Neutral Bay Public School

NEUTRAL BAY PUBLIC SCHOOL

P & C ASSOCIATION ______

MINUTES OF P&C 2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON WEDNESDAY 23 November 2016 ______

1. Welcome and apologies

Ben Keen opened the meeting at 8.53 pm and welcomed all present.

Attendance – Ben Keen (President & Chair), David Shuster (Principal), Victor Tan (Deputy-Principal), Gai Jovorski (Deputy Principal), Sharmila Soorian (Vice- President), Peter Carter (Vice-President), Alex Fransen (Treasurer), Kate Juniper (Assistant Treasurer), Michelle Jackson (Secretary), Anna Gibson (Communications), Jen Harris (Events Coordinator) Bridget Douglas (Canteen Coordinator), Elizabeth Gurr, Jennifer Spillane, Anita Alexander, Gervaise Samuals, France Bailleau, Monica Gessner, Tim Hawes, Lisa Connor-Brent, Alex Youroukelis, David Jackson.

Apologies: Belle Jackson

2. Acceptance of minutes from Annual General Meeting 2015

The minutes of the 2015 AGM held on 25 November 2015 were accepted.

Proposed: Alex Fransen. Seconded: Sharmila Soorian. All agreed.

3. Business arising

There was no business arising.

4. P&C 2016 Annual Report

The President tabled and presented the highlights of the 2016 Annual report:

 The primary objective of the P&C’s fundraising activities is to direct funds raised towards enhancing the educational outcomes and experience for all students at the school. Accordingly, in the year to 30 September 2016, the P&C Association contributed $190,000 to the School which went to the ongoing support of the Science and Music programs at the School ($110,000), additional IT resources as the computer room had to be used as a classroom ($30,000), an increase in the number of support learning officers to help students ($30,000) .This year, the P & C also funded the purchase of a portable stage to enable the school to host all of school assemblies ($20,000).

 Voluntary contributions are the backbone of the P&C’s fundraising efforts and thanks went to the very generous support of all Neutral bay families in 2016. The P&C raised $101,405 from voluntary contributions, representing a18.7% increase over 2015, with a participation rate of over 60%, up from around 50% in 2015.

 NBPS enjoyed another year of strong Fundraising and Events and the President thanked Belle Jackson for her contribution as Fundraising and Events Coordinator. The President also thanked Jen Harris who assumed the role of acting Fundraising and Events Coordinator at the beginning of Term 4. The President thanked Anna Gibson for her great work in Communications.  The highlight event for the year was the 'Bay Fair' Carnival. We exceeded our fundraising target, raising an impressive $41,000. The President thanked the major event sponsor, McGrath Neutral Bay for their generous support of the Carnival and other events including the Federal Election BBQ.

 The Uniform Shop had another very busy year as we moved to exclusively ordering online via Flexischools and we employed Kate Jegat as Uniform Shop Coordinator at the beginning of Term 3, following the resignation of Elizabeth Gurr at the end of Term 2. The President thanked Elizabeth and Kate Leveaux who was stepping down from operating the second hand uniform shop, a role she has filled for a number of years.

 The President thanked Bridget Douglas for her incredible dedication and hard work in coordinating the canteen and Maree, Phillis and Naoko for their hard work in the daily running of the canteen this year.

 Since joining the P&C in 2014, the Strings program has developed into 2 groups, the Orchestra and Senior Chamber. Over 30 students participate in the Strings program and have represented the School in Sydney Eisteddfod and other School events. The highlight for 2016 was a third place in the Sydney Eisteddfod.

 2016 has been an exciting year for the Band Program at NBPS will all three bands playing to a very high standard. Particular mention should be made of Concert and Junior Band, that were both awarded Gold Medals at the NSW Bands Festival and the Senior Band was awarded a Silver Medal.

 The President thanked the entire P&C Executive team for their tireless efforts during 2016 and in particular the Treasurer Alex Fransen and Assistant Treasure Kate Juniper who are standing down from their roles for their enormous contribution to the P&C and the School over the past year. The President thanked the outgoing team members (Alex Fransen (Treasurer), Kate Juniper (Assistant Treasurer), Belle Jackson (Events and Fundraising coordinator), Anna Gibson (Communications) for their dedication and commitment to the children, families and community of NBPS. The President advised that he was standing down from his role as President after one year, after having previously served on the P&C Executive as Vice President.

