MINUTES
Currans Hill Public School P&C Committee Meeting
Week 3, Wednesday 11 th February, 2015, 7pm
Currans Hill Public School Staff Room
1.
Attendance:
Mr Keith Wray (KR), Ms O, Mrs K Miller (KM), Ms Sarah Crawford (SC), Ms Ruth Brown
(RB), Ms Emma Bailey (EB), Ms Julie Brisby (JB), Ms Kylie Eveson (KE), Ms Elise Farrawell
(EF), Mr Daryl Kiss (DK), Ms Sarah Ditton (SD), Ms Melanie McClelland (MM), Ms
Meredith Snowden (MS), Mr Josh Alexander (JA), Mr Ian Marsh (IM), Mr Rod McCarley
(RM), Ms Megan Kent (MK), Ms Lynda Muggleton (LM), Ms Joanne Thompson (JT), Ms
Jay Lund (JL).
2.
Apologies:
Ms Cassie Nicholls. Mrs S Wilson.
3.
Confirmation of Previous Minutes:
Due to the last meeting being the end of year function there were no previous minutes recorded.
4.
Correspondence In:
4.1 Hart Sport. Sportswear Catalogue. Passed to MM and SD/ Uniform Shop.
4.2 Crown Concepts Fundraising. Mother’s Day gift Catalogue. Passed to JT, head of fundraising.
4.3 Smart Gift Ideas. Mother’s Day gift Catalogue. Passed to JT.
4.4 Moon and Back Gifts. Mother’s Day gift Catalogue. Passed to JT.
5.
Correspondence Out:
There was no outgoing correspondence recorded.
Introductions:
New attendees to the P&C meeting were invited to introduce themselves to the group.
Returning Principal Mr Keith Wray (KW) also introduced himself and gave a brief background of his teaching career, his time away from, and subsequent return to
Currans Hill Public School (CHPS).
6.
Principal’s Report:
6.1
Staffing and enrolments.
570 students, 77 Kindergarten students enrolled. Following the staffing formula this entitled CHPS to 25 classes (22 mainstream and 3 support, not 23 mainstream). This meant a previously set up class (3/4N) was unable to run and different arrangements were made for the students who had been allocated to this class at the beginning of the
Term. Mrs Narayan was very professional throughout, after the class was dissolved and has been given another job within CHPS. Mrs Balcon, Miss Barrett and Mr Craig have joined CHPS. Mrs Pearce has left the school after being promoted to Instructional Leader at Campbelltown East Public School on a 2 year appointment.
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A Merit Selection Panel will be held this term for the position of Assistant Principal
(Replacing Mrs Wilson, who is now Deputy Principal). A parent representative (who has completed the necessary training) is required on the panel.
There are 4 open learning space classes. Classes are formed based on numbers in each grade and student needs.
6.2
Team Leaders.
Team Leaders are: Mr Weir – Stage 3
Mrs Ryan – Stage
Mrs Kemp/Mrs Budd – Stage 1
Mrs Riley – Kindergarten
Miss Muldoon – Support
If any concerns cannot be resolved after speaking to teaching staff and then the team leader, please contact Mrs Wilson or Mr Wray.
6.3
Meet the Teacher.
Many meet the teacher interviews have been held this week (Wk. 3) the main purpose of these is for parents to inform teachers of any needs. Mrs Wilson and Mr Wray have presented 2 sessions on the open learning spaces.
6.4
New Attendance Policy.
There have been changes to the Department of Education and Communities (DEC)
Attendance Policy effective from day 1, 2015. Primarily, travel and holidays in school terms will NOT be exempt. They will either be granted Approved Leave or Unjustified
Leave and WILL count against a child’s AND the schools attendance record. These decisions are at the Principals discretion and will be made with the best interest of the child in mind. (A good attendance will count towards a favourable decision). Absences due to Birthdays etc will not be approved. A new form is required to be completed.
Additionally a leave explanation for any form of leave must be submitted within 7 days of the child’s first day of leave. IM requested an extremely detailed explanation of this new attendance policy be completed for the parents of students attending CHPS.
6.5
Swimming Carnival.
The swimming Carnival was held on the 30 th January at Camden Pool. A big thank you to
Mrs Ryan and the many parents who assisted on the day. Representatives will now go to the Zone Carnival on 26/27 th February at Picton Swimming Pool.
