Board of Governors

Principal Recruitment
As noted in the last Board summary, the Board has commenced the process for recruitment of a new Principal.  The role has been advertised online and in the Advertiser on Saturday 6 April. Hender Recruitment is assisting to manage the recruitment process.

Board Membership
The Board warmly thanks Mr Ken Hall for his service to the Pulteney Board of Governors following his resignation as a Governor.  Ken has served for 2 years as the Pulteney Old Scholars Association (POSA) nominee on the Board.  The Board has requested POSA to identify a new nominee.

Noting the fact that the Board’s skills matrix shows a deficit in educational experience the Board approved Mr Chris Prance to attend meetings of the Board of Governors.  Mr Prance is a former school Principal and has had educational related roles at the Association of Independent Schools and the Anglican Diocese. Mr Prance will contribute to discussions of the Board but not have a vote on Board matters. Mr Prance will also assist in the Principal recruitment process given his educational experience.

Engagement with School Community and Committees
The Board held an open forum for the community on 26 March, which was attended by around 30 people.  The Board Chair and Principal updated the forum on a range of matters and achievements at the school.  That was followed by a question and answer session providing the opportunity for community members to seek information.  These forums will continue to be held each term.

The first joint meeting of the Chairs of the Board, POSA, P&F and Foundation (who was an apology) also occurred and has formed a basis for improved communication between the groups.

2023 School Academic Results
Ms Adnett provided the Board with a summary of the academic results for 2023.

The 2023 cohort is the largest group of Year 12 students for 11 years and 100% of them achieved their SACE, with 50% achieving in the A Band and 88% of the cohort achieving B grades or higher.  17% of students achieved a merit listing, demonstrating exceptional achievement and an overall subject grade of A+ (awarded to the top 2% of the State in a given subject). An additional 38% of the cohort of students achieved a VET qualification in their senior years.  Pleasingly, 2023 saw the highest percentage (89% of cohort) of first/second preference offers for their next stage of learning, since record keeping commenced in 2012.

The Board congratulates the class of 2023, wishes them well for their future, and looks forward to them remaining connected to the School and part of the broader Pulteney community, including through the Pulteney Old Scholars Association.

School Policies
As noted in the last Board summary, the Board continues to work on a draft Code of Conduct for the School community. The code is intended to create a set of standards for behaviour for all members of the School community. The draft is currently subject to consultation with staff.  Following that process, it will be provided to the School community for consultation.

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)
In the Mackinnon building, which houses Kurrajong (ELC to Year 2), each learning space is named with a Kaurna word for a tree or plant. This was a process that was completed a number of years ago and is an important part of embedding indigenous culture in our learning areas.

Last year the RAP committee discussed the possibility of naming the remaining Junior school (Years 3 to 6) classrooms in the same way. The teachers of Year 3 to 6, supported by Jason Fay, will pursue this opportunity, including starting the process of gaining permission to use these names through the indigenous Kuma Kaaru Cultural Services Pty Ltd.

Sub-Committee Updates
The Finance and Risk sub-committee has commenced the process for updating the School’s strategic risk register.  That work, including appropriate risk treatments, will continue and be considered by the Board of Governors in coming meetings.

Budget
The Board approved the 2024 school budget. The budget is planned to achieve a neutral position in 2024.  It is noted that the budget includes a reduction in Federal and State government funding under the school funding agreement as a result of the calculation of school community ‘ability to pay’ under the agreement.  The median school family household income increased from $220,000 in 2022 to $245,000 in 2023 resulting in a reduction of $700,000 in government funding to the school.

Policies
Consistent with the outcomes of the school review last year the Board has progressed two policies.

1. The Board considered and approved finalisation of a Whistleblower Policy.  The policy will now be completed and will be made available on the school policy section of the website.
2. The Board also considered a draft Code of Conduct Policy.  This will be further developed for the next Board meeting.

Further School Review Items
Consistent with commitments in response to the VUCA school review to improve communication, the next quarterly school community forum date will be established shortly.

A meeting is being scheduled with the chairs of the Board, Foundation, Old Scholars and Parents and Friends to assist to ensure these governance groups are communicating and have shared directions.  This is expected to become a regular meeting for this group.

Independent Board Review
The Board has received the independent Board review report in line with the actions from the VUCA review.  The Board will consider its recommendations and make any adjustments it considers appropriate.

Principal Recruitment 
The Board established a sub-committee for recruitment of the Principal.  The sub-committee will include three members of the Board and an independent member with appropriate educational experience. The recruitment process will commence during Term 1.

The Board of Governors discussed the following items at its regular meeting on 6 November 2023.

Independent Board Review

The Board Review process is underway with an independent reviewer having been appointed and Board Members currently completing information as part of the process. A board review is an internal assessment of a board’s operations and its members, identifying areas for improvement to ensure effective governance.  This review was an action committed to by the Board in the recent response to the VUCA report.

Finances

The Board noted the work on finalising the 2024 Budget and forecasts.

The Board also completed its deliberations on the fee structure for 2024 for both local and international students.  The Business Director will now finalise the schedule of tuition fees for 2024 which will be provided to the school community shortly.

