School Council Update

As the first half of the year wraps up and the chill in the air at drop-off sets in, there is still a lot happening across the various subcommittees of Council.

We have again raised the issue of potentially reducing the speed limit around the Canterbury Road crossing with both local and state government officials, this time receiving some supportive and proactive correspondence from our Port Phillip Councillors. While we are yet to see the real outcomes from these conversation, things are looking more positive in our efforts to address the safety issues of speed, heavy trucks and drivers not obeying the lights, especially around drop-off and pick-up times.

We have also raised with Parks Victoria the issue of dogs being off-lead on the oval, and the increase in poo on the footpaths and grounds around the school. A new sign has been positioned near one of the fallen tree benches to remind owners to keep their dogs on the lead, and the Herald-Sun ran a photo of a SKiPPS family outside the gates to illustrate what is becoming a widespread issue with a number of schools in Melbourne. We are hopeful that one or more bins will be installed soon so that teachers can less time scraping poo off kids’ schools after play times. 

Our Education and Policy subcommittee is working through the list of policies to be updated, most recently looking at the Complaints Policy. There has also been lots of discussion about the lessons learned from the most recent edition of home learning, and what could still be done to refine and improve things in the event that we need to do it all again. 

Our Fundraising subcommittee is organising a return (touch wood) to in-person trivia, with our annual Gala Event locked in for Saturday 4 September. The theme will be ‘Intergalactic’, so book the babysitter and start planning your costume!

Our Finance Committee is jumping through all the necessary hoops to set up Library and Building Funds, to which parents will soon be able to make tax-deductable donations to the school. Further details on this will be announced as soon as all the processes are in place.

A subcommittee has been convened to review the out-of-school-hours providers both for before and after school and for the school holidays. Our contracts with TheirCare and Team Kids come to an end within the next six months, so we’ll be gathering evidence and looking closely at our options for 2022.

As always, if you are interested in becoming more involved in the life of the school, many hands make light work and you are very welcome to come along and join a subcommittee or attend a Council meeting.

Wishing you all a safe and happy winter break. 

Elisa Webb, SKiPPS Council President