Your CGPS School Council

Hello everyone, and a warm welcome from me as President of the CGPS School Council.

First, thank you to everyone for your participation in the recent School Council elections. This is an important process, as it determines who will play key roles in setting the vision and direction of our school. The new School Council for 2026 met for the first time on 18 March, and we are very excited about the year ahead.

I am delighted to welcome our returning School Council members (Katie Hull-Roberts and Aciel Yerdesova) and our new School Council members:

Helga Hornung, Staff Member
Kerri Nicholls, Parent Member

We are grateful for your willingness to be involved and look forward to working together.

I would also like to sincerely thank our outgoing School Council members for their time, commitment, and service to our school. Your contributions have been greatly valued.

As a reminder, the CGPS School Council will continue to provide regular updates once per term, so our community can stay informed about our work and opportunities for involvement.

Voluntary School Contributions

At the start of the school year, families received information via Compass about voluntary contributions to the school. We would like to briefly revisit this important topic.

We recognise - and are very mindful of - the broader conversation about voluntary school contributions and the pressures facing families. This recent article explores these issues thoughtfully. We want to emphasise that the contributions we request from you are entirely voluntary. At the same time, voluntary contributions are the school’s most significant fundraising activity for the year and they play a crucial role in providing meaningful opportunities for CGPS students.

While the funding provided to us by the State Government covers the costs of meeting the standard curriculum, it does not cover the costs of our extension programs, specialist subjects, and other enrichment activities that set us apart as a school. We depend on your voluntary parent contributions to supplement State Government funding so that our school can provide children with opportunities above and beyond the Victorian standard. Voluntary parent contributions are crucial to our ability to offer individualised programs (such as extension and support programs), specialist curricula (such as STEM, art, music, and Chinese), and to purchase additional equipment and classroom resources to support these programs.

For families who are able and willing to contribute, we strongly encourage you to do so - and, if you are in a position to contribute above the minimum amount, this generosity helps cover shortfalls for others and enables CGPS to continue to provide the resources that make this a supportive and special place for our students.

Upcoming Public Meeting – School Annual Report

Please keep an eye out for further notice about a public meeting of School Council on Wednesday 6 May, where CGPS leadership will present the School’s Annual Report.

This meeting will be an opportunity for members of our school community to hear about the school’s performance, ask questions about the report, and engage in discussion. We warmly welcome participation from our parent community and hope many of you will be able to attend.

Subcommittee Updates

A big thank you to the Community Engagement Subcommittee and Fundraising Subcommittee for their continued excellent work and energy. Both groups are actively progressing their plans for 2026, and you’ll hear more very soon about upcoming activities and initiatives. We are delighted to have Sel Karpat return to her role as Chair of the Fundraising Subcommittee in 2026. We are also excited to have Kerri Nicholls take on the role of Chair of the Community Engagement Subcommittee.

We would like to express our appreciation to Sarah Lemons, a dedicated School Council member who led the Community Engagement Subcommittee in 2025. Although Sarah decided not to run for School Council in 2026, she has generously agreed to stay on as a co-opted member for another year. This will allow her to continue supporting our work - especially the work of the Community Engagement Subcommittee, as Kerri takes over as Chair.

If you have ideas, please feel free to reach out to Sel or Kerri. The subcommittees always welcome community input and enthusiasm.

School Council is working hard in 2026 to strengthen our community and to support CGPS to be the best it can be. Thank you to all members of our community for your time, attention, and ongoing support.

If you have any questions or ideas, you’re very welcome to get in touch via the School Council President at Diane.Sivasubramaniam@education.vic.gov.au

Kind regards,CGPS School Council

Council parent members:

Diane Sivasubramaniam (President)

Katie Roberts-Hull (Vice President)

Sel Karpat (Chair, Fundraising Subcommittee)

Kerri Nicholls (Chair, Community Engagement Subcommittee)

Elio Guarnuccio

Asel Yerdesova

Sarah Lemons (Co-opted)

Council staff members:

Nathan Gage

Pagen Williams (Secretary)

Tammy Pham

Helga Hornung

Carlton Gardens Primary School

Curiosity, Inclusivity, Resilience, Respect

Issue 3 · 01 Apr 2026

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