School Council Election 2022

Beaufort Secondary College’s Council has the following composition:

7 Parent Members (elected by parents)
5 Department of Education and Training (DET) employee members.
Four are elected by DET employees, with the Principal acting as an “ex officio” member
2 Student Representatives
3 members co-opted from the school community.

Elected representatives serve a two-year term, with around half up for re-election each year.

Beaufort Secondary College’s Council

31 March 2021 – April 2022

Parents:

Parents who will retire or are up for re-election:

Ashley McErvale
Kate Tiley
Donna Fraser

Parents who are mid-way through their term:

Colin Gerrard
Troy McLinden
Gillian Sage
Ann Greymans

Staff:

Staff who will retire or are up for re-election:

Adrian Page
Julie Doyle

Staff who are mid-way through their term:

Jackie Kerr
Kerry Grant

Students:

Students who will retire or are up for re-election:

Jaelyn Brand
Naomi Gerrard

Co-opted Members (2021-22):**

PFA Representative: Leonie Perkins

Community Representative: Damian Ferarri

**These positions are filled on a year by year basis by the council itself.

The result of all this is that there are three parent and two DET employee vacancies to be filled at this election for the term of office 01/04/22 to 31/03/24.

2022 Election Timeline:

Notice of election and call for nominations:

Thursday, 24th February

Close of nominations:

Tuesday, 8th March (4.00 pm)

Distribution of ballot papers via newsletter (if required):

Wednesday, 9th March

Election closes:

Wednesday, 16th March (4.00 pm)

Declaration of Poll Results:

Wednesday, 23rd March

First meeting of 2021-2022 School Council:**

Wednesday, 23rd March

** The co-opted members will be appointed at the first meeting of the 2022-2023 School Council

See the attached documents:

School Council Elections - Information for Parents
Self Nomination Form for Parent Member Category
Nomination Form for Parent Member Category

Other documentation and information will be distributed via the school newsletter.

Under Department of Education and Training Development rules, the Principal is required to be in control of the School Council election process.

School Council Elections: Information for Parents

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within statewide guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

For most primary school councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

A mandated elected Parent category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. Department employees can be Parent members at their child's school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.
A mandated elected school employee category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.
An optional community member category – members are coopted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. Department employees are not eligible to be community members.

A small number of school councils have Nominee members.

For all schools with a Year 7 and above cohort, there is an additional category of membership:

A mandated elected student member category, with two positions.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. Councilors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child's school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school's future.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in Term One each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider

standing for election as a member of the school council
encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term One each year. All school council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual time line has been varied by the Minister.

If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent category.

Department employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the school council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election.

You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt in the mail following the receipt of your completed nomination.

Generally, if there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Remember

Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do
Consider standing for election to council this year
Be sure to vote in the elections.

Contact the principal for further information.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Funds (CSEF)

The CSEF is an annual payment to the school to be used towards camps, sports and/or excursion expenses for the benefit of the eligible student.

To be eligible: a parent or legal guardian of a student attending Beaufort Secondary College must:

Hold a Veterans Affairs Gold Card or be eligible for a Centrelink Health Care Card (HCC) or Pensioner Concession Card (PCC).

OR

Be a temporary Foster Parent and submit an application to the school by the due date

Payment Amounts:

Secondary School Students - $225 per year.

The CSEF is paid directly to your child’s school and the payment will be allocated by the school towards camp, sport and/or excursion costs for your child.

The school will require a copy of your current Health Care Card.

CSEF forms are available from the Beaufort Secondary College General Office.

Applications close on the 24th June 2022.

School Canteen

Our school canteen has a range of delicious food and drink choices for recess and lunchtime. Orders can be placed at the canteen or online.

Our school canteen has made a change of companies for their online ordering system. Orders will no longer be able to be placed with Ultimate Schools due to them having to shut down their business.

We are now using Flexischools as a way of ordering online for the school canteen.

How to set up the Flexischools App:

Download the Flexischools App on the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android (see below for links).
'Register' a new user, provide student email, add new student, search for Beaufort Secondary College, enter student details, then select class.
Automatic top-ups to make ordering fast and simple can be done through 'user profile'.

How to order through the App:

On the App's home screen, scroll down to view services. This is where the canteen ordering system can be found.
Make a selection and press 'order'.
Select a payment option and complete the order.

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