13 minute read
PLC Parents Handbook
Welcome
A warm welcome to all our parent community, and especially to the new families joining PLC in 2023.
And a very special thank you to all the parent volunteers - from event organisers to parent representatives and more - for your commitment to enriching the PLC community.
PLC Parents is the organisation that brings parents together and nurtures our community through social events, volunteering opportunities and funding initiatives, all with the goal of helping create a safe and supportive learning environment at PLC and upholding the School’s values.
For all PLC Parents volunteers, may suggest some guiding principles in all that we do:
Communication - share what it means to be a valued part of the PLC community, and how participation in PLC Parents activities matters.
Inclusion - ensure that what we say and do is widely inclusive, encourages high participation, and builds goodwill among the PLC community.
Collaboration - build on the strengths of the PLC community, with respect and in cooperation with other community members, students and staff.
I wish you and your students a wonderful year at PLC.
Alan Ng Chair, PLC Parents
The Role Of Plc Parents
PLC Parents is sub-committee of the PLC Council and is the school body which represents the interests of parents and promotes the School’s ethos of providing a supportive environment for students, parents and the wider community.
The priorities and activities of PLC Parents are directed by the Committee members, whose roles are detailed below.
All parents and carers of currently enrolled students are eligible and encouraged to volunteer for the Committee or other active roles, to support events and fund-raising efforts, to attend PLC Parents term meetings, and participate in the activities of PLC Parents.
PLC Parents fosters friendships within the School community and fundraises for initiatives that support the educational, spiritual, physical and social development of students and the School.
PLC Parents supports the numerous volunteers who take on roles within the school community which promote the ethos of the School such as Year Representatives and positions responsible for organising fundraisers, social gatherings and Year group events such as the Year 12 Ball.
PLC Parents raises funds to be invested into the School for non-core curriculum expenditure. In the past, funds have been used to pay for fans in the Junior School Sport and Recreation Centre, umbrellas in the Senior School Quad, Writers in Residence programme in the Junior School and PLC-branded marquees for use at school events.
PLC Parents also oversees the dispersal of funds raised by the Term Fee Draw and Annual Family Subscription to support activities such as professional development opportunities for teaching and support staff, unique learning initiatives for students (such as PLC Radio), as well as unique infrastructure projects that contribute to the development of students.
For more information on applications for funding, eligibility and deadlines, please contact the Office of Communications and Engagement at cande@plc.wa.edu.au or on (08) 9460 6520.
Plc Parents Meetings
PLC Parents meetings are held at least once per term, and all parents and carers of currently enrolled students are warmly invited to attend in person at the Lighthouse, or to join the meeting virtually where possible. Details of timing, location and virtual meeting details are advertised ahead of each meeting. At the conclusion of each meeting, refreshments are served to allow time to catch up with other parents.
PLC Parents Meetings 2023
Term 1 Tuesday 14 March 6.00 pm
Term 2 Tuesday 16 May 10.00 am
Term 3 Tuesday 15 August 6.00 pm
Term 4 Tuesday 14 November - 6.00 pm - Election of Office Bearers for 2024
The PLC Principal attends meetings to give an update of what is happening or planned to happen at PLC, along with other invited staff members and guest speakers from the PLC community who provide PLC Parents with an insight into life within the many areas of the School. A representative of the Office of Communications & Engagement (C&E) is also in attendance.
All PLC parents and carers are encouraged to attend meetings including all Year Representatives and other PLC Parents representatives.
Plc Community Code Of Conduct
It is expected that all behaviours and activities, including any directly or indirectly related to PLC Parents, comply with the expectations of PLC policies and Code of Conduct guidelines.
The PLC Community Code of Conduct is an overarching code that provides all members of the College community with guidelines for the effective development of positive relationships within the College community and assists in promoting the PLC Values.
In particular, please refer to the following resources that detail expectations and accountability.
