the Nor'Wester

school council

school council elections

​​​​​​School councils play a key role in Victorian government schools. Participating as a school council member is a rewarding and challenging experience. The school council supports the principal to provide the b​​est possible educational outcomes for students.

Our school's annual council nomination and election process will be starting next Monday (February 24), with a call for nominations. This information will include how many vacancies are open in each category (parent and DET) and will describe the timeline and required steps to either nominate a peer or to self-nominate. The information will be emailed to all families next Monday, with a copy of the timeline and nomination forms available to view or take from the front office.

You can find more information about the school council elections, including a timeline in the PDF below - please note: this is the same PDF from last week's newsletter.

Information on SC Elections (Initial) (2).pdf

school council news

It's great to be back in 2020! We had our first School Council meeting for the year last week and one of our 2020 goals is to improve our communication with the school community. Please keep reading this newsletter for weekly reports from us and sub-committees and get in touch with any questions and comments.

 

Major areas of discussion at last week's meeting included:

  • the 2020 school review
  • the formation of a Curriculum Committee and Wellbeing & Engagement Committee
  • the formation of a Communications Working Party
  • a new AGM format
  • Winter Magic Market finalised figures
  • a Moreland City Council parking trial
  • incorporating student voice into our operations.

 

In detail:

  • We welcomed new members Andrew Lang (art teacher) and Lilian Lim. Lilian has been on Finance Committee for some time and has been appointed Treasurer.
  • We acknowledged and thanked Belinda Kerry for her outstanding service on School Council over the past three years as well as her ongoing contributions to Buildings and Grounds and the Strategic Infrastructure Group sub-committees.
  • We have a school review scheduled for 2020 - this occurs every four years for all Victorian government schools. It consists of a comprehensive self-evaluation which involves students, teachers and community members and an independent analysis which evaluates the school's strengths, areas for improvement.
  • Education Committee has been dissolved and two new sub-committees created in its place - Curriculum Committee and Wellbeing & Engagement Committee. This will allow members to be more targeted and purposeful in their work.
  • A Communications Working Party has been formed to develop and refine a school communications strategy with an emphasis on supporting school staff as well as School Council and sub-committees
  • The Strategic Infrastructure Group sub-committee has been dissolved - after an incredible effort helping secure funding for the school, the committee has achieved its aims and is no longer needed at this time.
  • We are changing the AGM format this year - we are trialling a ‘Year in Review’ meeting scheduled for April 22 at 3.45pm to try to increase attendance to improve communication with the school community. More details to follow.
  • Winter Magic Market finalised figures have been released. We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing community who work so hard to make this both a community and financial success every year. The total surplus was $39,127.
  • We're working on better incorporating student voice into School Council and sub-committees. We'll all be asked to consider any questions for Junior School Council at all meetings, which will be passed on to JSC to consider and respond to.
  • Reports from our five major subcommittees were tabled - Buildings & Grounds, OSHC, Finance, Community Events Team and Education - you'll hear more in this newsletter from each of these sub-committees over Term 1.
  • The Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) for improving student outcomes for 2020 was endorsed. AIPs are part of the 4-year school strategic planning process and improving student outcomes, schools develop a detailed plan encompassing actions, roles, responsibilities, timelines and success criteria for the next 12 months
  • Moreland City Council (MCC) is considering trialling parking restrictions on Wales St, limiting parking to one side of the street. Concerns were raised that this may increase traffic speed and rat-running. Hannah will provide feedback to MCC and request further detail about the proposed trial and how MCC plan to address concerns about speed and other unintended consequences.

 

Current school council members are: Hannah Reid, Nirvana Adey, Sam Cohen (President), Natasha Colangelo, Lou Collodetti, Aaron Hemsley, Andrew Lang, Lilian Lim, Tanya Pittard, Matt Price (Secretary), Stacey Roberts, Van Sowerwine (Vice-president), Wendy White, Debbie Wood. Contact school council generally via email: SchoolCouncil@brunswicknwps.vic.edu.au

 

Thanks for reading and please get in touch with any questions or comments.

Van Sowerwine

vsowerwine@gmail.com