School Council

School Council Update

Following on from our introductions to 2023's School Council Office Bearers in last week's newsletter, we would like to welcome our 2023 School Council Sub-Committee Convenors.

Buildings and Grounds - Hugh McKenzie
Education (Curriculum) - Justin Lania
Education (Wellbeing) - Helen Thomas
School Age Care (SAC) - Carol Dawson
Finance - Scott Crawford
Community Engagement (Fundraising) - Emma-Jane Stabb

Please stay tuned to this page in future weeks for information regarding School Council and Sub-Committee Meetings.

Sub-Committee Convenor Profiles

Hugh McKenzie – Buildings & Grounds

Hugh joins School Council for his second consecutive year, taking up the convenor position on the Buildings and Grounds sub-committee. Hugh currently has two children at HPS - Grace in Year 4 and Tom in Year 1. Hugh has a long family tradition with HPS, his father a student before he attended the school with his brothers. Hugh also worked in the Out of School Hours Program (or SAC as it’s now known) for over 10 years. Now a Year 1 teacher at Preston Primary School, Hugh has previously been a Department Representative on School Council through his work, but said that he wanted to experience being a parent representative at Heidelberg. He stated that working with the new leadership of the school and being able to help out where possible were motivating factors for taking the leap onto Council at HPS. In his spare time, Hugh is an avid basketballer and keen golfer. He also enjoys walking the dog whilst away at their family holiday destination of Apollo Bay.

Justin Lania – Education (Curriculum)

In the convenor role for the Education (Curriculum) Sub-Committee, Justin joins School Council for the first time in 2023. Justin has a daughter at the school in Foundation, but two other daughters also. He cited his passion for Heidelberg Primary School and the community surrounding it as the driving factor behind joining this year. Justin stated that he was thrilled by the opportunity to foster relationships between key stakeholders in the school, mentioning that the community element of HPS is one of the school's great strengths. He has been involved with working bees, movie nights, and carols evenings, and looks forward to the opportunity to be involved again in the future. Outside of office hours, Justin is a self-professed Seinfeld enthusiast, and (in his words) a below average golfer. He is also a junior soccer coach for 5-6 year olds, and enjoys supporting his three daughters with their co-curricular endeavours on the weekends.

Helen Thomas – Education (Wellbeing)

Helen joins the Education (Wellbeing) Sub-Committee as convenor in her second year on the HPS School Council. Through her work as Assistant Principal and experience on School Council at previous schools, Helen enjoys the relationships she holds with key stakeholders around the school and in the broader education community. Helen believes that being on School Council is a great opportunity to work directly with the school’s Annual Implementation Plan in mind, especially considering wellbeing is a large part of this. In Helen’s eyes, School Council is an opportunity to see the bigger picture of the school and its operation. In her spare time, Helen enjoys getting away to camp on NSW’s Sapphire Coast, but closer to home can be found cooking, gardening, or supporting her beloved Dees with the family groodle, Duke.

Carol Dawson – School Age Care

Carol commences 2023 sitting in the convenor’s chair for the School Age Care Sub-Committee. A stalwart of Heidelberg Primary School, 2023 marks Carol’s 34th consecutive year on School Council, a tenure which has seen her on all sub-committees at various points in time. Her motivation is the same as it’s always been – to be an integral part of the life of the school, and by extension the school community. Carol has taught across most year levels and undertaken countless leadership positions in her time at HPS, demonstrating her passion for the school and its people. Currently, you can find Carol in the library where she is teaching full time, or in the SAC program lending her years of leadership experience. In her time away from the school, Carol enjoys pottering in the garden, travel – fondly recalling Antarctica and South America as her favourite destinations – and tucking into a Trent Dalton novel.

Also convening sub-committees in 2023 will be Emma-Jane Stabb (Community Engagement [Fundraising]) and Scott Crawford (Finance). For more on these two members of School Council, please refer to Week 9's School Council Page.