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Parents and Friends Association
The year has been an exciting and productive year for the Parents & Friends Association as we have contributed to the Edmund Rice tradition. We have done this by working to extend the College boundaries to include the parents and families of our young men of Terrace.
The P&F exists for specific reasons and they are to:
- foster parent-teacher-student understanding and communication
- encourage closer communication among parents
- represent the viewpoint of parents
- promote the interests of students
The communication task is very important and is achieved in many different ways. At our monthly meetings the College Leadership Team (CLT) present comprehensive briefings and answer many questions. This is an excellent opportunity for parents to discover the background and reasons for what happens at the College. Peter Chapman uses the meetings as an opportunity for the parents to participate in the development of the College plan “Towards GT135 and Beyond, 2005-2010”.
Events such as the Open Day are very important as they help present and aspiring parents to discover their way around the College and to meet students, teachers, support group members and other parents. The Open Day has been a great success and the P&F will continue to manage the event for the good of the College. Barbara Hartigan has been an excellent event manager and we extend our heartfelt thanks to Barbara.
Maureen Tynan organised a night at La Boite for us all to see “The Mayne Inheritance”; we had a great night and the money raised went to TLG to help continue their great work. The P&F Information evening featured Graham Hyman and he entertained us while providing some valuable tools to help us manage our adolescents.
We continue to represent the views of parents and students through our involvement with the Dean of Studies, Julie Quinn through the Education Sub-Committee. Richard Peverill represents the P&F in this endeavour and deserves our special thanks. The Careers Expo was one tangible example of the excellent work of this group.
The P&F has handed over the management of the Stationery, Uniforms and Book Hire businesses to the College. This allows for a professional level of staff and financial management, and frees the P&F from the responsibilities of what has become a significant business. The profits still return to the College and are applied for the benefit the students.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Peter Chapman and the CLT for their generous support of the P&F. Peter and the CLT have attended every meeting and continue to selflessly give of themselves for the betterment of our sons.
The College Support Staff have helped in many ways, and I would like to mention Glenn Brown and Pam Pennisi-Dixon particularly, nothing is ever a problem and on many occasions our needs were well anticipated; thank you.
The P&F has been well served this year by Maureen Tynan, Margaret Smith and Jill Gowdie. Margaret will be leaving this year and she will be missed, Margaret has been a great Secretary and many of you will remember her for the wonderful letters she has penned as congratulations or condolences. Thanks Marg’.
My best wish to you all, what a great year 2004 has been.
Ray Donato
President
Terrace Education Forum
In 2004, the committee of the Terrace Education Forum organised an afternoon and evening to provide information on varied careers. Due to the generosity of our many past students and families, our ‘Career Expo’ was able to give valuable information to our current students in areas of work and study in Medicine, Physiotherapy, Business, Engineering, Law, Science, Defence Forces, Education, Hospitality, Trades. Presentations also included speakers who had traveled varied and interesting paths to their final career.
Our afternoon commenced with a sausage sizzle and displays at booths from thirteen tertiary institutions. Parents and students appreciated the opportunity to speak personally with presenters. Our current students were particularly interested in the advice offered from past students who were current tertiary students.
Due to the popular response from this event, we will again host a similar Expo on Wednesday 25 th May.
The Education Forum is chaired by Dr Richard Peverill and all meeting dates are listed in the school calendar. New members are most welcome.
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