Term 1, 2020

Hello and welcome to the first board report for 2020.

For those parents new to our school this year the School Board is an advisory board to the Parish Priest and Principal.

The broad aims of the School Board are to:
• act as an advisory body to the parish priest and principal, on matters concerning education in the school and parish
• act as a forum for discussion on matters concerning education in the parish and parish school
• provide a link between the parish priest, principals, parents, teachers and parishioners in relation to the provision of Catholic education in the parish community
• promote community development by fostering strong relationships between parish and school.

The School Board is made up of the Parish Priest, Co-Ordinating Principal, School Principal, a staff representative and elected parents and parishioners. 

Hopefully many of you will have seen the School Board noticeboard that has been created in the school foyer in the office. This noticeboard provides details of which parents are currently serving on the school board, their children involved in the school and an email address for the school board. If there is anything you would like the school board to know, review or discuss please feel free to approach any member of the board at any time however if you prefer you can also email the board on schoolboard@scmoorabbin.catholic.edu.au. The email address for the school board is also provided on the noticeboard.

On Monday, 2 March we held our term 1 board meeting, the first for the new year. The key agenda items discussed were:

1. Changes to the Catholic Education Governance Model – As was established last year, and will remain to be a key discussion topic of our board throughout 2020, the Catholic Archdiocese is currently in the process of amending the current governance model of schools in Victoria. There has been no reportable change in this process since the end of last year. As a board we will continue to stay across this and will report back to the parent body when further information becomes available.
2. St Catherine’s Playgroup – This initiative driven by Lynda O’Donnell, our school principal has now started and is being utilised by some families within the school community. The school is looking to extend this offering to other families of the external community. A great way for St Catherine’s to live its catholic values and embrace the wider community as well as provide visibility of our school to potential new families and future attendees. If you would like to partake in this activity please speak with the school office or Lynda directly.
3. Child Safety – Of paramount importance within our school community is child safety and the ongoing wellbeing of our children. This is a topic tabled at every board meeting. Last year you may remember that we were involved in piloting the Australian Safe Kids and Young People (ASK-YP) Survey with students and evaluating the benefits for participating schools. The project is intended to inform the review and continuous improvement of child safety cultures across the whole system.

The data we received last year was valuable but in isolation it is limited so we are pleased that the pilot schools will have the opportunity to be involved again this term. We will keep you informed as to when and of the results when we receive them.

4. Friendology – We discussed this new program that has been widely launched into the school this year. It has been extremely well received by the children and has started to become a key underlying principle of how our children interact with each other and how they manage their relationships. I can speak first hand at seeing the positive outcomes that this program has been having on the children and look forward to seeing further growth in this area. To ensure parents remain across this initiative and more importantly understand its place in our school, it has been recommended by the board that the school increase visibility of this through additional communication and touch points for the parents. Please keep an eye out.
5. School Review 2020 – This will be taking place mid to end March. I will report on the outcomes of this as they are made available to us later in the year.
6. Coronavirus – as a current widely discussed topic within the media and the community as a whole we took the opportunity to add this to our agenda for review. It is always important to stay across these events as they occur in our lives. There have been no new updates from the department of education on this and all indicators remain constant. One thing I would urge, which should always be the case but is well worth mentioning in this forum at this time, is to remember the importance of hygiene. Our school are rigorously enforcing strong hygiene habits amongst the children and remain vigilant in this area, which is great to see. This will remain a focus.
7. P & F – I would like to take this opportunity to thank Karen Glancy who has kindly taken up the reins of P&F Coordinator. This year marks a key milestone as Karen is also a serving member of the school board. Establishing a strong link between the school board and the P&F function of our school has been a pet project of mine since taking on the chair role last year and to see this now occur is extremely satisfying. Certainly, in my time at St Catherine’s I have not seen this link established between the two functions and I not only welcome this move but keenly watch to see the great outcomes that will come from a greater level of transparency, communication and engagement between the two functions.

Lastly, and again, please do not hesitate to touch base with one of our school board members if you would like to discuss anything or make anything known. It is our responsibility to represent the parent body within the St Catherine’s school and we are only too happy to do so.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this board report and I look forward to speaking with you around the school grounds.

Darren Forner

Chair – St Catherine’s School Board