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May 2008 Edition

Atherton Parent Forum
Blue Card Change of Contact Person
Bullying In Our Community Forum
Date Claimers for 2008
Education Queensland Transmission Report
Fidelity Insurance
Goal Scoring
Retired Teachers Tutoring Program
Minister Visits QCPCA
QCPCA Representation
Volunteer Retention
State Conference Update
Term 2 Diary Notes
Unclaimed Funds
Vaccination Program 2008





Atherton Parent Forum


On Thursday 27th March, the QCPCA Executive team headed to Atherton via Cairns for our Parent Community Forum and we were welcomed by the Peninsula Regional President, Peninsula State Executive member and the State President who are all from the Peninsula region.


On Friday 28th March we boarded our bus to travel to the Atherton Tablelands. During our travels, we were fortunate enough to visit Kuranda District State College, Atherton State High School and Butchers Creek State School.  All schools were very welcoming and it was wonderful to meet with school Principals, staff and P&C members, all playing a very active role in their school community. 




On Friday evening a civic reception was held in Atherton where the executive were welcomed to the area and had the opportunity to meet some local dignitaries and business people including Tom Gilmore, Tablelands Regional Council Mayor and Rosa Lee Long, Member for Tablelands.

On Saturday the State Executive meeting was held where the business of the executive was conducted.







The Parent Community Forum was held at the Atherton State High School auditorium on Sunday morning. Parents from P&Cs across the region attended, bringing with them questions/issues for discussion. A panel, including Education Qld personnel, provided answers, as did other members of the audience.  It was a great opportunity for all to network with locals and others from across the State. Some of the topics that were addressed were Outside School Hours Care licensing, School Maintenance Budgets, Mission Statement for P&Cs, getting more parents involved in P&Cs, retaining volunteers, privatization for cleaning services in schools, demands on staff at small schools, communication between P&C and school, just to name a few.

All in all, the Parent Community Forum was a great success and we look forward to our next one in Charters Towers on Sunday 1st June 2008.

 




Blue Card Change of Contact Person


P&C Employees
Part A of blue card application form requires that the details of a contact person be listed. The contact person is the person, other than the blue card applicant, who can access certain information from the Commission about the progress or outcome of an employee’s blue card application. They also receive notifications and correspondence from the Commission relating to employees’ blue card applications.

To maintain the confidentiality of an employees’ blue card information, the contact person should always be the P&C President; then all Commission correspondence would be directed to the President at the school’s address. It is therefore important that the school’s address be listed in the employer’s contact details in Part A of the blue card application forms.

Volunteers
When any volunteer applies for a Blue card they should do so through the Principal’s authorised contact person. This authorised contact person would be listed in Part A of all application forms to ensure that any correspondence or notifications sent from the Commission about their application is sent to the School.

Change in contact person
When the President changes, the Commission must also be advised in writing of the change. This will ensure that only the current President receives correspondence from the Commission relating to blue card applications regarding the Association’s employees. To notify the Commission of this change, please use the pro forma in the P&C Association Student Protection Risk Management Strategy. Ensure that the pro forma includes your Association’s letterhead.

Forward to the Commission by post to the following address.

The Commission for Children & Young People & Child Guardian
Employment Screening Services Program
PO Box 12671
Brisbane, George Street QLD 4003

Alternatively you may wish to fax to (07) 3247 5200



Bullying In Our Community Forum

In the first of a series of public forums, QCPCA Met West Region has successfully spread the word about bullying and its effects on victims, perpetrators and the community. The forum was held at Calamvale Community College, on Brisbane's Southside on 19 April with community members, educators and parents in attendance.

The speakers included Kris Ojala from Pathways Health and Research Centre, Dr Marilyn Campbell from QUT and Snr Sgt Tony Lohmann from QLD Police.

