Dear Parents and Carers,
In 2022, the BPS P&C provided $60,242.00 for Books & Classroom Supplies, Specialist reading support, Art Supplies, Sports Clothing and Vegetable Crates. We raised an incredible $116,734.85 in fundraising and approved grant applications. Our engagement and involvement with Community & Local Business increased our support, and to hear your voices, we surveyed Parents, Carers and Teachers to get a clear view of the key priorities and where to focus our efforts.
The primary focus and objectives for 2023 is to deliver on these key priorities; The garden & outdoor classroom project (in collaboration with the Environmental Warriors), toilet block tiling, air conditioning and investigating how we might support and expand the existing music & language offerings. This will be an exciting year of delivering and enhancing facilities for the students, school & local community, and we cannot achieve this without your support, commitment and involvement.
In two weeks, on Wednesday 8th March, we will be holding our AGM for the BPS P&C, where all office bearers’ positions become vacant and a voting process occurs to fill them again.
Details of Executive Team Positions
The positions of President, Treasurer, Secretary and 2 x Vice Presidents (one focused on events), plus the sub-committee executive positions outlined below, are open to anybody who is a paid member of the P&C (a small sum of $2, which could easily be paid on the night). We have identified some key areas that require focus so that we can meet our 2023 goals;
- Communication and PR Coordinator – Help us communicate in a better & more meaningful way, by developing, streamlining, and creating, messaging through various communication channels, including emails, websites, social media, Pigeon Post / Skoolbag and more
- Administration & Documentation Coordinator – Assist us to be more organised, by helping us consolidate our existing documentation, information, photo’s, grant applications and the like, into a central location for all to access and use, now and in the future
- Local Business & Community Coordinator – Better together; Building on past and new relationships between BPS, local businesses and community organisations, to improve outcomes by working together and solving challenges that benefit all
- Environmental & Sustainability Coordinator - Helping BPS become a more sustainable school, take action on climate change and assist the school to empower our children with these tools
- Uniform Stall Coordinator - Working with the Uniform Stall Committee to manage the school’s Uniform Stall that supplies new and used uniforms to to the school community
- Eaton St (OSHC) Liaison – Following the Department of Educations review and streamlining of OSHC licence agreements, we need help to begin scoping the requirements of transitioning this service to Balmain P&C.
We will send more details over the coming days however we envisage a time commitment of 5 hours a month for these sub-committee lead roles.
Sadly, our current Vice Presidents, Gemma Puplett and Nathalia Stone, are no longer able to serve (and will be greatly missed). This creates opportunities for new leaders to step in as ALL positions will be vacant on the night and re-elected by P&C Members. No Member can vote more than once for any one position. For members unable to attend the AGM, proxy votes are permitted, but only if confirmed in writing and provided to the Secretary prior to the AGM.
Please find attached for reference ahead of the meeting:
· 2023 AGM Agenda
· 2022 AGM Meeting Minutes
· P&C Financial Management Principles (Paul will share more in his Treasurer’s Report)
What can I expect if I put my hand-up?As a new Executive Team, we learnt a lot last year. We spent much of last year fundraising and working to understand how we can best partner with the school and local communities for the best outcomes. We recognise the importance of a strategic fundraising effort and balancing this with focused spending to enhance the lives of our children. We also enjoyed the social aspect and had a lot of fun along the way.
If you are thinking of putting your hand up for a role, please reach out to myself or anyone on the current Executive Team to discuss.
AGM and Welcome Drinks
We invite you all to join us for our AGM, where we will celebrate what we have achieved in 2022 and share proposed plans for the year ahead, to assist the incoming Executive Team.
To thank our members and welcome new members, we are putting on some drinks that we hope you can enjoy both before and after the meeting. Even if this is your first meeting, you will be most welcome! Date: Wednesday 8th MarchTime: First drink on us (from 6:30pm), meeting to start at 7pmVenue: Royal Oak Hotel, 36 College St, BalmainBring: $2 gold coin to become a P&C member and help us decide what to focus on this year!
Please RSVP by reply email to let us know if you will be attending in person, by Wednesday 1st March.
Thank you for all of your support last year - it has been greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you there!
Lauren LaChapelle
