School Council

PRESIDENT'S PROFILE

Hi, I’m Nicole Le Pou the current school council president. I’ve been lucky enough to be on the school council since 2018, prior to the school opening, and have loved being involved since then.

My little guy Gus is in grade 2 now, and it was really for him that I initially got involved. Gus is on the Autism Spectrum and I wanted to be part of his education in a positive way that advocated for kids who need adjustments made so that they can share their lives with others that don’t live with physical and other diversities.  Essentially, I am all for inclusion and wellbeing. 

The school council president is a school council member elected by the other school council members at the first school council meeting of the year. The role of the president includes chairing school council meetings, being an effective spokesperson for the council, endorsing school planning and reporting documents on behalf of the council, participating in the core review panel in the school’s four year review cycle and representing the council with the principal in public forums.

An important part of my role is being available to our school community if anyone has an issue that relates to school council, I’m always happy to chat and if you raise something that doesn’t fall within the school council realm then I’ll make sure that I find the right person to listen and ideally sort out what ever issue you’ve identified. 

Like many parents I’m often rushing away from the school after drop off or pick up, but if you do see me and want to say hello please stop me (and offer Gus a stick of some sort, he’s collecting them so that always slows the pace of our walk home). 

Nicole and Gus Le Pou

PRESIDENT'S UPDATE

Hi all, I’m keen to update families on some matters that the school council have been working on.

School Crossing Supervisors

As some of you might be aware the provision of crossing supervisors on public roads is a little complicated but involves the local council traffic engineers undertaking counts on the proposed crossing locations and if those counts result in more than 20 students crossing between 8am to 9am AND 3.30pm to 4.30pm then the Council can apply to Vic Roads for funding and once they receive funding the Council employ a crossing supervisor.

Since our school opened, I have dealt with the council on this matter, we obtained a crossing supervisor on Albert and Cecil in 2019 when we opened. Last year in 2020 we requested a count on the intersections of Albert and Clarendon and Albert and Moray, unfortunately the count did not justify a supervisor. 

This year I again requested the council undertake a count in the intersections of Albert and Clarendon and Albert and Moray. Thankfully the count justified a supervisor on Albert and Clarendon, which has been great.

Next year in term 1 I will again request a count on Moray and Albert, and I remain hopeful that we will secure funding for that intersection next year.

If any parents have a concern about a local crossing please feel free to contact me so that we can discuss whether local council needs to be involved. 

School zone speed limits 

I contacted (as have other parents) Vic Roads requesting that they consider making Albert Road a 40km school zone during school times.

Unfortunately, they have responded refusing this request. It appears that they have a policy that school zones only apply where the school adjoins a public road. As the school has the slip road at the front (which is owned by Park Vic) and Aughtie Drive is also owned by Parks Vic, and has a limited speed, we do not qualify for this.

I intend to continue to lobby on this point as many families who walk to school have noted the speed at which cars drive along Albert Road each morning when our kids are crossing (particularly at Moray where there is no crossing supervisor).

Any assistance from our families on this matter would be appreciated, so please reach out and we can see what we can collectively push for. 

Light sequence at Albert and Aughtie Drive 

I contacted (as have other parents) Vic Roads about the light sequence and timing on this intersection after several parents have raised with me (and I have experienced myself) that the pedestrian lights change to green for our kids to cross and that often several cars are still proceeding through the intersection after turning either left or right late on their light.

Vic Roads have suggested that we ask Vic Pol to attend at the intersection and fine people for driving through late on the lights, clearly not helpful or a useful application of Vic Pol resources.

I intend to speak with the council engineers on this and see if we can get them to monitor the crossing one morning and count how many times car overrun the lights when kids are crossing.

I really think this is a danger, I’ve personally seen kids take off on the green light to cross and a large truck (and once a bus) driving through. 

Again any wonderful parents who can assist with this, please reach out to me.

Aughtie Drive realignment 

Some of our wonderful parents have raised their concerns about the children crossing from the car park at the back of the school over Aughtie Drive to access the school. Anyone who uses this access point will appreciate how busy the road can be in the mornings.

By way of an update the school has been advised that this issue should be completely resolved as of term 1 2022. As many of you may be aware the Grand Prix Corporation is now undertaking works on the track in anticipation of the race in November 2021.

After the race in November we have been advised that further changes will be made to the track which will include the realignment of Aughtie Drive for public traffic, which means that the section of road behind the school where the kids currently cross will no longer carry vehicles, and instead traffic will flow through that area along the actual track (which goes through the middle of the car park). This should result in the car park abutting green lawn area (not a road) and therefore the kids should be able to leave their parents’ car, cross lawn area and into the school grounds.

We remain hopeful that this will occur as the Grand Prix Corporate have suggested and we will keep you all updated as this progresses.