Principal's

Message

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAY

Under the Victorian Government Schools Agreement, Teachers are entitled to a Professional Practice day, once a year. In order to complete final assessments and semester one reporting, Monday, 27th May will be a pupil free day. TheirCare will offer a program for the day, for those families requiring care for their children. 

PHOTOGRAPHY, FILMING AND RECORDING OF STUDENTS POLICY 

Our photography, filming and recording of students policy has just been reviewed by staff and School Council. On Monday, we will be sending you the consent form related to the use of your child’s image. Please read the policy carefully and return the consent form by Friday, 10th May. If you do not return the consent form, we will assume that you consent to the use of your child’s image, as outlined in the policy. We have made some significant changes to the policy, which I have outlined below.

Image use within the school community: South Melbourne Park Primary School may photograph, film or record students to use within the school community, including:

• in the school’s online communication, learning and teaching tools (e.g., Compass updates from camp, that can only be accessed by parents/carers and school staff)
• in the school’s newsletter which is accessed only by families via a Compass link

A Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Consent Form will be given to parents/carers on enrolment for the standard uses described above. Consent, if given, applies until it is withdrawn or changed. If a parent/carer would like to withdraw or change their consent at any point in time, they must notify the school. 

Image use beyond the school community: At South Melbourne Park Primary School, we do not share images beyond the school community, in our endeavour to mitigate any child safety risks. This means that we will no longer be providing access to the newsletter via the school website. This decision was not made lightly and reflects our priority around Child Safety. 

We will notify you individually and seek consent if we are considering using any images of your child for specific advertising or promotional purposes. 

Images taken by the school community: South Melbourne Park Primary School permits parents/carers, students and invited guests to photograph, film or record school performances, sporting events and other school-approved activities.

South Melbourne Park Primary School requests that parents/carers, students and invited guests who photograph, film or record school activities only do so for their own personal use and do not publish the images in any form, including on social media or WhatsApp, without the prior consent of persons whose children also appear in the images.

Neither the school nor the department own or control any images of students taken by parents/carers, students or their invited guests at school activities.

ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY (AtoSS)

In the coming weeks, we will be administering the Attitudes to School Survey to all students in years 4-6. The AtoSS is a voluntary annual student survey offered by the Department of Education to assist schools and the department to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and will be asking your child about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general. A parent information and consent form will be sent out on Monday. 

LET’S CELEBRATE OUR EDUCATION SUPPORT OFFICERS & ALLIED HEALTH STAFF

On Thursday, 16th May, we will be celebrating our wonderful support staff. We have some incredibly committed and hard working people at South Melbourne Park and we are grateful for the contributions each of them make, in supporting our kids. 

A huge thank you to:

Classroom based ES - Ahlam, Justin, Jo, Luke, Shymasree, Tanzeena, Aashna, Swapna and Tippy. These wonderful human beings work closely with our funded students and support all children more broadly. They show incredible patience, resilience, nurture and calm. We could not do our job without them!

Administration based ES - Christine, Kym and Magda. These three women work tirelessly to keep our school running smoothly. They support leadership, teachers, ES, students and families in the areas of finance, administration, first aid and so much more! We are very grateful for all that they do.

Allied Health - Jess and Bec. It is wonderful to have the expertise of our Allied Health professionals onsite. Jess and Bec are instrumental in the development of Disability Inclusion profiles and support students and families. Both Jess (speech pathologist.5) and Bec (psychologist .2) complete assessments and provide recommendations to staff and families. 

If you see one of our ES or Allied Health staff over the next couple of weeks, be sure to show them your gratitude too.

Nicole Arnold

Principal