News and Events > News > Council Report August 2010

ST MARGARET'S SCHOOL COUNCIL LIMITED

COUNCIL MEETING REPORT

Wednesday 18 August 2010

The August Council Meeting was the first which included the sharing of a meal with members of the School's community organisations. The executive of the P&F joined the Council for an informal dinner in the Arts Centre Foyer provided by the School catering staff. In coming months the Senior Executive and Senior Staff team, the newly formed Staff Forum Committee and the Foundation will be invited to join the Council for an evening meal during Council Meetings.

The Staff Forum is an initiative, welcomed by the Council, which will give staff an important opportunity to discuss issues of significance to them, and to bring forward ideas for further strengthening the education we give our girls.

The Council meeting was addressed by representatives from National Australia Bank who are the School's bankers. They delivered a presentation on hedging to reduce risk to interest rate exposure. The Business Manager is going to present the Council with some scenarios involving the options discussed with the NAB representatives.

The meeting accepted the resignation of Alex Aspromourgos, who was thanked for his valuable contribution to the Council over a period of six years.

The Council discussed the catering contract for the School which expires at the end of the year. The Business Manager has been researching this for some months, and has recently chosen four possible contractors who have the capacity and skills to provide the services we need. A committee which includes the Business Manager, Head of Boarding, Head of Marketing and a group of boarding parents has been given the task of making a recommendation to the Council on which of the companies is most suitable. A contract will be signed with the preferred company in time for them to take up the commission for next year. We thank the four boarder parents, two of whom are professionally qualified in the field of nutrition, for giving their time to assist in the selection process.

All the contract details have now been settled for the Science and Resource Centre. The acronym forming the name of this building has been an issue of debate.

Space

Innovation

Science

Technology

Environment

Research

Sustainability

It has been suggested that the resulting acronym, SISTERS, could be mistaken for meaning the building is a new building for the Sisters, which it is not. It has been decided to refer to the new building as the Science and Resource Centre, to more accurately reflect its intended use as a library and science education area, while still acknowledging the underlying ethos of the Sisters, which underpins all we do at St Margaret's.

When the tenders for this building closed there were seven tenders submitted. Two favoured tenderers were selected from this list and negotiations have taken place to clarify and compare the tenders. We identified a preferred tenderer who is a very experienced and well respected operator, having successfully completed building projects for, among other schools, Churchie, Nudgee and Stuartholme. Following further negotiations with this builder the contracts have been signed. The Council has asked the building team to make every effort to minimise disruption to normal School life during the construction period, which could be up to a year depending on weather and other unexpected delays. The Council will keep you updated on progress as construction proceeds.

Mr Joe Gibson
Chair of Council