Minutes of School Council Meeting - Fort Street High School

Minutes of School Council MeetingWednesday 4 May 2011Fortian Room 6.00pm1. Welcome and ApologiesRos MoxhamDavid OslandJanice EastmentDon NewbyTanya AnthuanKathy EssonJohn MelvilleHannahJules DaviesPrincipalStaff RepresentativeStaff RepresentativeFortians Union and Foundation RepresentativeParent RepresentativeParent RepresentativeParent RepresentativeStudent representativeExecutive OfficerApologies were received from Tom Hubble, Charlotte Taylor, John Ockwell,Connor Pearce and Arlo Beaumont Edwards.2. Confirmation of Previous MinutesThe minutes from 30 March were confirmed.3. CorrespondenceNone4. Speech Day Guest SpeakersThis item will stay on the agenda.5. Parameters for evaluation of Speech Day AwardsRos asked for the Council’s input as to how the school should carry out thisevaluation. What form should it take and who should be asked? There are somemembers of the school executive who feel that there are too many awards. Wewould like to see if this is a feeling in the general school community. There is aspecific concern regarding the ‘most improved’ and ‘most consisitant’ awards.Should they still be awarded at all? Also, there is a question regarding thenumber of awards. Are there too many? Should they all be awarded at SpeechDay or should some be awarded at a special assembly instead? Ros asked theCouncil to consider if the questions should be asked in the form of aquestionnaire or should we have focus groups? There was a general discussionand it was decided that a survey should be designed to go to all students fromyear 8 to 12 and parents so that everyone has an option to participate.Ros then asked what specific questions we should ask. John M suggested thatwe should start by explaining the criteria currently used for prizes. Kathy alsopointed out that there are different criteria used for different years and that thisshould be explained also. It seems that there are far more awards for year 11than for year 12 for example.Tanya suggested that we ask if the ‘most improved’ and other similar awardscould be recognized at an assembly. Also, should there be another way ofrecognizing achievement for example blazer stripes. What sort of ways do

Foundation ReportThe Foundation meets next month.8. Other businessNo other business.9. Next Council meeting Wednesday 1 June 2011