PLC Community Code of Conduct: https://www.plc.wa.edu.au/plc-community-code-of-conduct/
Working in Partnership: Staff and Parent Guidelines: https://www.plc.wa.edu.au/assets/2023/01/Working-in-Partnership_Staffand-Parent-Guidelines.pdf
Parent Communications
Please ensure that in all communications (email, phone, Facebook etc) that you use inclusive language and avoid gender-bias. Please avoid word choices which may be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning by implying that one sex or social gender is the norm. For example instead of using the terms mothers or fathers in emails, please use parents. The Communications and Engagement team would be happy to assist with any communications if there is any uncertainty. E: cande@plc.wa.edu.au
Plc Parents Committee Roles
PLC Parents is a sub-committee Council and is bound by the Council governance charter. The priorities and activities of PLC Parents are directed by a Committee comprising up to six members, whose roles are indicated below.
The Chair of PLC parents is appointed by Council for a term of three years. Committee members are appointed at the PLC Parents Annual General Meeting (Term 4 meeting) each year.
Chair
• Convenes meetings, ensuring that they run in accordance with the agenda and charter.
• Prepares agenda with support from the Committee.
• Ensures fair discussion by providing everyone with the opportunity to contribute.
• Liaises with the Principal and School Executives and ensures activities are in line with School Policy framework.
• Works with the Treasurer to ensure financial accountability.
• Ensures that the School community is kept informed of activities and developments.
• Facilitates communication between the PLC Parents and the School Council
Deputy Chair
• Chairs meetings in the Chairperson’s absence and supports the Chair as required.
• Supports Committee members in their roles.
Treasurer
• Keeps accurate financial records of all receipts and expenditures.
• Periodic reconciliation to PLC General Ledger & assists with Annual Audit.
• Assists Committee with preparation of the Annual Budget.
• Authorises payments and expense reimbursements for various commitments throughout the year.
• Presents Treasurer’s Report at each meeting.
Junior & Senior School Parent Representative Co-ordinators
• Initial point of contact for Year Representatives.
• Co-ordinates and supports the Year Representatives in each sub-school.
• Co-ordinates list of Year Group Representatives for following year.
• Provides Chair with relevant information for the School communications and annual report.
Executive Committee Member
• The Executive Committee Member is a role that may be filled according to the skills or experience required to conduct the business of PLC Parents, and ideally should complement the skills and qualities of other Committee members.
• The needs of this role may change from time to time.
Communications and Engagement team
• PLC Parents primary contact within the Office of Communications and Engagement (C&E) is via cande@plc.wa.edu.au
Event Co-ordinators
Volunteer Event Co-ordinators play an important role in activating the PLC community, running social events that often span across year groups and across the wider School community. Examples include PLC Parents Welcome Sundowner, and Open Garden Day.
• Seek Committee support to host an event.
• Collaborate with School staff, events manager, facilities, catering, and communications to achieve a successful event.
• Present budget requirements and any other necessary documentation that may be required, for Committee approval.
• Work with Treasurer to co-ordinate any payments and manage risk.
• Recruit and manage volunteers to help run the event.
• Liaise with external suppliers or service providers as necessary.
• Manage event delivery, including delegating tasks and conducting meetings as necessary.
• Provide reports on planning, progress and outcomes, appropriate for the scale of the event, for review by Committee and School staff as required.
The Role Of Year Representatives
The aim of PLC Parents is for each Year group throughout the School to have at least two Year Representatives. Being a Representative should be a fun and rewarding experience, enabling you to meet other parents and gain a greater knowledge of what is happening within the School.
The Main Roles of Year Representatives
• Maintaining email contact and providing details of organised Year group functions.
• Organising functions to promote parent and guardian friendships within Year groups.
• Gathering support for school events. First point of contact is JS and SS Year Co-ordinators.
• First point of contact for Head of Junior/Senior School to assist in Year functions.
A WhatsApp or social media group may be established for all parents in the year group, and moderated by Year Representatives, in order to facilitate year group communication and sharing timely updates.
