School Council Report

The school council met again on Tuesday evening. I’ll start by thanking Claire and Jess for once again sustaining the meeting with chocolate and biscuits. Also a big thank you to Luke, who brought along a lovely cake in recognition this was the final school council meeting Ross will attend as the Newlands Primary School Principal. We also acknowledged that Jess was at her final council meeting before taking maternity leave. On behalf of the school council, I wish Jess nothing but good fortune and sleep as she embarks on her next great adventure, and thank her for all the fantastic work she does for the council and the wider school community

As usual we started with our regular reports, led by the Principal’s Report. Ross informed us that he is preparing a handover report outlining the strategic direction the school should take in coming years, particularly with respect to buildings and grounds. He also outlined the process the Department will take in appointing a new principal. 

Upgrades to existing buildings was a focus in the Buildings & Grounds report. It was noted that Victorian School Building Authority will not be providing any funding for further development of the C-Block building. There was some about a school council led community campaign in the run-up to the next state election to secure resources for that area of the school. 

While discussing the Outside School Hours Care report it was noted that Luke and Jill had been in communication with Team Kids about making improvements to the school holiday program. We also considered potential demand for the after and before care program in 2024, which led to a tangential conversation about what age parents and carers feel comfortable letting their children walk home alone. Unsurprisingly, the consensus was ‘it depends’.

PFA reported that lots of work is now happening behind the scenes to get the fete organised for later in the year. Work is also being done to get another comedy night up and running next term. We also discussed the Colour Run event happening next week. It was acknowledged that some within the school community didn’t really understand what it was all about, and that there were some concerns about some elements of the fundraising. See Claire’s update in this newsletter for a comprehensive guide to the whole thing. 

Education, Wellbeing & Policy reported on upgrades to the school’s website. Early impressions are that it is greatly improved, and we recommend everyone take a look. 

 Focus then shifted to the new playground that is going to be installed behind the gym. We assessed several new designs and came to a unanimous agreement on which was the preferred option. Students were also polled on their preferred option, and the council’s pick was in line with the overwhelming majority. There is one final option school council would like to consider but a decision on this front will be made soon.

There was a brief discussion regarding the initial NAPLAN data, however until more detailed information comes through it is difficult to draw too many conclusions. Despite that, the early numbers show some really solid growth in literacy, which was great to see.

It was also noted that the Coburg Basketball Association has approached the school about a hire agreement when the new gym is completed. Several other community associations may also be interested in hiring the facility after hours and on weekends so there are still more conversations to have, but you can expect an announcement about that soon.

Ross closed out the meeting with a brief reflection on his time at Newlands Primary School. He recalled an early conversation he had with a prospective parent, who said they ‘just wanted their kids to be able to go the local primary school.’ This was at a time when enrollments at Newlands were well below 100 students and there was a real risk it might be shut down. That parent, and others like them, decided to take a punt on Newlands and along with Ross and his staff helped to build a school community and culture. I think it’s safe to say that our kids now have a great local primary school to go to, in no small part to all the work Ross has done and he can be incredibly proud of that.

Thanks, 

Adam Palmer 

School Council President