Parent Information Night, PST Conferences, Parents and Friends, School Council Elections

Parent Information Nights: Year 1 – 6

Next week we have arranged teachers to be available to lead an information session for parents starting at 7.00 pm in the staff room. It is very important that parents attend. The level team will speak about curriculum areas, programs and arrangements and have a question and answer session. Times as follows.  

Tuesday 7 February = Year 5 + 6 team

Wednesday 8 February = Year 1 + 2 team

Thursday 9 February = Year 3 + 4 team

Looking forward to a parent representing each family at the information session.

Parent Student Teacher Conferences: Thursday 16 February

In week 3 we will be holding our 'Start of the Year PST Conferences’. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to share information with your child’s teacher to help them better cater for their education across the year. The day is called a Variation to School Hours Day. It is not a normal school day.  Theinterviews take place between 12.00pm and 7.00pm  in your child’s classroom. Your child attends the PST conference with you.

Bookings will be open next Thursday @9.00 am for you to secure a time.  A Compass event will be posted and instructions included on how to book your timeslot.

In preparation for your interviews, please arrive at least 5 minutes before your scheduled interview

PFA in 2023

2023 is our year to grow a new PFA ( Parents and Friends Association) and we'd love to hear from anyone who is interested in being involved. You don't need any particular skills, just a desire to help reconnect the school community after COVID lockdowns made this quite challenging for a while.

We need people who have ideas, a little time, organisational skills, or simply the desire to contribute to the school and looking for a way to become involved.

Meetings will be a mixture of face to face and online as we know that times have changed and that making it onsite for meetings is not so easy at times. We hope to meet once or twice a term to get things going.

If you are new to our school, this is a great way to meet other members of our community and to build connections.

If you think you might like to be involved in a small (or significant) way, please email Tandy Johnson (tandreya.johnson@education.vic.gov.au) or call the school to chat about how you may be involved.

Looking forward to hearing from you

School Council Elections – Information for Parents

We have 4 vacancies for parents to join our School Council this year.

To stand for election, you will need to arrange for someone to nominate and second you as a candidate in the parent category.  Once the nomination form is completed (available from the Principal), return it to David Foley by the close ofnominations on Friday 10 February by4.00 p.m.  Along with a nomination, we ask each candidate to furnish a brief background statement.  This can be used to introduce new councillors to the community, or to enable an informed decision to be made should an election be necessary.

Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do.

Notice of Election:     Friday    3 February

Nominations Close:   Friday  10 February

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school withincentrally provided guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

There are three possible categories of membership:

·          A mandated elected Parent category. More than one third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education and Training (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not employed at the school.

·          A mandated elected DET employee category. Members of this category may make up no more than one third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

·          An optional Community member category. Its members are appointed by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

The term of office for members is two years. Half the members must retire each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is Parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfyingin itself and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in February each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might seriously consider:

·       standing for election as a member of the school council

·       encouraging another person to stand for election.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

No.What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not surewhat to do.

·      Consider standing for election to council this year.

·      Be sure to vote in the elections.

Contact the principal, Mr David Foley for further information.

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