Principal's 

Message

Dear Parents, carers, and staff,

Welcome to this week’s newsletter.

NEW STAFFING AGREEMENT – KIDS AT HEART

I would like to draw your attention to a new Victorian Government Schools Agreement that is under consideration for approval by all government teachers and education support staff. In theory, I absolutely support the reduction of ‘wage theft’ within our industry and agree teachers should be paid for the work they do beyond a 38-hour week. Teachers are currently given 4 weeks per year to cover this work imbalance but even then, that falls well short of the true value. Currently teachers work an average of just over 50 hours per week, excluding school directed events. However, the new agreement states all work deemed necessary by schools must be paid for in either money or Time in Lieu (TIL).

Simply, the impact will mean schools will not have the financial resources to pay for these additional hours of work. Examples where staff currently make themselves available outside of work hours as part of mandatory attendance include camps, performance nights, parent/teacher interviews, information nights, open nights, breakfasts, dinners, weekend activities, graduation ceremonies, community events, and others not listed here. Simply, nearly all functions mentioned above would be required to be performed during official school hours.

Most children when reflecting on their school days look back with fondness to their camping experiences. We will be doing a disservice to our children if these opportunities are withdrawn due to a lack of funding and personnel. 

The Age newspaper has an interesting article on this issue, and you can read it via this link https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/warning-teachers-win-on-time-in-lieu-will-endanger-school-camps-20220224-p59z7v.html#comments

2021 SCHOOL COUNCIL AGM ‘REPORTING TO PARENTS’ EVENING - WEDNESDAY MARCH 30 AT 6:00 PM

The 2021 School Council Reporting to Parents report and the School Annual Report is presented to the school community at our ‘Reporting to Parents Evening’ held on Wednesday 30 March at 6:00PM.  All parents are cordially invited to attend this face-to-face meeting.  We will also be live streaming this meeting via Google Meet. 

Please RSVP via this link if you are attending in person. The 2021 Annual Report will be available on Compass and on our school website.

SCHOOL COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEES

School Council is supported by the subcommittees, if you would like to become involved, please contact the school.

• Finance (meets Thursday at 8:00AM)
• Strategic Planning & Engagement (meets Tuesday at 6:30PM)
• Environment & Facilities (meets Monday at 6:00PM)
• Student Wellbeing (meets Monday at 6:00PM)