School Advisory Council
School Advisory Council Update
The first School Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting for 2023 was held on the evening of Tuesday, 28 February, onsite in the staffroom. It was excellent to reconnect with current members and welcome a new committee member to renew our sense of commitment and focus for the year.
Meet the team
We extend a warm welcome to our newest committee member, Angela Maclean and to our current members. We are pleased to introduce your SAC for 2023:
Verona Gridley - School Principal
Melinda Buscema - Deputy Principal / RE Leader
Samantha Solomons - Parent and Parish Representative
Trang Dang - Parent Representative
Angela Maclean - Parent Representative
Nicole Whelan - Parent Representative
Amy Freeman - Parent Representative
Yvie Williams - Parent Representative
Father Dispin John - Parish Priest (Custodian of Mission)
This year, the SAC are trialling a rotating and shared Chairperson role, to allow everyone the opportunity to prepare for and chair each meeting, along with fulfilling other duties associated with that role.
Please say ‘hello’ if you see us around school. We’d love to hear your thoughts and input and are always happy to answer any questions.
Key Messages from Meeting One, 2023
Last year, the SAC launched three key pillars that define the areas of activities and initiatives that will support our school in achieving its goals:
Partner and Advise
Support Strategic Direction & Operations
Governance & Reports
Under these pillars, the meeting focussed on hearing about and providing comments and feedback on initiatives under the 5 Spheres of MACS (Leadership and Management, Religious Dimension, Learning and Teaching, Student Wellbeing and School Community). A focus for the year will be on exploring opportunities to strengthen the Student voice and building community engagement around various school improvement initiatives.
Please keep an eye out for future updates in the school newsletter.
Gratitude/Kudos Column
Aligned with our school theme of “Gratitude” for the year, the SAC explored the idea of introducing a Parent page in the newsletter, to express gratitude for things felt or observed in our community and invite your submissions to principal@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au
We begin this column by acknowledging the efforts of Yvie Williams who last year chaired the SAC and Trang Dang who was our secretary, and for their ongoing support and involvement in the SAC in 2023.
We would like to formally acknowledge and thank our Sub-Uniform Committee members, Vickie Stutchbury and Gabby Sullivan for their fantastic work last year in refreshing the Uniform sports top. It was acknowledged that the new tops look wonderful and the Year 6 Rugby tops look very sophisticated.
We also acknowledge and thank everyone involved in delivering a fantastic Twilight Sports event last Monday, 6 March. A huge thanks to Rhett Masters for planning and coordinating the event, our parent helpers running the events and to the tireless efforts of our CA members for putting on a delicious BBQ fundraiser. It was wonderful to see the community spirit thriving at St John’s.
Sam Solomons - Secretary, Parent Representative (Parishioner)