Governing Council: Parent and Community Voice

Community Voice is published following each Governing Council Meeting (latest meeting: Wednesday March 23rd)

Hi all,

Parent and Community Voice is a Governing Council tool to keep you connected to the learning and life of your children’s school. Governing Council meets regularly to represent you and support the good work of your school team.

We began our meeting with a tour of the new Specialist and Year 7 facilities and surrounding gardens; the summer rains and humidity have the plantings flourishing. Our previous Education Minister Hon John Gardner MP recently visited to speak with students and officially open these buildings. They were inspired in design to promote learning and teaching excellence; please peek inside when next in the school.

The first anniversary of the signing of our sister school agreement with Muroto High School is approaching. To mark the occasion, a prunus Pink Cascade flowering cherry blossom tree will be planted adjacent to the main office. This diminutive and fine textured weeper provides blazing pink flowers in late winter and early spring, and is a significant cultural symbol of Japan. To accompany the tree, Governing Council is purchasing a new sister school sign designed by former student Ursula Clarke; it depicts interwoven star constellations (Big Dipper/Japan and Southern Cross/Australia) and flowers (cherry blossom/Japan and wattle blossom/Australia) to represent both schools.

We are enjoying some lively discussion about the 2023 school centenary with a subcommittee forming and ideas flowing. We would like to hear from you and invite you to join in the planning. Ms Creena Scholz (school admin officer/8683-6000) will act as the recipient for gathering your contacts and ideas. Stay tuned.

We also thought you’d like to know that:

• Ms Joyce Vlassco has successfully tendered and achieved the contract to operate the school canteen; the Governing Council will support her good work and the provision of healthy eating choices for students
• SportsDay is on the way; keep Friday May 6^th on the radar

Principal Student Leaders Mitchell Paterson and Nell Cane shared their experiences as Rural Youth Ambassadors in the school’s recent Newsletter and on the school’s website and Facebook page; it’s a good read. Mitchell informed us that the SRC is exploring ways for students to take a lead in the school’s centenary, and are surveying students to gain an appreciation of what they would like to see happen at their school. 

Principal Todd George briefed us about the priorities within our School Improvement Plan which link teacher’s differentiated practices and student writing improvement through the teaching and learning cycle. The plan has a strong focus on lifting achievement for students with learning challenges and Shaun Thomas explained how individual student achievement data from primary and secondary school is being used with higher NAPLAN band students to plot their individual learning trajectories and motivate high expectations. A summary of our SIP is available on the school’s website.

A big thank you to the PLHS families who have already paid their school fees or arranged to pay periodically. Your contributions are essential to keep the education compass tracking so that all students can achieve their best. 

Governing Council meets again on Wednesday May 11^th from 6:30pm in the new Specialist Building (on Ruskin Road above the Gym). Come along, meet the team and see what we do. It’s a great way to find out about your school and what is available for your children’s education and their future pathways. Please give Rachael a call or email her to let us know you are coming (contact details below).

Did you know that the school has a Parent Reference Group? This group of volunteers provides a “communication hotline” to provide feedback and opinions to the Governing Council. Hotline members can ring/email us and we can do the same. No meetings involved, just 5-10 minutes of confidential and frank conversation a few times a year. Help us out to connect parent voice by registering with Rachael to become a reference group member.

~ Brian Gabb, Port Lincoln High School Governing Council

Contact details:

• Rachael Boyce, PLHS Governing Council School Administration Officer
• Email: Rachael.Boyce774@schools.sa.edu.au
• Phone: 8683-6000