Ian Filer
Every year your Governing Council has the responsibility of setting our Materials and Services charge (school fees) with advice provided by our Finance Committee and myself as Principal. Once determined, we are required to conduct a poll of our parent community and if we secure greater than 50% in favour, the Materials and Services charge for the following year is set. As part of this process, we invite any interested parents to our week four Governing Council meeting at 7pm, where Materials and Services charges are the first agenda item and the above is discussed. This is held in the staffroom on Monday the 2nd of November. On Tuesday the 3rd of November, immediately following our Governing Council meeting, a simple ‘tick box’ Yes or No poll will be forwarded to all parents. Parents will have 2 weeks to respond. Results will be collated and then shared with our community.
Brighton Primary School has regularly conducted a poll and each year, the poll has always been in favour of what is proposed.
For 2021 we are proposing an across the board, Foundation to year seven $20 increase, while we are also proposing an additional $30 increase for all our year three to seven students. Our proposal for 2021 is:
- Foundation to year two – $400
- Year three to year seven – $430
The additional money for our primary students is to help fund our ambitious plan which we have recently put in place. At this stage every year six and seven student has access to their own high quality IPad and as the future unfolds this 1:1 ratio will continue to move throughout years five, four and three.
I encourage all parents to read Christie’s recent post ICT Update – Term Four 2020 where she details what we currently have in place, giving parents a clear understanding of our future directions.
Today, all students will receive a letter from our Finance Officer Lisa, detailing the proposed fees for 2021 and an invitation to attend our week four Governing Council meeting.
It should be noted that our ICT plan has been a very important agenda item through this year, with both our ICT committee and Governing Council. As you would expect, both are very much in favour of what is proposed. We are very keen that our proposed M and S charges for 2021 have the full support of our parent community.
For your information, school fees for schools similar in size and demographics to Brighton Primary School are:
- Unley $420
- Grange $370 It is an expectation that students bring their own device to school
- Burnside $455 It is an expectation that students bring their own device to school
We explored at length the possibility of students bringing their own device to school but for a range of reasons the IT committee and Governing Council decided against it. Costs for parents for such a purchase can be upwards of $500-$700.
Feel free to contact Simon Froude or Nicky Morgan of our Finance Committee or Christie or myself at school if you have any questions .
Ian