School President Report

I’ve been quiet this year because, to be honest, I know that you want to hear from Rohan and the teachers about what is happening at the school, rather than from me. But I thought it was a good time to thank you all for a fantastic year at PMPS and summarise what we managed to get done this year – and it’s a lot!

It has been amazing to have a full year back at school and to hear the students’ voices. The last few years have been trying for everyone and it was great not to worry about home schooling. The teaching staff thrive from the energy of the students - they don’t become teachers to teach online lessons.

It’s been a busy, fun, successful and tiring year at PMPS.

I wanted to thank the teaching staff for everything that they do for our students. They have suffered through the last few years as much as anyone, often with their own families to manage. They bring their energy everyday to give our children the best education and set them on a successful path for the future. You do an amazing job, so on behalf of all the families and students, thank-you.

This includes the often forgotten admin teams under Kaye who provide amazing support to the teachers, parents and often the students who sometimes need a caring arm put around them.

As I said, it has been a successful year and we have really progressed with a number of things on our 2022 Strategy:

• Education: We said that we would have a real focus on uplifting the educational outcomes and have had some great academic results this year, including increases in our NAPLAN scores. The school’s focus will continue to be on developing these outcomes and thanks go to not only the teachers, but the leadership team of Rohan, Kim and Katie who work tirelessly to implement this strategy.
• Community: How good has it been to get back together with the school as a centre of the Port Melbourne community. It was great to connect at the Fete, Trivia Night, Mothers Day lunch, Xmas Concert, Dads Football, Melbourne Cup day, and many more events. Thanks to the PFA lead by Annalie and Bre and the numerous volunteers (too many to mention) for the time and effort spent organising events and importantly raising much needed funds.
• Sustainability: The school has been focusing on embedding sustainability on a day-to-day basis. It has taken a long time and effort (much of it unnoticed) to get to where we are and you will be seeing it more visibly around the school – it was great to see the sustainability focus at the fete. We are looking to be recognised as a Resource Smart School with Ceres which is a 5 year process and a lot of effort. It is also a great example of how the parents, teachers and admin staff are co-operating to make the school a better place. Thanks to Megan and Callie for leading the sustainability focus.
• Buildings and Grounds: The school is looking amazing with many projects near completion. How good is the renovation of A block with new French and STEM rooms and spaces for the teachers and the new years 5/6 space. We have spent money this year out of cash reserves to make the school a better learning environment, eg concreting between A block. We have also engaged builders for the new senior playground, mini soccer pitch and sensory garden between A block and the gym so once they finish next year the school building program will finally be finished which will be great for the students Thanks also to Anthony and Melinda for the huge amount of time and effort they put in to the gardens and beautifying the school. If you haven’t, check out the school garden which looks amazing and provides so many opportunities for the students.
• Road Safety: A focus has always been to ensure the roads around the school are safe for our students. Finally we have traction and a dedicated group lead by Troy who are engaging with local government and councils to try and get better outcomes. More to come next year.
• Financial: The financial team lead by Natasha and Kaye have the not very sexy job of ensuring that the budget is in a good position, whilst funding the various projects and ensuing that the teachers have all the resources necessary to deliver their educational programs. They have done a great job despite the financial pressures that the school is under. However, I encourage everyone to pay their voluntary contributions and they are so important to help us deliver the best outcomes for our children. I also encourage you to read the email you would have received from me yesterday explaining the school’s finances and budget.

Finally, I want to thank my fellow school councilors who put in a lot of effort through the year to make the school a better place and to do what they can to support the teaching staff. There are often challenging discussions and they often raise some great ideas but are done so respectfully and constructively. We don’t intend to rest on our laurels and will aim to make the school an even better place in 2023. Thanks Selby-Lynn, Natasha, Annalie, Megan, Steve and Troy and the teachers, Kath, Rohan, Katie, Kim and Kaye.

Have a great Christmas holiday everyone. You’ve all deserved it and we look forward to seeing you next year.