Southwell School Association

Minutes of Meeting

7.30pm, Sunday, 27 November 2011

7.30pm – meeting start

Present

Alex Bedford, Brigit Brant, Murry Dunn, Sonya Ferguson, Darrl Gray, Andrea Groves, Royce Helm, Alison Mallett, Jo McCann, Gail Mitchell, Louise Mollard ,Karen O’Meeghan, Melanie O’Neill, Debbie Ross, Kate Stace, Christine Tam, Sheryl Thomas, Ruth Walden,Louise White, Pip Willoughby, Pete Walch, Richard Jacobsen, John Shaskey, Beverly Burns, Andrew Mortimore, Kevin Harris.

Apologies

Andrea Andrew,Victoria Antoniazi, Jeff de Leeuw, Vicki Dedney ,Andrea Downey, Trent Finlay, Nicola Gijzago, Johanna Hull, Angela Read, Seema Singh.

Minutes of last meeting (18^th   September 2011)

Confirming a true and accurate record.

                           M.O.L.M. confirmed            Passed: Pip Willoughby

             Seconded: Gail Mitchell

Matters Arising

Dave Winters Reply Letter

Thank you letter from Royce Helm regarding Centenary Weekend

8 Year Club

This will be underway this year, badge presentation next assembly.

PAC alternate ramp access

Has been looked at and decided not to go ahead as there is enough level access along the side of the Chapel.

Reports

Karen O’Meeghan- President SSA

2011 Southwells Centenary Year – what a privilege for us as the current School community to have been part of this special year and the celebrations.  It is a year to remember.

Thank you to all the parents who attended John Cowan’s presentation last Thursday- ‘Discipline without Shouting, Force or Fluster’.  It was pleasing to see the support for an evening like this – a lot of non Southwell parents which was great too.  Certainly we will look to more next year.

On behalf of the SSA I extend our thanks to the School for this new initiative to be actively supporting and encouraging parents in their parenting role.

We as parents are in partnership with the School- we need to work together for the best outcomes for our children.

There is a lot in the pipeline for 2012, Golf Day, trivia Night, Carols on the Oval to name some.

In the meantime I would like to thank everyone for their active support of the SSA this year – can’t forget the fun of the Fete in April – an amazing event.

Particularly class liaisons for your vital role as the connection between the SSA and the School.

On behalf of the SSA thank you also to you Royce and your team of teaching and non teaching staff who make Southwell the place it is – the place we are so proud to have our children come each day to School.

To the Trustees – again thank you for joining us tonight and for the time and effort you all give to the policy and governance of Southwell School, your vision and enthusiasm will carry Southwell forward into its next 100 years.

For those parents whom this is your last SSA meeting thank you for your support over the years, best wishes as you move on.

Happy and safe Holidays to you all – looking forward to 2012.

Royce Helm - School Report

Thanks for Centenary Weekend SSA and parents support, great to see community involvement it engaged current students and Old Boys and Girls.

Great support of Parents Inc, developing this concept, helping parents, sharing knowledge, collective understanding to help and support each other through our parenting roles.

e-AsTTLe more detailed information to come on this next year, so far great feedback, testing our systems and developing, happy with the majority of things.  Still retaining traditional examinations, will be greater detail early next year. Pete Walch commented on how it is working in his class.  Results of tests should be up now, any clarification you require in interpreting results please see the letter emailed home re this or speak to Pete or your child’s teacher.

Staffing, Mrs Derbyshire leaving us, advertising now and working through process of appointment.

Questions/Comments for Royce

None.

Foundation – Royce Helm

             Will be starting a lecture series next year, the 1^st one will be March.

Fete Money $45,000.00

Between $5,000.00 to $10,000 to be used for the framing of the Centennial photographs which were on display around the walls at Claudelands dinner.

In talks with Paul Dibble to create a brass Sculpture for the entrance to the PAC to engage and welcome the children, working on ideas hope to have it by the beginning of next year.

Boarder parent Report – Gail Mitchell

             I can’t believe how has year has flown by.

Boarding house full the whole year also had more international students, which has changed the dynamics.

Have 23 year 8s leaving at the end of the year.

The New Year sees us start almost full.

Boarder parents would like another evening like to start of this year, great way to catch up with past parents and meet the new parents.  Helps with car-pooling and weekend stay overs.         

