Sub Committees

Our Community is what makes our school special! Our families are dedicated to giving their time and supporting our school by contributing to working bees, helping with fundraisers, supporting our student’s learning in the classroom or being a part of one of our school’s essential committees.

Below is a list of our school’s groups/committees and organisations for 2022, with a brief description of their purpose and the details of the next meeting.

Parent & Friends Association - Community Events & Fundraising

The Newlands Primary School Parents and Friends Association is a friendly, social group of parents and guardians who meet regularly and help the school in various ways.

The PFA aims to:

· Contribute to the well-being of the students, staff and other members of the school community

· Promote the development of facilities for education generally to support the school council

· Raise funds to provide amenities and enhancements for Newlands Primary School for use by the whole school community

· Endeavour to stimulate interest in Newlands Primary School and education generally

· Promote interaction between all members of the school community

Upcoming Dates:

7:30 pm Wednesday, November 16

7:30 pm Wednesday, December 7

Contact: Adam adampalmer76@gmail.com for confirmation of venue/link to Zoom.

School Council Committee

Newlands School council is a partnership between the school and the community to provide oversight into the school’s operations and school committees. The school council has three main responsibilities:

Finance: overseeing the development of the school’s annual budget and ensuring proper records are kept of the school’s financial operation
Strategic planning: participating in the development and monitoring of the school's strategic plan
Policy development and review: developing, reviewing and updating policies that reflect a school’s values and support its broad direction outlined in its strategic plan.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/management/community/Pages/schoolcouncilsfunction.aspx

Parents are provided with the opportunity to join the School Council at the beginning of 2023.

Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday, October 19th

Wednesday, November 23rd

Contact: Ross newlands.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Education Sub Committee

The Newlands Primary School Education Sub-Committee is a committee that aims to be proactive in education matters, particularly involving parents and carers at Newlands Primary School. The Education Sub Committee seeks to do the following:

• Improve school-to-parent communication and vice-versa

• Draft, support, and publicise school education policies

• Reviewing whole school data

• Ensure school initiatives and programs are beneficial to the students.

Upcoming Dates:

Monday 10th of October, 3:45 pm @ Newlands

Monday 14th of November 3:45pm@ Newlands

Contact: Att: Jess & Graeme newlands.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Buildings and Grounds Sub Committee

The Newlands Primary School Building and Grounds Committee consult on maintenance and immediate and future plans to improve the school’s grounds and buildings.

The scope of Newlands Primary School’s Buildings and Grounds Committee includes the commissioning, coordination and oversight of the following:

· General playground maintenance;

· Working bees;

· Building projects;

· Schedule of maintenance;

· Playground audit;

· Supporting the Principal with major and minor development and improvement projects

The Sub-committee collaborates with the Principal and Deputy Principal, who outsource certain buildings and grounds jobs on an as-needs basis to different contractors. The work of the Sub-committee is undertaken in addition to these outsourced jobs. A vital component of the Sub-Committee’s work is its occasional community working bees. These scheduled events are held on a Saturday or Sunday, and a BBQ lunch may be provided for the families attending. Together with maintaining the school building and grounds, these events provide opportunities for informal social gatherings for all involved.

Upcoming Dates:

3:00 Friday, October 13th @ NewlandsPS

3:00 Friday, November 4th @ NewlandsPS

WHOLE SCHOOL WORKING BEE Sunday, NOVEMBER 13th

Contact: Tim ts@madebybig.com

Finance Sub Committee

The responsibilities of the Newlands Primary School Finance Committee include the following:

Consolidation of revenue and expenditure,
Dedicated transfer of fundraising,
Assisting the Principal and School Council with the development of the school’s annual budget;
Ensuring that the annual budget supports the school's strategic plan;
Regularly monitoring and reporting to Council on progress against the budget; Ensuring that the school finances are in accordance with DEECD guidelines and that relevant internal control procedures are maintained;
Making recommendations to Council on fundraising activities and liaising with the Community Committee and other school groups concerned with these activities;
Assisting in the completion of school tenders e.g. works contracts and school council building contracts;
Review of parent payment policy;
Assisting the Principal in ensuring that the school operates to a balanced budget and that all liabilities and financial commitments are accounted for in the relevant year.

Please Note: Only members from School Council can be a part of the Finance Sub Committee

Upcoming Dates:

Friday, October 14th

Friday, November 5th

OOSH Committee

The OOSH subcommittee's purpose is to ensure that Newlands Primary School has a high-quality program for children who attend the Out of Hours Care.

The responsibilities of the Newlands Primary School OOSH Committee include the following:

creating clear communication between OOSH and the school council
documenting key work by program staff
supporting the service by researching best practices
networking with local and state organisations
ensuring the OOSH service meets standards set by state and national regulators

Upcoming Dates:

9:00 am Friday, October 14th @Newlands

9:00 am Friday, November 18th @Newlands

Contact: Courtney newlandsooshc@gmail.com

NPS Sustainability Committee

This committee comprises parents, staff and student leaders who will utilise their interest, skills and capacity to guide and support positive environmental actions within the school and the broader community. We aim to connect the school's efforts with other organisations, government support programs and grants.

The committee will work with the school to support, encourage and manage initiatives that demonstrate care for our local environment, including:

Continuing to deliver the Resource Smart Schools program, which improves environmental performance
Reducing energy use
Address consumption and improve waste management
Enhance biodiversity values
Increase understanding of natural cycles through food growing and sharing
Build community-care networks for extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves)
Support civic engagement by students on environmental issues
Provide teachers with professional development and team planning support for units of work appropriate to all the above

Upcoming Dates:

Contact: Att: Jose newlands.ps@education.vic.gov.

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)

This group is working towards the development of our school RAP.

There will be a meeting during week 6 of term 4.

Details on the meeting will be in a future newsletter.

Please get in touch with Sonya at newlands.ps@education.vic.gov.

The Newlands Times

Issue 30 · 07 Oct 2022

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