Friends EGM: Minutes of Discussion and Vote on Proposed Changes
to Friends Constitution
Thursday 1st March 2012, Legend Garden Boardroom
Friends Executive Committee Members Present: Eileen Tong (Chair), Louise Knobel, Clare McDouall,
Nilima Naik, Jane Nieman (Minutes), Veena Rao, Suzi Roberts, Lisa Schlueter, Margaret Seiche, Fiona
Wong
Apologies: Faye Archer, Victoire Gheeraerdts, Gwen Guo, Fiona Ness, Selina Wong-Yeh, Carina Zhou
1.
Headmaster’s Update (Neal McGowan)
Appointment of Sarah Humphries as Head of Early Years confirmed.
In line with all Dulwich schools, Founders Day, a celebration of the history and heritage of Dulwich, will
be introduced at DCB, beginning in the 2012 – 2013 academic year. To avoid pressure on an already full
calendar, the school is proposing to blend Founders Day with International Day. This will result in an
earlier start, but no changes envisaged to format of International Day.
Master Class for gifted Chinese scholars will be piloted after the Easter Break. This is intended for
Chinese heritage speakers and will cover the culture, history and literature of China. An external tutor
will teach this pilot which will be held on Saturdays. Intended for Yr 10 onwards and the school will be
sending out information and advertising for students to opt-in to the programme.
Interviews are in progress for the position of Legend Garden Receptionist (part time job share).
Successful candidates will be announced next week and will start after the April school break.
DCB has undertaken an initiative ‘Raising Standards in Teaching and Learning’, part of a programme of
continuous self improvement to ensure consistent standards of excellence across the school. Two
external consultants will be working with DCB on this project over the coming weeks.
The 3 Year Strategic Plan has been finalized and will be available on the school website within the next 2
weeks.
Thank you to Veena Rao who acted as moderator at Headmaster’s Question Time earlier in the month.
The theme for this year’s International Day will be ‘The Olympics’. Much more to follow!
2. Community Feedback (All)
Comment received that some teaching staff are being approached while they are on their breaks in
Coffee and Books by parents wishing to discuss in-depth issues specific to their children. Coffee and
Books is not the appropriate venue for such discussions and teachers should be encouraged to request
the parents set up meetings to discuss in school time. This will continue to be reviewed.
3. Dinner Dance Update (Veena Rao)
The Dinner Dance now has 80 different sponsors, the menu is finalized and tickets are selling steadily.
Tickets are still available and should be advertised in the School Newsletter (Action: Neal McGowan)
and Beijing Café (Action: Jane Nieman). A small number of helpers are needed on the night to help with
the auction bids. Suzi will identify helpers (Action: Suzi Roberts).
Raffle tickets are being sold in the LG and RMC reception areas. Do not need to go to the Dinner Dance
to enter the raffles.
4. Discussion and Voting on Proposed Changes to Friends Constitution (All)
The Friends Constitution is a document that defines the operation and management of Friends of
Dulwich. It has become increasingly apparent that Friends, and the way in which it operates, may
benefit from making a few changes. It is hoped these changes will promote a greater sense of
‘inclusiveness and integration’ in our community and a greater understanding of what Friends is all
about.
As such, a number of proposed changes to the Friends Constitution have been put forward by the
Friends Executive Committee for discussion and agreement.
The proposals and agreements made at this EGM are summarized on the table below.
Actions:
Update Friends Constitution document to reflect agreements made at this meeting (Eileen Tong, Jane
Nieman)
Distribute letter to DCB community outlining changes to Constitution (Eileen Tong)
Post updated constitution to the Friends pages of DCB website (Jane Nieman)
Reinforce wherever possible that ALL parents and guardians at Dulwich are Friends. Friends is not a
separate organization or a distinct group of parents. We need to consider this when writing the Friends
Newsletter (Jane Nieman). Eileen will also be writing a piece for the next issue of the College Magazine
(Eileen Tong). Neal will include in the next School Newsletter (Neal McGowan).