All Reports       Passed:  Jo McCann

                        Seconded: Louise Mollard

Committee Leader’s Reports

Golf Day (Melanie O’Neill)

March 25^th 2012, letter has gone out to sponsors, well underway.

Confectionery Stall at Opera (Alex Bradford)

Went really well, Friday 2^nd December after school having sale of bits and pieces from the Fete (jams) and stall, will be around PAC.

Calendars/Cards/Diaries (Andrea Groves)

Approx $600.00 raised, will do again next year, pleased with results.

Scholastic Books (Karen O’Meeghan)

Very successful, have done an order every Term, so far $1800.00 in free books, are thinking of donating some books to another School who is in need of more books.

General Business

New Parents function 31^st January 2012

Volunteers needed to help with food and drinks from 5to 7 o’clock, please put your name on the list if you can help, or let Karen know.

New Chapel tea coordinator will be required for next year.

School yard movie

Has this been shown to the children?

Cricket after Athletics Day

Is it possible to play cricket games on Saturday after Athletics day? Haven’t done so because Children really tired and it is a leave weekend, Royce will talk to John Libby.

Bush Boardwalk area

Can we keep an eye on behavior in this area, increase Teacher awareness of patrolling this area.

8.45pm meeting closed.

Presentation Board of Trustees (Kevin Harris)

At the end of the meeting Kevin Harris, Board Chairman introduced all Board members and gave a presentation on the Boards strategic plan for the School.  Followed by a question/answer time.

Questions/Comments for Board

Fete/Future Fundraising

For future fundraising efforts to help in gaining support could we have some suggestions for projects to aim for?  Sue Bradford – the Fete was a great celebration of the Schools 100years and included the community, fantastic result.  John Shaskey, focus fundraising efforts on things that have an enduring presence in the School.

Behavioral Issues within School

Is there a ratio for taking on Children with Behavioral issues? No, process by interview, looked at on case by case basis and go through set processes.

Disciplinary Processes

Polices and procedures followed are enshrined in law, you can rely on the School to deal with handling these matters to the best interest of the Children, parents should be assured that matters are dealt with on multiple levels to maintain our Children’s well being.

Hello to the SSA

Thanks you very much for the opportunity to attend your meeting a few  Sundays ago.
It was valuable to hear your perspectives and to learn about what we 
can do as a school to help with managing and protecting the development of our digital citizens.

Given that your group asked some key questions I wonder if you would pass on this to them.

From Netsafe (New Zealand's key Netsafety organisation)

http://hectorsworld.netsafe.org.nz/parents/ 

http://www.inmyday.org.nz/ parent's guide to cyber safety

How the school filters and protects students on the internet. Link to full information

Web filtering is effected by grouping web sites into categories that schools can choose to filter on. The filtering service has two key areas:

• Chosen web sites are blocked by IP address or URL (web address) and (optionally) keywords
• Search engines are filtered for keywords.

The blocking process is as follows:

• The website address or search engine word is entered into the browser.
• As the request passes by Watchdog’s filter the request is matched to the list of blocked sites or keywords.
• If a match is made then a blocking page is sent back to the browser.
• If a match is not made then the site (or keyword) is allowed so the request goes out to the site.

Concern that not all work takes place on the computer give the handwriting component to NCEA assessment.
We understand this is an issue facing our school and others who are running student devices in their schools.
We still have a significant amount of work that is handwritten and as such see the students as still capable 
of completing these written assessments. Southwell teachers are focused on high standard of written work.

Would like more information about the chat facility available to Year 5/6
We are going to review this with the syndicate before the start of 2012.
Should the chat facility be available to students again we will inform parents of its availability and 
acceptable use at the start of the year. Students are to be reminded of the purpose of and their responsible use 

as determining continued availability of this. Note students can have this access removed if behaving inappropriately.

Will the school be adopting iPads ?

The school is investigating the use of iPads through research and visits to schools with programmes. We currently have a pilot of 5 ipod touches which has been in place for a year now and an iPad has been trialed in the library.

Would the school consider running ICT classes for students before or after school and charging for these?

There are no plans to do this at the moment we will discuss this as a group. This could have implications for a number of other areas and programmes.

Further information for parents

We are considering options for information and learning opportunities for parents to be timed strategically alongside other events. These are not likely to commence until 2012.

Dave Winter

Dean eLearning Southwell School

Ph       07 855-2089  
Fx 07 855-9023
School Http://www.southwell.school.nz

Last modified: Thursday, December 22 2011, 09:01 AM