Dear community,

Welcome back to term two! I thought it was time to bring you up to date with a few things that have happened over the last few months. I try to avoid sending too many messages out, so that when I do, I hope it is worth reading. It’s a big one, so get a preferred beverage and let’s get into it! There’s a range of topics.

School Council

In March we asked for nominations for school council. We received exactly the right number of applications and therefore they were automatically brought onto school council. Straight after we had our first school council meeting. Below is a list of the school councillors and which subcommittee they are on. This may change as needs arise.

Our new school council is:

Tania Sorbello – Principal

Duncan Forster – Co-opted member - President

Toby Russo – Assistant Principal – Policy and Curriculum (convenor)

Mel Johnson – Parent Rep – Policy and curriculum, and Community Engagement

Sarah Easton – Teacher Rep – Policy and Curriculum

Melissa Lim – Parent Rep – BESI (Building, Environment, Sustainability and Infrastructure) (convenor)

Joe Norster – Parent Rep – BESI and Finance

Joe Dykes – Teacher Rep – BESI

Briony Wiltshire – Teacher Rep – Community Engagement (convenor)

Lynette Peters – Parent Rep – Community Engagement

Suzy Schmitz Parent Rep – Vice-President, Community Engagement

Anthony Marcus – Parent Rep – Community Engagement

Rachel Walsh – Parent Rep – Community Engagement

Craig Broadbent – Co-opted member – Finance (Treasurer)

Cass Read-Hamilton -Parent Rep – Finance

It's important to note that the subcommittees are being supported by other staff and parents. Additionally, our focus this year is around community engagement and therefore we are asking for support to run activities and events through the year. Shortly an important date calendar including those events will come out.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the new and returning councillors and thank them for their willingness to assist the school in its governance and future planning!

Additionally, and importantly, I would like to sincerely thank the last school council who battled through the covid lockdowns and kept us functioning. I’d briefly like to name them all and give them some credit:

Linda Ratcliffe who was convenor of Policy previously for many years. Linda was a member of school council for over two decades and has been a teacher for over 40 years. I cannot thank her enough for the amazing work and dedication shown to the school. I never once had to ask for her report! It was always there on time.

Lynette Peters (who was also co-vice-president) and Georgia Oakley (both of whom are still in the community engagement subcommittee) strove to get as many events and activities as possible we could do over the last two years. Their dedication and love for our community is beyond words. Both sacrificed work and study time to make sure we could do events. Thank you so much!

Fred Purcell (co-vice-president) and Sarsha Rio who worked alongside Dale and myself to battle the building process. Fred was the council member who started us on the path to focus on upgrading the classrooms rather than a gymnasium. I’m forever grateful for that prompt. Sarsha turned up through thick and thin, crazy long meetings with the VSBA and architects, making sure the right questions were asked. Thank you.

Sam Tolley and Brad Arthur, our teacher reps. Sam convened the Community Engagement team and Brad was on Policy and Curriculum and facilitates the Junior School Council (and continues to, as well as supporting the community engagement team). Thank you to you both for the amazing efforts of assistance, guidance, and coordination.

Allan Edwards. Allan was Treasurer for nearly eight years. He stayed over a year after his last child left the school, to help us until the covid stress was past. Thank you, Allan, for your dedication and care.

I’d also like to thank Cass and Craig. Craig is our caretaker Treasurer, allowing Allan to retire from his role. Cass remains on school council and as always, both are dependable and willing to help the school in many ways.

Behind the scenes, but always helping in various committees are several staff. I’d like to thank Refi, Nicole, Roberta and Jenny for supporting us. And many thanks to the parents who assist whenever asked. It makes a difference!

Annual Report

Our annual report will be held at 5.30pm on Wednesday 17th May (it lasts about 20-30minutes). More information will come out closer to the time.

Financials

Our financial position is beginning to stabilise. It has been quite a difficult task, and emotional task for the school community lasting many years. It’s important to note that we operate in a demographic area that the government considers affluent, so receive the minimum support payment. But we also operate strictly to the guidelines set out and keep our curriculum contributions as low as possible. This also means the staff don’t send out reminders about paying contributions. This does impact our budgets significantly. So, if you haven’t yet, please organise to pay or setup a payment plan for the annual contributions.

Refurbishment news

Towards the end of last term we ran a working bee than many amazing parents and staff turned up to help at. Thank you so much for that. It takes an enormous burden away when we can achieve a lot in one go!

We organised that as our build process finally reached a position of going to tender so we are close. To be honest, the last five years of this process has been incredibly frustrating and I’m grateful and excited we have got to this point! In the next few weeks, we will be able to share answers to questions that everyone wants to know (we have the same questions as you!). There have been significant delays beyond the school’s control, but also a vacuum of information from outside of the school, along with some very strict confidence instructions. We think that is coming to an end and therefore look forward to sharing more with you soon.

One thing that is apparent, the money given to the school now four state government budgets ago, won’t cover all that we were initially told that it would (cost of materials post covid etc). Our priority remains the upgrade of teaching and support spaces within block A, therefore we will concentrate on those areas first.

Community survey

It was mentioned last term about a survey coming out. We are nearly ready to distribute that. It will inform school council about uses of canteen, thoughts on school uniforms, language priorities, and other areas that we prefer to touch base with the community about. When you receive this survey, please take the time to fill is out. Each one of your opinions matter. And I mean that sincerely. I know we can’t do everything, but what you select and additional information you provide, may prompt us to rethink, reorganise or make something more efficient!

Goodbyes

On Tuesday we said goodbye to Jenny who has served our school for thirty years! Jenny is an institution in our school, working and volunteering in many areas including as secretary of school council for many years. Jenny is always there with the answer when you needed it, and a friendly smile as you entered the school. Thank you so much for your friendship and care for our community. I look forward to seeing you at the fete!

We also said goodbye to Patrick, one of our teacher aides, who has been with us for twenty years. Patrick has this calm manner that so many students react so well to. My own son loved his time with Patrick, and I wish him well on his next endeavour.

Last term we said goodbye to Jude, Fatima, and Michael. All wonderful and well-respected staff who made so many children smile and cared about helping each student achieve their potential. Thank you.

I’d also like to thank Dale for his time at the school. He came to us the day he retired, with no clear indication on the time he would be here. But his knowledge and influence has had a huge impact and I thank him for that, particularly with the school refurbishment plans and actions. Enjoy your retirement!

Mothers’ Day

Next Friday 6th May we have our Mothers’ Day event and I am excited to see you all you mum’s, carers and special people there to celebrate. Service starts at 7.30am and will finish at 8.30am. Please look out for the compass message and QKR orders (they close on Tuesday). Anyone willing to help on the day, please fill in a shift spot at this address https://tinyurl.com/FitzroyNorthmothersday22

Welcome

A big Fitzroy North Welcome to Toby Russo who has joined us as our Assistant Principal. Toby comes to us from Spensley Street Primary School and is a great addition to our team. Look for him at drop off and pickup and don’t be afraid to say hi.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to approach me, or one of the other school councillors.

I’ll see you at school!

Duncan

Yarra News and Events