"I was involved in my P&C and was looking at our expenses. I wondered ‘what do we get from Council – is the membership fee worth it?’ So I went along to a Council meeting and asked a lot of questions! I was so impressed with the knowledgeable way in which Council staff and volunteers answered. Together with the services Council provided, the forums and presentations, and the all-round assistance given to me as a P&C president at the time – it was obviously worth it!
At Council I can present issues from my school and then get outcomes for the whole region. It is great to hear from other local schools and meet their P&C volunteers at Council meetings. It has inspired me to visit other P&Cs – go to their meetings, share ideas, and see how they operate. I’m working with our local high school P&C too. I get a glimpse of what is in the future for my kids.
At schools throughout the ACT, our celebrations and issues are common. I enjoy the level of the conversations I have at Council, but also the ability to impact schools for the whole of the ACT and represent my own school within that. I also get to see the challenges we have at my school within the context of other schools. It gives a new ‘framing’ to our issues – are they really a problem at all? For example, our carpark is difficult but not as bad as at other schools."