A note from our School Council
Hi SKiPPS families,
At last week’s School Council meeting, we welcomed our new council members, Sara Strell, Laura Mullan, Tinne Holst, Kanchan Mahli and Kara Barbuto. New office bearers were elected for the year ahead, and we’re very pleased to introduce ourselves to you and to pass on some highlights from our first meeting for the year as your 2025 School Council.
Elisa Webb (and Orlo)
Elisa Webb (and Orlo)
My name is Elisa Webb, and I am the School Council President. My child, Orlo, is in 4B, and my son Coen went all the way through SKiPPS and is now in year 9 at Elwood College. I am also the Publisher at ACER Press, which is a division of the Australian Council for Educational Research, and have a deep interest in the way that research and evidence translates into everyday practice in schools. This is my fifth year on council.
Hannah Liddeaux
Hannah Liddeaux
Hello, my name is Hannah Liddeaux and I’m School Council Vice President. I've been a parent at the school for almost eight years and this is my fourth year on the school council. My partner Lani and I have three children currently at the school, Dash (4P), and twins Alfie and Otis (1P). Jude our eldest, is currently in year 7 at APC. I’m a freelance theatre director and I teach theatre making at The VCA at the University of Melbourne.
Hi, I’m Laura Mullan and I’ll be the School Council Treasurer this year. A fairly recent addition to the school I have Rupert (1P) and his little brother, Joss, who is very excited to start at SKiPPS next year. My background is in finance and I work with early stage start-ups - which means I spend a lot of time thinking about spreadsheets, making numbers behave and stretching budgets as far as they can go. We’ve loved our experience so far and the SKiPPS community has been such a huge part of that so I’d encourage any parents thinking about getting involved in SKiPPA or school council subcommittees to go for it this year!
At the beginning of the meeting on 19 March, Neil presented the Annual Report to the Community, which was a wonderful celebration of the highlights and some challenges from 2024. A copy of this report is available on the school’s website.
After the election of the office bearers, we got straight into the business of every school council meeting, and heard updates from the first sessions of the year held by the Finance, Fundraising, Education and Policy, Buildings and Grounds and SKiPPA subcommittees.
As part of these conversations, we approved the January and February finance reports and touched on upcoming events like the Disco and the Trivia Night. The anaphylaxis and health care needs policies were discussed and we decided to get in touch with our local MP, Nina Taylor, to seek assistance in hastening the end of the building works being carried out by the VSBA. We talked about the initial ground work being done to gather community input as part of the development of a masterplan for the school buildings and grounds, and we heard about SKiPPA’s generous support for upgrading the furniture in the year 3 classrooms.
As part of General Business, we heard from Neil about the school’s Annual Implementation Plan, which sets out the ambitious but achievable goals for improving teaching and learning across the school during 2025.
We then discussed the structure and membership of the various subcommittees and how we can work to make these meetings accessible for as many families as possible. Details of meeting times are being finalised, and will be publicised in future newsletters. Parents and carers are warmly invited to join these subcommittees and contribute their skills and passions to the many ways these teams work to improve the school.
We have a big year ahead, and we look forward to representing all SKiPPS students and families. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 7 May at 6.30 in the staff room. Please feel free to approach any of us in the yard before or after school. We are always up for a chat and would love to hear any ideas, thoughts or musings you would like to share so we continue to remain relevant in the governance of our unique and vibrant school. As always, we’d love to have as many parents as possible at our subcommittee meetings. The times of these meetings are in the newsletter, and all you need to do is turn up!
Elisa, Hannah and Laura