Meeting opened by the President Melissa Iredell at 8.20pm.

In Attendance As per attendance register (12 parents, 0 teachers)

Apologies 5 as per attendance register

Business Arising

Nil

Correspondence

In: Nil Out: Nil

President’s Report

Our goal this year was to increase access to the P&C. We formed an abridged version of the constitution. Multicultural, Building & Traffic committee’s were formed. Interrelate Sex Education talks were held, and were well attended. Suggestion forms were circulated to find out what the school community felt the P&C should contribute to.

I would like to thank the outgoing Executive of Donna & Terry, Bill for his input re constitutional problems, Mira for the translation of Constitution & By Laws. I have had positive feedback re Staff Breakfast; the staff greatly appreciated this gesture. Kathy & her team have had great results. Canteen & clothing profits were good. Their have been many projects this year, such as; Japanese & Admin Building were Air-conditioned, 20 Tables were purchased, Lighting near admin building & under Cola, Oval retaining wall, Literacy Trolleys and P&C Shed project in progress. Thank you to everyone for a good year.

Melissa Iredell

Principal’s Report

Not submitted. Julie Hanley was absent due to illness.

Committee Reports

Book club

Epping Heights Public School has enjoyed another successful year thanks to the support of our students and staff.

Book Club provides an opportunity for children, teachers, and the school to purchase a broad selection of books and software at reduced prices.

Bonus points are then accumulated from each order, which are then redeemable as free books and teaching resources.

Book Club operates at five levels at Epping Heights, catering to the different literacy needs of children, as they move through the school from Kindergarten to year 6, and also the needs of the teaching staff.

This financial year a total of $11,731.80 worth of books and software have been purchased. This accounts for issues 7 and 8, 2003 and issues 1 – 6 for 2004. The final issue for 2004, Issue 8 orders are currently being processed.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Elizabeth Clarke and the other office staff for their help and support throughout the year. Also, the teachers who have assisted in the distribution and collection of brochures and orders. And of course most importantly the families and children who have participated in Book Club this year.

I am retiring from position of Book Club convenor after having managed Book Club for two years. However, I look forward to another exciting year of Book Club, assisting the new Convenor take over the role. Thank you, Stephanie Davison.

Building

The committee was formed in May 2004 to investigate the provision of a hall for our School. The school community was surveyed to confirm that a broad support base existed for the Hall. The purpose of the hall was discussed including meeting requirements for OOSH accreditation; external bodies used to assist funding and enhancing the corporate life of the school. The requirements and options in providing various types of facilities were discussed. The experiences of other nearby schools were investigated. Several options for new structures and renovation of existing areas were sketched for assessment of location, size and facilities provided.

Discussions with departmental staff resulted in no suitable location existing on the site where a multi-functional facility could be sited. This was due to site access requirements or impact on playground areas. If a hall is to be constructed it must comply with current standards and would cost in the order of $600,000 to $900,000.

The potential renovations of existing schoolrooms that were considered had an inappropriate expenditure relative to the improvement of facilities provided.

The current activity of the committee is anticipated to cease with the completion of the following actions:

· Provide a submission to the Department of Education for putting the ‘Provision of a hall at Epping Heights Public School’ onto the Capital Works list (this is a ten year plus process).

· Asses OOSH space utilisation to meet accreditation requirements in existing schoolrooms

Bill Harris

Canteen

The canteen has continued to operate well for the second year under a co-operative of parents forming the committee. No one person has been convener but the duties have been shared between the parents as their time has permitted. Two constant roles have been maintained with Peggy Gum looking after the accounts and Vickie Rollo looking after communications with organisations such as the Canteen Association, Manufacturers and the school P & C as needed.

Some maintenance work was carried out by the school during the year with the old pie warmer being serviced and taps being replaced.

The canteen facility also saw more use of the actual kitchen area with OOSH having the children come into the kitchen area for their breakfast. Facilities have also been shared and the Director of OOSH has worked hard to maintain the area in a continual state of cleanliness.

Main change that is currently in process has been due to government legislation which will have some effect on the menu with changes underway now and the rest to be implemented by the beginning of 2005.

