School Council President

Dear Aberfeldie Primary School Community,

As I am writing this, winter has well and truly descended and the past few mornings have provided frost on the car windscreen and ‘dragon breath’ on the walk to school. We are on the verge of our mid-year school holidays, and if you are anything like me and my family, we are looking forward to some quieter days, wearing oodies around the house, and not having the usual morning scramble. I hope everyone has a restful and rejuvenating winter break!

Since I last wrote, we have had two school council meetings on the 15th May and the 19th June. I wanted to take the opportunity to share key points from each of these meetings, and from the subcommittees.

Principal Report – during both meetings, Nathan shared information and progress relating to areas of focus from the schools’ Annual Implementation Plan (a sharp and narrow focus on school improvement priorities and provides clarity and purpose for working towards the goals of the School Strategic Plan). In May, he shared progress relating to reading and maths curriculum focus and development, and outlined the consistent and evidence-based approach being taken across the school. In June, Erin shared information relating to the school’s involvement and development of our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support approach, and the experience and progress of the first round of Disability and Inclusion Profile planning and applications. It sounds like there is a lot going on in both the curriculum and wellbeing spaces! Additionally, the staff had been working frantically on our children’s reports, and we should expect NAPLAN results to be released in mid-July.
Finance Committee – reported to School Council in both months regarding the school finances and the upcoming budget. We are in a good place, financially!
Policy, Planning, and Review – presented and discussed the School Council’s standing orders (a document outlining our council rules for meetings) which was ratified for this year. The committee will now look to identifying the policies that they are required to update for the coming year.
Buildings and Grounds – are well into organising our first working bee of the year. There have been a number of areas earmarked for some TLC and it would be fantastic to have as many family and community members as possible to ensure our grounds continue to function well for all of our community! Keep an eye out for the details.
Fundraising Committee – have continued to work hard to provide a number of events throughout the first half of the year, with many more to come. I know there is more information coming directly from Olivia Mouat in this issue, but I want to encourage as many people to come and join these events as possible, as it is always lovely to get together as a community.

Finally, the School Council have been involved in some Governance training to ensure we are working to our best ability on behalf of you all, and the school. Please always feel free to be in touch via the school email (attention the email to School Council) if you have any queries or concerns that you would like raised. If it sits within the scope of School Council, we will be pleased to discuss and respond.

Have a wonderful break, and until next time!

Bec Sobell

APS School Council President