Parent associations
Community spirit at Donvale With the countless priorities, pressing issues and challenges that modern day life brings, giving may seem like quite a challenge. At Carey Donvale, our community has truly embraced a culture of giving back to support our students’ education, growth and development. Our families are highly generous in supporting the Carey Donvale Parents Association’s (CDPA) many fundraising and community-building initiatives. The includes the Mothers and Fathers Day stalls and sausage sizzles, among the myriad other activities and events sponsored by the CDPA. A highlight this year was the first-ever Carey Donvale Welcome Fair at the start of Term 1.
costume alterations required for the Carey Donvale musical.
But we don’t stop there. Our parents volunteer to help with the Preps in PMP (Perceptual Motor Program), in the ELC, on school sports days and every second year with the mammoth task of sewing sequins, buttons, ribbons and any other
Without the support and commitment of the parents who graciously give up their time and donate items, the success of the activities undertaken by the CDPA and the School would not be assured. It is the giving nature of our community
at Carey Donvale that makes our school truly unique and one that everyone should be proud to be a part of. We are extremely grateful to all those who help make these events so magical and fun for everyone. The support is mutually rewarding for both the School and the volunteers making a difference.
Middle School’s friend-raisers With 260 students in Year 7 – including many who are new to Carey – the Middle School Parent Association (MSPA) works hard to create as many ‘friend-raising’ opportunities as possible. The Year 7 Disco is the biggest and arguably the most fun, so we were thrilled to have more than 200 students come along to enjoy this year’s event in May. Our Year 7 House parent representative volunteers ensured things ran smoothly despite the Middle School renovations and torrential rain on the night. Our resourceful and capable volunteers creatively served pizza on the steps of the De Young Performing Arts Centre and transformed the Memorial Great Hall into a disco complete with DJ and UV black lights! There were many 34 | Torch
happy (and glowing) smiles, thanks to all the parent volunteers who put in a lot of work to make this and the concurrent parent gathering a great success. Connecting with new people is a theme across the whole school at Carey. Whole-school events have been growing in popularity in recent years and MSPA parents have been heavily involved. This year’s Mother’s Dinner and Mothers Day Luncheon both sold out, as did the wonderful Carey Gala Ball, which was held in July at Crown. A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes to make these events as inclusive and enjoyable as possible and we are grateful to all the parents who give their time to support our vibrant and social school community.
