Principal's Message

Principal's Message

The home stretch is here, folks. As we wind down towards the summer vacation, there is excitement in the air. In our wonderfully diverse community, not everyone celebrates Christmas but we all feel the anticipation of holidays. For some, I realise the summer is a long stretch of time in hot weather with children in tow. We love our kids, but they can be hard to 'entertain' for weeks on end. 

I urge all families to keep an eye on safety. The summer sun, for instance, is brutal. I received too much sun as a youngster and paid the price of having a melanoma removed from my body in my early 20's. It was harrowing and unpleasant and, to this day, I have to get annual checks to make sure it does not return. Please wear hats, stay out of the intense sun, put on sunscreen (and reapply as required) and wear long coverage over the skin. 

I am extremely proud of the staff team. I keep saying we are not perfect (as no human is), but I cannot fault the effort they have made each and every day in 2023. We are still at the tail end of the pandemic and illness has struck at times through the year. But still the staff have soldiered on. We are blessed with the most amazing students in the world (in my humble opinion) but the children are also blessed to have such hardworking and passionate staff. 

This coming week, students will be finding out their new class teacher for 2024. A lot of work has gone into placing students into cohorts and then placing teachers with those cohorts. We don't just throw names into the sky and watch where they land. It has taken us nine weeks of process to arrive at these groups. Again, nothing is perfect in the world and there will be glitches here and there - but I am satisfied with the professional effort put into this process. I believe your main task as parents is to "talk it up" by being positive and optimistic about 2024. Imagine a child who is excited about promoting to the next year level having their bubble burst by a pessimistic adult version of events. Resilience grows when we adopt a "can do" attitude and this is your time to shine.

In the last newsletter of the year (next week), I will publish the entire staff list where you can see who landed where. I know we have the community's support with whatever we do and that is why it is so special to work at SMPS - we feel you believe in us and have our backs. There is nothing more important. 

I will have more to say next week when I send my last newsletter message of the year. We are in an incredible school and you, as our community, make it even more special. I am very grateful. 

End of Year Plan

Our last assembly of the year will occur next Friday (December 15). Via our survey, many parents have indicated they will be taking their children away for vacation after that date. We have a couple of 'activity' days on Monday and Tuesday of the following week and there will be significantly reduced numbers according to that poll. 

These days will involve mixed groups of students (not in their current classes) and will be run by a mix of staff as our 2024 teaching teams get together to plan for the beginning of next year. Your child may see their current teacher around the school on these days, but they won't be working directly with them. We therefore recommend any 'goodbyes' are done next Friday. 

Whilst 'normal' academic classes will not run on the Monday and Tuesday of the activities week, we are operating from 9am to 3:30pm and OSHClub will run as normal before and after school.

Wednesday, December 20 is a student free day with no classes operating. OSHClub is available for parents to book in all day if required (see online link later in this iNewsletter).

Friday 15th December - Family Friday and Final Assembly

Family Friday

On Friday, families are invited to our final assembly. Due to this and the busy nature of the final Friday, we will not hold Family Friday this week. We look forward to more family connections in 2024.

Final Assembly

Our Final Assembly of the year will start at approximately 2:00pm on Friday 15th December. We hope you can make it!