School Leaders

Message from Our School Council President 

Hi Everyone, my name is Dragan Rajak and I'm your School Council President.

At our School Council meetings we look into many little things, nooks and various crannies that go into running a school like contracts, formal communications, issues raised, fundraising and similar. One of the key items we also go through are the school finances to make sure they're healthy and can support the wonderful programs we have put in place that have made us a high performing school that we know and love. 

So far many families have been very supportive of the school which is fantastic! Thank you to each and every one of you that has supported the school and will plan to support the school in the near future!

We are the high performing school that we are not just because of our capable teachers but because your generosity enables those teachers to keep track and hyper focus on your child needs through our iPad and laptop program. I recall that during our Department of Education school review, our iPad and Laptop program was praised as an example of a good implementation and I'm sure it will be praised in the upcoming review as well. This feedback has been taken and used to help other schools improve their programs too. As a parent I was skeptical on whether giving kids screens is a good idea but the proof is in the pudding and without them we'd be lost during lockdowns. 

Here's a quick summary of what it takes to run our school:

Apart from teacher salaries which are not shown or controlled by the school locally, as you can see in the diagram, government funding does not cover all other school expenditure. The Government funding is determined by student numbers and is strictly allocated to particular budget lines such as utilities, maintenance and minor works, OH&S and disadvantaged students. As a parent I'd like government funding to fully cover all school costs but unfortunately it simply doesn't and as a result every school makes up the difference via parent contributions, fundraising, International Students and hiring out the facility. At our school just over half the costs are covered by your support and generosity. Department funds covers costs - but only at a very basic level. We want more than basic for our children.

Here is how we're currently sitting with our contributions:

Collection Rates:

Curriculum Contributions (includes classroom resources, incursions/exursions, devices and software programs) are currently sitting at a collection rate of 69.94%. 

Other Contributions (wellbeing support, grounds maintenance, whole school events and first aid) are sitting at 65.20% collected. 

Looking at our internal budget numbers recently, the school is falling short and is sitting at roughly 2/3rds of contributions across the various line items on average. Given this is the case, we need to ensure our budget is sustainable so we can make decisions at School Council on whether we need to redirect funding, revisit expensive initiatives such as the device program and cut back on budget lines. 

The budget management job falls on our wonderful business manager Tess who will be calling you over the next couple of months to check whether you intend to contribute. It is important to note that we're doing this so we can lock in and manage the budget going forward.

Thank you all for your past, present and future support!

2024 Enrolments

If you are intending on your child commencing Prep next year at South Melbourne Primary School, we are now accepting Enrolment Applications! We request that the Enrolment Forms and supporting documents are dropped off to Kirsty or Emma in the office as soon as possible - even if you just verbally let us know now about a sibling planning on commencing Prep next year so that we may begin our planning of classes and staffing for 2024.

Enrolment forms and the process can be found on our website. If you require any further information on Enrolling your child, please do not hesitate to drop into the office, call on 9935 9399 or e-mail Kirsty at kirsty.reynolds@southmelbourneps.vic.edu.au and we will happily answer your queries.

SMPS Enrolment Form

Exiting Students

Do you know if you will be exiting the school at any point this year? Please send us an email at south.melbourne.ps@education.vic.gov.au. Knowing this information in advance will assist the school with planning, budgets and staffing. Your plans don't have to be set in stone, just a heads up of your future intentions will do. 

School Policies on Compass

Did you know that our Parent and Student Policies are available to view on Compass. For those interested, the policies are located under the Community Tab > School Documentation > Parent Policies. 

Lost Property

A reminder to please look in Lost Property if your child has lost anything. All clothing, lunchboxes and water bottles are stored on the ground floor outside the library.

Labelled clothing often makes its way back to students, but the best way is to check the Lost Property tub regularly.

Any unnamed clothing items that remain unclaimed at the end the term will be put into sickbay for accidents or donated to the Second-Hand Uniform Shop. All lunchbox containers or water bottles that have not been collected by the last day of term will be thrown out, as these can cause a hygiene risk.

Please remember to label all of your child's property to ensure everything can be returned to the appropriate student. 

Lost Property can be found outside of the library.