The August Board meeting was held following an informative meeting with Mark Corrigan, the Chair of the Panel for the appointment of the new St Pius X School Principal, which has now been advertised. It is anticipated that the successful applicant will be announced early in Term 4.

The Board expressed gratitude and thanks to Greg for his excellent leadership in his time at the school, ahead of his retirement at the end of this year.

Also discussed at the meeting were the following items:

• A closed second hand uniform page for the school has been set up on Facebook, titled ‘St Pius X Windsor Gardens Uniform buy/swap/sell’- if you have any used uniform items you’d like to sell or seek to purchase please send a request to join the group and go from there. Terms of the group are set out on the page, for example, all transactions for items need to be between parents only, the school can’t take any responsibility for these exchanges.
• The updated uniform policy was endorsed and available for viewing on the school website. The school skort will be made available in future with pockets.
• The recent SA lockdown meant teachers needed to respond swiftly to set up home learning on SeeSaw – in general this worked well, however the school will be looking at ways to fine tune the process for ease of use for all families, in the case of any future lockdowns.
  
  
• The recent 3-Way Conversations mostly held over the phone had a high uptake of parents booking times to discuss their child’s Semester 1 Report or to touch base with the teacher. The board acknowledged that Covid restrictions and reduced face to face contact with teaching staff can make it very difficult to gain a good sense of how their children are going.
  
  
• Lockdown has delayed the completion date of the new building (Stage 1D), with an anticipated finish date now in October.
  
  
• The school budget is tracking well. A capital grant application for Stage 2 of the building development is pending approval.
  
  
• Restrictions permitting, Greg would still like to hold a Disco evening inviting parents to meet to discuss priorities for Community Activities for 2022. Covid times have made it difficult to maintain and build on a sense of community for the school, however leadership and the board are committed to ensuring that this is a priority moving forward into next year.
  
  
• There have been pleasing gains in literacy achievements for students so far demonstrated on PAT testing – Greg reported that this year a much larger group of children had already reached the Year’s End National Median by July, and many more children achieving results in higher bands from previous years
  
  
• A comprehensive Staff report was provided to board members with a summary of each year level and specialist areas. Discussions have flagged making this information available to parents in future.