School Council Report

School Council met on 16 May and commenced the meeting with a discussion of the School Council Standing Orders and the nine Fairfield Primary School Council Objectives. We review these two documents annually to remind members of the rules governing School Council, and to provide member input into the objectives that guide the work of the Council.

2022 School Review

We also discussed the upcoming 2022 FPS review. All schools are reviewed every four years, and this involves assessment by an external team consisting of education consultants and principals from other primary schools. The Review will delve deeply into how we think that the school is performing, and to this end, surveys, meetings, and focus group discussions will be held with FPS staff, students, selected groups of parents and our president. School Council parent members also provide input regarding the successes and challenges experienced by FPS over the past four years, how we would see FPS in the next four years, and why we personally chose FPS for our kids. This last question produced a lot of lively discussion!

Committee Meetings

There were four new policies to approve from the Policy Committee this month including Attendance, Mobile Phone Policy, Diversity and Inclusion, and the Statement of Values and School Philosophy Policy.
The Buildings and Grounds Committee presented the planning for new shading over the deck near the Foundation classrooms, and a proposal for the installation of water tanks that will utilise rain-water for the toilet block.

Celebrating Community Events

Finally, School Council celebrated the opportunity for FPS to plan and participate in some really great community events since the start of 2022. The Welcome Picnic was a successful event that was enjoyed by all who attended. The Mothers’ Day/Special Person breakfast was enjoyed by mums and kids and School Council recognised the dads who kept the egg and bacon rolls turning over. School Council also discussed the responsible use of alcohol at school events and the need to provide reminders about not using bikes/scooters during any events on the school grounds.

We discussed final plans for the Trivia Night. At the time of writing this, Trivia Night was enjoyed by more than 225 people and as always our resident band, Double Denim did us proud with fantastic music for dancing. Plans are currently underway for both Art4All and the Father’s Day/Special Person breakfast, so stay turned to hear more about these events in the coming weeks.

Meeting Minutes

Reminder to parents too that if you want to read the minutes from School Council meetings, they are available on the FPS website.

~ Louise Currie, School Council Treasurer and Parent Representative