The canteen has had a good year financially with an increased choice of food available, especially at morning tea, and increased numbers of purchases resulting in an increased profit to approximately $6,150. This is not expected to be maintained due to State legislation preventing higher profit lines being sold such as jellies and lolly strips.

Another change this year has seen volunteers from the year 6 student body being able to come and serve their peers in the second half of lunch. This has been of great help to the parents rostered on and hopefully fun and a good learning experience for the children participating.

As always we wouldn’t be able to continue without the great support of the parents putting aside a day or 2 days per term to come and help out.

Many thanks to all of the roster parents from the Committee.

Peggy Gum, Christine Coates, Jane Turnbull, Vickie Rollo, Theresa Shortt, Kaye McIntyre.

Clothing

We have had a very good year with lots of volunteers turning up every week. A very big thank you to all of the ladies. It has been an interesting year learning all of the time frames for ordering the uniforms from the different suppliers. What I did learn was to double whatever time frame they tell you.

We had one change to the uniform this year, the introduction of the Skort to replace the girl’s netball skirts. I think this has been well accepted by most people.

Thanks again to all the helpers throughout the year. Leanne Dries.

Community Relations

The Community Relations Committee is now a P&C Committee that consists of several volunteer parents and the School Principal. The main committee positions are; Convenor, Minutes Secretary and Photographer. We hold about 6 meetings a year. We are a happy committee and share the workload according to who is available on the day. We often get help from people who are not on the committee, which is highly appreciated.

On the first day of school for kindy kids, the Community Relations Committee sets up a table with the children’s name badges. We greet the children and parents then we match the child up with their buddy from a list provided by the Office.

For the librarians day (which is not a regular yearly item) we made sandwiches and set the lunch up in the library.

For the Easter Picnic we took photos.

We usually take photos of special events such as the swimming and athletics carnivals as well.

Anzac day we made a large floral arrangement for the speaker’s podium and posies for the dignitaries. We supply and do the handing out of the rosemary and pin it to the children’s collars. We organise and serve a delicious morning tea for the parents and dignitaries and we took photos on the day.

On open day we set up a table out the front of the hall and greet the prospective kindy parents and hand them an information folder. We organise a current kindy parent to speak on the day. We put up banners advertising the school open day and put up photo-boards in nearby pre-schools. We organise and serve a lovely morning tea.

Student LED reporting day we organise and serve a Devonshire tea for the parents who need sustenance between their children’s reports.

On orientation day we set up a table with the children’s name badges and information folders. We greet the children and parents then we match the child up with their buddy from a list provided by the office. On the first orientation day we take photos of the children with their buddies in the classroom. The following orientation day we put the photos on display during the morning tea and offer then for sale. We organise and serve the morning tea held on the second orientation day.

Karen Yates

Fundraising & Social

The first event of 2004 was our election day on the 27th of March. It was a great way to ease in the new Committee as well as the school community. This Day raised $754.24.

The next event on the calendar was our Mother’s Day Morning Tea on the 7th of May. We decided to try something a bit different this year and the results proved to be an outstanding success. For the first time, the children made the gifts for their Mother’s and we sold a record number at 385!! We then held our first “Morning Tea” which included the children as well as their special guests. On this day we, along with the Kindergarten parents, catered for an amazing 440 people!! A few Dads joined us for the first time and made it possible for the Committee to enjoy the day with their children. We were thrilled at the results of both events and raised a respectable $2495.51.

Two months later it was time for the Athletics Carnival on 29th of July. At this event

$770.10 was raised by way of pre-ordered packed lunches & a very well run Canteen on the day. This event was not only supported by the Year 2 classes, but was also organized & run by the Class Parents. Without them, I would have been lost, as the Trivia Night was only two days later!!

This leads me to event #4, our major fundraiser for the year. The “Christmas in July” Trivia Night was held on 31st July. It took an enormous amount of work and dedication by our Committee, along with other dedicated souls, to pull this one off and finish with what I’ve been told is the most amount of money raised at any one event for at least 10 years, if not ever. Everyone who participated should be very proud of themselves, and I still can’t thank my Committee enough for this unbelievable achievement!! The end result of $20,730.68 was a culmination of monies raised from raffle tickets, Trivia Night admissions, Live Auctions, Silent Auctions, and Lucky Dip prizes. This would not have been possible without the support and generosity of Ray White Epping and over 153 other businesses who donated items, vouchers, or money for our evenings’ festivities.

