Purpose
The Aspley State High School Community and Parent Forum provides a platform for parents and carers to engage directly with the school about issues that fall outside individual issues of academic performance and discipline. The Forum aims to increase communication between parents and the school about issues that affect our school community and to give the school another reliable channel of communication with parents.
The Forum differs from the Parents and Citizens Association in that it has no fund-raising role, formal meetings or Committees. However, the Forum may organize events related to special interest groups and assist the school with events where parent representation is required and appropriate.
Engagement
Before enrolment: The Forum may engage with prospective students and their families during the enrolment stage to help parents learn about the school.
After enrolment: After joining the school community, parents can engage with the Forum via email, Facebook and the school newsletter.
Correspondence: The Forum email is managed by the school and relevant emails are forwarded to the Coordinator. Individual enquiries will be answered where possible or directed to the appropriate staff member. Where an enquiry may be of interest to the wider community it will be posted on the FAQ page and may be published in the newsletter. Questions concerning the same topic may be posted on the FAQ page with a school endorsed response.
Feedback: Parents may also be contacted by the school seeking feedback on specific issues, or for online surveys to assist with planning and policy development. The Forum enables the school to access the whole school community enabling more informed decision making and service delivery.
Special Interest Groups: Some families may have common interests in some aspect of the school such as specific curriculum pursuits (e.g. Football, The Arts) and may wish to set up a Special Interest Group to support each other, promote the area of interest and organize social activities with likeminded people. If you think you would like to see such a group for an area of interest of your children, please contact the Co-ordinator via email.
Current and former members of the ADF (ADF SIG)
Purpose: Aspley State High School recognizes that the unique nature of military service may present challenges for students of ADF families different to those experienced by others. These challenges may include prolonged absence of family members on exercises or operations, shift work, and ongoing physical or mental health issues that may impact on student performance.
The ADF SIG seeks to provide a forum for ADF families to get in touch, provide mutual support and social activities and communicate with the school leadership team where appropriate. It is not a forum for complaints. Families should use existing channels for issues relating to academic performance and behaviour.
ADF SIG is not an ex-services organization. Issues of entitlements, advocacy and benefits remain the responsibility of those organizations and agencies.
Coordination: The SIG will be coordinated by a parent volunteer reporting to the School Principal.
Communication: The Coordinator will use existing school media to communicate with parents i.e. website, Facebook, email and school newsletters. A page for this SIG will be set up on the school website under the Parent Forum page.
It is proposed that the first activity will be a Triple P Parenting workshop delivered by our school psychologist during Term 3. We will publish more information closer to the date.
In the meantime, if you have any issues you wish to raise through the ADF SIG please contact me through this email:
ParentandCommunityForum@aspleyshs.eq.edu
Parent Initiatives: The Forum may become a vehicle for parent driven activities such as festivals, job fairs, cultural events and so on. Some of these may be driven by special interest groups, individuals and other stakeholders as well as one off events which celebrate the diversity of our school community.
School Council: There are two parent representatives on the School Council, one of whom is the Forum Co-ordinator. The School Council provides governance and oversight of the school’s performance and meets periodically throughout the school year. The Forum Co-Ordinator will provide a report to parents in the school newsletter following each meeting. The Representatives may occasionally seek input to or feedback on School Council deliberations. These will be managed through the newsletter or by email direct to parents.
Parent Ambassadors:
Parent Ambassadors are parents who volunteer to assist the Principal with school events where a parent presence may be helpful, for example enrolment activities, Family Sundays and Master Classes and School Review opportunities.
Parent Ambassadors can also nominate to be a point of call for prospective parents to give a parent perspective on Aspley High School.
Parents who are interested in becoming a Parent Ambassador, will attend a short induction course covering school values and operations, key staff, safety and protocols. The intention of the Ambassadors role is to support new families with a consistent message about our school values, operations and ways of working.
If you wish to be a Parent Ambassador contact the Forum Co-ordinator on the email.
Rules - The Forum:
- is not a channel for complaints about the school or its staff, which should be directed to school in accordance with existing procedures
- is not a social media channel for commentary about the school or the Education Department
- is not a business networking and promotion service
- is considered a workplace meaning that all correspondence will be respectful and courteous.
Further information: contact the Forum Co-ordinator, Ralph Sadler at ParentandCommunityForum@aspleyshs.eq.edu.au