From the Assistant Principal
BE INVOLVED, BE CONNECTED
Playground Expectations:
We had a fantastic start to the school year this week. One difference to this year were our Playground Expectation tours. The tour encompassed a visit to each play space in our school with explicit instructions of how we look after our playground and the rules of each area to keep us safe and having fun. Ms. Arnold took each 5 and 6 class, Ms. Davis took each 1 and 2 class and I took each 3 and 4 class. The result meant that our lunch and recess times were focused on appropriate play with lots of happy and safe students.
Preps will have their own explicit instruction of their play spaces once they commence next Wednesday at 9.30am.
Boohoo/Woohoo
For our new Prep Parents/Carers, we will be hosting a Boohoo/Woohoo morning tea in the staff room from 9.30-10.30am Wednesday February 5. Once you have settled and dropped off your Preppie, please make your way to the staff room for a cuppa and a chat.
Getting to Know You Interviews:
From next Tuesday, 4 February, bookings will open on Compass for your child’s Getting to Know You Interview. The interviews will take place in week 3 on Tuesday, 11 February and Wednesday, 12 February. This interview takes place in person with your child, you and their teacher. The meeting will be 10 minutes and a chance for you to share about your child’s interests, strengths and needs. More information will come via Compass next week.
Uniforms:
Our school uniforms are a source of pride for us here at SMPPS. As such, we need students to be in full uniform every day at school. This includes our grey SMPPS jackets and our orange SMPPS hats. Any students this term without a hat will be asked to play in the passive play space next to Breakfast Club. Please ensure your child has their school uniform, be on the look out for our 2nd Hand Uniform Stall coming soon and if you require uniform assistance, please email me.
Volunteers:
This year we will have a Volunteer Induction in week 4 on Friday, 21 February 9.15-10.15am in the staff room. The minimum requirements this year to volunteer by reading/helping in your child’s classroom will be a Working with Children’s Check (you need to at least have a receipt of application) and this induction. In this induction we will take you through some Child Safe policies and our emergency evacuation information. We will begin to have Volunteers reading in classrooms from week 5 in Years 1-6, and week 7 in Prep. More information to come via Compass soon.
Allied Health:
If you have a psychologist, speech pathologist, physio or occupational therapist working with your child, we have a new process for 2025. Ideally, you are able to organise therapy sessions outside of school hours so that at school we can fulfill our duty of care and provide equity of learning for your child. However, if you believe there are special considerations that would require therapy to occur during the school day, we now have an Allied Health process which requires: a Parent Consent form (that the therapist completes and has you sign), Principal approval, School Council approval and a licensing agreement between the therapist and the school. To initiate this process, please email me and cc your therapist for the Parent Consent form. We will hold an induction session each term for Allied Health practitioners to ensure child safety is top priority.
Breakfast Club:
Breakfast Club will re-commence from Monday morning. The friendly volunteers will be ready to serve up a nutritious breakfast piece of toast or some cereal from 8.45-8.58am.
SouthEast Parent Zone
SouthEast Parent Zone has some upcoming parenting session topics for 2025, such as Creating Calm Amidst Chaos: Managing Tantrums and Meltdowns, Building Better Behaviour, and Emotion-Focused Parenting. Most of these are Zoom meetings over a series for about 6 sessions. Please see the link to find out more.
Regards,
Sam Smrekar Thompson
samantha.smrekarthompson@education.vic.gov.au
Assistant Principal