School Advisory Council

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL:

Our School Advisory Council met on Tuesday 10th September and discussed the following topics:

School Fees for 2025 and the 5 year plan: Our school fees for 2025 and into the future will be  based on MACS requirements around aligning our fees with our Capacity to Contribute score, which is taken from the de-identified family income data from the ATO. Our fees and levies will rise by approximately 8% in total for 2025 in order that we close the gap between what we are currently charging and what MACS require us to charge our families based on the capacity to contribute data. For those schools who were charging less than required by MACS - we were given 5 years to align our school fee rates with the required rates. Each year our schools are funded by both federal and government grants, minus the amount our families are required to pay, as determined by our capacity to contribute score. In the past we have charged under this amount and with prudent budgeting we have managed to run a financially healthy school. However with costs rising and MACS levies rising we have been directed to ensure our school fees align with required rates.

Cybersafety: We discussed initiatives at St Mark’s are undertaking now and moving into 2025 to ensure the safety of our students online, including work with the Federal Police “ThinkUKnow” Program, Dolly’s Dream Program and our own Chromebook induction program.

Child Safety Standard 8 - Child Safety knowledge, skills and awareness We discussed the processes undertaken at St Mark’s to ensure compliance with Child Safety Standard 8.