School Leaders

Contacting the Office

Calling the School Office

At times, our school phone line can be very busy, sometimes making it difficult for parents to get through.  If you are calling to record an absence for your child, we encourage you to do this through Compass directly, saving us valuable time.

If your call is not of an urgent nature, we encourage you to send the school an e-mail.  We will endeavor to respond within 2 working days or direct your query to the most appropriate person to respond to you.

First Aid Chronicles on Compass

Sickbay Chronicle Entries

A reminder to families that the Sickbay Chronicle feature in Compass allows our school to effectively manage student visits to sickbay by recording details of ailments, injuries, and illnesses your child may experience whilst at school. 

 A Sick Bay Chronicle entry will be made by staff and you will be notified via automatic e-mail that your child has attended sick bay.   

Dear Parent,

Your child attended Sickbay today.  Please login to your Compass account to find out further details regarding your child. 

Kind Regards,

South Melbourne Primary School

If you receive the above Sick Bay notification, but a member of our school staff has not contacted you by phone, this is because your child has been assessed and treated and has been deemed well enough to return to class.

You are able to check the details of your child’s visit to sick bay through Compass if you would like to know the reason and details of their visit. Sickbay Chronicles can be seen on the Student Profile Tab in Compass.  If you have multiple children attending SMPS, you may need to check the Student Profile Tab of each of your children to see which child has visited us.

If your child sustains a significant injury, is extremely distressed, has reported vomiting or diarrhoea or has a high temperature, a phone call will be made to you to advise you personally and discuss treatment options with you or to request you pick your child up immediately.  A Compass Sickbay Chronicle will also be recorded later that day.

Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like:

• school camps or trips
• swimming and school-organised sport programs
• outdoor education programs
• excursions and incursions.

Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply. A special consideration category also exists. Schools can receive applications from families by 23 June 2023.

Families can list more than one student in the one application form if they are attending the same school.

A parent/carer will only be required to submit an application form to the school in the following circumstances:

• the parent/carer is applying for the CSEF payment for the first time and is eligible– i.e. an application form was not lodged with the school in the previous year, or
• circumstances have changed – for example, there has been a change in the care arrangement of the student, a change of name or CRN, or a new sibling has started at the school and the parent/carer wishes to apply for the CSEF payment for the new sibling also.

Where a parent/carer is not required to submit a new application, schools can rollover/copy the previous year’s application on the CSEF system to the current school year.

Leadership Bios

A lovely parent pointed out to us that we had not included bios from our Leadership Team in previous newsletters. How wonderful that this parent noticed and gave us this feedback so that we could address it. Please find the bios of our Leadership Team below. We hope you enjoy getting to know our leaders a little bit more.

Noel Creece (Principal)

Dear SMPS Community:

My name is Noel Creece and I am the proud principal of this wonderful school. I have been involved in the school since before its construction. I started when there were no enrolments and spent part of my first year visiting over 40 Kindergartens door-knocking to find enrolments. 

I am in my 37th year of teaching and my 22nd year of being a principal. I have taught in primary schools, secondary schools, middle schools, in the city, in the country, internationally, in small and super-large schools. I have worked across many socio-economic areas and have an unending passion for this profession.

I have two adult children (Adrian and Alexandra) who have completed university and are working in their chosen field. They are the love of my life and I couldn't be prouder of them.  

I want the best for every human associated with SMPS, especially the students and staff who are just fantastic. I am grateful for finding teaching and the gifts it has given me over many years. I look forward to helping make our school its best.

Maddy Morrison (Learning and Curriculum Leader)

Hi SMPS Community,

My name is Maddy. I'm lucky enough to have been at SMPS since 2019. During this time I taught Years 2 and 5 and also led some of our whole-school work including curriculum development, student learning programs, intervention, assessment, reporting and more. 

This year I will be continuing my work on our curriculum. I will be further developing and refining our units of study for Prep – Year 6. I am really excited to see our students engage in a second year of history, geography and science lessons in their classrooms, along with even stronger versions of our English and Mathematics lessons.

When I’m not at school, I like riding my bike and listening to music. I grew up in Melbourne, in a suburb across the bay called Williamstown. I have a beautiful two year old cat called Shepherd who is my pride and joy.

I can’t wait to get to know even more of our SMPS families this year. It is going to be another wonderful year!

Joanna May (Wellbeing, Disability and Inclusion Leader)

Dear SMPS Community, 

My name is Jo and I am the Learning Specialist: Wellbeing, Disabilities and Inclusion Leader at SMPS. I love my role as I help all students feel safe, happy and connected so that they can achieve their full potential.

This year marks my fifth year working at SMPS and a whole decade since I started teaching. I have taught different year groups in my career, from Prep to Grade 6. 

Before I worked at SMPS, I taught in East Ham which is in East London. For those of you who are soccer fans, it was the original home of West Ham United! 

I love working in inner city schools. So much can be learnt from being surrounded by people of all different cultural backgrounds. We are so lucky to be part of such a vibrant, multi-cultural community at South Melbourne Primary School. 

I moved to Australia from the UK in October 2018. I love travelling, exploring new places and learning new things. I also love trying new foods. In my spare time, I like to go to the beach or go hiking. I also read lots. 

If you are in our existing school community, I am excited to continue working closely with you. For our new school community, welcome! I am looking forward to getting to know yourselves and your wonderful children.

Callum Freel (Whole School Organisation)

Hi SMPS Families,

My name is Callum and I have been at SMPS since its foundation year in 2018! I started

 off as an integration aide whilst my teaching qualifications were being transferred over from the UK. 

In 2019 I had an awesome Grade 4/5/6 composite class which we managed to split half way through the year (I took Grade 5). Then in 2020, I shared the same awesome class when they entered Grade 6 and started teaching PE as well. In 2021, I no longer had my own class but was privileged to teach every student in the school PE! 

I used to teach Maths in High School back home but SMPS convinced me to teach in a Primary School. I loved sharing my passion for sport and exercise with all our incredible community, bringing inter-school sport events and Athletics Day to SMPS.  

Since Term 3 last year, I have been in the role of 'Leading Teacher: Whole School Organisation' and am thoroughly enjoying it. In my spare time I love watching/playing sport (basketball and soccer are my favourites), playing board games and visiting new places.

I look forward to getting to know more of our wonderful community throughout 2023.