All three speakers gave excellent presentations including a description of tell-tale signs in students being bullied – emotional detachment, poor relationship skills, lack of interest in subjects that were previously exciting – followed by a discussion about how bullying can be managed and changes made to improve the outcomes for all involved.


Cyber bullying was discussed with an emphasis on understanding what it was and was not. This understanding and the knowledge of how it is performed and its power, opened many of the attendees’ eyes to a new form of bullying that is gaining prominence. 

Queensland Police discussed their successful “Team Up Inala” program that had excellent results by  taking all Year Nine students out for one day a week, for a 10-week course, to establish team building and relationship skills in a structured format. This has resulted in a significant improvement in school participation and participation in learning processes.

Met West will be holding another open forum later in the year and is asking for community feedback regarding topics for discussion. To make suggestions, please contact Met West Regional President, Charles Alder on 0410 714 379.

QCPCA was very pleased with the numbers attending and success of the day and the appreciation shown to it for addressing such an important issue.
More information about the seminar can be found at: www.bullyinginourcommunity.com
Charles Alder
QCPCA Met West President





Date Claimers for 2008


QCPCA AGM and State Conference

Gympie, 12 - 14 September 2008

Met East

Regional Council meets every third Thursday of the month at Balmoral State High School, in the main office building. 7.00pm till 9.30pm

Met West

Regional Council meets the first Monday of each month at the Ipswich Special School at 7.30pm.

Peninsula

Parent Conference: 16 – 18 May 2008 Cairns Colonial Club
AGM/ general meeting: 26 July 2008 Port Douglas

South Coast

Gold Coast Branch Meetings – 1st Thursday of every second month - Robina SHS
Logan Albert Beaudesert Branch – 4th Thursday of each month
Gold Coast Branch 16th June, AGM
Logan Albert Beaudesert Branch 26 June, AGM
AGM South Coast Region 24th July,
AGM Workshop 17th May
Meetings for Logan Albert Beaudesert Branch - 22nd May, 19th June, 28th July, 23rd October.

South West

Regional Conference – Miles - 19 April 8:00 am to 4:30pm
Executive teleconference - 20 May
General teleconference - 17 June
Regional AGM 26 July - venue TBA
Executive teleconference - 19 August
General teleconference - 2 October
Executive teleconference - 18 November
Teleconferences start at 8:30pm and we thank Charleville School of Distance Ed for allowing us to use their facilities.

Northern

16 July- Regional Meeting – Townsville and District Education Centre 7:30pm – 9:30pm
26 – 27 July - Regional Conference & AGM – Bivouac Junction 9am – 12pm
2 – 3 August - Regional Meeting – Charters Towers (venue & times TBC)

Wide Bay

19th & 20th July - Regional Conference at Gympie (venue TBA) 2.00pm Saturday to 1.30pm Sunday

Capricornia

Mackay branch AGM – Saturday 19th July
Regional Council AGM – 26th – 27th July
Venues TBA

Sunshine Coast

Regional AGM – 26 –27 July 2008.


 



Education Queensland Transmission Report


P&C Associations are statutory bodies formed under the Education(General Provisions) Act 2006 and are governed by this Act and the Education (General Provisions) Regulations 2006. Other legislation that provides governance is the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982 and the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1997.

The P&C Accounting Manual sets out the responsibilities, obligations and requirements under the legislation.

The P&C Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring all operations, including financial and administrative operations, within the association are effective and lawful.

Each year the P&C Executive Committee must ensure that the P&C books are audited and that they send a copy of the audited Annual Financial Statements to the Minister through the local District / Regional Office of Education Queensland. The P&C Accounting manual provides that certain information must be included within those financial statements and that every effort is made to address any issues raised by the auditor.

Education Queensland has developed a new Transmission Report that must be completed, signed by the Executive Committee and checked and signed by the Principal. This Transmission Report is a checklist whereby, on an annual basis, the Executive Committee acknowledges and certifies that they have met their obligations with regard to:


The Transmission Report can be found on the Education Queensland web site at : http://education.qld.gov.au/finance/procedure/pandc/docs/pandcaccount_transmission_rpt.doc

When completed, the form MUST be attached to the audited Annual Financial Statements and sent to the local District / Regional office of Education Queensland.

