School Council Report

December School Council Meeting

School Council held our final meeting for 2025 at the start of December. The final meeting is always tight affair, with lots to wrap up for the current year and plenty to prepare for the coming year. Some of the big topics for the coming year were around School Council self-assessment and training, our school budget and approach to voluntary contributions, and the exciting grounds developments kicking off!

School Council Self-Assessment

Each year, in line with the Department of Education framework,  the council assesses its performance against a number of criteria. Whilst we as a council are always looking to improve, the assessment reflected a really mature, and engaged council, with a breadth of valuable capabilities. We would however value an increased level of participation across some of the working groups. So if you’re interested, please reach out to Paul or Nicole!

School Budget & Voluntary Contributions

The draft budget was presented to school council for discussion. What became increasingly clear was how heavily reliant a lot of our expenses are on the local fund raising and parents’ voluntary contributions. It was with this in mind that we then reviewed and approved the voluntary parent contributions, detail of these can be found in Compass. These are always challenging discussions, and if you’d like to understand more, the best way is to get involved by joining the council or one of its sub-groups!

Building & Grounds

Next year is set to be a big one with the yard redevelopment kicking off in earnest. The council spent some time understanding the current project costs and funding sources to make sure we can get the biggest bang for buck. It’s an exciting project to be a part of, and as it ramps up, the Building and Grounds committee could do with a few more members to help us deliver the best outcomes for our kids.

There were lots of other topics discussed including social events calendar, updated policies and increasing concerns around traffic and crossing on Wingrove Street.

Finally, I just wanted to thank the School Council members (particularly the teachers!) for staying late, rolling up their sleeves and investing their time and effort on the council.  There’s an awful lot of unseen work they all do, and we couldn’t be where we are without them!

~ Huon Morton, School Council Treasurer