Welcome to the 2025 School year from the Governing Council. A special welcome to our new students and families. We hope your time here at Gladstone High is fun, filled with wonderful experiences and memories and challenging as you grow. 

In the not too distant future we will hold our Governing Council AGM and this will be an opportunity for parents to hear about what our Council does and to join us in helping Gladstone High continue to be a school we can be very proud of. We are always looking for new members and details about how you can nominate for School Council will be sent out soon. 

We know times are tough for many people in our community so having people who can bring ideas about fundraising for the school (without always asking parents) would be valued. We also have committees for Grounds, Agriculture, Canteen, Finance andthe Sports Centre which will need parent representatives. 

We are very much aware of financial stress on some parents at the moment. To that end I'd like to encourage you to talk to the school administration staff if you need assistance with fees. The Governing council has not raised our school fees for three years, and if you need to pay in installments or delay a payment, please talk to our understanding finance officer Sue Foulis. 

The Canteen serves a great range of tasty and healthy food and is a key part of our school. Due to financial pressures we are trialling closing the Canteen on Tuesdays, to give staff more time in the busier times of the week. The dedicated Canteen managers do a great job, but if you have time to make some biscuits or cakes to donate for sale, or donate ingredients, please ask which products would be most used. Also, if you have a couple of hours once a term, please consider volunteering to help the Canteen staff out.

Lastly, earlier this term a letter went out to all families regarding a proposal to close early a couple of times per term to allow staff to work with staff from other schools and develop better methods for assessment and student engagement. We will be discussing this at the next Council meeting in week 4, so if you have an opinion for or against this proposal please let me know so I can bring your views to Council. Governing Council represents the parents of the school so we need to hear your voice. 

Again, welcome to the 2025 School Year. If Council can help you in any way, please let me know