P & C News
The P & C are a wonderful, approachable group of parents who work alongside the school. The P&C raise funds for facilities and equipment, are responsible for uniform choices and the meetings are a great place to hear about what's happening in the school. All our new families are warmly invited to join us.
PEAKHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS AND CITIZENS ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF MEETING
DATE: Monday 2 June 2025
MEETING OPENED: 7:08pm
ATTENDEES: Kristy Bentley, Karla W, Karen G, Nicole L, Ela N, Vianka L, Emma T
APOLOGIES: Pravina, Sarah M, Hyatt, Moussa, Kylie, Siobhan
PREVIOUS MINUTES: Accepted by the meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE: Nil.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT:
Community Feedback – Permission & Payments with School Bytes
Currently the school uses School Bytes to manage permissions and payments for incursions and excursions. When generating these in the software the school is required to enter a closing date. In selecting a closing date, the following factors are considered:
- Is the school required to provide an external provider with final numbers?
- How long will staff require organising the logistics to ensure student/teacher ratios, student health needs and impact on school programs can be planned for and communicated to all staff?
Currently School Bytes pushes an email notification when permission and/or payment is required. Staff are being asked to remind families through ClassDojo as the event or closing date approaches.
The School Administrative Manager and I are meeting later this week to review the set-up in School Bytes.
St George Performing Arts Festival Dance Auditions & Choir
Our Junior and Senior Dance Group engaged in the SPAF Auditions late Monday. Our students shone as they performed for the visiting SPAF Committee Members, gaining a performance spot on the program for Tuesday 12th August at The Pavillion, Sutherland.
Our Choir attended their first full rehearsal last week and from all reports had a highly successful day. The Choir has also been scheduled to perform on Tuesday 12th August at The Pavillion, Sutherland.
Sentral Parent Portal Calendar has been updated, and more information will be provided to families as we receive it from the organisers.
School Photos
School photos are scheduled for Wednesday 25th June. Students will be asked to wear full winter uniform. This is reflective in the Sentral Parent Portal and more information will be provided to families as we receive it from the photographers.
Multicultural Day
After the success and positive feedback from 2024, the school will be holding Multicultural Day at the end of this term. It was originally scheduled for Thursday 3rd July and required to be moved to Tuesday 1st July to accommodate other programs impacting the school timetables. More information will be shared as Mrs McLennan and Mrs Casciato finalise the organisation.
School Show
2025 is a School Show year and will be held in the last week of Term 3. The School Show committee are meeting this week to start the organisation as this is a main whole school event, held outside of school hours. More information will be shared with families once planning and organisation has been finalised.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
GENERAL BUSINESS:
Q: How reliable is School Bytes with push notifications?
A: 1 email should hit inbox. Regular reminders being sent would be a good option but Kristy is checking if that is possible on this platform when she investigates further. Some parents are missing the original notification but only getting reminders. This means that some students are missing out on things such as excursions due to time cutoffs.
Movie night update from Ela.
Committee met up to discuss ideas for movie night.
Venue – big grass area near Kindy would be ideal as it’s on a slight hill which would be good for viewing and food truck access.
Issues – Kristy suggested informed us that the neighbours complain regularly in terms of parking etc so we need to consult with them to inform them of the movie night.
Date – Around September due to weather and daylight, etc, around 6-8pm and perhaps on a Friday.
School Show is in term 3 (term 3, week 10). Friday Sept 5, 12, 19 could be better dates. Need the grounds until 11:20am for PSSA but free after that to allow trucks in for set up etc. Would a Saturday work? Cannot expect staff to attend on any given night (Fri or Sat) and it would be a P&C run event regardless. 430 students at the school (less families due to siblings). Aim for half the numbers to be conservative? Individual and package deal options for ticketing and snacks/beanbag. Use trybooking.com for the ticketing which has been used for the School Show and is easy to use. Posters too. Advertise on Dojo and School Bytes.
Ela can no longer manage the project so she is looking for a new volunteer to take over.
Need to ensure that we have the broadcasting rights to display the movie that we want to show.
P&C insta page - Is this something we should start with the P&C email? This would showcase events that are happening and promote future events. Kristy is not opposed to it but the P&C needs to vote on it. Wait until we have President and Secretary present. Emma T keen to make a logo.
The idea of moving the P&C meeting to a remote meeting once a term was raised. No opposition.
A parent has raised a concern about Minilit as they heard that the school didn’t have the funding for the program this year. Kristy confirmed that Minilit is up and running for year 1&2 students that have been identified. Maclit for 5&6. All up and running.
A question was raised about Ethics teachers and if classes had them as it was observed that last year that this was not delivered.
The Ethics teachers themselves dictate the age of the students that they wish to run the classes for. Mrs Dalton runs scripture and Ethics so more information required from her. Yrs 3-4 students have a new ethics teacher. A lot involved as a parent volunteer with the training involved. If they aren’t participating in Ethics they go to non-scripture. Need to confirm which other grades have or don’t have an Ethics teacher currently.
Public speaking – at what age do they start?
They start in Kindergarten. During term 2, students learn about persuasive writing as part of the English focus. They then present what they have done in class but for some students they are really anxious. Students are invited to participate in the public speaking competition using what they have learnt in class or they can write a new speech. This will be in term 3.
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
The next P&C meeting will be ONLINE on Monday July 28th (Term 3, Week 2)
MEETING CLOSED: 7:51pm
The 2nd Hand Uniform shop will be open on the following dates:
Tuesday, 12th August
Wednesday, 27th August
Tuesday, 23rd September