Principal's Message

Principal's Report

I had the great honour of welcoming the new Prep students and their families to the school last Tuesday. There is a wonderful sense of renewal that occurs in school at this time of the year. Our Grade 6 students proudly 'graduate' from Primary School and our fresh-faced Kindergartners begin their learning journey by being involved in our transition process. Mak, James and Ben (our current Prep Team) do an amazing job in on-boarding both students and parents. 

Many local schools 'recruit' students out-of-zone to fill up their numbers. We have not accepted out-of-zone students for some years now and have redirected many enrolment inquiries that come our way by diverting them to their neighbourhood schools. We are extremely popular due to our reputation and super-high outcomes. Clearly, families want their children to attend SMPS and that is a credit to the work we have done in our first six years of existence as a community. I speak with principal colleagues who would give their right arms to achieve what we have in our young history. I am proud of the children, the staff and the families for the reputation we have forged so early on in our journey. We are not perfect and there is still work to do - but we are well and truly on the pathway to excellence.

Thanks to all families for their support of our House Sports Day. The weather was lovely and the children really enjoyed the experience. We love happy children and that was certainly the case on Friday last week. I know the staff was very tired and happy to get to the weekend - but it was a great day nonetheless. 

I want to acknowledge the teachers on World Teachers' Day (last Friday). You will not come across a more committed and hardworking group of people, in my humble opinion. They are noble and good - and I can't ask for more. Again, we are not comfortable being compared to perfection as we are all human with flaws. But, for endeavour and intent, they are gold medallists. Thank you to the wonderful staff at SMPS. 

Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th December Intentions (Link to survey now working)

• On Friday 15th December, at approximately 2:00/2:30pm we will be having our Final Whole School Assembly of the year! Parents are welcome to attend. We will finish at 3:30pm. 
• Many families have indicated that they will be leaving for their holidays that weekend and will therefore not be attending school on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th December.
• We kindly ask that you state your intentions for your child(ren's) attendance on these dates so we can plan accordingly. 
• Wednesday 20th December is a student-free day and the OSH club will be open for those who need to use their services.
• Click on this link and complete the survey.

Dog Policy

We had a query last week from a parent regarding our policy on dogs. It is pretty clear so we choose to share it with you as a reminder of everyone's expected actions. They are listed below along with the full policy via link.

A reminder to all families bringing in pet dogs at pick up time to be mindful of children in the area. We want to prepare students for the realities of the world. Dogs will be on leashes outside of the school grounds, so banning them from inside the school during pick up time is unrealistic. However, here are some of the key reminders to ensure the safety of all students:

• pet dogs must be leashed at all times and in the control of a responsible adult
• pet dogs must not be tied up on school grounds or left unaccompanied
• dog owners must assess the demeanour of their dog before entering the school grounds and are requested not to enter if the demeanour of the dog is deemed unsafe or unpredictable
• families that bring dogs to school that exhibit signs of aggressive behaviour, bark, or jump may be asked to remove the dog from school premises.
• It is not the role of school staff to 'police' this - we ask our community to self-monitor and even remind each other of the policy so we are all working together. Expecting our staff to police everything just doesn't work when it comes to the intersection of life inside and outside school times. 

Here is the link to our policy. Dogs Policy (Click Here) 

Halloween?

As a school, we do not 'study' Halloween; nor do we give it too much air time. We are mindful of our broader community and respectful as to how it may be viewed differently in our diverse families. 

Having said that, School Council had a really interesting discussion around whether to allow the kids to put on a simple adornment on the morning of Halloween. The idea wasn't to make it a whole school dress up day (that would be over the top). The debate was whether or not to allow something simple should the students choose to wear something for fun as they entered the school (with the view to it being taken off and the normal school uniform being worn the rest of the day). We went back and forth and really didn't reach a solid resolution aside from NOT doing anything in 2023. We don't want to be the 'fun police', but we don't wish to offend either.

Our debate was whether our families cared either way and we just could not decide on your behalf.

Be clear - there is no dress up for Halloween on Tuesday for SMPS.

To satisfy my own curiosity, I would love to know what everyone thinks of Halloween given that so many of our families have indicated that they are going to celebrate and have a bit of fun with it after school this week (basically trick-or-treating in a controlled environment). 

Please fill out a simple (30 second) survey below so I can gauge where you sit and can use this data for future years' decision-making. I will feed back the results in the upcoming weeks. I don't really care one way or the other, but want to be respectful to our families in finding out where they sit should our position at School Council shift in future years. Most of the schools I know 'nod' to Halloween by allowing simple dress ups to enter the school for a bit of harmless fun. They don't seem to have issues with it, but please tell me what you think.

PLEASE FILL OUT: Halloween Opinion Survey.