After we took a whole week off, it was time to get Father’s Day in order. The children and their special guests enjoyed a delicious and bountiful breakfast organized by the Committee and supported by Years 1, 3, & 4 by way of food donations and volunteering on the day. We fed over 318 Father’s, Grandfather’s, Uncles, and children that morning, which is a feet even the busiest of restaurants would be proud of!! The final result was $1157.10.

As a Committee we chose to cancel previously planned fundraisers such as the Chocolate Drive & Family Photos due to the huge success of the Trivia Night. This, we felt, would allow the families at Epping Heights a way to enjoy the rest of the year without as much financial pressure. I am proud to say, by focusing on fewer, larger events, we managed to raise $24,857.84 for the year. We felt that this was a better use of parents’ time & money than continuing the tradition of 12 to 14 Fundraisers a year as we’ve done over the last couple of years.

I would like to thank my fabulous Committee consisting of Narelle Bryant, Mara Buckton, Sue Cale, Melody Casey, Veronica Casson, Janelle Stevens, Andrea Croft, Lorline Dimmock, Leanne Dries, Susan Harding, Cathy Jongma, Theresa Taylor, & Jodie Wisniewski. Also thanks to Melissa Iredell & Gail Clayton who were not on the Committee this year but helped out on many occasions throughout the year.

Last, but not least, a huge thanks to the Parents, Children, & Staff who helped to make this year such an enjoyable and successful year for Epping Heights P&C Fundraising.

Kathy Dixon

Gardening

The focus for this year has been on the oval embankment, with initial work from Graham McVeity; followed up in three Working Bee’s to retain the soil and mulch.

Planting and watering has not been an option due to the drought, and another dry summer has been predicted.

A number of dead trees were pulled and some larger ones were cleared professionally. The concrete pipes were removed, installation of safety lights near Admin Building, light under COLA and upgrade of the Electrical Board. Many thanks to Mark Uren for all this work and to Peter Waddell for assisting.

Thanks to all the hardworking parents who helped during the year. Jon Iredell

Multicultural

Committee was formed in September and the 1st meeting was held on 12.11.04.

· Provisional decisions made, pending staff review.

· Hold 3 events at school focusing on the children.

· 1st Luna New Year, 2nd General Celebrations of cultures and 3rd to be decided.

· We will seek support from Hornsby Council, for a book on children’s stories from other cultures. Mira Kim’s Uni Students will use this as one of their tutorials.

Melissa Iredell, Veronica Casson & Mira Kim

Safety House

A quiet year for us at Safety House. After the initial hiccup with Yellow Balloon Day, as we there was to do was the Audit. At first, the Police had not planned to do the audit but this decision was reversed. No incidents were reported in our area. Our audit is now almost complete and we are ready to hand over.

Veronica Casson & Margaret Ramsay

Traffic

The role of the committee was extensively to find solutions to the traffic problems around the school. Whilst it was easy to identify the many traffic problems around the school it was far harder to find solutions to the problems. Many of the problems arise from dangerous driver and pedestrian behaviour and from disobeying or ignoring signs.

One of the main concerns raised involved the traffic flow around the turning circle in Kent Street. Whilst it is seen as important to have a seamless queue of cars collecting and dropping off children, the Committee is powerless to take action against parents who get out of their cars to chat, open boots etc as technically they are not disobeying the signage. The committee has no legal jurisdiction over what happens out-side the school gates and can only reinforce sensible safe driver and pedestrian behaviour.

The safety of our children is of vital importance and educating parents and children to think carefully about their behaviour whilst driving and walking in the streets surrounding the school seems the most effective solution. This needs to be done through flyers, school newsletters and educating new parents at orientation days.

Elizabeth Timmins

NEXT MEETING:  T.B.A. 

MEETING CLOSED:  9.55pm

SIGNED:  Melissa Iredell, President

Donna Collier, Secretary