 The President acknowledged the incredible contribution that the Principal, David Shuster, Deputy Principals, Victor Tan and GaiJavorsky and the teaching and administrative staff of the School continue to deliver for our children. The President thanked all staff members for their amazing professionalism, dedication and support in 2016.

The President presented gifts to the outgoing members of the P&C executive.

5. P&C Annual Accounts

The Treasurer tabled and presented the highlights of the audited accounts and the Treasurer’s report for financial year ending 30 September 2016.

 The P&C has had another great year in terms of both the wonderful events that have been offered to the school community, as well as the financial support that it has been able to provide the School. The P&C set itself another challenging financial target, to raise $190,000, and we achieved it! The Treasurer thanked everyone in the school community for supporting the P&C’s initiatives so enthusiastically and allowing the P&C to achieve this terrific result.

 At the beginning of the year, the P&C was asked to support the following school’s initiatives: Science & music programmes (50%) $110,000

Teacher’s support $ 20,000 - $30,000

Technology $ 20,000 - $30,000 Portable stage $ 10,000 - $20,000

 Before going into the details of the accounts, the following table provides a summary of how the P&C raised the funds: Activity Feb Estimates Actual FY16

Voluntary contribution $90,000 $101,405 Fundraising $45,000 $53,747 Event Sponsorship $30,0001 $5,300 Uniform shop $45,000 $45,000 Canteen - - Band & Strings - - Total $210,000 $205,452

P & C running costs & community events $20,000 $15,684

Contribution to the school $190,000 $190,000

 Voluntary Contribution The voluntary contribution came in at $101,405 this year, which was $11,000 ahead of budget and 19% up on last year’s contribution. The P&C believes this great outcome was largely the result of the school administrating its collection and the Treasurer thanked the school office for taking on this additional administrative duty.

 Fundraising & Events The Treasurer thanked Belle Jackson and her fundraising & events team for all their hard work and dedication in bringing the P&C the hugely successful Bay Fair, as well as all the other terrific events hosted in 2016. The Treasurer also thanked the school community for supporting these events so enthusiastically. Whilst much of the estimated sponsorship income will now be received in FY 2017, the fundraising component for FY 2016 was almost 20% over our February estimates. A terrific effort by all involved.

 Uniform Shop Whilst sales in the Uniform shop were down slightly on last year, the shop performed well and made a net profit of $58,000. This was well up on last year’s profit of $47,000. The Treasurer thanked Elizabeth Gurr and her team for their terrific work in the uniform shop.

 Canteen The canteen continues to offer a great service to the school community and sales increased to $267,930 this year, up by almost 10% on last year. Whilst the canteen is a self-sustaining business, and the P & C does not seek to draw profits from it, it typically returns around $15,000-$20,000 each year. This money is set aside to fund capital works and invest in new equipment as required. This year, as a result of significant increases in food costs (up 13%), as well as increases in wages (up 26%) the canteen only broke even. As a result, the canteen will need to raise its prices in 2017, in order to remain sustainable. However, it must be acknowledged, that the canteen’s prices are very reasonable and if an external provider was brought in, prices would no doubt rise significantly.

1 At the beginning of the year, it was anticipated that our major event sponsor, McGrath Neutral Bay, would host a major event in FY2016. This activity has now been moved into Q1 2017. The Treasurer thanked Bridget Douglas, the canteen co-ordinator and Jenni Spillane, the canteen treasurer, for the many hours that they put in to keeping the canteen running so well.

 NBPS Band & Strings Programs The Band & Strings Programs are self-funded and run fairly independently from the rest of the P&C. This being said, the band program will need to draw on its reserves this year to meet all of its expenses. As a result, the band program will most likely see another small increase in fees in 2017. The Treasurer thanked Melanie Lindsay and Sharmilla Soorian, as respective Band & Strings Treasurers, for all their hard work this year in making sure that their accounts ran smoothly.

