Information for parents of children seeking election to school council

**Nominations are now open and close at 4.00pm on Friday 28th February 2025.

The appointment of our next School Council is upon us again with our AGM scheduled for Thursday 27th March 2025 at 5:00pm. We have several retiring schoul council members and I wish to thank all council members for contributing to Rochester Secondary College.

There are four parent positions, two DET employee member and two student positions open for nomination. The terms of office for each membership category open for election are as follows:

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY	TERM OF OFFICE	NUMBER OF POSITIONS
Parent member	From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2025 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2027.	4
DET employee member	From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2025 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2027.	2
Student member	From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2025 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2026.	2

Nomination forms can be obtained from the School Office or via email to rochester.sc@education.vic.gov.au

Nominations close at 4:00pm on Friday 28th of February 2025.

Following the closing of nominations, a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school. If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted in a prominent position at the school.

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. School councils are legal entities that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with Ministerial Order 1280 Constitution of Government School Councils and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

For all schools with a student cohort of Year 7 and above, there are several possible categories of school council membership:

a mandated elected parent member category –members of this category generally comprise more than one third of the council’s total membership. Parents and guardians of children attending the school are eligible for membership in this category.
a mandated elected school employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically a member of this category.
a mandated elected student member category (two positions) – members of this category are enrolled at the school and in Year 7 or above.
an optional community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or expertise. Department employees are not eligible to be a community member

How long is the term of office?

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might seriously consider:

• standing for election as a member of the school council

• encouraging another person to stand for election.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

No. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

This message is a call for nominations. All school council elections must be completed by the end of March. If you decide to stand, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent category.

Department of Education employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not employed are eligible to nominate as parents for the school council where their child is enrolled.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the principal (via the School Office) or to rochester.sc@education.vic.gov.au by 4:00pm, Friday 28th of February 2025. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via email following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on the council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

I encourage all members of the college community to consider this as a way to contribute to the life and future direction of the college. If you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do, require further information or have have questions please contact me.

Matt Koutroubas

Principal

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