Principal's 

Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a significant effect on every aspect of life in Victoria, testing our resilience and mental health.  Changes we could not have imagined six months ago are now our daily reality. The usual connections that students have with schools are harder to support during flexible and remote learning.  We hope your children are enjoying the live lessons, small group work, fun days like 100 Days of Preps, Crazy Hair Hat Day and the showcasing of student work in the newsletter and at assembly. We also encourage you to reach out to your class rep and organise virtual play dates.  Friday Wellbeing Day is a great opportunity for students to connect with their peers. 

MINOR CAPITAL WORKS FUND- YEAR 2-4 PLAY EQUIPMENT & FUNDRAISING 

The school recently applied for the Minor Capital Works Fund being offered by the Victorian State Government. Our project submission is for the much-needed play equipment.  The total cost of the project is $169,020 ex GST. The proposed play equipment will be constructed on the school site at the back of the drill hall (Southern end-Aughtie Dr). The design presented below is only a concept design for the purposes of the grant and to gain an approximate understanding of how much a project of this scope would cost.  If we are successful with the grant the next stage would involve consultation with the Victorian School Building Authority, students, staff and parents.  We would also be seeking further quotes as required by Department’s procurement policy.  If the school is unsuccessful with this grant the money raised by Families and Friends and the playground voluntary contributions would be put towards this project. We have raised $17,000 to date so far; this figure includes last year’s fundraising efforts ($13,000) and this year’s voluntary play equipment contributions ($4,000). If you were not in a position to contribute to the play equipment contributions at the start of the year but would like to contribute, please use go to the Qkr App - Payments-Playground Project.  All contributions great or small will be appreciated. We also encourage you to support Families and Friends with their fundraising efforts as money raised this year will go towards the play equipment project.

Proposed Year 2 - 4 Play Equipment

YEAR 5-6 PLAY EQUIPMENT

With the total capacity of school reaching 550 students by the year 2025 the school will need a third playground for students in Year 5 and 6. We have been in discussions with Park Victoria regarding the prospect of building a playground on Parks Victoria land adjacent to the school unfortunately, due to COVID-19 discussions have not progressed. 

SCHOOL REVIEW POSTPONED

Schools participate in a review every four years to inform development of their new School Strategic Plan (SSP) and to ensure requirement against the Minimum Standards for school registration including Child Safe Standards are met.  As South Melbourne Park is a new school it will be our first SSP.  Before the review the school completes a rigorous pre-review self-evaluation (PRSE). Unfortunately, due to the school being closed we have had to postpone the PRSE and hence the development of a SSP.  We do have an Annual Implementation Plan that guides our direction and key focus areas for the year.  In 2020 our focus is Reading, Student Agency and developing the culture of the new school.  We look forward to returning to school so that we can complete the PRSE and set directions for the next four years.

UPDATE ON THE ART PROGRAM

Our Art teacher, Ms Cirillo, has taken leave and will not be working for the remainder of this term. Given the enormous challenges associated with the temporary replacement of a teacher during remote learning, we have reached out to another school to ask for assistance. They have been very supportive and will be providing us with their lessons that we will post each week. While we will no longer be able to offer SeeSaw feedback on any student work during this time, it is our hope that this very generous offer will enable our students to remain engaged in a rich visual arts program until we return in Term 4. We wish Ms Cirillo all the very best and we look forward to having her back at work as soon as she is able. Thank you for your continued understanding and support.