Communication on any such channels should be considerate of others, respectful, and inclusive to the whole year group. Expectations around the use of the these channels should be established with the group, and must comply with the PLC Community Code of Conduct: https://www.plc.wa.edu. au/plc-community-code-of-conduct/
Matters involving a individuals or a smaller group of parents should perhaps be taken offline, and any matters regarding the classroom should be directed to the teachers or relevant School staff. Refer also to the Working in Partnership: Staff and Parent Guidelines: https://www.plc.wa.edu.au/ assets/2023/01/Working-in-Partnership_Staff-and-Parent-Guidelines.pdf
Contact with Year Group
• Year Representatives are responsible for communicating with parents and guardians regarding organised parent social events and requests for volunteers. All other communication, feedback or School enquiries should be directed to the appropriate class teacher or School authority.
• Parent Contact lists are sent to all parents at the beginning of the school year and when a new student joins the school. The Parent Contact Lists will include contact details of their Year Representatives.
• At this time, Year Representatives will also receive an Excel version of their particular Year group Parent Contact List from Admissions, to allow them to send bulk emails to families in their Year group. This is the easiest way to send emails to your Year group. New families will be highlighted in colour each time the list is issued, to allow our current families to know who is joining us.
• For privacy reasons, it is important that when sending bulk emails to a large number of email addresses to send them as ‘BCC’ (blind carbon copy) rather than putting the email address in ‘To’ or ‘CC’. If unsure, please contact the Communications and Enggement team.
• There is no need to send reminders about school events such as swimming carnivals or Parent/Teacher Evenings. Parents are advised of these events via the Junior and Senior School Notices and the PLC App. Details may change, therefore, to avoid confusion, the School requests that PLC Parents representatives do not send emails regarding these events.
• The School requests that we do not overload parents with continuous emails. Please take this into consideration when sending information.
Organising Functions
The aim of Year group functions is to encourage social interaction between all parents in the Year group. It is best to keep functions varied, simple and accessible so as many parents as possible are able to attend. There is no requirement or expectation to organise lavish, expensive events.
Ideally year representatives should plan a draft plan of events for the calender year targeting one to two functions per term. Events can be publicised in advance via weekly school notices. Cande request that details of events are provided a minimum of 4 weeks advance to cande@plc. wa.edu.au to ensure appropriate advertising, check event suitability and that it doesn’t coincide with other key school events.
Examples of functions organised previously include:
• Welcome Family Picnic on foreshore
• Barefoot Bowls mixer for parents
• Pizza/Paella Night for parents hosted at Parent Representative home
• Sundowners Cottesloe Town Centre gardens
• Mothers’ Weekend Away
• Father/Daughter weekend away (Rottnest, Dwellingup)
PLC Parents offers a hosting fee of $200 per event to any parent who hosts a Year group function in their home. The $200 Hosting Fee can be used to cover the costs of flowers, ice, snacks or beverages, but not alcohol. Prior approval for the Hosting Fee is to be sought from the Treasurer via email and refunds will only be made on the submission of the original tax invoices or receipts.
For paid events, even if it is hosted in a private home, no Hosting Fee is available. The cost of any incidentals such as flowers and ice should be included in the ticket price. RSVP’s and payments can be managed via e-mail and the Parent Reps personal bank account, or TryBooking can be used (refer to ‘TryBooking’ section pg 11).
Ordering Equipment
Glasses, crockery, tables, tablecloths, urns, water/milk jugs are available to borrow for your function. Please arrange, in advance with the Communications and Engagement Department (cande@plc.wa.edu.au or 9424 6581).
Serving of Alcohol
Laws encourage responsible use of alcohol and PLC supports this. Function and event organisers should familiarise themselves with these requirements.
