the Nor'Wester

school council

school council update

School Council was honoured to have Tim Read, MP for the seat of Brunswick, attend our meeting on Thursday November 28th.  Tim met with JSC representatives and School Council Members and our grade six representatives Lucy and Caspar led Tim through Yakai Barring and spoke about how this wonderful space is used.  We chatted with Tim about ways to improve the space and to have permanent water which would lead to students being able to study pond life.  The potential for sharing Yakai Barring with other schools as a centre for environmental education is something school leadership is working towards.  School Council will be exploring various sources of funding to bring this vision to fruition.  We thank Tim for taking the time to meet with us all and provide support and suggestions for further funding for large infrastructure programs.

 

 

The final meeting of the school year is dedicated to approving the budget prepared by school leadership.  The budget is reviews by Finance Committee and then School Council to ensure all spending directly addresses the strategic priorities of the school’s strategic plan.  I have prepared a separate document (also published in this newsletter) explaining this process.  The budget is presented annually, along with reports from all sub-committees, a review of the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), a review of NAPLAN data and the results of parent and student surveys at the AGM held in March/April each year.  I strongly encourage all families to attend this meeting to gain an insight into the operations of the school.

 

After fourteen years at the school, my youngest child is about to graduate and I have stepped down as School Council President.  It has been a privilege to serve the school community in this role for the past six years.  I am incredibly proud of my fellow School Council members, members of sub-committees and the community volunteers and all that we have achieved.  The commitment of $6.23 million in funding to our school to provide our children with a STELA building and much needed maintenance works for our main building stands out.  Hundreds of hours of work went into securing these funds, and I am excited to see the direction our school is moving in even though none of my own children will benefit from this work!  Much of this work, and the work undertaken by our sub-committees and volunteers is done quietly without fanfare but has a huge impact on the quality of our children’s experiences at school.

 

“Deeds not words is the motto we claim” is sung by our children each week, and is a great motto to live by.  Whatever we do as volunteers within our school, we do to benefit all children.  Our children see us come together to run social and fundraising events and have a deep understanding of how much their education and their school is valued by the significant people in their lives.  Increased involvement of families has a direct correlation with students’ sense of belonging and engagement, which leads to improved educational outcomes. 

 

I am thrilled to announce Sam Cohen will be taking on the role of President, and Van Sowerwine the role of Vice President.  They have a proven track record of working hard for our school and will continue to do so as they take on these roles, leading with strength and compassion.

 

Yours in all-ways-Brunswick-North-West

 

Fiona Heathcote

2020 BNWPS budget process

 

Within Victorian Government schools, the role of School Council is to support the Principal to provide the best possible outcomes for students.  This means that School Council is responsible for determining how additional funds are raised, determining how funds are spent, and for managing reputational risks.  When School Council reviews the proposed budget for the following school year, the strategic priorities (outlined in the Strategic Plan available on the school’s website) associated with teaching and learning inform all spending decisions made.   After receiving budget proposals from staff, sub-committees and School Council, the budget is prepared by the Principal, referred to the Finance Committee for review and then presented to School Council for final review and approval.  School Council members receive training, provided by the Department of Education, in governance and finance to assist them in carrying out these responsibilities.

 

When the budget is prepared, sources of revenue are taken into consideration.  These sources include:

  • Student resource package (SRP – an amount of approx $550 per student per year)
  • Other government funding and grants
  • Locally raised funds (family contributions and fundraising activities)
  • Funds available from previous years

 

An important aspect of budget preparation is the consideration of sources of revenue.  At Brunswick North West these sources include family accounts and fundraising and are factored into the budget and allocated to programs that directly support teaching and learning (such as science, ICT and environmental programs).  The Department requires that funds raised are used to meet the strategic priorities of the school, and accordingly funds raised throughout the year are channelled into programs for which they were budgeted for.  That is, children directly benefit from these funds through the support of learning programs.  The budget includes everything (except for staff salaries which are funded from a pool allocated to BNW and paid directly by the Department) such as professional development, curriculum areas (science, art and mathematics), school maintenance and operations such as Sprout.

 

Fundraising within the school is managed by CET with the oversight of School Council.  Fundraising events, whether proposed by CET or community members, are reviewed by School Council where the following are taken into consideration:

  • The type of activity planned
  • Any risks the activity exposes the school or public to (including physical, financial and reputational)
  • Legal requirements (such as insurance or licensing requirements)
  • Reliable estimates of revenue and expenditure
  • The proposed spending of the funds and whether this is in alignment with the strategic priorities

 

School Council requires considerable lead time (a minimum of one school term) to analyse the proposal and ascertain whether the proposed event meets the requirements outlined above or impacts events on the calendar (particularly when those are fundraising events that have been factored into the budget as revenue streams). 

 

While most of the funds raised are directly allocated to the delivery of learning programs in accordance with Departmental requirements, we have also delivered larger projects such as the magnificent canopy on the multipurpose room, and the ceiling fans installed twelve months ago.

 

If you have any questions regarding school budgets and fundraising within the school, I encourage you to contact Sam Cohen (sam.cohen@iinet.net.au) as the newly elected School Council President, or myself as immediate Past School Council President and/or attend the school’s AGM for a full run-down (watch out for dates in the newsletter).

 

Fiona Heathcote

f.e.heathcote@gmail.com