This committee met two weeks ago on Monday March 15^th. The Committee Members for 2021 are: Imelda Cathomen, Dan Towb, Michael Jacobs, Vanessa Donald, Ashley Treyvaud, Katie Balfour and myself.  We usually meet every 6 weeks and our next meeting is the AGM on Monday May 10th. At this meeting we can appoint new members.  With the view of gradual changeover, we would like to declare a position on this Committee open.  If you are interested in serving on this committee or if you would like to nominate someone else (please check with them first) then please let Trish know.  This Committee is a support to the Principal and has input to whole school policy.

At our last meeting we reviewed our Camping Program which is developmental and age appropriate.  A discussion was had about the advantages of this program and how it builds resilience and independence.  We also talked about the need to support the church fundraising effort in order to SAVE OUR CHURCH.

The NSCP (National School Chaplain Program) was on the agenda and Trish informed us  that we have been successful.  This means that we will receive a grant of over $20,000 each year, to employ a chaplain/pastoral worker (counsellor) for a day a week for 2021 & 2022. We are very excited about this.

We also discussed the Tutoring Program (grant received from State government) to specifically target students who may have dropped behind because of remote learning last year.  Teachers use data to identify the students who match the criteria and then a specific program is targeted to the student’s needs. We are employing Liza Marino for the students in Gr 1, 2 & 3 and we are still looking for someone for the students in Gr 4, 5 & 6.

The School Advisory Committee also review uniform.  At our last meeting we considered the results of the recent Tshirt survey. Most of the votes were either keep the tshirt the same or go for the green tshirt (with the yellow side panels). The votes were very close.  The Committee discussed this and decided that the green tshirt could also be available as an option for families.  So, both the yellow tshirt and the green tshirt (with yellow side panels) will be considered school uniform. You can choose which tshirt suits your child the best. It is anticipated that this change will be effective in Term 3. We will advertised it widely then. 

Schools that operate under DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) operate on a 4 year review cycle and this year our school is engaging in the Review process.  We reflect on all the main areas of our operation in light of our School Improvement Plan and we produce a self-reflection report.  Then we have a panel of 3 reviewers who come into the school and meet with the staff and the students and some parents, over 2 days, to review our processes.  It is all about improvement.

Our LLPLP (Leading Languages Professional Learning Program-Japanese) is going very well.  We know students don’t learn another language through one language lesson a week.  We do know that when classroom teachers try to use that language more, there is tremendous impact.  We are making a difference with our Japanese learning and our Japanese Day towards the end of last year was very successful.

Child Safety is always on the agenda.  We have installed the front sliding gate between the front building and fence which effectively cuts off the school yard from the front entry, this means that during the school day if anyone walks in the front gate they don’t have access to the school yard unless they come through the front office.  Also concerning child safety, we talked about the safest place for school buses to pick up and drop off students.  We are planning for this to happen in the parish carpark area. More information will follow about this.

The Communication in the school will soon all be through SIMON, most parents have downloaded the app.  We are moving towards all excursion information letters and medical forms being available electronically on this platform for Term 2.