St Michael’s School Advisory Council

TERM 4 MEETING - CHAIR'S REPORT

Term 4 - Amazing how the year just moves on so quickly. On Thursday the 30th of October we held our Term 4 SAC meeting with lots of input from all members which is always great to see. Everyones' input is valued and appreciated.

Topics discussed at the Term 4 School Advisory Council meeting.

School Lunches

Two organisations approached St Michael’s to provide readymade lunches for the students, similar to what the school does with Subway lunches. We decided until we can put an efficient process in place, the organisation that was completing this task will be put on hold. Stay tuned for a survey about this in the coming weeks to determine what service will be provided in 2026.

Enrolments for 2026 and the makeup of class numbers

The SAC discussed some concerns about composite classes coming from the parents of the existing prep cohort. Due to these concerns, Denise will provide further information either face to face or via a zoom information session, later in the term, to discuss the pros and cons of composite classes.

Enrolments for 2026 continue to come in, with 3 composite classes at all year levels, except for Prep which are sitting at 2 classes. While the school does a good job advertising for new students, word of mouth is still the best tool to attract new students, so if you know anyone who would like to come to St Michael’s, please get them to contact the school.

NAPLAN 2025 and Student and staff Survey

Further results were presented about this year’s Naplan. It was encouraging to see that the Years 3 and 5 student cohorts are tracking up in nearly all learning metrics. With extra training of staff it is encouraging to see better learning occurring among our children. I’m sure the students will progress and improve even further.

While there were less parents who participated in this year's MACSSIS school survey, staff and students participated at a high level. It was encouraging to see that on topics such as engagement, satisfaction and happiness, safety and religious knowledge and connectedness this year’s results are tracking better/higher than in previous years.

Other items discussed in the meeting:

Drop off and pick up times, with concern about double parking and the dangers associated with this. Please be careful and park correctly in parks when dropping off children.
The building project, while behind schedule, is progressing well, with the completion time extending by 3-4 months to the end of Term 1/start of Term 2 next year.
School fees for 2026 have been announced in this Newsletter. As expected there will be an increase in fees, but once again the increase is within CPI parameters.
The Parents and Friends group was discussed as to how it might look in 2026. More information to come. If there is anyone interested in helping out with the valuable activities the group provides the school, please contact Fiona Dunne and get on board.

Once again it has been a fast moving year with everyone being increasingly busy, with everyone expected to do more to ensure our children receive the best education possible. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Denise and all her dedicated team of teachers, LSOs and other support and administrative staff for all their hard work. It’s never an easy task to provide the care and education we expect for our children. Great job done by all.