School Council 

School Council membership 2025/2026

Parent members

• Kieran Barns-Jenkins
• Jason Bell
• Daniel Bevz
• Rick Bottiglieri
• Margaret Hua
• Catherine Luong
• Nerida Rixon

Employee members

• Kristy Bedford
• Anna Gbikpi-Benissan
• Jarrod Sutton

School Council Secretary

• Sandra Monaghan

Office Bearers

School Council President

Rick Bottiglieri

School Council Vice President

Daniel Bevz

School Council Treasurer

Jason Bell

School Council meeting 24th of August 2026

School council met on 24 August 2026.

Junior School Council update

We received a lovely and informative update from two JSC representatives, Rocco and Isla. They told us about the work they did for Bully No Way Week where students were encouraged to look out for each other and to get to know students they don’t usually speak to. They also talked about the work they did for book week and we all agreed the parade was a success and the kids all looked amazing in their outfits! And finally and very exciting, the JSC reps told us about the work in preparing for Show Day which is a real highlight in the MPWPS calendar for the whole community. We can’t wait to check out all the stalls and get a big fright in the haunted house and hopefully be able to find out way out of the escape room!

Thank you as always to the JSC who do such a good job.

Principal’s report

Jarrod presented the Principal’s report.

He provided us with the projected enrolment numbers for next year and it was great to hear the numbers are trending up with the 56 offers having been sent out for Foundation students for next year.

The school will soon be preparing for Foundation transition program. Based on positive feedback regarding last year’s approach, it is intended this year’s transition program will also include time for the incoming Foundation students to check out the specialist classes as well as their classrooms.

The transition process for secondary school is also underway with Grade 6 students receiving acceptance letters and starting the transition program with the secondary school that they will head off to.

Finally, we discussed the upcoming school review which will be on 27 and 28 October 2026. The review will involve reflecting on the last four years and celebrating the school’s achievements and the things it does well and then also working out the focus for the next four years.

We also discussed the swimming program for the school this year. The school was able to deliver the swimming the swimming program for Grade 1-6 students last year, however, this year, due to funding restrictions and the high costs of delivering the swimming program, in particular, the cost of bus transport, the swimming program will only be delivered to students in Grade 3-6. The school will then need to consider the best way to deliver the program going forward.

Further discussion was had about how additional funding for things like the swimming program and other activities are reliant on the funding provided by the Department and through the financial contributions from parents. Parent contributions support further educational opportunities offered by the school beyond what the school budget allows.

Resources Committee

Our treasurer provided an update on the financial statements and reports that were approved at the Resources meeting.

We also discussed the trivia night which one of our main fundraising events for the school. The survey results have come back and the fundraising committee will organise an event based on the feedback received. We hope that you can all attend.

There were also other updates in relation to Camp Australia’s licence agreement, one off use of the gym and some maintenance work that is happening around the grounds.

Education and Policy Committee 

Anna provided an update on what was discussed at the Education committee meeting.

This includes an outline of the focus of the curriculum day which was on Explicit Teaching and also on how to avoid cognitive overload for students.

The Education committee reviewed four policies: Child Safe – Code of Conduct, Child Safety and Wellbeing, Statement of Values and School Philosophy and a new one called Respect for School Staff.

Other business

In other business, we approved a Dogs in School policy which would prevent dogs from being brought into the school grounds unless it is an assistance dog. The reasoning behind this is that not everyone feels safe around dogs and we don’t want to create an unsafe environment for our school community, and there are growing hygiene related issues that can arise. A further reason was that we do not want dogs being brought to school outside of school hours, when the grounds are used by the community as this has been causing some mess and safety concerns this year.

There was some further discussion about the grounds being accessible and open on weekends and after school hours. This is something the school has historically done to support the community and it does come with some risk consideration for the school.

The Principal also sought some feedback from school councillors to inform the school review. In relation to highlights and things we think the school is doing well, we spoke about how the students seem to be really happy at the school and how they all seem to support and take care of each other. We said that the school camping program is a real highlight for students as well. Other positives were that there is a strong parent community and also that students are able to present at assembly from a young age which is incredibly valuable.

In terms of things the school could focus on, we discussed the possibility of expanding the curriculum at some stage, in particular as the school regrows in the future, the feedback has been around areas such as science and performing arts.

Catherine Luong

School Councillor