6.6
Canteen News.
The current licence agreement terminates on the 17 th July this year. A new tender must be called and will be arranged towards the end of term 1 and into term 2. A parent representative (who has completed the necessary training) will be required.
6.7
Uniforms.
General uniform is excellent however the school has spoken to the students regarding coloured shoes on Mondays to Thursdays. The school is strongly encouraging black shoes on these days and sports shoes only on Fridays.
6.8
School Homework Focus.
Presentation by Mrs Miller and Mrs O.
CHPS is looking at the possibility of changing the focus of homework throughout the school. K-2 will continue home readers. Reading needs to become one of the biggest focuses, it needs to be the habit that is formed. This includes students reading to parents and/or parents reading to students on a daily basis. There is a move away from the previous homework sheets to hopefully decrease parent, and student anxiety.
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Kindergarten will receive a sound sheet and sight words as well as home readers. The aim is to deformalize and be more enjoyable.
All students will be given passwords to ‘Reading Eggs’, ‘Mathletics and ‘Study Ladder’, to enable these websites to be utilised at home, as needed. Teachers can easily access and monitor their students’ progress, provide feedback and set different activities if needs change. The school is also considering Personal Interest Projects. These could be set in stages and would be long term tasks, to be more flexible. They are not intended for parents to complete for the students. Students should be encouraged by their parents to complete these activities as independently as possible. Parents are not meant to be that involved. These activities would be optional but would help your child/ren and reinforce their learning.
KW stated that there are lots of different opinions on homework and it is impossible for schools in general to cater for all extremes and, that homework should reinforce what the students are learning in class.
IM stated this had been quite a good discussion and a quick vote decided the P&C is happy to endorse the above suggestions. It was agreed that the P&C members would circulate what had been discussed through the wider school community.
7.
Treasurers Report (by SD):
The P&C account balance is $8000.
8.
School Uniform Shop Report:
The final repayment has been made back from the setting up of the uniform shop. All profit from the shop now becomes additional fundraising contributions. Total Equity is currently $33, 000. Mrs O asked about the new school bags and SD reported she had placed a 2 nd order. KM stated ‘the uniform shop is awesome.’
9.
Fundraising Report (by JT):
$1500 was made from the Christmas Raffle. Fundraising items discussed were ideas which we did not get around to last year. Cookie Drive and/or Pie Drive. A Movie Night is also to be followed up with a proposed movie and date etc by JT. An inquiry was made about the possibility of running another Gala day canteen, JT also to follow up. Easter
Raffle was discussed, tentatively the raffle tickets will be distributed in Wk 8 and a mufti day with Easter egg donation will be held on the 17 th of March. The prize baskets can then be made up and the raffle drawn on the 31 st March (Wk. 10).
10.
General Business:
10.1 As mentioned by KW in the Principals Report a parent representative is required for the interview panel for the Assistant Principal Position. IM volunteered for this.
10.2 The grass out the front of the school was mentioned and enquired who is responsible for its up keep. KW said Mr Herman the GA reported he had previously been abused by parents when he had attended to it because of grass and rocks going onto their cars. KW further stated Mr Herman would attend to it if the Council had not within the next few days.
10.3 KW stated he would like to put the minutes form the P&C meetings on a page of the schools web site. This was agreed to.
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10.4 JL asked what had been received in the P&C suggestion box located in the foyer.
JT checked and there was nothing posted.
10.5 LM asked what had happened to the Long Jump pit which the P&C were under the impression would be built within the school grounds with some of their previous fundraising donation money. Mrs O stated she remembered this being discussed as she had asked if the sand pit could be filled up at the same time and it had been agreed to.
10.6 JB stated it was nice to see the school involved with the school banking scheme.
10.7 MS asked about the possibility of the school Newsletter becoming paperless. After a brief discussion it was agreed that CHPS was not ready for this. RB further asked why the Newsletter is given to the youngest not the oldest family member enrolled at the school. KW said it was because the older children were previously renowned for not passing the newsletter on to parents.
11.
Next Meeting:
Annual General Meeting. Week 7. Wednesday 11 th March, Currans Hill Public School
Staff Room at 7pm.
12.
Meeting Closed.
There being no further business the meeting was closed at 8.50pm.
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