school council

annual public meeting

On Wednesday night this week we held our 2019 School Review video a video in lieu of the regular AGM. While we hadn’t expected to do this remotely when we planned the School Review earlier this year in a new and updated format, it was actually a super night; we had a good attendance, great presentations and some really considered questions.

Following our Welcome to Country, we were so fortunate to hear from Mat Foley who is the principal architect at Content Studio about the plans for the capital works. An amazing presentation that included all the updated images on the building plans. A couple of questions were addressed around the use of materials around the building. Also a great question about a ‘connection’ of the new building to Yakai Baring didn’t get addressed at the time – unfortunately our building program does not extend this far, however Hannah and School Council have had other discussions late last year about how to integrate Yakai Baring into the educational program more for BNW and (maybe) other local schools – watch this space!

Andrew Lang presented on behalf of the Junior School Council next. He talked about how we increase student voice and agency in the school and how JSC are such a vital component of that. And mentioned a heap of accomplishments around the school in 2019.

Hannah then talked in some detail about the Annual Report for 2019, how we progressed on achieving our Annual Implementation Plan, including what NAPLAN looked like last year. Amazingly she was able to condense and synthesise huge amounts of data and information into a digestible snapshot of how BNW was progressing academically and socially.

Wendy followed talking about the many achievements and considerable work done by Education Committee. If ever there is a committee which just quietly gets on with its work, its Ed.Com. So many policies to prepare, so much data to review and vast scope across the entire school.

Lilian, in her role as Treasurer, then presented from Finance Committee. As positive as 2019 was with hitting almost every budget number, she equally had to address the issue of the debt to the Department BNW has. It was a very solid presentation which left everyone more informed and hopefully confident of the plans moving into the current year and future years.

We then heard from the new co-chairs of the Community Events Team, Liz and Emily about how CET went last year and importantly what CET would look like this year – from an events perspective. It amazing to hear of the energy and enthusiasm of everyone involved in CET to give of themselves for the enjoyment of others. There was a question we didn’t get to respond to, around the use of fund raised money to address the sporting oval – the sporting oval is on the B&G plans for future years to look at, also we are looking at dedicated grants (as the cost to properly address that oval is enormous and beyond the scope of any of us to fund!)

Paul from Buildings & Grounds then reviewed the work done by the B&G team and others in the community around the school in 2019. There was so much done last year and such an ambitious list for the current year. We don’t see the B&G team as front and centre as some other committees, we only see the manifestation of their enormous efforts in the beautifully kept grounds, buildings and community we enjoy every day.

And to close out the presentations we heard from Nirvana as the chair from the OSHC committee. What an amazing service! We are one of very, very few schools who still in-source and OSHC service and we should all feel very proud of what it delivers for our children, of the wonderful people who work and are in the committee, and how it is a direct expression of the culture at BNW.

I want to thank everyone who presented and everyone who attended. I want to also extend a special thank you to the incredibly talented Debbie Wood, who summed up the evening in the live sketch at the top of this article. I am sure in future years we will look to live-stream these annual reviews again so we can continue to delivery accessible and inclusive events to the school community.

In this newsletter you will find access to all the subcommittee reports from the night. Our Annual Report will be available on the school website after endorsement next week. If in reviewing these reports you have any questions or comments to make, please reach out if you need to speak to someone. There are several methods to contact the school (check out the website for information), you are welcome to send an email to School Council (schoolcouncil@brunswicknwps.vic.edu.au) or you can always call me if you want to chat (0412 375 061).

Please take care, please look after yourselves and please look after those around you. Our thoughts are with everyone.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Cohen

School Council President

e schoolcouncil@brunswicknwps.vic.edu.au

subcommittee reports from our meeting

Our 2019 Annual Report will be made available to our school community once it has been endorsed.