(Supplied by Education Queensland)



Fidelity Insurance

Can You Always Trust Your Staff or Volunteers?

Regardless of the industry, no organisation or association is immune to theft by an employee or volunteer.

There are however, a number of simple business practices that can be put in place to reduce the risk of this form of staff dishonesty.


In addition to taking these precautions, you are also able to insure your association against theft by an employee.  This form of insurance is called fidelity or misappropriation of funds, and is available within the QCPCA Insurance Package.

The QCPCA Insurance Package provides cover for direct loss arising from employee dishonesty, theft, disappearance of funds or property (as defined by the QCPCA General Property Insurance policy terms and conditions).

In order for such an event to be covered by insurance, the issue of dishonesty must result in personal gain for the employee, and they must have intent to cause loss to the relevant association. 

For further information, please contact QCPCA on 3352 3900

This is a general overview of the policy only. Please refer to the QCPCA web sitewww.qcpca.org.au  to view a copy of the insurer’s policy wordings. We recommend that you read the policy wordings so that you have an understanding of the policy terms, conditions, excesses and exclusions before you decide whether this insurance suits your needs.

 



Goal Scoring


Setting goals is an essential part of any volunteer recruitment, retention or recognition plan. Write down your goals and how you plan to achieve them.

Be both specific and realistic. If the goals are too vague, it will be difficult to select effective strategies. If the goals are unrealistic, it will be hard to gain the support and commitment of others and you will only be disappointed. Nevertheless, goals should stretch you a little further than you think you can go.

Set specific time frames for the achievement of your goals. Be assured that things take twice as long as you estimate, so set generous time frames. Remember, "the difference between being a dreamer and an achiever is giving your dreams a deadline and calling them goals".



Retired Teachers Tutoring Program

                                

While stories of a teacher shortage are common throughout Queensland, Warwick school students are benefiting from a unique community project.

State and federal governments continue to wrestle with schemes to provide after-school tutoring for students at critical points in their primary and secondary education.

In Warwick, a church group has come up with a local solution. Twenty-Six current and retired schoolteachers from the Warwick Killarney Uniting Church have volunteered their time and professional skills to start an after school tutoring service.

Not only is the service available to all students, but is free.

Warwick Uniting Church member and retired maths teacher Jean Reid says, “We thought maybe we could offer as a gift to the community, our skills as teachers.”

The after school tutoring program began in March.

Each one-hour session has two teachers on duty, one of which is registered. Tutors will liaise with local schools to keep up to date with what the students are learning.

Warwick Killarney minister, Rev May Morris, said the service was meeting the needs of their community.

“This adventure with homework help seems to be meeting a vital need, especially in the primary schools in Warwick. The students are delighted that they have their homework finished early in the week, and the parents are relieved that they don't have to 'nag' to get home work done.”

Ms Morris said the congregation responded to the need by using their gifts.
“We saw a Church that has more than 30 teachers, retired and current, as a prompt from God to see how we could gift the community in a practical way.”

For more information contact the Warwick Uniting Church on 4661 1080 (Rev May Morris)

 



Minister Visits QCPCA


The Hon Mr Rod Welford – Minister for Education, Training & the Arts visited the QCPCA State Executive meeting in Brisbane recently.  It was a great opportunity for the State Executive members to discuss issues and items of interest with the Minister. Topics raised included the developing of a QCPCA PR Marketing strategy, the QCPCA Organisational review, the Prep Survey to parents and the National Testing to be held later this year.

The Minister answered questions on:-
 


Overall it was a great session with the Minister prepared to talk through the issues raised by members of the executive. The Minister accepted an invitation to lunch where he continued to participate in discussions with members of the executive.   

