MINUTES BOARD MEETING (28TH APRIL 2015)
Meeting opened at 7:34pm
ATTENDANCE:
APOLOGIES:
Stephen Johnston (Chair), George Atartis, Geoff Anderson (Principal), Faye Morgan, Karen
Kunnen, Tamara Vermeulen, Greg Wilson (Deputy Principal), Rowan Stokes, John Coombe
and Fiona Feist.
Leonie Morrell
Previous Meeting Minutes
Chair: Minutes presented and passed.
School Plan 2015-2015
Geoff: The previous plan was 2012-2015, due to IPS requirements a new plan needed to be done covering at
least 3 years. It was decided to do a 4 year plan due to the fact that the Australian Curriculum roll out
and testing etc completes in 2018. The new plan takes from the old plan, school level discussions and
the work done at the previous board meeting.
The framework is relatively simple to allow for development and ease of adaption for Geoff’s successor.
Geoff explained his expectation to retire at the end of the year. The role will be advertised at the
beginning of term 3, remain open for a month and a decision made by the end of Term 3. The intension
is that the Principal then start a day a week through Term 4 2015 before taking over fulltime in 2016.
Rowan: Teaching and community elements are a bit vague and need to be measurable eg retention rates – do
we have targets?
Geoff:
No targets but definitely expectations. There is the staff/parent survey done every two years which
highlights if there are areas for concern. In general we should be focusing on trends. EG upper primary
retention, like school general lose a high number of children to the independent sector, where as RPS
doesn’t have the large number leaving.
Chair:
What is the dialogue around the explicit teachings and play based learning?
Geoff:
The change in curriculum expectations, where there previously was none, for the Pre’s has moved the
bar for all year levels. The dialogue with teaching staff is a constant discussion for the early learning
team (K-2). Is it more of a team approach to allow children to be better equipped for the following year
level. We look at on-entry assessment and phonics but Pre’s are now expected to write a sentence as
well. It is hard at times because learning is developmental; some children just are not ready.
Rossmoyne Primary School Plan 2015-2015 accepted and passed
1st Stephen Johnston, 2nd Rowan Stokes
Policy Review Drug Education
Chair: How many incidents have we had related to drugs etc in your term as Principal??
Geoff: Zero
Geoff:
Every school is required to cover the potential incidents of the usage or possession of drugs at school.
The staff have recently aligned with SDERA and reviewed the previous drug policy. By incorporating
education of values, bullying, and resilience, which is all related to Health education SDERA will provide
funding and resources to assist the school.
Chair:
3 hours of drug education in Term 1 and more in subsequent terms seems to be a huge increase on the
previous policy??
Geoff:
In earlier years the education is very informal and is imbedded in the health education, for example
taking a lollypop from a stranger to identifying prescribed medication from a Dr and ensuring correct
dosage from an adult. It is a whole school approach and the education around drugs and resilience is
age appropriate. 3 hours across 9 weeks is not a huge amount and it is not just talking about drugs,
there are other topics resilience, anti-bulling, peer pressure etc.
Chair:
Geoff:
This new policy is in conjunction with the old one?
No, the new policy replaces the old one. The new policy is not just focusing on drug awareness; it
incorporates building up preventative education.
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Chair:
The new policy mentions drug information for parents through newsletter, website and assemblies, I
haven’t seen it as yet, is it happening.
Geoff:
The new Policy is on the website, it outlines how as a school we will deal with any incidents, that is an
education for parents. We also have articles in the newsletter on occasion, not just about drugs but
about resilience and other related education. Resilience has a higher priority for RPS due to the fact that
drugs are not an issue for students.
Tamara: Notes are also sent home to parents with an issue has been discussed in class. For example the year
3’s cover caffeine and what items that they might have would have caffeine in it eg Sunkist and Monster.
It isn’t strictly a drug but still something that children shouldn’t be having and so teaching them that they
should check what is in the products they are having. Notes then go home so they can discuss it with
their parents.
Chair:
Incident Management mentions getting support from staff, isn’t the document aimed at staff?
Geoff:
Yes it is but that isn’t to say a single staff member can handle an incident on their own. For example a
year 6 high on LHD starts to get violent, that teacher should send another student to get help from the
Admin team or the teacher in the next room.
Chair:
Incident Management also mentions handing over to the Principal, shouldn’t the teacher that remain
involved in the process?
Geoff:
This is referring to the Principal submitting on-line incident reports, making a decision to contact Police
etc. The teacher that was first involved is also to gather all the facts before handing over.
The new Drug and Resilience Education Policy is open for parent feedback until the 25th of May (the next
board meeting) where it is expected to be review and endorsed.
Complaints Policy and Dress Code Policy
Geoff: These documents are also due for review, but we do see the need to actually change them. Again they
are open for parent feedback until the 25th of May (the next board meeting) where they are expected to
be review and endorsed.
50th Anniversary
George: The planned date is Friday 20th November, starting at 4pm.
It is a community carnival, open to not only past and present students and families but the community in
general.
Currently seeking funding, Healthway’s has already committed $3,500, waiting to hear back from Lottery
West. City of Canning’s next distribution isn’t until August so that will be address closer to that date.
More funds will come from the Commemorative Magazine as well.
Costing is around $21,000 which includes a climbing wall and trampolines. The intention is that it is an
activity based carnival for the kids and music and food based carnival for adults.
Next Meeting: 25th May 2015 7.30 p.m. Room 7 or Staffroom
Meeting Closed 8:55pm
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