Section 3.1: Membership
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Comments
The Members of Friends are:
As Friends is defined as a parent
organisation, our proposal is for the
membership of Friends to be limited
to:
· All parents and legal guardians of
current students at the School
(Parent Members)
· A representative from the
teaching/administrative staff
appointed by the Headmaster (School
Member
The proposal was agreed with no
changes.
Neal McGowan confirmed that the
definition of an ‘International Old
Alleynian (IOA)’ is a student who has
attended a Dulwich International
School AND has graduated from Year
11 or Year 13. If a student does not
graduate, the student is not an IOA.
. All parents and legal guardians of
current students at the School
(Parent Members)
· A representative from the
teaching/administrative staff
appointed by the Headmaster (School
Member)
· Current teachers at the School
(Faculty Members)
· Current Board members (Board
Members)
· Currently employed staff at the
school (Staff Members); and
· Past parents and ex-students who
are members of the Old Alleynians
Club (Old Alleynian Members)
All other ex-students are known as
alumni.
Section 3.2 Members Voting Rights
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
(a) The following Members are
entitled to one vote at all Open
Meetings:
(i) Parent Members; (ii) School
Member; (iii) Faculty members; and
(iv) Board members who are also
either a parent or a teacher.
(b) Board Members who are not
teachers or parents, Staff Members
and Old Alleynian Members have no
voting rights.
If the proposed changes to Friends
membership are agreed,
our proposal is that all members of
Friends have the right to vote at
Friends AGM, Friends EGM and
Friends Open Meetings
The proposal was agreed, although it
was recognized that there may be
some Friends Open Meetings where
the voting may need to be restricted
to Exec Committee members, e.g.
Allocation of Enrichment Fund.
Appropriate wording will be
incorporated in the Constitution and
parents will be notified via agenda if
a future Friends Open Meeting needs
to have closed voting.
Comments
Section 5: Friends Committee
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Management of the affairs and funds
of Friends is vested in the Friends
Executive Committee
We propose that the Friends
Executive Committee is renamed to
‘Friends Committee’.
The proposal was agreed with
no changes.
Comments
Section 6.1: Composition of Friends Executive Committee
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Comments
The Executive Committee when
complete will consist of the:
Core Positions:
The Executive Committee
when complete will consist of
the:
Chair
Optional Vice-Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
Communications
School Member
Campus Representatives (x5)
Event Coordinator
Friends Shop Coordinator
Coffee and Books Coordinator
Charity Coordinator
Up to 4 general officers who may be
allocated roles or posts on an ad hoc
/ as needed basis as determined by
the Executive Committee
Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
School Member
Early Years Coordinator
Junior School Coordinator
Senior School Coordinator
Communications Coordinator
Events Coordinator
Friends Shop Coordinator
Coffee and Books Coordinator
Charity Coordinator
Chair
Vice Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
School Member
Early Years Coordinator
Junior School Coordinator
Senior School Coordinator
Communications Coordinator
Events Coordinator
Friends Shop Coordinator
Coffee and Books Coordinator
Charity Coordinator
Social Coordinator
Culture Club Coordinator
It was felt that for the committee to
undertake all the current events and
activities, there should not be ‘core’ and
‘optional’ members. Therefore all
members are considered ‘core’.
Ideally a Chair and a Vice Chair should be in
place. If there is no Vice Chair, the Chair
can consider rotating the chairing of
meetings. Did not agree to the concept of
two chairs as this would make
communication difficult.
Discussion of Community Liaison position
felt that these activities should be
undertaken by either the Chair or Vice Chair
(or both) depending on their skill sets. In
addition, the entire committee to a greater
or lesser extent should consider themselves
‘community liaisons’. Therefore, this was
not agreed as an additional role on the
Friends Committee.
Events coordinator: In order to reduce the
load on one person and make the most of
individual talents, it was agreed that this
position could be rotated so that different
people are responsible for managing a
different event such as Moonlight Madness,
Annual Dinner Dance, International Day etc.
Additional Optional Positions:
Social Coordinator
Culture Club Coordinator
Community Liaison
Vice-Chair
Section 6.2: Election of Friends Executive Committee
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Comments
The current process for election of
the Friends Executive Committee is
detailed in the Constitution (Section
6.2).
