P&C Meeting 4/2013 Minutes
MEETING 4: TERM 2 WEEK 8
Date: Wednesday 19 June 2013
Time: 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Location: Forrest Primary School
1. Welcome, introductions & apologies (5 min) President
The meeting began at 7:30pm. Attendees were Perdi Mitchell, Kate Hambly, Yasmine Gray, Sally Troy, Karen Gardner, Raeline George, Tui Davidson, Simone Mills, Thet Win, Nick Mitchell, Nicole Richardson, Megan Watson, Jo McAlister, and Chris Pilgrim*. An * indicates staff.
Apologies were received from Robyn Calder, Kurt Holweg and Belinda Fitzgerald. Perdi Mitchell (Vice President) acted as Chair in Robyn’s absence.
2. Teachers’ Forum (55 min)
a. Principal’s report (10 min) Chris Pilgrim
Chris spoke to her report, tabled and at Attachment A, highlighting:
· Tom Spollard will be leaving the school at the end of term 2 (to return to high school teach at Telopea). Ms. Bradshaw will be teaching Mr Spollard’s year 3 class.
· Hayley Singh won permanency in her higher duties.
· Construction of the new deaking preschool is coming along. The first completion date mentioned was mid-September, definitely within the year.
ACTION: Chris to pass on the P&C’s congratulations to Hayley Singh on her promotion.
ACTION: Chris to ensure that information about library trust donations goes into the newsletter.
ACTION: Chris to include information on P&C meeting teachers’ forum is included in the newsletter before each P&C meeting.
ACTION: Sally Troy to talk to Hayley about getting information on the P&C included in the new parents’ Info Night.
b. Preschool/Kindy & PYP Preschool & School teachers
[name] gave an engaging presentation through powerpoint and hands-on activities, focussing on the differences in education frameworks between preschool and primary school.
ACTION: [name] to circulate the slime recipe to primary parents 9perhaps through the school newsletter.
c. BluEarth Liz Gellman
Liz is the area BluEarth representative. She comes to the school fortnightly (even week Tuesdays). This is the third year in a 3 year commitment with BluEarth, whith has cost $10,000/year (P&C has contributed $5,000/year). BluEarth’s goal is to create a lifelong love of being active. Liz mentioned the possibility of BluEarth workshops for the wider community.
ACTION: Chris Pilgrim to put a note int the newsletter seeking expressions of interest from parents for a BluEarth workshop for the wider community.
d. Mathletics, on-line maths Nicole Richardson
Nicole provided a summary comparison between Mathletics and Maths-on-line. Nicole reported that Mathletics was by far the better program because it was more engaging, has vocal reading of questions, and is of lower cost. Mats-on-line is focussed on year5+. Mathletics is provided by the same company as Reading Eggs. Nicole also recommended the use of Khan tutorials (www.khanacademy.org) for individual maths concepts for K-12. The school is planning a maths afternoon/evening for families in term 3.
ACTION: Nicole to put a notice in the newsletter about the family maths afternoon/evening.
3. Minutes of last meeting & action list review (10 min) President
The Minutes of the previous meeting (27 March 2013) were accepted as true and correct.
ACTION: Yasmine to include action list at end of each meeting’s minutes.
ACTION: Yasmine Gray to email finalised Minutes to Kurt Holweg to load on the P&C webpage.
ACTION: Yasmine to check to minutes and agendas are appearing on P&C website, and to follow-up with Kurt if not.
4. P&C members’ updates & discussion items (25 min)
a. Volunteer Contributions (5 min) Robyn Calder
Robyn raise this issue for discussion, to ensure that the school’s voluntary contribution was appropriate – both amounts requested and method of payment. Currently, about one third of parents make the voluntary contribution. Anyone wishing to contribute more to the school is encouraged to do so through the tax-deductible library trust. Attendees were comfortable with the amount being raised slightly next year and thought we needed better and earlier information (e.g. with new year papers/payments). Chris didn’t want to be heavy-handed. One suggestion was to have the payment included with the book pack order at the start of the year.
ACTION: Chris to investigate whether the voluntary contrition can be included as a line item in the book pack order form.
b. Finance issues (5 min) Kate Hambly
Kate reported that finances were all up to date (after some delays at the end of last year/start of this year with change of bookkeeper). There was a need to review delegations and the asset register.
ACTION: Kate and Raelene to review delegations and the assets register and bring back to a future P&C meeting.
c. Proposed Expenditures (10 min) Raeline George
Any proposed expenditure over $2000 needs to be approved by a P&C meeting. Raeline requested the following be approved:
· $7500 for new storage for Before & After School Care (14m long x 2m high) – approved unanimously.
· $2000 contribution to Deakin Preschool to allow current access to the cubby house, and the Preschool will also leave the cubby house for permanent use by Before & After School Care – approved.
ACTION: Raeline to discuss with Chris whether the cubby house will be available for the kindergarten to use during school hours next year (once the preschool is no longer using it).
d. P&C Council / Volunteer Check Policy (2 min) Perdi Mitchell
Perdi raised this issue at the 28 May ACT P&C Council meeting. The old guidelines have been taken off the Department’s website and the new guideline should be up by the end of term 2. The Council suggests not doing anything until the new guidelines are seen. The next P&C Council meeting will have a representative from the Department to answer questions on this issue.
e. Strategic Plan Update (2 min) Perdi Mitchell
A one page draft outline dof the P&C’s Strategic Plan will be in tomorrow’s newsletter and posted on the P&C’s website for comment. The main objective of this document is to stay focussed and have a consistent agenda for the next 12 months. It is based on three key documents: the P&C’s Constitution, the school’s Operational Plan, and results from the Parnet Survey.
f. Trivia Night Perdi Mitchell
The Trivia Night made $7100, which is a good result but a bit down on previous years. It seemed to be a good school community event, but some questioned if it was inclusive enough especially for those of non-English speaking backgrounds. Suggestions for some other school community events were an outdoor movie night, a multicultural afternoon/evening, an art exhibit and a Father’s Day breakfast.
ACTION: Sally to lead discussion with Chris to ask teacher’s for ideas that value the diversity of our school community.
5. President’s report (10 min) President
The President was unavailable at short notice and no report was provided.
6. Deakin Preschool liaison report (5 min) Nicole Richardson
Nicole let the P&C know that although the Preschool was happy with the p7c’s contribution towards the cubby house in exchange for it staying at Forrest Primary School, no such deal would be struck with the boat. Nicole reported that the sausage sizle at Bunnings raised $1200 and the Lollipops fundraiser netted $400. The Preschool was hoping to have another major fundraiser of a movie on a Sunday morning in September.
7. Board report (2 min) Sally Troy
The Board meeting scheduled for today was postponed for 2 weeks because there was no quorum.
8. Other issues
The possibility of a school dance/disco was raised. If it is held, the P&C could make more money by having the canteen open for snacks and drinks.
ACTION: Simone Mills to work with Chris and other school staff to progress having a school dance/disco.
Raelene passed on the thanks of Forrest Children’s Services staff for the P&C’s funds to reimburse cost of staff applying for Working with Vulnerable People cards.
9. Thanks & Conclusion President
There being no further business, Perdi Mitchell closed the meeting at 9:30, thanking all participants for a productive meeting and keeping to time.
The next P&C meeting will be in Term 3, Week 4, on Wednesday 12 August 2013 at 7:30pm