 




QCPCA Representation


The core business of QCPCA is:

“To improve educational outcomes for Queensland state school students by representing our policy to Education Qld, the community and government, and by supporting Parents & Citizens’ Associations in State schools.”

QCPCA has had recent input on your behalf into the following:

Representation: Diabetes Guidelines in Schools Committee
Representative: Cathy Newcombe (Wide Bay Region)

The Diabetes Guidelines in Schools Committee met in February to discuss and develop guidelines for Type One diabetic children in schools. The meeting resolved that Teachers and other Staff need to be educated and trained to manage children with diabetes.

Some of the specific issues identified included Hypo management especially in the classroom, the use of Insulin Pumps, allowing the testing of Blood Glucose levels in the classroom, and the need to listen carefully at all times to children when they ask to test, then if need be able to eat in the classroom to treat a hypo attack (Low Blood Glucose).

One of the big issues was the administration of a Glucagon injection that could be needed for a hypoglycaemic child. There will be a clinical trial in Brisbane of an intranasal spray that would eliminate the need for Glucagon injections at school. These guidelines will be relevant to all students from Prep to Year 12.

Representation: Rural Education Summit
Representative: Loris Doessel (Wide Bay Region)

QCPCA represented the Australian Council of State School Organisation's at the Rural and Regional Education Summit, Delivering Equity for Rural Education, held at Old Parliament House in Canberra on 13th and 14th November 2007.

About 130 delegates representing rural education interest groups around Australia participated in the event, receiving reports on a variety of new programs implemented by universities throughout Australia to address specific needs for education in rural and regional settings.

Discussions were then held on the possibility of broadening the programs so that all rural students could benefit, as data has shown that the 30% of students in Australia classified as rural and regional are not achieving results as highly as metropolitan students.

It was a very intense conference with a great deal of information to absorb, and there were many opportunities to discuss rural issues with the university representatives and other delegates.

Former Commonwealth Government Minister, Ian Sinclair was a guest speaker and gave a very thought-provoking speech with the theme Education is very expensive; ignorance, more so. Discussions at the summit indicated that it would indeed be very expensive to make the trial programs available to all rural teachers and students.

Representation: QSA Tertiary Entrance Committee
Representative: Jenny Goldsworthy (Met West)

Update on meeting outcomes:

There have been preliminary discussions with QTAC (Qld Tertiary Admissions Centre) about the inclusion of tertiary studies completed at school in the OP calculation.

Research is being undertaken by the QSA on this committee’s request at the previous meeting to make the sitting of the QCS (Qld Core Skills) test mandatory.

The Minister for Educations and the Arts has made a public declaration that there will be no review of the OP system for 3 years. A paper, “The QSA’s Role In Facilitating Young People’s Transition From School To Tertiary Courses”, has been written and updated. The paper will be sent to the Minister for his response before it is distributed further.

A discussion was undertaken about the uses of the Interstate Transfer Index (ITI). An ITI can be requested in writing from QSA by Queensland students but Queensland Tertiary Institutions cannot access the ITI directly. The ITI issue to be referred to the QTAC board for their May 2008 meeting.


Volunteer Retention


It's costs 5 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.

It is the same with volunteers. Think about it! What does it really cost to lose experienced volunteers?

What about the time, effort and money involved in recruiting, selecting, training and supervising new volunteers? What of the disruption to services, clients and other volunteers? How about the valuable knowledge and experience lost with the departing volunteer?

How do you measure retention success?

But wait – how do you actually know if you have a volunteer retention problem? How does your organization measure success in volunteer retention? Of course the answers will vary with each organization and even with the type of projects involved.

But very few organizations have goals and outcomes defining what they mean by retention success. Even fewer collect any data on their volunteer retention rates.

So how long is long enough?

