School Council

Dear Parents, 

My name is Kristy Hamshare and I am proud to be part of the Beaumaris North Primary School Council in the role of Vice President for 2020.  As with everything 2020 style, my fourth year on council has proven to be extraordinary. 

In the June edition of Waves, our School Council president, Alistair Lloyd, explained how reflective practise had taken place, and feedback from students, teachers, leadership, School Council and the correspondence from parents would help shape how the school would respond should home learning be required again – and it has!

Since the government announced lockdown 2.0, many conversations, emails and a virtual meeting of School Council via WebEx have occurred to ensure we support the school to implement the reflections and learning from term 2. 

At BNPS remote learning 2.0 looks very different. It is most evident that a great deal of work continues to be done by staff and leadership to care for the wellbeing of our entire school community and do their best to ensure the students are well supported.

In speaking to many parents, albeit through masked faces, there is a resounding feeling of gratitude for the connection their teachers are making with students every day.  This is no easy task.  Managing students in a classroom can be challenging enough let alone online with students WIFI issues, pets, younger siblings etc. Also, teachers (unlike what many preppies believe) don’t live at school and like most of us are doing the difficult juggle of managing work and family. Thank you teachers, we are grateful to have you back in our children’s lives day to day.

The age old saying ‘What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger’ may appear an exaggeration in our current situation, however research does suggest that a crisis shared may have positive outcomes for a community.  For us at BNPS and the representatives on School Council in particular, the positive outcome has been that through this challenge there has been the opportunity for robust discussion and reflection on how we can use this as a catalyst for further development. 

Our biggest learning has been the importance of communication and engagement and School Council have noted this as a priority for strategic planning going forward.  We look forward to investigating further how we continue to strengthen this area as a school community.  It’s pleasing to see that several parents have expressed an interest in the co-opted roles of School Council.  It is an important time for the council as we continue to review and support the School’s achievement of their Annual Implementation Plan and School Strategic Plan. 

To finish, I would like to reiterate that as a School Council we work to support and empower our School through good governance and informed discussion, as well as provide a voice for, and representation of, our wonderful school community.  We therefore, encourage you to continue to be involved, reach out to us with your ideas and views, contact elected members to seek an understanding of the role of council and to share views and insights. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Kristy Hamshare

Vice President, BNPS School Council

📧 BNPS.School.Council@education.vic.gov.au