From the School Board

Welcome back

Welcome back to the 2024 school year. It has been great to see our families settling back into the routines of school, and for us to be welcoming many new families to our school community. We welcome Rebecca Burgers and Jeffrey Newman to our school board this year, and thank them for their generosity in volunteering their time to support our school in this way. Rebecca and Jeff join myself, Susan Kent, Krystle Poole, Linden Huxtable and Kerri-Lee Willshire on the School Board, along with Mr Wallace and our new pastor once the successful call process takes place. 

The Board have been busy with strategic planning and it was a pleasure for us to approve the final version of our new strategic plan for the next five years, which was launched at the end of 2023. This plan will see the quality of our learning, wellbeing, community and facilities all continue to grow and flourish, whilst keeping our key distinctives and Lutheran foundation at our core. The Board have also been continuing to work with our 10 year financial plan, and continue to adjust that in a timely way, as well as monitoring policies and risk, as well as planning for future initiatives, which include a proposed Early Learning Centre. 

It is often helpful to provide as much information as we can about the workings of the board, as well as some insight into the 'governance' role that the Board has. Lutheran Education recently provided all schools with some helpful information in this area, which is reproduced below for our school families. 

The Distinction of Governance and Operations 

Lutheran theology is sometimes seen as a theology of distinctives, at least in some key areas. We note the distinctives of Law and Gospel; Sin and Grace; Saint and Sinner; and Left and Right Hand Kingdoms. In each of these pairings it is critical to note the differences and the relationship between the two in order to both avoid confusion and highlight the efficacy of each. Often these differences are poles apart, for example Saint and Sinner, yet the ‘saint’ and the ‘sinner’ are simultaneously one and the same person – a single functioning unit. 

Schools, too, operate as a single functioning unit but there are differing roles to be played by different people in order for smooth interactions and productive learning outcomes to occur. In terms of the school board, our school board members have a critical role to play and we do well to identify the distinctives of governance and operations as we contribute to the overall effective, sustainable and smooth functioning of the school. 

Put simply the board is charged with the governance of the school while the principal is charged with the operations (management) of the school. And, like good theology we need to acknowledge and separate these two distinctives. There are many ways to understand the difference and therefore the role of both governance and operations but I like to use the following ‘school building’ metaphor. 

Governance involves building and maintaining the foundations of the school (mission, ministry and core values), the walls of the school (policy framework, strategic direction and parameters) as well as ensuring the roof of compliance, regulations and legislation is in place and ‘watertight’. 

Tammie Switala

School Board Chair