The School Board meets twice per term to:
- Establish and review from the school’s objectives, priorities and general policy directions;
- Plan financial arrangements necessary to fund those objectives, priorities and directions;
- Evaluate the school’s performance in achieving those objectives, priorities and directions; and
- Formulate codes of conduct for students at the school.
Board Member roles:
- Parent members of Boards bring their experience as parents at the school, and the views and context of the wider school community.
- Community members may bring expertise such as business, or accounting skills that the Board is looking for at that time.
- Department of Education employees bring their educational expertise.
Board Report 28th November 2024
The Board had its last meeting for the year on the 28th November 2023 and reflected on the amazing year SCPS has had.
The Board are very proud of the students’ efforts, resilience and creativity. Thank you to the fabulous teachers and support staff who make a SCPS a great place to play, learn and grow.
The Board endorsed the Budget for 2025 and is happy to see a positive budget closure from 2024.
It is pleasing to see that the school grounds and facilities have been improved and refreshed, specifically:
· The new water fountains at school
· Upgraded lighting
· Library space re-arranged and used as a learning hub
· Appealing and better functioning front administration office
· Upgrade to the staff room
A very successful year with our active P&C Committee, thank you for all your work.
The Board wishes all the students, families and staff a safe festive season, a Happy New Year and school holidays full of joy!
See you back at school on Wednesday 5th February 2025.
Sanja Tesic
Board Report 25th October 2024
The school Board met for the first time in term four on the 25th October.
We reviewed and endorsed the stationary lists and contributions and charges estimates for 2025. The Admin team has worked hard to try to keep costs down for families, which the Board appreciates.
Rachel Spears talked us through the end of year activities for the year 6 graduating class – they have lots of fun activities planned to commemorate their last year in primary school!
We discussed and provided support for the proposed changes to the information included in our children’s reports, which is in accordance with Department requirements. There will still be plenty of meaningful information to read and talk to our kids about and details about these changes have been communicated through Connect.
Julia Formato-Stockman
Board Chair
Board Report 30th August 2024
Today the school board met for their regular meeting. First and foremost, the board would like to congratulate the school and staff on a highly successful Public School Review. As a result of their hard work, the school have obtained a three-year return on their review, as well as congratulatory letters from the District Director and Review team. The staff have self-identified areas for growth, which will help to form the next Business Plan (strategic plan) for our school. Well done, South Coogee PS!
As well as staffing, school maintenance and finances, the board also head about the Stephen Michael Foundation pilot program, which will run with our year 6 classes. This six-week program addresses highly relevant topics such as respect, team building, resilience, high school transition and cultural responsiveness. The school is lucky to be involved in this pilot free of charge; our appreciation goes to Mrs Beard for securing this opportunity for our senior students.
We also heard from staff about the Professional Learning opportunities afforded by the Network Day on 16th August. On this day, staff from local schools came together and heard from a range of speakers, such as the Director General of the Department of Education, the Commissioner for Young People and coaching & leadership expert Jenny Cole. This event only happens once every few years, and is an excellent opportunity to builder teacher knowledge and relationships across the Network.
Finally, the Board would like to recognise the work of our school’s Manager Corporate Services (MCS), Sue Parr. Sue recently coordinated an event for other Manager Corporate Services and School Officers from schools in our local area. This is no easy task! There they heard from expert speakers on topics such as the financial management of the school, a new program for attendance, finance and record keeping, and labour relations. Thank you, Sue, for your hard work within our school and other local public schools.
Our meeting was filled with good news stories of SCPS staff stepping up into leadership opportunities and ‘going the extra mile’ to continuously improve our school. We are once again grateful for the hard work of all school staff; you are making our school a better and better place every day!
Ferne Watson
Parent Representative
30th August 2024
Board Report; Friday 7th June 2024
At today’s meeting, the board members discussed lots of exciting happenings around the school.
Mrs Beard and her staff are currently preparing for the upcoming School Review. During this process, reviewers from the Department of Education come in to the school and verify that the school is operating successfully. The board looks forward to supporting the school’s presentations to the reviewers.
We were excited to hear that the school is a recipient of the Woolworths Junior Landcare Award. This qualifies us as a finalist in the national awards ceremony, to be held early next year. Once again our school is in the spotlight for our work in caring for our environment. The board would like to congratulate all staff and students who continue to work hard to care for our planet.
The board also discussed feedback on late openings, lighting upgrades, and updates made to the school’s Healthy Food and Drink Policy. The policy updates have been made to include the operation of the Canteen and Breakfast Club.
We ended our meeting with a tour of the school library, which has had a makeover. We were blown away by the difference that moving the shelving has made to the space. Thank you to everyone involved who have made this part of our school a much more user-friendly and inviting space.
A reminder that the board acts as a conduit between the school and the community. Your parent representatives are here to chat if you have something you’d like to see happen or improve. We look forward to continuing our work as your board next term.