We propose that the election process
is removed entirely.
The proposal was agreed with no
changes.
In the event that more than one
parent would like to fill a particular
role, the options available to them
will be discussed with the
Headmaster and the School Member.
Any election that may subsequently
take place will be managed by the
school.
Instead, a Friends Open Meeting will
be held at least 2 weeks before the
AGM. At this meeting, parents will
be given the opportunity to meet and
chat with current committee
members about the positions they
are interested in.
From this meeting it is hoped a new
committee will begin to take shape
and can be announced at the AGM.
No parent should feel discouraged
from volunteering as each position,
with the exception of Chair,
has the potential to be shared.
Any positions that remain unfilled
may be advertised in the Friends
newsletter.
Committee term runs from AGM to
AGM (one year)
Sections 4 and 6.6: Friends Meetings
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Comments
Information relating to Friends
meetings is detailed in Sections 4 and
6.6 of the current Friends
Constitution.
In an effort to shift the emphasis
from Friends Executive Meetings to
Friends Open Meetings, we propose
the following:
It was agreed that a Friends Meeting
will be held every month which can
be either a Friends Executive
Committee Meeting or a Friends
Open Meeting.
Open meetings need a
talk/presentation by a guest speaker
to draw in as many parents as
possible.
The Executive Committee should
meet at least once a term to conduct
their business.
If it is an Open Meeting, the agenda
should be published in the Friends
Newsletter prior to the meeting.
To promote inclusiveness within
Friends, our proposal is to increase
the number of Open Meetings to at
least two per term so that there is a
greater focus on Open Meetings
rather than Executive Committee
meetings.
Each Friends Executive Committee
can decide if more of either meeting
would be beneficial to the business of
Friends.
AGM (Annual General Meeting): To
take place every Spring preferably
before the Spring break.
Section 6.7: Powers of the Executive Committee
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
The heading of Section 6.7 is
“Powers of the Executive Committee”
To change the heading to “Duties of
the Friends Committee”
Proposal agreed with no changes.
Comments
Section 2.1: Mission Statement
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Friends is a non-political, non-profit
volunteer service organisation of
parents in the School community.
Friends is established and operates
under PRC Law to support the School
community and advance the
education of its students by:
(a) developing effective relationships
and communication between
interested parties within the School
community; and
(b) raising funds that may be directed
to:
(i) charitable purposes;
(ii) invested in School projects; or
(iii) invested in projects suggested by
the students or Friends that advance
the community or education of the
students
Friends is a non-political, non-profit,
volunteer service organisation of
parents in the School community.
The aim of Friends is to work closely
in partnership with the School to
support students, parents and staff
as well as extending those bridges
into the wider community within
which we live
Proposal agreed with no changes.
Comments
Section 2.2: Objectives of Friends
Current Wording
Proposal
Agreed
Friends is established to:
(a) promote close cooperation and
communication between parents, teachers, the
School administration, School alumni and the
local community for the benefit of the School
community;
(b) welcome and support new School families as
they adjust to life in Beijing;
(c) engage in fundraising activities so that funds
may be provided to:
(i) charities designated by the Executive
Committee and agreed to by the School;
(ii) the School community for community
events;
(iii) the School for projects, facilities or
equipment that the Executive Committee
determine support the mission statement; or
(iv) the students to support student projects
or advance student education.
(v) the Friends operating budget to cover
operational and running costs.
(d) manage the classroom representatives so
that there is clear communication between
teachers and parents regarding parent
volunteers in the classroom or organisational
needs for special classroom events;
(e) promote the use of School facilities by its
committees and clubs and through other
activities as may be permitted by the
Headmaster.
Friends is established to:
Promote close cooperation and
communication between the
school and parents for the
benefit of the School
community.
Promote cooperation and
communication with the local
community for the benefit of
both the School community and
the local community.
Put forward a number of
activities and events to support
the mission statement.
Engage in fundraising activities
to benefit students, staff,
parents and charity.
Proposal agreed with no
changes.
Comments