President Update for Newsletter

It was a packed agenda for the School Council meeting on 13 August.  Pleasingly, a number of matters were resolved and the School continues to engage positively with the community in relation to sports, excursions and road safety matters. 

Council approved three material items:

Camp Risk Assessments: Council reviewed and approved the Risk Assessments for the upcoming camps for Grades 4, 5 and 6.  A lot of thought and effort goes into the safety and wellbeing of our students attending camps as part of a detailed planning process. Viewed together, the three camps across Grades 4, 5 and 6 offer a diverse and engaging program.  Our School is lucky to have this program and I thank our teachers and parent volunteers for making this happen.

Leapkids Holiday Program Contract Renewal: We are pleased to support the renewal of the Leapkids contract for a further three years.  Leapkids are a local, family run business and the School has established a positive working relationship with the team over the past year.  Their popular and diverse holiday program has been well supported by families and we are pleased to see that become a more permanent offering.

Approved the Annual Implementation Plan ('AIP') for 2025:  From a strategic planning perspective, 2025 has been a slightly unusual year, mainly due to the timing of the School Review (which is out of our control).  The School Review occured in Term 1 and the findings from that review formed the basis of the four year School Strategic Plan for 2025 to 2028 (which the school completed promptly in Term 2).  The AIP is a more detailed annual plan which was largely completed in Term 2 and now formally approved in Term 3.   Despite only completing the documentation around the AIP in Term 3, the focus and direction of teaching has been aligned to the plan throughout 2025.  

Throughout the year we receive a number of data points to assess our performance against the School's Strategic Plan. At Wednesday's meeting, Council had the opportunity to take an in depth look at the feedback from the Attitudes to School Survey (completed by Grades 4 - 6 students) which provided a number of insights into student's views of life both inside and outside of School. Overall the survey presents a positive picture of the School's influence on students and their engagement in the wider community as well as providing insights that the school can take action on.

As always, I want to thank all those who make our School community tick and particularly those who volunteer to support excursions, working bees and community activities.  

Cheers

Hamish Wood

hamish.wood@education.vic.gov.au