Ferne Watson
Parent Representative
Board Report; Friday 15th March 2024
The Board had its second meeting for the year on the 15th March 2024 and a number of items were discussed.
We had a discussion regarding the ongoing fortnightly late openings. This item will be discussed throughout Term 2 and revisited at the next meeting.
We discussed the value of our current report comments for Mathematics and English. We discussed whether longer, more detailed general comments might be more beneficial. Semester 1 comments will be under the current format.
David Scaife has generously pledged $50,000 for student-facing capital works, contingent upon the reelection of the Cook government and his re-election. This pledge marks a significant contribution to our school’s development.
The Annual Report is currently being compiled. Teachers have submitted reports from their Learning Areas for the report.
We’ve been engaging in conversations with the Year 5/6 cohort about “Good Standing.” Additionally, we’ve communicated relevant information about this to parents.
Rosalind Byrne
Acting Associate Principal
February 2024 Board Meeting
On Friday 16 February the School Board met for the first meeting of the year.
The members of the Board for the year include April Morgan, Ferne Watson, Sanja Tesic and myself as continuing parent representatives; Principal Lyn Beard and Associate Principal Ros Byrne (in her acting capacity); Teacher representative Cristy Coulson and MCS Sue Parr.
Staffing was discussed – the new year has meant there have been a few changes in staffing as some of our staff have moved on either temporarily or permanently. There is a current recruitment process underway for the Associate Principal position which was vacated by Sarah Baden-Powell at the end of last year and we hope that by term 2 we will be welcoming South Coogee’s new Associate Principal!
We spent time having an in depth discussion about the phonics and literacy programs, both those implemented at our school and requirement of the Department of Education to have evidence based literacy programs, which we are pleased to report are already implemented as a whole of school approach. We also discussed Focus 2024 which documents the areas of focus for School and Lyn talked us through the changes for the year.
We discussed the Public School Review process, which all Western Australian Public Schools are required to go through. Through this process a school goes through a self-assessment (reflect on their performance against six domains and provide evidence to support their assessment), which is then reviewed by a team, consisting of an employee from the Department of Education and principal peer reviewer (from a similar school). The review team checks the self-assessment and supporting evidence and conducts a day long site visit at the school where they meet with the school principal and any other individuals nominated by the principal. South Coogee underwent a review three years ago (which members of the Board were involved in) with strong and positive outcomes and, in accordance with the review schedule, will undergo another review during 2024.
Ongoing maintenance, improving facilities and providing additional resources around the school is always a consideration and 2024 we will no doubt continue to see our school kept to the high standard we expect, see improvements that our children will enjoy and resources that will help them in their education. Your voluntary contributions are always used to help your children throughout their learning journey, so payments are always welcomed at the front office (or electronically).
The year has been off to a busy start and the Board hopes that our school community have an enjoyable 2024. We look forward to providing continued updates on matters that affect the school community, following our board meetings.
Julia Formato-Stockman
Board Chair
December Board Meeting
The Board had its last meeting for the year on the 28th November 2023 and reflected on the amazing year SCPS has had.
The Board are very proud of the students’ efforts, resilience and creativity. Thank you to the fabulous teachers and support staff who make a SCPS a great place to grow.
Recently, a review of Camp Australia services was undertaken, which showed increased parents’ satisfaction over the year. SCPS have regularly met with Camp Australia during the year and provided feedback for improvement, which they have actively worked on and improved their service.
The Board endorsed the Budget for 2024 and is happy to see a positive budget closure from 2023.
It is pleasing to see that the grounds have been improved and refreshed, specifically:
- Junior Nature Play
- Cricket Pitch
- Sand for sandpits
- Basketball hoops
- Basketball courts access gate installed for community use.
The students will have new water fountains at school in Term 1, 2024. The fountains have been ordered and will be installed during the summer school holidays.
A parent survey had 96 responses, an increase of 20% compared to last year. Thank you to all that took the time to complete it. Overall satisfaction of the school was a score of 4/5.
The Board wishes all the students and staff a safe festive season, a Happy New Year and school holidays full of rest and fun!
Sanja Tesic
Board Member
Board Report by School Representative
On Tuesday 16th May, the Board met for the first meeting of Term 2. We talked about the Business Plan and the fact that we are currently on track to meet the set targets. The Business Plan will be reviewed in 2024, with the possibility of extending the plan to 2025. This is due to delays in some areas due to Covid-19.
The Board would like to welcome the new canteen manager, Aimee, and thank the P&C for their huge efforts in raising $15000 in the recent Colour Run. The P&C were also thanked for the $400 they raised in the Mother’s Day stall. This was the first time that this event has been ‘cashless’, and the pros and cons of this were discussed.
As members of the Cockburn Fremantle Network of schools, our regional priority is currently on attendance. This is monitored regularly by our school and letters are sent out to families regarding low attendance and unauthorised vacations.
