P&F News
P&F EVENTS FOR THE DIARY:
- P&F Committee and AGM
P&F Committee and AGM - Monday 2 November
P&F Committee & AGM
The P&F AGM will be held on Monday 2 November. At each AGM the P&F Committee is elected for the following year.
The P&F is an integral part of the school community, supporting many activities, initiatives or capital works your son/s participate in or benefit from throughout the year such as Boxercise, Robotics, PAPA and Sporting Clubs, Science Competitions, Snowy Mountain & Kakoda Treks, air conditioning in C Block, new seating at Oxford Falls, Canteen upgrades ... to name a few. Without the P&F, many initiatives that your son/s participate in cannot be supported or continue to run.
Being a committee member is a rewarding way for parents to be more involved in the College, meet new people, and to have a direct say in the decisions and outcomes of the P&F, representing all parents of the College and contributing to the College and the students, and conducting social activities for the parents. The team is assisted by a significant number of volunteers from within the school community who turn out at each event, thus making it a productive, social and satisfying way of being involved with Pius.
The P&F is flexible and allows for great interaction with other parents. The time involved includes one meeting every term and a handful of social events over the course of the year. You can volunteer in any capacity that suits your busy lives.
Below are the positions within the Committee and an outline from the current members on what is involved, to provide an understanding of what is entailed. We are all about succession planning, so new members who may be tentative to jump straight in ... can shadow or share a position to learn the ropes. We had 2 x Social Co-ordinators & 2 x Communications Co-ordinators this year, which has worked very well. If you are interested in joining the committee or would like to ask more questions regarding a particular role, please do not hesitate to contact any of the committee members below.
Executive Committee positions for 2021
President
Braelen Zwart ... retiring as President at the end of 2020
Contact: braelen.zwart@petbarn.com.au or 0422 332 987
I have been part of the P&F for 8 years, joining as shadow Social Co-ordinator for a year, then as Social Co-ordinator for the next 4 years, finally as President for the last 3 years.
I joined the P&F, as working full time, it enabled me to get involved and contribute around work/travel/home commitments. The P&F has never been onerous, only a few nights over the course of the year.
The P&F has been a fantastic platform to meet other parents, provide feedback & from the beginning enjoy the Pius community spirit & love of socialising. Our events have grown over the years, with the focus being on catching up or meeting new parents, having fun & helping raise funds.
The President chairs P&F meetings & Executive Committee meetings; is the P&F representative that welcomes & networks with the community at social events such as Orientation Days, Welcome Mass & Trivia Night; works with the Principal, Business Manager & Treasurer on funding initiatives & approves expenditure; liases with Pius Clubs regarding funding or club initiatives requiring community assistance; tables community feedback / concerns / questions & any outside community proposals requiring Committee or school feedback; manages & signs off on all P&F official communications; co-ordinates the P&F Calendar with the school calendar.
I have been supported by a very engaged and enthusiastic committee, from across many Year groups. The President is only as good as those around them & I have had an amazing support crew who have been brilliant to work with & lots of fun!
Vice President
Angelo Guerrera
The duties of this position are to fill in for the President in the event the he/she is unavailable. Responsibilities largely involve chairing P&F meetings in the President's absence and to participate in P&F Committee discussions and activities.
Secretary
Sarah Gillard
sarahgilmour@hotmail.com or 0432 240 073
The P&F Secretary (in my opinion) is one of the best roles in the P&F and it must be because I’ve been doing it for 5 years! The secretary attends each of the meetings to take minutes and then upload onto our portal for governance reasons. And that’s it! You’re part of the team and get included in all the decision making processes but really its just taking minutes 4 times a year and having fun with the team with our social activities that we do. I love the role and would be happy to share with someone if you would like to be involved. This is a great P&F team working with a great school and this is one of the best roles 😊
Assistant Secretary
Vacant
Treasurer
Thomas Lau
tkflau@yahoo.com or 0403 682 120
The P&F Treasurer role is a great way to become informed of (and influence) the school’s and various clubs’ expenditure priorities.
The Treasurer has a strategic role to work with the P&F President and Principal to determine the allocation of P&F funds to benefit the widest cross-section of students while also maintaining adequate reserves for potential future expenditures.
From an administrative perspective, the Treasurer, along with the President, approves all P&F expenditures and maintains a reconciliation of the P&F account balance.
The time requirement is not high - present a brief finance summary at each P&F meeting every term plus attend maybe two to three other smaller informal meetings. There are only a few expenditure approvals each month (provided via email) and the accounts reconciliation takes around 2-3 hours per term.
The role does not require any IT or accounting knowledge, however, a basic knowledge of Microsoft excel is useful to update the account reconciliation spreadsheet.
Social Co-ordinator(s)
Louise Johnston & Rossana Bennett
cljohnston@optusnet.com.au or 0413 137 534
Social co-ordinators are our in-house Event Managers. For each P&F Event it involves project managing the established “run sheet” including booking of caterers, coffee vans, school bands/ensembles etc; rallying & co-ordinating volunteers for each event; co-ordinating with Club Representatives for Trivia Night with donations for Silent Auctions & the Trivia run sheet; co-ordinating with the school office & maintenance crews in terms of set-up.
We negotiate most out-sourced requirements such as coffee vans, in advance for the year ahead, to remove chasing of quotes. We have established caterers & businesses that have supported the school for many years, so it is usually an annual phone call before each event to get the ball rolling.
It is a lot of fun & you meet many new parents.
Communications Co-ordinator(s)
Renee Sullivan (Woodchatta) & Julie Charlton (Try Booking)
Renee.sullivan@bigpond or 0410 600 633
Renee ... My role is to co-ordinate & update the P&F weekly section for Woodchatta & the P&F APP notifications. I collate information & updates from the P&F Committee & Class Representatives for upcoming events/reminders. Woodchatta entries are emailed each Tuesday to Hilary in the office. I also create & co-ordinate with Julie on the Virtual Invitations sent out for all P&F Events.
Julie ... My role is to create & manage the Try-Booking links & accounts for all P&F Events. I also co-ordinate with the Committee with the Gala Bid system used for the Trivia Night.
Class Parent Co-ordinator
Cassie Buono
cassiebuono@gmail.com or 0411 176 049
The St Pius P&F Class Parent Co-ordinator involves rallying parents to become social representatives for their year group and collating and sending out class lists, plus forwarding P&F related requests for volunteers during the year to the class parents to distribute. A great remote role as it is mainly done via emails. The exceptions to this are organising two informal welcome morning teas at the beginning of the year for Year 5 parents and then for Year 6 and 7 parents, plus a class-parent welcome meeting during Term 1. A great way to meet lots of parents throughout the school.
NSW Parents Council Representative
Vacant
How is the Committee elected at the AGM?
The P&F Constitution requires all positions to be vacated each year, and any member may be nominated for a position, including someone who has previously held the role. The process is:
- A person is nominated
- A seconder is called for
- Once all nominations for a position are in and seconded, it is put to a vote on the voices
- A poll may be taken if requested by a member
We ask that as you consider your ability to assist in creating a great environment for your son/s and the whole St Pius X College community. The P&F can be reached via email at president@pandf.spx.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.
We look forward to seeing you again or meeting new faces at the AGM.
Support your boys by supporting the P&F
Mrs Renee Sullivan - Communications Co-ordinator P&F