School Council 

School Council Newsletter Report 

On Thursday 30 March, following a busy and fun Community Picnic, the first meeting with our newly elected Councillors was held.  We welcomed Katrina Volkerts who is back for another 2 years as well as Linda Scullin, our new Department member and Mel Egan, our new parent member.  We hope they enjoyed their first meeting as we dived head first into a long night of policies and budgets.

There are a number of roles and responsibilities assigned to the School Council (including the endorsement of the Annual Report) and as such, rules that govern how it operates. School Council membership must consist of five elected parent members, three elected Department members and one community member, with Department employees being the minority at all meetings.  The President of the School Council cannot be a Department                                                                 employee and the Executive Officer is the Principal.

The President presides over the School Council meeting, so our first order of business was the election of office bearers.  I am happy to be continuing on with the role of President for another year, with Katrina as Vice President. David Sivaraj will remain the Convenor of the Finance Committee and Grace Alfon the Minute Secretary.

Mrs Seneviratne presented the 2022 Annual Report to the School Council, highlighting key areas of performance, achievement, engagement and wellbeing.  In this report, the performance of students at WVPS is compared to schools with similar demographics, statewide performance as well as previous WVPS data. Engagement is quantified through student absence, wellbeing is measured through the Attitudes to School Survey.  These and other tools help define and prioritise our goals, targets and the strategies needed to achieve them. A lot of work has gone into this document and we have great expectations for the year ahead.

Following the formalities, we moved on to review incoming correspondence and the Principal’s Report.  Staff professional learning continues to be a priority. Student assessments were many and varied during term one, including Naplan for the 3’s and 5’s and Phonics & Reading for our grade 1’s.  And school enrollments are on a slow decline as Lollypop Creek PS starts to grow.

I am very pleased to advise that the School Council, in the review and approval of the WVPS Student Dress Code, has agreed to the addition of black socks, without decoration, brand name or logo to our uniform.  Finally, the best part, we reviewed and endorsed quite a few incursions, excursions and the Grade 4 Camp to Lady Northcote.  Term 2 looks like it is going to be lots of fun.

Our next meeting is Thursday 18 May 2023, via Webex.  All are welcome to observe. 

Sharon Gatt – School Council President