Welcome to 2020!

Dear Great Ryrie Community,

It has been so wonderful to see all of our students so settled already.

I would like to thank and express my appreciation to the teachers and education support staff who have worked so hard to prepare and ensure such a great beginning for all our children.

I would like to express a warm welcome to our new teachers at Great Ryrie with Felicity Cameron in Foundation and the return of Abbie Adams in Year 3 & 4.

Newsletter Reveal

Without further ado..... I would like to reveal our new newsletter. We are very excited to be able to bring you the Great Ryrie news in a different way. The newsletter will now be posted fortnightly to enable more time to bring you quality stories and reports from our students and student leaders. We will be able to share photographs and videos of the school events. There will also be a bulletin in the week when there isn't a newsletter publication to remind you of upcoming events and the Students of the Week for assembly.

Character Strengths

You could hear a pin drop in the 5/6 building this week as the children presented their speeches for Junior School Council elections. I was extremely proud of the way the children spoke with the references to their character strengths and their belief in themselves shone through.

The children and teachers have been working on how we can harness our character strengths, the positive aspects of our personality, to help us thrive.

I have discovered that my top character strengths are fairness, kindness and love.

Did you know that focusing on your character strengths can help you build resilience and buffer against the negative effects of stress?

Why are character strengths considered “untapped power”?

Research shows that if you have an active awareness of your strengths, you are 9 x more likely to be flourishing.

Ask your children to tell you about their strengths.

School Council Elections

Parent Information

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 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 of Education and Training (DET) 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 DET 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 co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

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.

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.

Do I need 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.

What do I 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.

School Council Members whose term ends this election

The Parent Members whose position ends at this election (2 years duration):

Peter Smolenaers
Richard Bailey
Andrew Knowles
Louise Mann

The DET Employee members whose term ends at this election (2 years duration):

Melissa Roberts
Amanda Lenon

The Community members whose term ends at this election (2 years duration):

Vacant
Vacant

The Executive Officer: Karen Rouda (Principal)

The 2020 School Council Election timeline for GRPS will be:

Notice of election and call for nominations: Friday 7th February

Closing Date for Nominations: Friday 14th February 4.00pm

Display list of candidates and nominators: Monday 18th February

Distribution of ballot papers (if required): By Friday 21st February

Close of ballot: Friday 28th February 4.00pm

Declaration of ballot: Monday 2nd March

First School Council meeting when office bearers are elected (the Principal will preside): Wednesday 25th March

Have a wonderful week,

Karen Rouda

Principal

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