 P & C Running Costs The running costs of the P & C are predominantly made up of P & C insurances of around $7,000, auditing fees of $2,700, the P & C Welcome Drinks at around $4,400, as well as other minor expenses. In terms of our cash position for the fundraising and general accounts, the P&C finished the year with $168,000 in the bank, slightly down on last year’s $171,000. The P & C commits to support the science and music programs to the tune of $120,000 per year with the main costs being teacher’s salaries. As a result, the School needs to know that we have enough of a buffer to meet the costs of these programs in the year ahead.

 Finally, it should be noted, that the P&C successfully transitioned its accounts to the cloud-based version of Quickbooks this year. This change has allowed the P&C to begin importing all of the uniform shops sales from Flexischools directly into the account system and has saved many hours of manual data entry. Going forward it will also streamline processes in the canteen and is generally a far more accessible and easy to use system than what the P&C was previously operating on. The Treasurer thanked the Uniform Shop book-keeper, Yuji Huraizumi, for helping the P&C to migrate across to this new system so seamlessly.  The Treasurer is stepping down at the end of the meeting and thanked the Assistant Treasurer, Kate Juniper for her support during the year and the rest of the executive team.

Motion (1): That the P&C adopt the audited financial statements for the years ending 30 September 2016.

Proposed: Peter Carter. Seconded: Bridget Douglas. All agreed.

6. Setting of P&C fees for 2017

Given the financial position of the P&C, the committee agreed not to increase the Contribution for 2017 by the following motions:

Motion (2): That the Neutral Bay Public School P&C Association voluntary contribution for 2017 be $180 for the first child, $150 for the second child and a total of $405 for three or more children.

Proposed: Anna Gibson. Seconded: Hedley Partis. All agreed.

Motion (3): That the Neutral Bay Public School P&C Association membership fee for 2017 remain at $10 per member, noting that for family where there are more than 2 adult family members (ie, grandparents, step-parents etc) involved in the P&C Association, membership fee will be paid only for the first two members.

Proposed: Jenny Spillane. Seconded: Lisa Connor-Brent. All agreed. 7. Appointment of auditors for 2017

Motion (4): that the Neutral Bay Public School P&C Association appoints Aitken O’Grady Chartered Accountants as the P&C Association’s auditors for 2017.

Proposed: Peter Carter. Seconded: Hedley Partis. All agreed.

8. Election of Office Bearers for 2017

The following members were elected.

Committee

President: Sharmila Soorian was nominated by Michelle Jackson. Accepted. All agreed.

Vice President: Peter Carter was nominated by Michelle Jackson. Accepted. All agreed.

Vice President: There were no nominations for the second position of Vice President. This position was declared vacant.

Secretary: Michelle Jackson was nominated by Sharmila Soorian. Accepted. All agreed.

Treasurer: Jenny Spillane as nominated by Michelle Jackson. Accepted. All agreed.

Assistant Treasurer: There were no nominations for the position of Assistant Treasurer. This position was declared vacant.

Sub-committees

Band Coordinator (shared positions):No nominations were received for the positions of Band Coordinators. These positions were declared vacant.

Canteen Coordinator: No nominations were received for the position of Canteen Coordinator. This position was declared vacant. Bridget Douglas agreed to fill the casual vacancy until the end of term 1 2017 when a new Canteen Coordinator can hopefully be found.

Uniform Shop Coordinator: No nominations were received for the position of Uniform Shop Coordinator. This position was declared vacant.

Events Coordinator: No nominations were received for the position of Events Coordinator. This position was declared vacant.

Fundraising Coordinator: No nominations were received for the position of Fundraising Coordinator. This position was declared vacant.

Communications Coordinator: There were no nominations for the position of Communications Coordinator. This position was declared vacant.

9. Meeting dates for 2017

Wednesday 25 February Wednesday 11 March Wednesday 6 May Wednesday 10 June Wednesday 12 August Wednesday 9 September Wednesday 28 October Wednesday 25 November – Annual General Meeting Wednesday 9 December (Reserve)

10. Other Business

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 9:30 pm.

SIGNED AS A TRUE RECORD