A New Face of the Parents’ & Friends’

Mrs Spring Bird, P&F Liaison Officer

ON 25 May, the TSS Parents’ and Friends’ Association held their Annual General Meeting. This year it was very different to previous years as it was virtual, with participants joining us from as far away as Sydney, Darwin and Goondiwindi.

And there was also something else that was different, a female P&F President was voted in, the second in TSS history and the first one for 22 years!

Katherine Dewhurst joined the TSS community in 2019 when her son Max started at TSS. Previously, Katherine and her family (husband Steven, Max and daughter Hannah), lived in Singapore, where Katherine was CEO and lawyer of a corporate advisory firm.

The story of how the Dewhurst family came to live on the Gold Coast was based on the values of TSS. The Dewhurst’s were holidaying in Canberra (whilst still living in Singapore) and were contemplating moving to Australia but hadn’t decided on a location. Whilst visiting the War Memorial in Canberra, Steven noticed a group of polite, well behaved and engaged students. Katherine engaged herself and enquired as to what school they were from and discovered they were in fact TSS students.

Back at the hotel, the Dewhursts researched The Southport School and the Gold Coast extensively and felt it ticked all the boxes for a place that could become their new home. Once they had found a nearby school for Hannah (St Hilda’s), the decision was made that TSS would be Max’s new school.

I first met Katherine after a Friends of Sailing AGM meeting, when we started chatting and she asked me when the next P&F meeting would be. Out of interest, Katherine came to that next meeting, where we were discussing the need for the P&F to have a new constitution. Katherine bravely mentioned that she was a lawyer and was not afraid to take on the challenge of supporting the Constitution Committee with the rewrite of the P&F Constitution.

Many hours of hard work by Katherine and the Constitution Committee followed, and the new P&F Constitution was created and is currently pending approval at the next School Council meeting. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Katherine through this process and I was thrilled that she was voted in as the P&F’s next President. I know she will do an outstanding job.

Whilst we welcome Katherine into the top job, we also introduce a new P&F Secretary Leonie Vincent and welcome back returning Treasurer Matthew Brown. We also welcome back returning committee members Anthony Wolfenden, Lisa Carrick and introduce new committee member, Sophie Tonkins.

Along with the P&F, the TSS school community thanks our outgoing President Matthew Wright and outgoing Secretary John Bennetts for their substantial commitment to the School. Combined, they contributed to a significant amount of change within the P&F and the legacy of what they created will continue for many years to come.

If you would like to become involved in the P&F, we would love to hear from you! Please email spring.bird@tss.qld.edu.au or you are most welcome to attend any P&F meetings.