Gathering Support For School Events
Below are some examples of events within the School for which parent support is requested:
• Orientation Days
• Welcome Morning
• Athletics Day
• Grandparents Day (Junior School)
• Open Garden Day
• Support Your Daughter Evenings/Breakfasts
• Swimming Carnivals
As Year Representatives, you are not necessarily expected to attend but your support in gathering helpers for such events is greatly appreciated.
Year 11 Year 11 Dance - assist PLC C&E team in event management as required.
Year 12 Year 12 Ball - support Year 12 Ball organisation in partnership with C&E team.
Father/Daughter Dinner Dance - dads to assist the Co-ordinator.
Mother/Daughter Luncheon - mothers to assist the Co-ordinator.
Collection of Money for Gifts
There will be various occasions throughout the year when Parent Reps are required to collect money from other parents. This can be organised via e-mail with payments being deposited directly into the bank account of the Year Group Rep, or via TryBooking.
If contributions are collected for teacher gifts they must be less than $20 per child and less if the contribution relates to something such as an Easter Egg Hunt or a Wedding/Baby Shower Gift for the Teacher. Contributions are voluntary and as such, it is likely not all families will contribute; please do not place pressure on parents to contribute.
Please note that PLC Parents does not pay for thank-you gifts for teachers, or class gifts to departing teachers or students. There is also no requirement for Year Representatives to be given gifts. If you are unsure about any of the above, please email the PLC Parents Chair.
TryBooking
If you would like to use TryBooking to collect RSVPs and money for events you can set this up yourself at www.trybooking.com. The C&E team can assist you with this.
If you set up your own TryBooking account you will be able to regularly monitor your RSVPs which assists in planning. Once the event booking window is closed, you will be able to transfer the funds directly to your own bank account and have immediate access to these funds for the event. You will need to factor in approximately 3% to cover the credit card fees that TryBooking charges and an additional 10% for the GST which is charged by TryBooking on ticket sales. So when you are refunded money through TryBooking it will be less a total of 13% of all money received. Please contact the Treasurer should you require assistance with your calculations.
Communications & Engagement
Along with assisting in confirming an event date, the Communications and Engagement Assistant can advertise your events in the weekly Junior and Senior School Notices. Details of events are to be provided to Cande@plc.wa.edu.au by a minimum of four weeks in advance. This will enable the C&E team to undergo appropriate advertising, check event suitability and that it doesn’t coincide with other key school events.
Plc Parents Committee Contact Details
Chair Alan Ng alanng73@gmail.com
0404 670 888
Deputy Chair Louise Cashmore louisecash0@gmail.com
0451 828 106
Treasurer Slavena Terzieva slaviv20@gmail.com
0450 294 272
Committee Member Michelle Barrett hello@frankandboyd.com.au
0488 988 688
Junior School Co-ordinator Emily Birch emilyclare76@yahoo.com.au
0409 686 942
Senior School Co-ordinator Kathryn Wilson kathrynwils@gmail.com
0497 637 178
Plc Parents Year Representatives Contact Details
Pre-Kindergarten Representative Emily Riddell kirabousloff@gmail.com 0413 543 154
Kindergarten Representatives Matija Franetovich matija.franetovich@plc.wa.edu.au
(08) 9424 6512
Pre-Primary Representatives Laura Fergusson laura.rahn@hotmail.co.uk 0449 192 323
Danelle Roberston danellekate@hotmail.com 0407 422 585
Year 1 Representatives Dayna Tiede dayna.tiede@gmail.com 0413 699 261
Year 2 Representatives Geetha Singam geetha.aja.singam@gmail.com 0423 949 044
