School Council Report

The School Council met on 28 March 2022.

Following the Annual General Meeting, the new School Council for 2022 was confirmed.

Farewell & Welcome to Councillors

Warm thanks and appreciation for their valued contributions were extended to the outgoing School Councillors; parent representative Nicola Dovey, and DET representatives Jade O'Grady and Sarah Abbott. The new councillors were welcomed; parent councillors Bel Schenk and Michelle Schwensen, and DET councillors Serena Maynard and Jess Greenway. Thank you also to the incumbent councillors for continuing to volunteer your time. We are delighted to have such a wonderful group of parents and teachers on this year's council.

Council invited nominations to the office-bearer roles. Andrew Vance was re-confirmed as Vice-President; Sarah Glass as Secretary; Louise Currie as Treasurer and myself (Allison O’Connell) as President; and Michelle Schwensen as the School Council Community Member.

Council members nominated themselves to each of the four subcommittees of School Council.

Finance Committee is represented by Louise Currie and Paul Wallace.
Social Club (formerly known as the Community Committee) is represented by Mark Sandiford, Ian ten Seldam, Olivia Li, Michelle Schwensen and Paul Wallace.
Building and Grounds Committee is represented by Andrew Vance, Serena Maynard and Paul Wallace.
Policy Committee is represented by Regan Richards, Bel Schenk and Allison O'Connell.

All FPS parents are warmly welcomed to join the subcommittees – please feel free to contact any of us to find out more if you're keen to get involved, whether as a regular subcommittee member or just for a one-off event.

Core Business

Onto core business, the Council endorsed the FPS 2021 Annual Report which Paul Wallace had presented at the AGM.

The Year 6 Camp to Canberra was then discussed at length. As a parent volunteer who had attended the camp, I noted that until the very unfortunate outbreak of COVID in the final days (affecting a significant number of students, teachers, and their respective families), the preceding days had been greatly enjoyed by the Year 6 cohort who relished their first opportunity to attend a school camp, having had the previous two years cancelled due to the pandemic. Paul and all on Council expressed heartfelt appreciation for staff Daniel, Jess, Anna, Elly, Mariah and Tom who coordinated the camp, as well as to the five parent volunteers, and all the students who were a delightful crew and represented the school so well at the many venues visited.

Upcoming social events at FPS were another major topic of review, with many exciting plans underway including the Foundation Social Night, the Mothers / Special Person Day breakfast on 6 May, and early discussions around the big ticket items of the Trivia Night and Art4All later in the year. Keep an eye out for all these events in school communications.

The Finance and Building & Grounds Committees also tabled their reports, with a key outcome being the endorsement by Council for the provision of funds to cover the costs in excess of the grant funding for the installation of a shade sail adjacent to the basketball courts.

School Council will next meet on 16 May. You can read the Council minutes here.

~ Allison O’Connell, FPS School Council President