Other items discussed were our new staff members, including two new special needs education assistants, and an AIEO, as well as the Terms of Reference.
The next School Board meeting is an open public meeting and will be held at 8.30am on Tuesday 13th June 2023 in the Conference Room. All members of the school community are welcome to attend.
Sarah Baden-Powell
Board Report by P & C Representative
The school board gathered this week for our second meeting of the term. The focus was the school’s Annual Report.
The Board discussed the requirements from the Department to be included in the report and the additional reports supplied by South Coogee staff. It will be uploaded to the school website and Schools Online so do look out for it.
We are likely to have community leaders at South Coogee – the Board were given updates on the involvement of staff in the Principals Network, the Deputies Network and the MCS Network. All of these networks include local schools and a great support for all involved.
The Board would like to thank our outgoing Canteen Manager Lil for all your hardwork and development of a healthy menu. The P&C have appointed a new manager to whom we wish every success.
Please be advised that the P&C have their annual general meeting next week, Monday 27/3 at 7pm in the staffroom. It would be great to have some new faces, they welcome general members to help the school in whatever way they can. The Colour Run is coming soon – the Board learnt that so far over $8000 has been raised – well done.
We wish all staff and students a pleasant remainder of term and Easter holidays.
April Morgan
P&C Representative
Board Report by Parent Representative
On Tuesday 14th February, the board met for the first time in 2023. The board warmly welcomed Maree Young as a staff representative.
Mrs Beard gave the board an overview of the programs running in the school. The board is impressed by the quality of evidence-based programs running throughout the school. These programs align with the Department of Education’s strategic plans and the SCPS Business plan. Many of them are also endorsed by the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation.
The board discussed student numbers and staffing considerations. Ms Baden-Powell also shared the extra programs which are funded by the school. This year, the school are working in partnership with seven final year university students to support selected students. They are studying the areas of Counselling, Speech and Occupational Therapy. The board acknowledges the hard work of Ms Baden-Powell in coordinating these programs.
The school board also discussed Camp Australia, who have commenced operating at the school. Feedback from the community so far has been positive and their enrolments are increasing. Since our meeting, concerns around the Childcare Subsidy have been resolved.
Ferne Watson
13th June Board Meeting
On Tuesday June 13th the Board held it’s annual open meeting and welcomed the attendance of special guest speakers.
Staff Board representatives provided an overview of maintenance and planned updates to facilities around the school grounds and confirmed that the new signs for our welcome to country have arrived. They advised of the upcoming performances for students involved in music programs and the recently awarded grant being used towards the Rugby Clinic.
Feedback from staff was positive in relation to the recent PP to Year 4 Swimming Lessons at the ARC and options for next year’s lessons will be considered. An overview of the recently conducted lockdown was also provided and while the children responded well during the practice there were improvements identified for the Emergency Management Plan identified.
Our guests in attendance presented to the Board.
Andrea from Camp Australia provided a brief overview of ways that our before and after school care provider engages with our children and opportunities for supporting our broader school community.
Cathy Baron, Principal of Lakelands Senior High School, spoke passionately about the exciting programs and improvements at the school – she encourages parents of year 5s and 6s to tour the school and welcomes the opportunity for people to learn more about what’s on offer.
Joan de Castro and Vicky Hartill from the City of Cockburn spoke about a range of services, activities, events and support relevant to the school and our community.
We wish teachers, students and parents/carers a wonderful two week break over the upcoming school holidays.
Julia Formato-Stockman
October Board Meeting
The board met last week for our first meeting of term 4, the year seems to be flying by and lots has been happening at SCPS.
NAPLAN results have been received by the school and teachers are in the process of reviewing the data. Comparisons with previous years are difficult given the early testing this year and the challenges of Covid last year, but there is an upward trend in results, particularly in literacy for which the Board congratulates staff and students. We heard how the school uses the results, along with other testing such as PAT and Bright Path, to improving teaching practices and plan for the next school year.
In case you missed it, South Coogee recently won the Waste Sorted Schools Award at the 2023 Waste Sorted Awards. The school’s sustainability program is getting great recognition with other schools visiting for tours and inspiration. Particular thanks to Ms Anderson to the year 6 students assistants Lola and Cara, for their dedication to sustainability.
The Board received updates about upcoming improvements to the school – with more water fountains, a gate at the basketball courts so they can be used during weekends and holidays, more trees and other improvements to the playgrounds and sports equipment. We appreciate how well maintained our school is.
You have recently been sent parent surveys and we’d like to encourage you to submit them – it really only takes a couple of minutes and they are totally anonymous. It is an Education Department requirement for the school to send them out and it is a great opportunity to give any feedback you might have.
There’s lots happening over the rest of this term, enjoy the warmer weather and if you haven’t already, please remember to pop into the office and pay your voluntary contributions.
April Morgan
P&C Representative
October 2023
