School Council 

School Council Update Sept 2023

a message from School Council President, Kade Dillon

As the year speeds ahead, I can’t believe that we are at the end of term 3! 

There has been a lot happening around the school, including the completion of the final works for our $3.55 million, Stage 2 capital development program, which was completed in September. More on this below! 

Your School Council has met twice this term. Here is a brief update on what we’ve been discussing and working towards. 

As always, if you would like more details, have any questions, or ideas on how to improve our school, please email me on kade.dillon@education.vic.gov.au

Finance sub-committee: 

Where do your school fees go? School fee contributions are so important for our school’s facilities, extra-curricular activities, and maintenance projects that are not funded by the Department of Education. We thank all families who have paid the voluntary school fees; without your support, we could not offer such things as lunchtime programs or upgraded equipment, which makes Altona College such a great place for all our students.

So far this year, 45 per cent of families have contributed the voluntary contributions. This is significantly down from 2021, where 90 per cent of families contributed the fees. To contribute to the school, please contact the school office. 

Your School Council understands that current high costs of living are impacting all families. However, these funds are vital to support our students, and we do request that if you can afford to make even part of the voluntary payments, please do so that we can continue to fund the additional resources and infrastructure to provide a leading education environment for our children.

The finance committee has reviewed expenses for Term 3, which included camps and excursions. 

Your support in 2023 has allowed us to:

• Build a bike shelter. 
• Fund additional learning resources and equipment beyond the basic necessities that can be financed through regular school budgets
• Provide additional lunchtime equipment and activities including sporting equipment.
• Enhance student leadership and engagement programs and events
• Support ongoing upgrades, repair and maintenance of non-essential (but very important) equipment and resources such as shade sails, tables and chairs, and play equipment. 
• Improve the quality of resources, ingredients and materials used within the classroom including art room and STEM resources. 

Fundraising sub-committee: it’s gonna get messy! 

The Fundraising Committee provides advice and coordinates school fundraising activities including the special persons day stalls, Christmas raffle & stall and Bunnings BBQs. If you have ideas for fundraising events to explore, please connect with the committee at altonafundraisingcommittee@gmail.com

In term 3, the Fundraising Committee organised a very successful Father’s Day Stall with all Primary students offered the option of purchasing some wonderful gifts for their dad or special person. Kinder students from the Altona Hub were also invited. The fundraising committee would like to thank the wonderful parent volunteers who helped setup, serve and pack up the event.

The Father’s Day stall was followed by a Father’s Day breakfast with over 300 dads and students attending. Dads and special people were treated to bacon and egg rolls supplied by Altona Rotary.

We have another exciting fundraising event planned for term 4. Stay tuned for this one, it could get messy…

Casey Sperling and Sarah Prismall, Fundraising Sub-Committee

Building & Grounds sub-committee: bike sheds and cubby houses 

The Building and Grounds sub-committee supports the development of the annual College Infrastructure priorities, and provides advice relating to building and grounds projects. 

Stage 2 Capital Works

The Stage 2 capital works are now complete! This is the final step of a $3.55 million investment by the state government to support the expansion of the College from a P-9 school to a P-12 educational facility. 

The stage 2 capital works program included: 

• Redevelopment of Learning Centres inclusive of seven acoustically fitted classrooms for primary and secondary use, with dedicated study and breakout spaces which are efficiently heated and cooled.  
• primary school library and space improvements. 
• Redevelopment of the former science learning space to better support primary STEM learning. 
• A dedicated Arts & Technology precinct. This includes four teaching and learning classrooms including a visual arts room and an Information Technology room.
• A new larger Design Technology classroom (Wood Technology, Materials Technology) learning area.
• New toilet facilities and wash stations.

An opening event is planned for term 4, stay tuned for more details! 

Cubby Houses

You will notice that our freshly painted cubby houses have been relocated close to the primary school play equipment and are being enjoyed by our younger students. We still have some landscaping to finish these off. These are a great addition to our school. 

BIG thanks to Bunnings who provided the paint and equipment as well as two team members to help guide our students and staff.

And thank you to Michael Sperling who found the cubby houses, got them transported to the school, organised for Bunnings to help and then moved them with pallet jacks. I think he is ready to camp out in front of the cubby houses with a cup of tea!

Bike Shelter

At the July meeting of the School Council, it was agreed that $20,000 would be allocated from the Schools Building and Grounds fund to contribute to the cost of building a bike shelter. 

The Building and Grounds fund is solely derived from our families’ voluntary school fees, so THANK YOU to all who have contributed to this fund over the last couple of years. 

We are waiting on some planned Department of Education maintenance works to level the existing concrete and then the roofing can begin. 

Next step is to get some more bike racks and scooter racks. We are looking to fundraise to get these. The initial quote is $5,000. Let me know if you have any thoughts. 

Garden Working Bee

We held a very successful garden working bee in August. More than 25 parents and 20 children helped to dig up weeds, plant native grasses, shovel an enormous mound of mulch onto the trees that were planted earlier in the year. We also watered the trees and added agi-pipe next to some of them to help keep water near the roots.

THANKS to our lovely and patient school landscaper, Sarah Moore, who supported, guided and encouraged us all on the day. 

If you like to dig or plant or shovel, we are planning another working bee in term 4. Look out for the notice on Compass and in the newsletter. 

What’s next? 

Now that the primary students have a sensory garden and cubby houses, we are looking to what the secondary students may like. Current list of ideas is more downball courts, outdoor ping ping tables and a ninja warrior course! 

If you have any ideas on what the secondary students might like, please get in touch to add to the list. And if you have access to concrete, bike racks, plants, mulch, etc etc . I’d love to hear from you sarah@scienceinpublic.com.au 

Sarah Brooker, Building and Grounds Sub-Committee

NAPLAN 

The results of the 2023 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were released to families of participating students in August.

Statewide results were also released in August. Of the 20 tests, Victorian was ranked first or second in 16, more than any other state or territory, and an improvement on the 2022 results when the equivalent figure was 12. 

Please see attached letter from the Department of Education regarding Victoria’s results.

School-based data has also been provided to inform teaching development and focus areas for improvement. Statewide school comparison data will be made publicly available on the My Schools website (https://myschool.edu.au/) at the end of 2023. 

The NAPLAN results provide a useful checkpoint for students, families and schools to assess how we are tracking towards our learning goals. While I am sure that our school results will continue our strong progress shown in 2022, we are also focussed on ensuring that we provide a safe, healthy and engaging environment that nurtures resilience and promotes innovation, integrity and respect within our school community. 

Congratulations to all students who participated in NAPLAN in 2023. 

Kade Dillon

School Council President

 [KDD(1]Please link letter from the Dept of Education.