School Council News - March

Edition 7


School Council News Edition 7

Please click here to read the latest edition of the School Council News in it's orignal format

Welcome to our seventh School Council Newsletter!

This edition will cover the March 2024 School Council Meeting.

This newsletter will be written by parents, to the parents, to create an open line of communication with the School Council and the important work it does.

Who are the current council members?

Staff –Susan Jackson, Aaron Jones (Secretary), Michelle Mather (Treasurer), Andrea Smith

Parents – Rachel Jeffreys (President), Julia Kahan (Vice President), Lisa Cleland, Iole Issaias, Georgie Lye and Ray Van Haven

This newsletter will

Provide updates about School Council decisions

Provide news on the work of Subcommittees

 

Provide a section dedicated to questions & concerns raised by parents

 

Do you have questions or concerns about general school matters?

We would like to invite parents to send us (the council members) any questions or concerns you have. We will raise any relevant concerns with management and/or at council and provide responses in the following newsletter!

Please note – your privacy will be respected, and questions/concerns brought up anonymously unless you request otherwise. These questions should be relevant to general school matters, any personal concerns should be raised with your teacher or the school management.

 You can email Julia, convener of the Communications committee at julia.kahan@gmail.com or any other members on the emails below.

Council Decisions and Updates

Council elected office bearers for 2024:

President – Rachel Jeffreys

Vice President - Julia Kahan

Treasurer – Michelle Mather

Secretary – Aaron Jones

School Council decided to meet in week 2 and 6 of each term (when there is no public holiday)

Ø Term 2 – 22nd April and 20th May

Ø Term 3 – 22nd July and 19th August

Ø Term 4 – 14th October and 11th November

 In attendance at the meeting was Kevin Murphy, the new SEIL (Senior Education Improvement Leader) to update the Council on the Principal Selection process.

Kevin notified School Council that no appointment was made for the Principal role. The process will begin again early in Term 2, and the role will be advertised more widely this time.

The Parents and Friends Association process has been started, with the Principal having received a request in the required format and setting a meeting for Wednesday 17th April at 3pm to form the Association.

Our current enrollment for 2024 is 334 children.

Sub Committees are being reviewed to be updated next meeting.

 

Subcommittee Updates

We need YOU!

Did you know you can be a part of the important work of the School Council?!

The School Council has several sub committees that welcome any parents or community members. These subcommittees have the potential to make a significant impact on the quality of your child’s school experience. It is really up to us – there is so much we can achieve for our school and children through this work.

Farmers Market and Grants Committee

Committee Convener: Rachel Jeffreys - rachel@heypup.com

The Farmers Market Committee is responsible for managing and improving the Farmers market, which is the major source of fundraising for the school and investigating and coordinating applications for grants.

Committee Updates

  • Decision to increase stallholder fees by $5.00 for powered sites as of April market.

 

  • Sourcing all the breakfast stall ingredients from market stallholders! From the April market, we will be making our delicious bacon and egg rolls using all ingredients from market stallholders. This will require a slight increase in the price of the rolls to $8.50.

 

  • Grants committee had continued to meet with staff from our local representative and with local companies to investigate possible grants and plans for replacing the Infinity playground as well as other upgrades to our outdoor play spaces.

Please contact Rachel on the email above if you would like to join the committee or would like to ask more questions about joining.

Communication and Engagement Committee

Committee Convener: Julia Kahan julia.kahan@gmail.com

The Communications and Engagement Committee is responsible for communications in two areas:

 

  1. Internal communications with school community – providing a Two-way engagement with the school community on issues resolution and ideas generation, messages from school committee; class reps and canvassing of volunteers and support for funding raising and initiatives.

 

  1. External communications with school and wider local community to raise awareness in the community about what our school offers and increase interest in the school and the school activities such as fundraisers through promotions at community events, through social media and more, meeting with local government representatives, engaging with local kinders and other organisations. This is key to keep our school thriving!

Committee Updates

  • The communications committee is working on the plan for a bigger and more exciting Open Day in 2024, everything is coming together well, so we look forward to sharing all the details soon!

Please contact Julia on the email above if you would like to join the committee or would like to ask more questions about joining.

Infrastructure Committee

Committee Convener: Sue and Michelle have acted in this role - susan.jackson@education.vic.gov.au

And Michelle.Mather@education.vic.gov.au

The infrastructure committee is responsible for making sure the school’s grounds and buildings are well maintained. This includes organising working bees, planning, and implementing improvements to school grounds, reviewing quotes for works to the grounds and generating new ideas for the improvements of the school grounds.

Committee Updates

  • Water Leak – Bignell Rd near crossing has been fixed.
  • Testing/Tagging was completed 2 weeks ago.
  • Infinity playground viability assessment was completed and found it was not viable to fix or keep it, and it will need to be demolished. The School and Grants committee are investigating grants and options for this space and improving several of our outdoor spaces.
  • For any new playgrounds, its likely we could use large tree trunks so if anyone has access to fallen trees (particularly from the storm) and a way of moving them to the school, we have a place to store them – please contact Michelle.
  • Taraleigh and the School have finalized a quote to get a gate for the Bignell Street entrance next to the carpark.

Please contact the School Council if you would like to join or run the committee or would like to ask more questions about joining.

Education Committee

Committee Convener: Sue Jackson – susan.jackson@education.vic.gov.au

The Education committee is responsible for settling and reviewing policies (guiding principles designed to

influence decisions, actions, that the school makes) and developing, reviewing, and monitoring both the Student Code of Conduct (how the schools expect students to behave, how bullying will be managed and the school’s approach to managing student behaviour) and the School Dress Code.

Committee Updates

  • NAPLAN completed, we had 89% update which is the largest we have had for many years.

Please contact Sue on the email above if you would like to join the committee or would like to ask more questions about joining.

Finance Committee

Committee Convener: Michelle Mather - Michelle.Mather@education.vic.gov.au

The Finance committee contributes to the development of the strategic plan and to the financial planning and annual budgeting.

Committee Updates

  • This year, Julie will conduct an audit of school fees and table at next Finance meeting.
  • The school has prepared a draft budget for the year based on the forecast enrolment and is waiting for the funding to be confirmed to complete the budget. We had more children enrolled at the census time than was in our draft budget so funding will be higher than anticipated.

The Finance committee meetings monthly and would love some new members. This Committee meets during school hours. If you have knowledge/experience in Finance, this could be a great way to contribute your skills to our school!

Please contact Sue on the email above if you would like to join the committee or would like to ask more questions about joining


Fundraising and Events Committee

Committee Convener: TBC

The Fundraising and Events Committee has two main areas:

 

  1. It is responsible for school fundraising and events – including the Thursday Markets. It will also seek to raise funds through other avenues and such as applying for grants and other fundraising activities. The committee will also propose potential uses of the funding raised.
  1. Organise school community events to provide opportunities for the school and community to engage with each other, building a positive, enjoyable, and inclusive culture, as well as support the class reps in engaging with the parents to participate in school life.

The Fundraising and Initiatives Committee has newly started up and needs more members! This committee meets 6-8 times per year and at times by agreement with the committee.

Committee Updates

  • Mother’s Day stall being organised.
  • Events potentially to be moved to Parents and Friends Association