2023 in Review!

The year for the P&C kicked off early with a holiday gathering, where we came together to plan the year ahead and discuss how to best support the school’s staff, students, parents, and carers through our activities and fundraising efforts.

February was a whirlwind as we welcomed Year 7 parents with food and drinks during a special evening in the library. It’s a long-standing tradition that Year 8 parents host this event, and we look forward to G28 stepping up for the 2024 gathering on February 20th.

At our first P&C meeting, Kathy presented a recap of 2022 and shared our plans for the year ahead. She also provided a detailed analysis of the HSC results, which was very insightful. This year, we’ll be doing the same at the February 21st meeting.

Early in the year, second-hand uniform sales were in full swing. If you have old uniforms to donate, you can drop them off at the front office. Our volunteers clean and repair them, and the proceeds from discounted sales go right back to the school.

However, 2023 saw a drop in canteen volunteers. A huge thank you to those who helped keep it running! The canteen is managed by the P&C on a non-profit basis to offer healthy food options for students, but without more volunteers, it’s hard to maintain. Volunteering is flexible and comes with perks—free lunch for you and your child, plus a coffee! Find out more in the volunteer section.

One of our amazing new Year 7 parents secured a grant from Australia Post that helped fund a defibrillator for the new gym. It’s a great reminder that everyone can contribute in unique ways, using their own expertise.

In March, thanks to your generous donations, we were able to allocate $30,000 to fund some fantastic initiatives. These included bank card payment capability for the canteen, the defibrillator, new cameras and musical keyboards for CAPA, a plasma cutter for TAS, and standing desks for HSIE.

Parent-teacher nights were another highlight, where we served refreshments and caught up with old friends. This is one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to volunteer, and we’re always looking for more hands to help out.

We also collaborated with the other schools in our Campus throughout the year, focusing on community wellbeing through programs like RIOT, Raise, and Burdekin.

April brought some wins, too. We successfully worked with parents and Transport for NSW to adjust bus schedules—a reminder of the impact we can have when we collaborate with the school and community. We’re setting up a working group to address ongoing issues with the morning Chatswood bus route, so if you’d like to help, please reach out via email.

In May, we had a fantastic presentation from our new Head of Maths, Noroja Rouzbehi. The introduction of a card reader in the canteen was also a hit, proving so popular that we had to purchase a second machine almost immediately!

Our second-hand uniform Winter Sale brought in $2,000, and every dollar counts. We also received significant funding requests from the school to support the musical, new VC equipment, and the Art Club.

It was also a pleasure to support the first Manly Campus Open Day in years, where we provided food and drinks and welcomed future members of our community.

By the end of Term 2, we had secured a bike rack grant for Year 12 and continued to collaborate with other P&Cs to share resources and support the broader Northern Beaches student community.

In Term 3, we turned our attention to the canteen, adjusting staff schedules and tweaking the menu based on feedback. The new dishes were a big hit!

August brought our AGM, with a mix of new and familiar faces stepping into leadership roles. We also had an inspiring presentation on teenage wellbeing from Lucienne Herft on RIOT.

We continued to fund important school initiatives like Robotics, Study Groups, and RIOT, thanks to your generous contributions. Kathy also updated us on exciting infrastructure plans for the school, another reason why P&C meetings are so valuable.

In September, the excitement hit its peak with the return of Trivia Night—our first in-person event in four years. A huge thank you to everyone who made it such a magical evening. The $19,000 we raised will go towards outdoor study areas, but more importantly, it brought our community together.

Trivia Night is just one example of how anyone can contribute in their own way, and it’s a reminder that there’s something for everyone in our school community. If you have ideas for other community events, we’d love to hear from you.

Term 4 didn’t slow down, with the Year 7 Orientation Day and Year 12 farewell activities rounding out the year.

2023 was an incredible year for the P&C, and we’re excited to do it all over again in 2024. We’d love for you to be part of it!