MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF TOORA PRIMARY SCHOOL

HELD Tuesday 7th March

Meeting Opened: 4:30pm

Present: Emma Hughes, Brett Whittle, Nigel Plowright, Tara Hollier, Michelle Bacon, Robert Tinker,

Di Walker – minutes

Apologies: Jen Delaney and Anna Hopkins

Minutes of the Previous AGM read:

Accepted as tabled. Moved: Tara Hollier Seconded: Emma Hughes

School Council President Report:

Tara tabled report that she had sent out to School community through the newsletter - see attached

Nomination Form for Parent Member Category received from:

Ms Anna Hopkins, Mrs Tara Hollier, Mrs Michelle Bacon

Thank you to out-going School Councillors:

Nil

All positions of School Council declared vacant:

Position Nominate Nominated By Seconded By President Tara Hollier Nigel Plowright Emma Hughes Vice President Nigel Plowright Tara Hollier Emma Hughes PFA Representative Tara Hollier Emma Hughes Nigel Plowright DEET Member Brett Whittle Co-opted Community Member unfilled Sub Committees: Finance Bob Tinker, Tara Hollier, Emma Hughes, Michelle Bacon, Di Walker

Agenda items are to be logged with the School Office the week prior to the scheduled council meeting.

Parents and Friends Association & Canteen finance will be done through the CASES office system.

PFA Minutes not required to be tabled but a report to School Council is expected at each meeting.

School Annual Report

Unable to be tabled as DET Template not available as yet. Annual Report to be tabled at next meeting.

Finance Report:

Finance Committee to meet on the Tuesday prior to School Council meeting at 8:30am

Finance Policy and Investment Policy approved with slight amendments: Amend policy to include the Term

Deposit recently opened.

As school best practice - One DET member and one parent member to sign/approve payments where possible

Moved: Tara Hollier Seconded: Nigel Plowright

AGM General Business:

Meeting Closed: 4:50 pm

2016 School Council President Report

What a year; 2016 has seen so much change and our school has had so much vibrant activity it’s

sometimes hard to keep up. It is so fantastic to see so many happy, smiling faces whenever I visit the

school, and I love to hear from the students about what they have been doing and their latest

achievements, whether it is in the classroom, on the sporting field or outside of school - all our kids

have stories to share and

reasons to celebrate.

A massive thank you to all of our staff including Di, Gary and our wonderful teachers, Louise, Brett and

Rachel; you guys are amazing and have worked through some tough times this year. It is so nice to still

you with a smile on your face. A special thanks also to Brett for stepping up at extremely short notice

earlier this year as our Acting Principal, you did a great job! When the opportunity came I’m sure you

were happy to get back to the classroom.

Toora PS is so lucky to have fantastic parent and community support- our hardworking PFA ensures that

we can run a variety of activities including the Toora Pear Party, sausage sizzle, gift making, crazy hair

day,

hypnotist night, movie nights, lunch orders, outside catering events; the list goes on. Parent support also

ensures the kids can have one on one reading, swimming lessons, sports days, camps, excursions,

working bees and more.

Local business support has meant that this year we have been so unbelievably lucky to have received

outside funding; this has ensured that we can update our maths and science resources, new netbooks

for every child in 3-6 and playground improvements – thank you to ViPLus Dairy, ESSO, RATCH and

Department of Health (Shade Sails).

The funding that we have received and the fantastic fundraising that has been done this year has

helped us to achieve a small but healthy budget surplus for the 2016 year, for a school our size we are

incredibly

fortunate to be in this position and be able to offer our students so many opportunities.

School Council has been working hard this year to comply with new Child Safe Standards, update and

ratify school policies, facilitate various maintenance works (inside and outside) as well as ensuring our

teachers are prepared to introduce the new Victorian curriculum. We have also started our school

review

process which will lead in to creating Toora Primary School’s Strategic Plan for the next four years.

We are thrilled to report that our kids are happy, safe and feel like they belong, this social and emotional

development has ultimately meant that academically our students are achieving goals and potential;

Toora Primary School is a place to learn and achieve goals and our kids are doing just that, I call that a

win for us all.

We will say goodbye to our Grade Six boys, we hope they have all enjoyed their time at Toora Primary,

we wish them every success for secondary college and their future; and a huge welcome to our new

Grade Prep students and families.

I would also like to wish Gary well next year and thank him for his work here at Toora Primary School

as our Chaplain these last 18 months.

On a sad note, unfortunately our Acting Principal Andrea Penrose will not be returning in 2017. A

fantastic career opportunity has presented itself and it is too good for her to pass up. Andrea has led

our school for the last seven months with passion and dedication, the improvement in student

behaviour and staff morale is amazing. We will miss Andrea and seeing her smiling face every day and

I’m sure that you will all join me in wishing her nothing but the best for her future. As a school

community we must continue her great work and not take a step back…keep working towards our

ultimate goal of being the best we can be.

We will welcome a new acting principal, Robert Tinker, in Term one; Robert joins us from Tanjil South

Primary School where he has been a Teaching Principal for the past 20 years. A new selection process

will begin during Term two for a new substantive principal. I thank you for your patience during this time

and you can rest assured that we do not take this task lightly, we will do our very best to find the perfect

person to lead Toora Primary School.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our School Councillors. You are a very hard-working group of people,

guiding our school and making decisions in the best interests of all students.

Your School Council President

Tara Hollier - Dec 2016