Your CGPS School Council – Term 2

Hello everyone, and a warm welcome from me as President of the CGPS School Council. I’m pleased to share that School Council has had a busy and productive term, with work continuing across several important areas for our school.

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Traffic and Safety

We are continuing to make progress on local traffic and pedestrian safety issues around the school. We are very grateful for the ongoing support of our local State MP, Ellen Sandell, who met with the School Council President and Vice-President earlier this term to discuss these concerns in detail.

We also recently hosted a site visit with the City of Melbourne, which provided an opportunity for Council representatives to observe firsthand the challenges at nearby intersections. We look forward to continuing this constructive engagement with both local and state government and are hopeful that these collaborative efforts will lead to meaningful improvements soon.

Subcommittee Updates

Our subcommittees continue their excellent work across key areas of school life.

The Community Engagement Subcommittee is progressing the development of a Classroom Contact List, which will provide a valuable platform to strengthen connections between families across each grade level. They are also working on additional initiatives to foster a strong and inclusive school community, including a meet-up in Carlton Gardens after school on the first Friday of Term 3. We look forward to sharing more updates soon.
The Fundraising Subcommittee is doing an outstanding job building the prize pool for our CGPS School Raffle in September. We are already seeing great generosity from our school community and local businesses. If you can assist by connecting us with potential prize donations, please reach out to Sel Karpat, Chair of our Fundraising Subcommittee. Once the prize pool is finalised, we will share further information about ticket sales, with the raffle draw to take place in September.

Annual Public Meeting

Our Annual Public Meeting, originally scheduled for Term 2, has been deferred due to staff availability and will now take place in Term 3 on 29 July. We strongly encourage all members of our school community to attend. This is an important opportunity to hear about the school’s progress over the past year and engage with the school’s key priorities. Please look out for the formal notice and further details closer to the date. We hope to see many families there!

Voluntary Contributions

At the start of the school year, families received information via Compass about voluntary contributions to the school. We would like to again highlight the importance of these voluntary contributions. While government funding provides the foundation for school operations, voluntary contributions enable the school to go further - supporting enriched learning experiences, maintaining high-quality classroom resources, and enhancing the overall educational environment.

We are conscious of the ongoing public discussion around voluntary school contributions, and the financial pressures many families may be experiencing. Recent commentary has highlighted these complexities in a thoughtful way. We would like to reiterate that all contributions requested by the school are entirely optional. At the same time, they represent our most significant source of fundraising each year and are essential in supporting the breadth of opportunities available to CGPS students.

We recognise that every family’s circumstances are different, and we are sincerely grateful to those families who contribute. This collective support makes a meaningful difference to what the school can provide for all students, and we thank our community for its ongoing generosity and commitment.

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A Note of Thanks

As Term 2 draws to a close, School Council would like to recognise Pagen and Leah for the additional responsibilities they have taken on in leading the school during Nathan’s absence. Stepping into this level of responsibility is no small task, and their professionalism and care have ensured strong continuity for students, staff and families. We are very grateful for their willingness to take on their roles and for the thoughtful and capable way in which they have done so.

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School Council remains committed to strengthening our community and supporting CGPS to continue thriving. We are grateful to all members of our community for your ongoing engagement and support.

If you have any questions or would like to share ideas, you are warmly encouraged to get in touch via the School Council President at Diane.Sivasubramaniam@education.vic.gov.au.

Kind regards,CGPS School Council

Council parent members:

Diane Sivasubramaniam (President)

Katie Roberts-Hull (Vice President)

Sel Karpat (Chair, Fundraising Subcommittee)

Kerri Nicholls (Chair, Community Engagement Subcommittee)

Elio Guarnuccio

Asel Yerdesova

Sarah Lemons (Co-opted)

Council staff members:

Nathan Gage (On secondment, replaced in Term 2 by Leah Gibson)

Pagen Williams

Tammy Pham

Helga Hornung

Musical Performances