P & C

Barnier P&C Foundation

The Barnier P&C is a member of the P&C - Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of New South Wales. Our main aims are to:

-Promote the interests of the school by bringing parents, citizens, pupils and teaching staff into close co-operation;

-Assist in providing equipment required by the school;

-Report to the Minister the material requirements of the school; And

-Assist the teaching staff in establishment of school policy and management in all facets of school activity.

We collaborate with our school and play an active role adding value to our children’s schooling experience. We are an inclusive community group here at Barnier PS and welcome new members to join our P&C. Please consider joining, it sets a wonderful example of community spirit for your children, and highlights the importance of good education.

As a member of Barnier’s P&C, we have the opportunity to share our opinion on how we can make improvements to all our childrens’ education, such as buying resources and updating play equipment. Throughout the year we vote on which events we should run to raise funds for our school. A secondary outcome is also an opportunity to meet other parents outside our children’s class and make new friends. So come and join our community group. We are always looking for volunteers to help us be creative and create valuable experiences for our children.

It can be as big or as small involvement as you like- we know everyone is busy! But more hands make light work! Things that make a big difference include getting involved in contacting new books for our library (any 80s kid loves this!), volunteering for marking names off at an event, being on the little canteen, serving sausages to our community, being part of a new gardening group. In the near future we will start up a small group to source cool and fresh new ideas/ sponsors.

At Barnier our P &C meetings have moved to zoom meeting to make it accessible to all families. All zoom links are emailed to active members.

P &C Direction

There are a number of things the new executive committee are looking forward to delivering to the members and the broader school community in 2023. We are going to run a committee based on love, respect and inclusion. We even have a written agreement which details how we plan to achieve that goal.

The agenda for the P&C has been narrowing for a while now and we are going to ensure that the full aim of our P&C is achieved. The aim of all school P&C committees is to:

Cooperation:

• Bring parents, citizens, pupils and staff together

• Work out equipment/resources needed by the school

Advocacy:

• Write to the Minister about requirements of our school

Educational policy:

• Assist teaching staff in the establishment of school policy and management of all facets of school activity.

At Barnier, we are going to ensure that:

• as an executive we are accountable and it is the committee that approves how things or what things will run.

• our volunteers are given room to move. We are so lucky to have you we will try to make your life as easy as possible.

• we exploit technology to help our volunteers, teachers and parents. We are all time poor. Who knows we may end up knowing more about technology than our kids.

• we will be conscious of the time and financial burdens we place on parents and teachers.

• when we disagree with someone we are not going to ignore them or yell at them. Sometimes we need to talk more using our diplomatic voices. We are going to model behaviour that we would want our kids to display when they disagree with someone.

At the end of the day we may not get there on everything but we will give it a real go. When we all work together all our children benefit.

Anyone at any time can assist the P&C with event organisation or attend P&C meetings. You do not need to be a member to participate. But if you wish to join and become a member it will cost $1 which covers your membership from 1 January to 31 December. You can pay through the Flexischools app. Being a member gives you voting rights and access to the agenda and minutes. We would love you to join as a member but that decision is completely up to you.

Examples of previous achievements of Barnier’s P&C

Moving pre-loved uniforms online available through Flexischools

Sitting mats so students are comfortable sitting

Sandpit and play area (community grant)

Shade sail over playground (community grant)

Extension of the COLA. Partial funding of WUSKA (online reading program) and Skoolbag app

Artificial turf in playground (community grant)

Sensory kits for every classroom Year 6 talks (every year)

Stage 3 Butterfly talks every year (girls)

Stage 3 Goodfellas talks every year (boys)

2018 school wishlist funding (Reading and technology resources for classrooms: mini lit, PM benchmarking boxes, reading resources level 1-30, technology resources, art drying racks)

PSSA sponsorship of $100 where a student makes state level representation

Library refurbishment (2018) $5000

PSSA uniforms (2019)