Affiliation fees (your P&C's membership fees to Council) are now due. Invoices were emailed and posted to schools in May. Check out our FAQ for the benefits of membership.

Some schools have still not informed us of their new P&C committee members via our Office Bearers Form.

The ACT Government has appointed an Expert Panel to review policy and practice in all ACT schools with respect to students with complex needs and challenging behaviour. Parents are encouraged to make a brief submission based on their experiences and views of how our schools handle these issues. See www.actparents.org.au for more.

We ask P&C secretaries or presidents to include a notice about this in their school newsletters so that more parents can respond. 

P&Cs are also invited to comment, either in their own submission or by sending views to Council for inclusion in ours. A template for submissions is likely to be available shortly and submissions are due by July 31.

Last night's general meeting of Council was very interesting, covering traffic issues, canteen grants and much more. You can read the summary if you missed it.

The requirements around auditors for your P&C's end of year accounts have been relaxed in recent years. For associations whose total revenue is $400,000 or less, the audit can be completed by an ordinary person who is not on the committee and did not assist in the preparation of the accounts. Qualified accountants are needed once revenue and/or assets total between $400,000 and $1,000,000. Beyond this, a company auditor is required.

The Education Union is concerned about the Health Access At Schools program making educators, rather than qualified nurses, responsible for the healthcare of students with complex needs and what this means for student safety, student learning and the workload of educators. Parents are asked to take this short survey to help the union better understand your views.

The ACT Government recently launched the Canberra Public Schools web portal to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for information about our public schools. It contains important information, feature articles and useful links for parents and carers as well as highlighting success stories from around Canberra. Council is also pleased to learn that the Education Directorate has also been promoting public schools with displays at shopping centres during Public Education Week.
 

Please help us spread the word about Mission Australia's Youth Survey. The Survey asks those aged 15-19 years what they value, where they turn for support, what issues concern them, how they are involved with their community and their feelings about their future. In 2015, the survey focuses on community and housing as well as barriers to further education and employment. Please use the code 91103 when completing the survey to link the results of those in our public education network.
 

Do you have a fussy eater in your family?  Are you tired of only cooking foods your child will eat? ACT Health run free, drop-in Fussy Eating groups regularly at Gungahlin, Belconnen and Tuggeranong health centres for advice and support.

ACT Health's Good Habits for Life site will create a tailored health and wellbeing program for you, filled with practical tips and challenges to help your family eat well, move more and get into life. You can track your progress and the kids will be kept busy – and healthy – with fun badges to collect.  You’ll also be able to access information about programs such as Fresh Tastes: healthy food at school, Ride or Walk to School and Kids at Play, Active Play and find out how you can get involved.
 
And, for a limited time, when you sign up, you’ll also get a free cookbook full of healthy meals for families that are delicious and easy to prepare.
 

We strive to provide information of interest to all school parents in the Council Communicator. If you think any of the items above are of interest to parents at your school, please pass them on via your school newsletter or whatever other means you wish. We would be grateful if you would share the item on students with challenging behaviour.

We have a template page for school newsletters to make it easier for you to cut and paste items to submit to your school newsletter under the P&C Council banner.