Principal's

Message

A GREAT START

Welcome back, families! And a very special welcome to our Prep families, who you will see more of on the Prep’s official first day, Wednesday, 5th January at 9.30am. We have had a really wonderful start to the year. Your children have settled in so well and are adjusting beautifully to new routines and learning spaces. 

ENVIRONMENT & FACILITIES

The walls have already made a huge difference to the ground floor Discovery Building, with reduced distractions, lower noise levels, less clutter and more spaces to display things. All going well, level one will be completed over the Term 1 break. 

You might have also noticed the final turf installment, between the playground and the

 gym has been completed. This will be a passive play space, where our kids can finish their lunch, chat with friends or play games. 

Unfortunately, it is too dangerous to play soccer on this space due to the potential of balls hitting kids on the playground or cars on the road. I will continue to advocate for a more suitable play space on the kick-off, for our soccer, footy and cricket players. 

CHANGES TO GATES

The ramp works continue with significant impacts to the front entrance of the school. The main gate is now unlocked but closed. Please use this gate if you need to do a late drop off or early pick up, ensuring that you close the gate behind you and continue to sign in or out at the office.

The back gate near the sand pit will soon have a coded lock attached, for increased security. Families attending TheirCare or basketball training, for example, will be given the code. This gate will not be opened to the general school population until 8.45am. Please ensure that you don’t drop your child off before this time, as they will not be able to enter the school and will be unsupervised. 

EXITING THE SCHOOL

The netball gate and the sandpit gate (once the coded lock is in place) will be locked at 3.45pm each day. The main gate will be locked at 4.30pm. This is to allow families to stay and play until 4.30 if they would like to. Please note that children and families are not to enter buildings beyond 3.45pm. Can I ask that all families exit the school via the gates, rather than through the Administration block. 

FAMILY HOLIDAYS

A reminder that families need to email me at south.melbourne.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au to gain approval for extended family holidays. Please note that absence learning plans will not be developed during these times. Families should also record the absence on Compass. 

STAFF NEWS

As you know Sam Smrekar Thompson is our Assistant Principal. To support Sam, Melanie Davis is stepping out of the classroom as a full time learning specialist. I am also thrilled to let you know that Bruce Huynh is back! Bruce is teaching year 2, part-time in 2025. 

STRATEGIC PLAN & VALUES REVIEW

With our school review complete, we now have a new School Strategic Plan 2025-2028. Over the coming newsletters we will share with you, the future direction of the school and provide detail about our 2025 Annual Implementation Plan. One of the major initiatives for the next four years, is the implementation of School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS). Sam has already given you some information about SWPBS, and will continue to do so, as we roll it out. 

An important aspect of SWPBS is to create matrixes using our school values, so that wanted behaviours are explicit, observable and able to be reinforced. As such, we are currently in the process of reviewing our values as a staff. Once the staff have short-listed their preferred values, we will seek student and community feedback. We are excited to develop values that our students, staff and families can live by.

Nicole

Principal