Parents' Association

Spotlight on – The Parents' Association

The Parents Association AGM for 2025 was held last night, followed by a PA meeting.

AGM

Executive Committee

The positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer were vacated.  Nominations were received, accepted by the nominee and nominations were accepted unopposed. 

The Executive Committee to serve till November 2026:  

President - Priscilla H (2nd term), 

Secretary - Caitlin  (2nd term) and 

Treasurer - Pei-Jun  (inaugural term).  

The outgoing treasurer Bruce chose not to stand for re-election. 

Members

Of the twelve PA members this year, nine renewed their membership. We are pleased that we have two new PA members joining us for 2026.

PA meeting

It was a productive and bustling meeting as the PA diarised annual events, proposed events !  Details of these events will be published in due course.

Following is the President's Report/AGM 2025 written by myself - Priscilla.  You may find this fascinating reading or this may be the cure for insomnia you have been looking for.

President’s Report

Priscilla Hetherton AGM 2026

Wednesday 19 November 

Thank you everyone for attending the second AGM since the reforming of the Parents Association in November last year after it became inactive during the COVID years.

Welcome to those attending a PA meeting for the first time.

AGM 2024

We had twelve registered members sign up at the 2024 AGM.  From those members was the appointment of the Executive Committee and two other roles.

President – Priscilla Hetherton, Vice-President – Caitlin Cameron, Treasurer – Bruce Rohde and Secretary – Erin Simkin.

The roles of School Council Representative and Parents Victoria Representative were filled by Bao Nguyen and Poonam Oberoi respectively.  Erin resigned as Secretary in March with Caitlin Cameron filling that role.  Poonam stepped down from her role in April. That role has not been filled.

Membership

Although we have promoted the PA through flyers, newsletters and word of mouth and our meetings can be attended both in person and online,  our membership has stayed at the twelve that signed up at the 2024 AGM.  Non members, though invited via multi channel advertising, have not attended any of our meetings. Nevertheless our meetings have a high attendance rate of our PA members all of whom contribute to ideas and decisions etc to support our school.

Events

Despite the relatively small PA membership, the active members of the PA have created seven new events this calendar year and co-ordinated five annual/bi-annual school events that were once co-ordinated by staff. Non PA members supported these events through volunteering which contributed to the events smooth running.

Key Achievements:

Fundraising goals:

The PA set a $20,000 fundraising goal this year. As mentioned before, we are a small team yet we were able to raise $16 005, a wonderful effort.

Big ticket items: 

A vote was taken at a PA meeting for our fundraising funds to buy three shop fronts -  “Mullum Village” and a Gagaball Pit.  The school children then voted on the shop fronts they wanted with the Fire Station, Ice Cream Shop and unnamed shop front being in the top three.  Over the course of the year interest by the children and teachers for a Gagaball Pit grew with funds being allocated for this also.  The School Council and a sub-committee will be organising these great new additions to the playground.

Small ticket item:

The PA purchased a sprinkling system to be put in at the School Garden which has now been installed.

Community Initiative 

Community Pantry and All School Breakfast

This year saw the implementation of the Community Pantry and All School Breakfast provided by Foodbank and organised by PA member Emily.  The All School Breakfasts, held at the last day of each term have been very popular with a large turn out.  The Community Pantry has a wide variety of pantry and fresh food for students and parents to choose from.  This initiative is important and serves to assist subsiding our Mullum families home pantry and providing breakfast for any student.

Fostering Connections

F.r.o.G’s

The feedback after the working bee, primarily those working on F.r.o.G’s (run by PA member Ariane) commented that a great community feel was fostered through working and then lunching together.  F.r.o.G’s has brought together the keen gardeners of our school and welcomes little hands to help too.

Communities of Mullum

I wanted to start small events that were aimed at centering the event on a community within our school. On Wednesday 19 November, a Persian Brunch was held with positive feedback that it was lovely to try cuisine of another culture and if another event could be held next year.

Thank you and Acknowledgements

Thank you to the members of the Parents' Association for the work you have done to support the school and to also create events for the children, the parents and to fundraise.  

A thank you to Katrina and Kelli in the office, with all the new events and initiatives that have been created this year comes more admin work and fielding queries.  We are grateful for the work they do and for the support shown for our ideas.

Going forward

With the current communication via WhatsApp groups working well, next year implementing a parent rep for each school class (or year level) to disseminate news etc would enhance school community involvement and the feeling of being in the loop. From those communications, interest in joining the association may increase as parents come to know that their contribution to the PA will be valued.  My suggestion would be to keep an “Opt In” view to volunteering so that parents do not feel pressured.

In conclusion

The Parents' Association has kept a steady and vibrant pace with members being active in either creating and organising events or supporting the event by volunteering.  With all events run this year being successful in either their financial, social or community goals, the new PA should be encouraged that the successfully run events and valued support given to the school has been a most positive outcome for all their hard work.