November 2007
This is my first President's message to you as the newly elected State President of QCPCA. I feel honoured to be leading an organisation that has been and will continue to be the voice of State School P&C's in this State. I realise this comes with a great responsibility but also provides us all with a unique opportunity over the coming year to improve educational outcomes for State School Students in Queensland.
It is fitting that my first President’s message is part of the new look Parent Talk magazine. I hope you enjoy the new format. For those of you who couldn’t make it to the Annual Conference and AGM make sure you check out our special report on the event.
We have a very exciting end to 2007 with the marking of a significant milestone in QCPCA’s history. Our 60th Anniversary will be commemorated on the 12th November and members past and present will meet in Brisbane to celebrate 60 years of Supporting State School P&C’s in Queensland.
By way of introducing myself and to tell you how I became involved with QCPCA, here is a snippet of my involvement with P&C’s.
I joined my first P&C when I lived on a Cattle Station 400klms from town in the Northern Territory. I was home schooling my children and was a member of the Katherine School of the Air P&C and a member of ICPA.
My home schooling days took us to Sarawak for a time and upon returning to Australia we decided that the children needed the social interaction of other children. Not wanting to shock them too much we placed them in a two-teacher country school. This is where I learnt first hand what QCPCA could do for our school.
At my first meeting as P&C President, in district office, I was extremely nervous. If someone told me I would be State President at that time I would have thought they were insane. I received a lot of help from QCPCA (this was before Regional Councils were formed) and realised that P&C's do have a voice and you as parents have a forum where your beliefs and concerns can be discussed.
Over the years I have represented QCPCA at a State level, as State Treasurer and for many years as a State Executive member and as the National VP (representing Qld). It was indeed an honor to be voted in as State President at the recent QCPCA AGM in Chinchilla.
As President I see an interesting time ahead for State Education. Having just completed 3 years attending meetings in Canberra as the ACSSO VP, I am left in no doubt that there will be a push for national consistency in areas such as Testing, Curriculum and external exams to name just a few. The full impact of what this means is yet to be clearly outlined.
At the recent Annual General Meeting and Conference several items were discussed including: -
* First aid training for teachers including Anaphylaxis
* The Prep survey results and a follow up survey
* QCPCA s strategic plan and future directions
* Vocational education and pathways for students
* Students with disabilities
* School aged care
* Chaplains in schools
* Bus safety
Delegates discussed a paper in relation to a QCPCA Organisational Review and a position paper on drug education and detection in schools was tabled. This paper is still open for discussion and the intention is that a policy will be adopted at our State Conference 2008 in Gympie. We invite members to visit our web site and offer comments on any of these and other topics via the email link.
As President of QCPCA I look forward to working closely with P&C's, Regional Councils and being part of the team of State Executive that represent you. We need to ensure that your organisation has the best representation possible during this time of change and future directions that State Education may take into the future.
As this will be the final Parent Talk for the year, I would like to wish you all a wonderful Festive Season to spend quality time with your families and come back in 2008 refreshed for a new school year.
