Darlington School and Community Association2nd September Annual General Meeting 2009

President’s report

1. The Exec I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working alongside a fabulous, hard working and fun-loving executive. I

will dearly miss regular contact with each one so thanks Julie Moffat, Kathi Hillier, Sue Newsome, Marijke Tombs and Michael Texilake. You are all awesome volunteers and I commend you with many superlatives for your dedication and senses of humour.

Kathi and I are stepping down. Kathi has done a brilliant 2 year stint as Treasurer and now needs to give some attention to her youngest child who is at the highly demanding stage. I will step down because I’ve been hanging around Darlington way too long since 1998 and my youngest child is in Year 6. We are happy to continue with the various fund raising events as planned and hand over our duties to the new Exec by the end of the year or when they feel ready.

The whole school community was deeply distressed by the sudden drowning death of Telemachus Texilake in October last year. Understandably this tragic event meant his father Michael needed to step down from his Secretary role but has very kindly maintained the S&C blog and web-page. We extend our best wishes to Michael and Kate as they await the birth of their 3rd child.

In March Marijke Tombs and Sue Newsome agreed to work jointly as the S&C Secretary. They have done a sterling job of taking and distributing minutes on top of their important nail filing duties!! I would like to extend a hearty round of applause to Sarah Barker who filled-in as temporary Secretary, revealing an enviable knowledge of procedural matters.

2. S and C meetings

Continued to be held on the first Wednesday of the month. Not many people love meetings so we found that food and wine supplied by volunteer parents and a strict 6-715pm time frame made them more bearable!. Two of the meetings were replaced by parent information sessions.

Mathletics demonstration – run by Paul McLean Small Steps - Emma Pinn from the Mental Health Association NSW spoke about Anxiety in

Children. Both were well attended and received. I would recommend such events in future years – check the P and C Journal for ideas. The Darlo Staff are also a great resource.

3. Fundraising Activities 2009

Event Co-ordinator/s Worth doing again?(Lulu’s opinion only)

Nov 08 Christmas raffle – 10 hampers Christine Tennant et al YesDec 08 Sales - Christmas and all occasion

cardsExec No,

unless design is by Darlo kidsJan 09 Sales Lunch boxes, drink bottles,

backpacks with Darlo logoExec Yes

Feb 09 Valentine’s Day movie ticket raffle

Karen Oliviera et al Yes

Mar 09 House t-shirts Julie Moffat Yes, strong responseApril 09 Easter raffle Mary Thompson et al YesMay 09 Mothers Day Movie Mayhem Executive teachers - Colleen,

Phil, Paul, Lesley, AnnYes but do teachers need a break ?

June 09 Blue hair bingo bonanza Kathi Hillier, Joanne Selfe, Ginny Lagos et al.

Maybe – lots of fun but numbers low

Sep 09 Fathers’ Day Movie Mayhem Executive teachers Sep 09 Spring Fling Yvette NovakOct 09 Halloween Fete Marianna KouliasDec 09 Christmas raffle

Thoughts about Future Fundraising

Throughout the year many brochures arrive in the S and C box promoting the purchase of small items such as key-rings, mugs, photo frames and toys. I personally do not want more trinkets at home so most of the brochures have gone straight to recycling. My recommendation for the next S and C is that they focus their fundraising attention on selling school associated items (eg the Darlo bags, t-shirts, lunch boxes). A walkathon would provide money, fun and exercise. Book in a Bunnings BBQ now because that’s money for jam (Julie may already have made a tentative date for next year). Calendars, cards, and cookbooks which have input from the children should also sell well although bear in mind that such activities can require even more work from teachers and administrators. I’m sure a big garage sale at the school where families bring their 2nd hand clothes, toys, crockery, books and music would raise a bit of money given our combined inner cities penchants for op shopping and de-cluttering small terrace houses.

4. Spending money

A piece of playground equipment for the older children is the current goal – about $20 000

I suggest the next goal for fundraising could be a Smart-board for each classroom.

5. S and C involvement at Darlo apart from fundraising

i) A request sheet for volunteers was sent out at the beginning of the year. This led to a range of parents volunteering their skills for various activities. We have been able to draw on this pool of people for tasks such as photocopying, leaflet design, advertising, sales, cooking, event management, BBQing and collecting prizes from local businesses. I think this has created a good sense of community and team work although I know we could have made better use of some of the people who volunteered. The Spring Fling and Fete will provide further opportunities for involvement.

ii) Welcome ‘tea and tissues’ for new parents on the first day of school. This was a time to meet some new parents, share some insights and let them know about the S and C. I would recommend an invitation be extended to parents of ALL new children from K-6 in future.

iii) School website updated from 1995 with the hard work of Jen Burn, her husband and Paul McLean building on the previous work of Peter Hayward and Sandy Henderson-Copeman.

iv) Application and receipt of $5105 Garden Grant by the Garden Sub-committee headed by Suzy Pickles with Kyong Choe, Nichola Jephcott and Yvette Novak. The garden is now being installed so for a few years at least, the children of Darlington can see how veges grow.

v) ‘Welcome to Country’ plaques were installed at both gates and a smoking Ceremony with Uncle Max, South Sydney Herald and the ubiquitous sausage sizzle. Thanks to the efforts of Julie Moffat, the bbq girls, Mr Sandstrom and the whole school staff and community

vi) S and C noticeboard near the stairs opposite the Abercrombie St gate has been prettied up by Trudi Fletcher.

vii) S and C now has its own mango coloured post-box secured next to staff pigeon holes, handcrafted with love by Julie Moffat.