Tonight after school we will be holding our welcome BBQ. I look forward to catching up with everyone and I know the children look forward to showing family members their classrooms. It is also a great opportunity to have a chat with classroom teachers in a relaxed atmosphere.

On Friday afternoon at assembly, we will be presenting our School Captains, House Captains and Junior School Council with their leadership badges. The assembly will be held in the P-2 open area and begins at 2.50 pm. We have changed our assembly times to Friday afternoons so that we can utilise our valuable morning time and begin every Monday with our Reading Workshop.

I have had the pleasure over the last couple of weeks of moving around the school and gathering some great shots of our children enjoying school. I have included a variety of these below. Enjoy!

School Council Elections 2019

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within centrally provided guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

There are three possible categories of membership:

A mandated elected Parent category. More than one third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child's school.

A mandated elected DET employee category. Members of this category may make up no more than one third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

An optional Community member category. Its members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

The term of office for members is two years. Half the members must retire each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is Parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying in itself and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in February or March each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates, than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might seriously consider:

standing for election as a member of the school council
encouraging another person to stand for election.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

No. What you do need is an interest in your child's school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school's future.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The principal will issue a notice and call for nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All school council elections must be completed by the end of March. For parents, this notice will probably be given to your child so you may need to check with them whether it has been sent home. If you decide to stand for election, you will need to arrange for someone to nominate and second you as a candidate in either the Parent category or DET employee category. Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the principal within the time stated on the notice of election. If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted in the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Remember

Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do.
Consider standing for election to council this year.
A school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.
Be sure to vote in the elections if elections are needed.

SCHEDULE 4: NOTICE OF ELECTION AND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

An election is to be conducted for members of the school council of NUMURKAH PRIMARY SCHOOL.
Nomination forms may be obtained from the school office and must be lodged by 4.00 pm on 01/03/2019.
Following the closing of nominations a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school.
If we have more nominations than vacancies, an election will be called and the ballot will close at 4 pm on 22/03/2018.

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows:

- 3 parent positions (2 year tenure)

- 2 DET employees (2 year tenure)

Attached below are self and parent nomination forms. They are also available from our front office.

Debbie Oliver

Principal

Numurkah Primary School

Issue 2 · 14 Feb 2019

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