How long must a volunteer stay to be considered ‘retained’ rather than a ‘dropout’? One month? Six months? One year? Ten years? Do you examine retention based on how long each individual person stays? Or do you look at their contribution rather than their time? Is retention about active membership or just being ‘on the books’?

For many organisation's the successful retention of a volunteer is not one year, ten years or even twenty years - it is usually until they die. Now that's a hard retention expectation to maintain.
 
Time for some retention goals

Whatever your definition of retention, develop some practical retention goals. Holding on to a volunteer forever is far from a realistic goal. One goal could be to achieve an average number of hours of service from each volunteer per year. Another might be a total number of hours per year per group of volunteers – a team approach.

Still another goal might be a commitment of 2 years or 200 hours involvement from each volunteer., or to increase by 20% the number of volunteers staying longer than 2 years. Get realistic and very specific about those retention goals now.

Time to say goodbye

But do keep retention in perspective. Eventually all volunteers will leave and for a myriad of different reasons. Changes in lifestyle and personal circumstances are not reasons you can control. Thank those volunteers warmly and let them go with your blessings.
Save your energy and focus on those factors that can be controlled within your organization to encourage rather than discourage your volunteers to stay.

Adapted from the book "Count On Me: 501 Ideas on Retaining, Recognizing and Rewarding Volunteers
Dr Judy Esmond is a leading international expert on how to gain, sustain and retain volunteers and members. Ideas on volunteer recruitment, volunteer management, retention and volunteer recognition at www.morevolunteers.com

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State Conference Update


QCPCA is holding its 59th AGM and State Conference in Gympie 12-14 September 2008.

All registered delegates are entitled to nominate for the position of Returning Officer and/or Scrutineer.

Once your registration is confirmed, you will be eligible to nominate, with expressions of interest to be lodged in writing to the State Secretary of QCPCA by 4.30pm on Friday 29th August 2008.

Nomination forms and information on the roles of Returning Officer and Scrutineer can be obtained by contacting the Ops Unit on 3352 3900.



Term 2 Diary Notes


* Student Protection Risk Management Strategy to be completed

* Ensure Student Protection training is undertaken as per Risk Management requirements.

* Ensure Volunteer registers are available to all volunteers as per Risk Managements requirements

* Ensure all areas of the Student Protection Risk management strategy are implemented by 30 June 2008.

* P&C Model constitution to be received by all P&Cs in term 2 for completion and endorsement.

* Audit to be sent to Education Qld District Office with Transmission form attached

* Parent Talk posted to all P&Cs

* QCPCA State Conference information sent to P&Cs

* QCPCA Regional AGMs and skilling days for P&C affiliates to attend.




Unclaimed Funds


Has your P&C Association and or School lost unclaimed funds?

To establish if unclaimed money is owing, reference can be made to the “Outstanding Monies On-Line Register” which can be found on the Public Trustee of Queensland web site.

Web Link



Vaccination Program 2008


The School Based Vaccination Program, coordinated by Queensland Health, will offer approximately 150,000 secondary school students across the State immunization against a range of diseases.

Last year, the Program was launched statewide. It offers vaccination against chickenpox, hepatitis B, cervical cancer, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough in approximately 560 state and non state secondary schools.

In 2008, the following vaccinations are being offered:

* Year 8 - Chickenpox (Varicella)

* Year 8 - Hepatitis B

* Year 10 - Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis (whooping cough) (dTpa)

* Female Years 8, 9 and 10 - Human Papillomavirus (cervical cancer)

Vaccinations are provided by a fully qualified team from either Queensland Health, the local council or another health provider contracted by Queensland Health.

Parents are advised of the date of the vaccination clinic in advance and given a consent form for each type of vaccination. This consent form provides details about the disease, benefits of immunization and any common side effects of the vaccine. It is important that parents/legal guardians check they have completed all details requested on the form before they send it back to school. Only students with a completed and signed consent form will be vaccinated.

For more information about the School Based Vaccination Program see www.health.qld.gov.au/school_vaccination.