Principal's Message

Headlines - Please Note

We encourage you to read this entire newsletter as lots of effort has been put into its production.  Here are the most urgent and important details to read in this edition (not just on this first page):

1. Check Class Updates Page for Important Dates and Reminders
2. School Council Nominations (This Page)

Principal's Message

Welcome to the start of Week 5 of a 10-week term. Amazingly, the end of the week will mark the half-way point of Term 1. It seems cliche to say that 'time flies', but I guess cliches exist due to their inherent truisms. 

My sincere wish for every child, family and staff member is that every day at SMPS is optimal - such is the fantasy world in which I exist. I ran my eye over some data produced internally by our Assistant Principal, Maddy Morrison. We apply a tool called the Star Reading Test with all students in Years 3-6 at the start of every term. It is norm-referenced so compares results of thousands of students at various year levels and plots them in a bell curve. This year, 101 of our students fell into the 91-100 percentile range (the absolute top), with 28 of them scoring in the 99th percentile (wow!). We had only two students in the lowest 10th percentile. We know that two students in this low range is two students too many, and we will continue to intervene to try to get their results trending upwards. But the other data is truly phenomenal. 

I interview new students/parents to the school and we apply a reading test and a general ability test to find their academic levels from the get-go. We do this as we value transparency with parents around the reality of their child's current learning levels. We believe we owe them the truth. A one-off test is not the be-all-and-end-all and we also conduct a thorough interview to examine all wellbeing needs to balance the equation of what it takes to lead a fulfilling life. 

By and large, our parents have a wonderful mix of care and high expectation. They know the 'traffic light' system we use to bring transparency to the table when it comes to student outcomes. Red = React. React = "Don't just sit there, do something." That's where teamwork comes into play. Failure in schools is the inability of parents and teachers to work together when a problem is diagnosed. Our community is incredibly supportive when it comes to the teamwork part. Very rarely do I encounter a parent 'asleep at the wheel' when it comes to connecting with teachers when a problem exists.

I don't know what the future holds. What I do know is that regardless of the effects of AI, low levels of literacy and numeracy equals impending disaster for students in the modern world. There is a risk that such students may be left by the economic and social wayside. And that is tragic. There are states in America which use low literacy rates in their Year 3 cohorts to calculate the number of prison cells needed in 15 years time. Scary. 

SMPS has state-topping data in both Learning and Wellbeing. Our Wellbeing team was recently invited to support local schools in developing their curriculum. I received an email on Friday inviting me to lead a meeting of 50 other principals deconstructing the SMPS Maths program so that their schools benefit from the success of our methods. 

Yet, we remain imperfect. 

Not every single child is achieving at these high levels. Not every student's day is filled with optimum positivity. Not every parent is satisfied with everything we do. 

So, the work continues to get to the next level...

General Information

This is the last week of Prep students finishing at 2:00pm. We are incredibly grateful to the Prep parent community for supporting the phased program so heartily. We could not have done it without you. 

Congratulations to our swimmers from Year 4-6 who represented SMPS and our school values so well at the District Swimming event. Ten students attended, we have some talented swimmers with many winning races or making it through to the Divisional Championships next. We are proud of all of our swimmers who had the courage to compete against the fastest swimmers in the District! Thank you to the passionate group of families who supported the event. We hope to share some photos on our Facebook group soon.

School Council Nominations

We have three parent vacancies on School Council for the March 2026 to March 2028 term. School Council is the elected governing body of Victorian government schools, and parent members must have a child currently attending the school and be willing to support the school broadly, beyond matters relating only to their own child. 

This role requires a commitment to attend a minimum of eight meetings per year (6–8pm, both online and in person), as well as participation in relevant sub-committees such as Finance.  Nominees must hold a valid Working With Children Check (free for volunteers). 

To nominate, please complete either the Parent Self-Nomination Form or Parent Nomination Form and return the hard copy with original signature to the office by Monday 23 February at 4pm. These can be found on Compass via the Newsfeed sent out last week.

If more than three nominations are received, an election will be conducted. We encourage interested parents to consider this important and rewarding role. 

Privacy Policy

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365 safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for Parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese