly over the past few years, our staff have embraced some substantial changes to teaching and learning and put an extraordinary amount of work into improving what happens in our classrooms every day. We are now beginning to see the impact of that work very clearly in our student outcomes.

What I am most proud of, though, is the commitment that has sat underneath all of these changes. We have an exceptional group of people working at SKiPPS who care deeply about this school and its students. Approaches, programs and practices may change, but the willingness of our staff to work incredibly hard and to put the wellbeing and learning of our students at the centre of their decisions has remained constant.

And there is something else that has remained remarkably constant over those ten years: our community.

SKiPPS has always had a warmth and sense of community that is difficult to describe until you experience it. As a staff, we feel an enormous amount of trust, respect and goodwill from our families. We certainly don't take this for granted. We know that relationships between schools and parents have become more challenging in many places over the past decade, and we feel very fortunate that our school continues to be characterised by overwhelmingly positive, respectful and trusting relationships.

Just as importantly, our families continue to throw themselves into school life. They volunteer, organise, fundraise, attend events, help on excursions, coach teams, join committees, share their expertise and turn up in huge numbers whenever there is something happening. That enthusiasm and involvement has been part of SKiPPS for much longer than my ten years here, and I think it sits right at the heart of what makes this school such a special place.

Principal’s Day is also a chance to recognise that school leadership is very much a team effort. In particular, I want to acknowledge our wonderful Assistant Principal, Jac Morphy.

Jac brings an enormous amount of dedication, care and energy to her role every day. She has played a central role in leading many of the changes across our school over the past few years, particularly in teaching and learning, and deserves a huge amount of credit for the incredible impact we are now beginning to see. 

Just as importantly, she does all of this while remaining unfailingly happy, approachable and positive. She has an extraordinary ability to build open and trusting relationships with students, staff and families and is someone our whole community knows they can turn to.

So, thank you Jac, and thank you to our staff, students and families for the very kind Principal’s Day recognition and, much more importantly, for making the last ten years such an enjoyable and rewarding journey.

Neil Scott

Principal