Jenelle Dodds jenelledodds@gmail.com 0439 682 118
Year 3 Representatives Simone O’Brien Simone@treasuredtots.com.au 0478 736 504
Chantelle Somas Csomas77@iinet.net.au
Sarah Sekulov Ssekulov@hotmail.com
Melissa Liveris Melliveris@hotmail.com 0405 349 393
Year 4 Representatives Jennifer Hunt jenny@packer.net.au 0409 926 990
Anna Eden anna_david.eden@hotmail.com 0416 719 764
Year 5 Representatives Audrey Komajda audreybranellec@yahoo.fr 0437 601 151
Emily Chee emilyclare76@yahoo.com.au 0409 686 942
Year 6 Representatives Nina Gilmour nina.heidelauf@yahoo.com.au 0407 385 764
Dawn Barker drdawnbarker@gmail.com 0403 914 212
Sarah Young sarahyoung@westnet.com.au 0417 175 368
Year 7 Representatives
Fiona O’Brien ficolm.obrien@gmail.com 0439 977 988
Maria del Valme Domenech Jimenez valdoji@hotmail.com 0498 607 494
Alicia Chamberlain aliciajchoate@gmail.com 0424417969
Year 8 Representatives Tracy E ephooisie@yahoo.com 0421 448 325
Sophie Raven sophraven@yahoo.com 0400 007 906
Tiffany Fox tiffany.fox33@gmail.com 0419 918 297
Michelle Williams Michelle@the-salon.com.au 0437 611 121
Year 9 Representatives Sarah Cox cox.sarah@hotmail.com 0455 465 650
Jess Bunning jessica@jbunningconsultancy.com 0434 417 380
Year 10 Representatives Dimitra Ventouras dimitra_v@bigpond.com 0421 737 398
Corrine Kusel corinnediamond@hotmail.com 0439 090 290
Year 11 Representatives Simone Burford simone.burford@me.com 0437 973 728
Jennifer Grove jenniferg@gerard-daniels.com 0438 066 013
Leanne De Bruin leeannedebruin@gmail.com 0439 938 011
Year 12 Representatives Jane Miels janemiels@gmail.com 0455291925
Amanda Paganin apaganin@bkcorp.com.au
0413099079
Cate McKenzie cate.mckenzie@bigpond.com
0419907576
Susie Johnston s.johnston@iinet.net.au 0439513594
Plc Parents
Other Plc Community Contact Details
Old Collegians’ AssociationPresident Jessamy Mahony jessamymahony@hotmail.com
0414 344 653
Argyle Club - President Erica Salt ericalouisesalt@gmail.com 0420 688 999
Friends of Boarding - President Lisa Thompson admin@nardlah.com 0417 184 185
Friends of Pipe Band - President Susan Whittome susanwhittome@yahoo.co.uk 0402 228 101 of Swimming
Committee Chair
Deputy Chair Treasurer
Junior School Co-ordinator
Senior School Co-ordinator
Executive Committee Member
PLC Principal (ex-officio)
PLC Communitions and Engagement (ex-officio) of Music
Events
Event Co-ordinators (as required)
• Parents’ Welcome Sundowner Co-ordinator
• PLC Open Garden Day Co-ordinator
• PLC Open Garden Day Committee
• Year 12 Ball Committee
• Year 12 Mother Daughter Lunch Co-ordinator
• Year 12 Father Daughter Dance Co-ordinator
Support and Friend-raising Year Group Representatives
• Junior School: PK - Year 6
• Senior School: Year 7 - Year 12
Ideally, a minimum of two Representatives per year group is recommended. One person may fulfil more than one role, as necessary.
Plc Contact Details
Main Reception
Di Simmons Esmé Derrington reception@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6444
Junior School Reception Kerry Martin kerry.martin@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6428
Senior School Reception (McNeil St)
Senior School Reception (View St)
Lyn Taylor
Jane Feinaver lyn.taylor@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6494 jane.feinaver@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6579
Director Of Communications and Engagement Julia Dobson julia.dobson@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6439
Alumni Officer Greer Hancock cande@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6520
Events Manager Nicole Wilson nicole.wilson@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6581
Admissions Enrolment Administrator Jane Hard jane.hard@plc.wa.edu.au
Catering at PLC
Kate Montague Executive Assistant to the Principal
9424 6555 kate.montague@plc.wa.edu.au
9424 6411
