The P&C held their AGM on Tuesday the 14th March and have welcomed back Donagh Freestun as President (for her final term), Pam Dean as Treasurer and Alison Gaustad as VP Governance. We also welcomed Kristy Vallely as VP Business Units and Sandra McCormack as Minutes Secretary. We unfortunately did not fill all positions - we are still seeking a VP Community and Fundraising and Correspondence Secretary.  If you would like to hear more about these roles and get involved, please contact us on pandcoffice@redlynchsc.eq.edu.au. It is really important to fill all these roles so that we share the load. Thank you to Jackie Willmott and Heidi O'Hanlon who were part of the P&C exec in 2022 - so good to have you involved for the last 12 months.

As part of the AGM the Annual Financial Report was presented and the Annual Report from the President. 2022 was once again a successful year for the P&C. Please see below the Presidents report that talks about the year in review.

Presidents Report 2023 AGM

As I reflect on 2022, I think of all the achievements for the year and marvel at the amazing team of employees, executive and volunteers we have that allowed us to finish the year with a great result.

2022 started with minor hiccups with the delayed start to schooling because of the COVID restrictions being removed and the population having a bloom of the virus. Our canteen and tuckshop missed the first few weeks of school trade and reduced levels once we came back to school, but in spite of this, both business units managed to come back in to the black and trade well throughout the year. In fact, all our business units ran successfully this year under the guidance of each unit’s manager.

In terms of community, we ran successful Mother’s Day and Father’s Day stalls and breakfasts, offered book club each term to families and ran a successful well-coordinated trivia night thanks to the effort of the team that are passionate about the event. We supported the Primary Campus in running an Easter raffle, ran a monster raffle that was unfortunately poorly supported (with only around 10% of family’s buying a ticket), but finished the year with the Christmas Wrapping at Smithfield shopping Centre that was a great success.

With our many volunteers at Smithfield, we showed that RSC values not only being able to support the wider Community but also our own. Working beside parents, carers, College staff, students, grandparents and Community members, wrapping presents was probably the highlight of the year for me personally as I often struggle with the lack of engagement and support we receive as a P&C in such a large College. Being surrounded by these amazing people worked to restore my faith in our Community. 

On a financial front, we donated around to $100K to the College including the repayments of the treasury loan, and have made a further profit of $160K+ that will go back to the school to support projects that will see our students supported to achieve their best educational outcomes. All in all, a successful year and a successful organisation.

Back to School and Shop

Back to school stationery and uniforms were massive this year. It seems to grow each year and keeping up with orders and making sure we have enough stock is something that we are constantly refining. At the end of 2022, Sonia resigned from her role as the shop manager and we had to rely on our staff who were not permanently working in the shop to run Back to School. They did an awesome job under difficult circumstances so thank you to these staff members.

Special mention also needs to go to Pam our Treasurer who over the holidays came in and sorted out orders, packed and helped to stay on top of the process so that January ran smoothly. This year we have added Megan to the team who comes to us with a variety of skills including events management. Megan started last week and we are very excited to have her on board to not only do the shop but assist the executive in other areas.

Looking to 2023

We have a few projects and events already scheduled for 2023. Events-wise, our usual Mother’s Day and Father’s Day stalls and breakfast are being planned in addition to a trivia night to be held on the 5^th August and the Family Festival to be held towards the end of the year. We are still waiting on confirmation of ride providers to lock in this date. The festival will need to move to the Primary Campus this year with the major building project starting on the Secondary Campus so this will make for some more involved planning. If anyone would like to coordinate this or be involved, please let me know.

Projects that we are currently working on with the school include:

• the refit of the Student Services building on the Primary Campus to be the new shop location with a hope to be in there before Semester 2
• plans for the Secondary Canteen to fix the imbalance between the current facility and what is required to service a campus of more than 1200 students. Funding applications for this to be submitted by 31^stMarch with results coming out in July
• The adventure playground – SSS funding has been applied for to go with the funding from Government and our commitment to the school. Again, funding results should be known by mid-2023
• Primary campus entry area refurbishment.

In Summary

As you can see from the above, we not only volunteer and fundraise, we are also part of the consulting process for school infrastructure & policy, are involved with financial planning and budgeting, assist with school functions and apply for grant moneys that the school cannot access themselves.

As part of our role, we are also involved with the School Council which this year has welcomed a number of new members. It is a dynamic group working with the College leadership team on strategic planning and future proofing of the College. With the current Council I believe the College will continue to improve partnerships with community and business and ultimately work towards the best outcomes for all students.

My ongoing concern is that at our College, we have close to 2000 students but at our meetings during most of 2022 we are lucky to get 15 people. I was very excited to see so many and especially new faces at our last meeting. I am hoping this bodes well for the rest of 2023. We have had a very committed group however a full executive team and growing the membership and volunteer base needs to be a focus for 2023. Our executive is made up of people who all work - the majority including myself being full time roles. We understand that life is busy but sometimes it is just a small thing that needs doing and being able to get help means we don’t end up having to do all the small things which turns in to one great big thing. Thank you to Pam, Alison, Jackie and Heidi for your tireless efforts in 2022. Running with reduced exec meant that the load had to be spread with a lot of this falling to Pam to do - so thank you for the extra you always put in.

On a personal note, my tenure as president needs to come to an end. I have been in the role for over 5 years now and involved with the P&C for over 14 years. 2 of my 3 children are no longer at school and my youngest has only a few years to go. I have enjoyed my time but feel that a new President would allow for fresh ideas and leadership which is always important in a volunteer organisation. There are projects that I would like to see through so am not planning on going anywhere but I will not be re-standing in 2024 and this year I am happy to step aside and support someone else in the role rather than taking it on myself if someone is interested. Please reach out if you are keen to take things on.

On a final note I would like to thank Mike Hansen who continues to work closely with the P&C. Our weekly meetings certainly assist in maintaining a strong and relevant relationship where we can support each other in the many projects we are working on.

2022 has been an amazing year. I look forward to 2023 being no different.

Cheers

Donagh Freestun

President 2022