Last night’s Community Council meeting was another great opportunity to dedicate an hour of our time to discuss the inner-workings of our wonderful school. Recently we made it a regular fixture that we would set aside a moment at each meeting to reflect on our commitments as a Council based on the Council Constitution. This ensures that in addition to our operational goals, such as fundraising, we also focus on the more strategic elements of our leadership role. We have broken our role into several areas, those being - Catholic Identity & Character, Academic Programs, Physical Resources, Leadership, Financial, Enrolment & Growth and Event Planning. At this week's meeting we spent time going through each area and identifying what we are currently doing in these areas to support the school and started to name areas we can focus on for improvement.

Events: The school disco was considered a big success by all with particular praise for the fantastic DJ who really created a fun atmosphere for the kids. Overall we raised a profit of around $1000 which is noticeably more than the same event last year. In future we will incorporate cleaning up the hall as part of a fun game so there is less rubbish left for staff and parent helpers to manage. 

Plans for the TV themed trivia night are going great with lots of exciting decorations being discussed. Tables are starting to fill up so get in quick and reserve your team’s spot. Should be a fabulous night. If any families own businesses that might like to donate a prize in exchange for some publicity, please contact the school this week.

Financials: The Council is currently working on a two-year financial plan which will ensure that spending is managed well across the two-year cycle of our big fundraisers: fete and raffle.

Parish Report: Qkr! is soon to be introduced as part of the Parish Planned Giving program which will make donating easier given everyone seems to be moving away from cash payments elsewhere. Parish Feast Day for Our Lady of Perpetual Help will be held on Saturday 29 June at St Monica’s in Evatt.

Sustainability: A meeting was held by the Sustainability Action Group emphasising their shared vision to keep Miss Jordan’s Garden a vibrant part of our school landscape. It was noted how proud and dedicated our senior Sustainability Leaders have been when showing the greenhouse to school visitors and this mirrors a healthy level of interest from all year groups. We hope to include more content from their work on this project in the newsletter soon. 

Reconciliation Action Plan: First meeting will occur soon and the goal is to draft a statement of intent outlining ways to build reconciliation into our activities at school. Parent volunteers are needed and should chat to Miss Lewis if they have any questions.

Enrolments: We are hearing positive things about St Michael’s in the community and are happy to report that enrolment numbers are looking good for the rest of this year and 2020.

If you would like to be involved with any of the activities of the Council or have some suggestions, please email us at: council.stmichaelsps@cg.catholic.edu.au

Emma Bickley on behalf of the Community Council team.