P & C Minutes Feb 16 2015 - Rossmoyne Primary School

P & C Minutes Feb 16 2015 - Rossmoyne Primary School

Rossmoyne Primary School P&C general meeting
minutes - Monday 16 February 2015
1. Present: John Coombe, Sonia Pilkington, Jocelyn Peoples, Stephen
Johnston, Geoff Anderson, Jo Turner, Sarah Haddow, George Atartis, Lisa
Flynn, David Furness, Rowan Stokes, Shelley Stokes, Francesca Renkema,
Kristy Williams, and one other who prefers to remain anonymous
Apologies: none
2. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting – 1 December 2014
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Stephen Johnston to write thank you letter to honorary auditor, Brian
Wallis
Stephen said he was almost certain he had sent the letter
Cheque signatories – Jade Furness, Rowan Stokes, Sonia Pilkington and
one other P&C member
Rowan said the signatories had been arranged.
Geoff Anderson to send invitations to new parents for the new parents’
sundowner early in the new year.
Geoff said the letters had been sent with the package of material to new
parents.
3. Correspondence
- Thank you card from Sylvie MacGregor for her gift of a travel document
holder from the P&C on her retirement as school registrar.
- Brochure promoting a coffee van which was handed to Jocelyn Peoples
for consideration for the faction sports day. This prompted a suggestion
that two vans were needed in light of quite long queues at times during the
2014 faction sports but it was agreed that one would be sufficient and it
would not be sufficiently profitable for two.
4. Reports

President
John Coombe noted with pleasure the good attendance at the first P&C
meeting for the year.

Treasurer
Rowan said the only expense this year had been a contribution by the
P&C of $346-50 for tablecloths for the graduation lunch. The P&C’s cash
balance as at 16 February 2015 was $30,084.
-
Rowan will arrange reimbursement of a P&C member for the purchase of
the travel wallet for Sylvie MacGregor.
Rossmoyne P&C Meeting Minutes 16 February 2015
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
Principal
Geoff said enrolments at the start of the term totalled 421 and the first day
attendance was about 95%+. He credited the smooth start for the year to
the hard work of registrar Sabrina Blankley, school officer Kerry Donovan,
and deputy principals Greg Wilson and Joanna Ashby. There were no
additional staff while Lyn Kovacic and Linda Bateman were the only staff
to depart as they did not have permanent positions. .
Geoff said parent-teacher meetings would be completed the following day
and there had been mostly good attendances. He thanked
Sarah Dodd, Lisa Flynn and their team for help in preparing the school
information information pack. There had been a good response to the
payment of contributions and charges with more than $70,000 in the first
week of collection. Geoff said the P & C could expect an electronic
transfer progress payment shortly. He said the availability of bank
electronic transfers had helped considerably.
Antonio's Pizza is reducing lunch orders to Wednesdays and Fridays
because orders had been low on Mondays.
Geoff said the school website calendar had been updated and requested
that he be advised of any inclusions as required. He said the school
budget and business plan were works in progress. There was a one line
budget totalling $3.562 million of which $2.995 million was devoted to
staffing costs. The school’s new Independent Public School (IPS) status
required the school to produce a business plan. This would be discussed
by the school board which would have its inaugural meeting on Monday
23 February 2015 with three new members expected to join. The value of
the school’s IPS status had been evident in the selection process for the
Rossmoyne Community Kindergarten’s permanent teacher, Michelle
Hamley, out of 260 applicants.

Events
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New Parents Sundowner - Friday 6 March 2015
Stephen encouraged parents to help out handing around the food, getting
drinks and generally welcoming new parents.
-
Rossmoyne-Shelley Primary School parents’ bowls night
Stephen said this would now be held on Friday 13 or 27th March
Rossmoyne P&C Meeting Minutes 16 February 2015
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50th anniversary progress report
George Atartis reported on the significant amount of progress that had
already been achieved including invitations sent and accepted by two
VIPS, a band booked and quotes obtained for various things including
external lighting. George said that we were looking at a budget of about
$12,500. We would hopefully know by April-May how much money we
need to fund raise. Geoff said we should aim for the event to be cost
neutral so there was not a need to draw on P&C funds.
Francesca suggested that we produce a commemorative magazine or
book that included historical snippets and interesting facts about the
school with possibly each class having responsibility for the content of a
page or two. It could adapt an idea used by Manning Primary School for a
tea towel where very child drew their face and wrote their name beside it.
She said this idea could be used for the border of the cover of the
magazine. Most of the publication could be produced before the event and
pre-ordered by parents with provision to drop in photos and reports on the
50th celebrations before final publication. Geoff said that if the magazine
was produced we should aim for cost recovery.

Road Safety
Jocelyn raised concerns about the dangers posed by the crossing in Third
Avenue next to the IGA car park. Children presumed it was a formal
crossing, which it isn’t; some vehicles stop to allow pedestrians to cross
but some don’t. Geoff reiterated that Main Roads would only consider
installing a zebra crossing if they found very high numbers of vehicles
using the road which was unlikely to be the case with Third Avenue.

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Grounds
Weed spraying of scrubby corner
Stephen said he was raising for the last time the need to spray weedicide
on the tussocky weeds in scrubby corner.

Book Club
Sonia Pilkington said that in 2015 there would be a trial of two book club
suppliers - Lamont and Scholastic . She said a volunteer was needed for
the book fair in August
5. Other Business

Lisa Flynn questioned the status of the Walking to School Bus, whether all
routes were still operating. Geoff said sustainability of these voluntary
parent initiatives was crucial.
Rossmoyne P&C Meeting Minutes 16 February 2015
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
Francesca Renkema said she had observed some suspicious behaviour
by a teenager looking into cars parked beside the school by parents
collecting children, and had contacted local police. It highlighted the need
for awareness about security and the risk of leaving valuables in a car
when the parent is away collecting children. It was agreed that
Rossmoyne is seen as a safe affluent area that was immune from crime
but in fact its lack of immunity was demonstrated by some recent incidents
in Webb Street.

Shelley Stokes asked about the overflowing lost property basket. Geoff
said that the school tried to track down the owners of the clothing but if
none could be found the clothing was washed and put up for second hand
sale.
Next 50th anniversary meeting: Monday 9 March 2015
Next P&C general meeting: Monday 23 March 2015
Rossmoyne P&C Meeting Minutes 16 February 2015
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