Our August P&C meeting was held last Wednesday night - here’s a quick update about the things we discussed and the decisions we made.
Maria confirmed that mid-term parent-teacher meetings are being planned but logistics about how they would be held were still being worked out. She also said that enhanced cleaning of the school was still continuing and that they had started to hold 15-minute assemblies with school students and teachers. She said the Department was still restricting parents from being inside school grounds due to the risk of COVID but that specialist services (occupational therapy, speech etc) were now allowed on site. Incursions and field trips (outdoors only) are also allowed. Around 100 families have so far paid the school resource fee and the IT Levy.
Maria will be holding meetings with the student parliament about further playground upgrades. In some good news, a school-funded shade shelter has been approved by the Department with works to be completed during the holidays so that it is ready for Term 4.
Sean Baumann, Amelia Cooper and Kim Barcenilla presented a report to the Committee about current and future IT needs. They took us through a range of scenarios related to the purchase of new laptops and iPads.
We agreed that they’d do more work on one of the scenarios and that they will bring that back to the P&C with more information.
There was then a general discussion with parents about a number of questions related to equipment, safe screen time policies and education, equitable access, digital competence, software and the existing IT levy.
Alvin, our Treasurer gave us an update on the P&C financial position, and we reported back on the recent 2020 Events Survey. Around 100 parents completed the survey. The School Disco was the preferred event, then the Balmain Fun Run and a Trivia Night.
We had a fantastic response from parents about volunteering – around 78 people put their hand up to help at future events. Of the 78 – 55 are parents from Stage 1, 26 from Stage 2 and 20 from Stage 3.
We asked for some information about the 2020 Art Show which we are hoping can still be held this year. We also talked about the possibility of a virtual Fun Run or trivia night. The Fun Run Committee are investigating options for the run later in the year.
There was a long discussion about the future of the Fun Run. We need new parents to get involved and take over the organisation of the event. The current Committee have done an amazing job over many years but need to hand over their work to new parents. The Fun Run has been the school’s major fundraising event and if we can’t find new parents to take it over, we will have to look at what other options we have including finding a new fundraising event. We decided that the Committee would explore what was feasible this year and report back in two weeks. One of our new parents is going to do some research into what other schools are doing and other options for a fun run or similar events.
Cliff explained that the school disco can be pulled together quickly, and we’ve tentatively set a date (Friday 30 October). We discussed holding the event in the park or bowling club but decided it was best to continue holding it on school grounds. Maria confirmed the event would be allowed on school grounds as it is an event for children, but we’d need to manage parent numbers and ensure we had the correct forms and checks. (This will be dependent on DoE directives surrounding COVID-19 during the scheduled event time - Maria).
Mel spoke about the welcome activities being planned for parents joining the school next year. She’s set up a Facebook Group and is getting information out through community groups. If you know any parents who have kids starting Kindy in 2021 please let them know about the FB page.
We heard that there are places available in both Before and After School Care at Eaton Street so if you are interested please get applications in.
We also heard that the uniform stall has now contributed an incredible $42K to the P&C. This is an incredible achievement and the uniform team should be congratulated for their work.
If you’re interested in learning more, then I encourage you to attend our P&C meetings (on zoom!). They’re held every month and we encourage all parents to get involved.
P&C Executive