Staffing

The recruitment process for a new school Chaplain is nearly complete with an announcement to occur shortly.

Other

It is confirmed that exit interviews are offered to all parents/caregivers when children are withdrawn from the school. Exiting staff are also provided an opportunity for an exit interview.

The Board expressed its gratitude to the Principal and Business Director for their work with the Board for the year.  The Board also expressed its thanks to the broader leadership team and all teachers and staff for their commitment and support in 2023, wishing them a restful and caring holiday season full of the things they enjoy.

The Board of Governors discussed the following items at its regular meeting on 1 November 2023.

General Update
In the update from the Interim Principal and Business Director the Board noted:

• Enrolment numbers remain at record levels, with student withdrawal numbers the same as previous years
• The end of term 3 school tours numbers, for prospective new students, were very high
• Staff turnover levels is in line with other schools reflecting the overall labour market challenges

The Board again acknowledged the excellent work of the leadership, teachers and all staff in delivering the highest quality education and experiences to our students.

Communication with School Community
The Board remains committed to meaningful engagement and communication with all stakeholders as set out in its recent correspondence and as demonstrated through attendance to provide information and answer questions at a recent staff meeting and the Parents and Friends Association meeting on Monday, 30 October.

Two issues remain critically important:

1. The safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and our community is the highest priority.
2. We are all members of the school community, and we need to look forward and work together to ensure a positive and inclusive environment for everyone.

The Board is aware that there have been instances where behaviours and comments to staff and others in our community do not meet the values and standards we expect in our school.  This includes in person and by way of electronic communications and on social media platforms.

We encourage everyone to adhere to appropriate standards of behaviour including ensuring that communications are free from content that could be considered malicious, defamatory or constitute bullying or harassment.  Should a member of the School community experience behaviours that depart from those standards, a report should be made to the school.

We acknowledge the breadth of views across the community and welcome those being presented in an appropriate and respectful manner through the established engagement processes and communication channels.

New Heads of School
The Board members met the new Heads of School:

• Mr Jason Fay, Head of Junior School
• Ms Lauren Schwarze, Head of Middle School
• Mr Zac Savage, Head of Senior School

The new Heads of School had been at the school during the day for meetings and the Board enjoyed the opportunity to meet and welcome them to the school.

Stakeholder Engagement Sub-committee
The Board progressed the proposed terms of reference for the new Stakeholder Engagement Sub-committee.  It confirmed that the purpose of the Sub-committee is to ensure alignment of views and effort of the school’s formal committee’s (Parents and Friends, Pulteney Old Scholars Association and Foundation) and the Archdiocese.  Its purpose is for improved communication between the groups.

Importantly, the Board is keen to emphasise that there will be many avenues for consultation and communication across the school with its different groups. That will include opportunities for staff input on proposals and broad parent and caregiver input, including through the community forums the Board has committed to.

Independent Board Review
Consistent with its decision to undertake a Board review process, the Board sought advice from the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) on experts to undertake the review.  The Board Chair and Chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee are progressing conversations with a proposed reviewer for their agreement to undertake the work.

Sub-Committee Business
The Board:

• Approved an updated Authorised Delegations Matrix from the Finance and Risk Sub-committee
• Noted work has commenced on planning the 2024 Budget in the Finance and Risk Sub-committee
• Noted work has commenced on a new Whistleblower Policy by the Governance and Nominations Sub-committee
• Noted that minor capital works are occurring on Allan Wheaton House for:
  • drainage and moisture management as part of the heritage maintenance plan; and
  • new access doors to be installed in the summer holidays to create a more welcoming and secure entrance.

The Board of Governors discussed the following items at its meeting on 18 October 2023.

Acknowledgement
The Board welcomed the Interim Principal, Ms Deb Dalwood to her first meeting in that role and acknowledged the leadership team and all staff for their work and commitment.

Action Item List from Review
The Board determined to ensure it takes immediate steps with respect to the actions it established and communicated as part of the response to the VUCA review.

The full list of actions has been referred to the Board Governance and Nominations Committee to determine an implementation plan for the actions.

Two actions are to be implemented as a matter of priority:

1. Provide update to school community after each Board meeting (this document is the first of those)
2. Establishing the Board stakeholder engagement committee.

The Board stakeholder engagement committee will include the Chair of the Board of Governors, Chairs (or nominees) of each of P&F, POSA and the Foundation, and an Anglican diocese representative.  A terms of reference is being developed for this group focused on information sharing and strategic alignment.

Strategic Planning
The school review process confirmed support for the teaching and learning strategic direction of the school and the Board fully supports that strategy.  Following the community feedback, the Board is aware that it needs to provide a clearer presentation of the strategic direction to the school community and ensure that it fully consults and communicates with the community on implementation plans.  The Board agreed to seek advice from the school executive and staff on this matter.

Infrastructure Works Plan
The Board noted that there are no current major infrastructure projects underway or planned.  It was agreed that further information would be shared with the community prior to any further major projects proceeding.

Independent Board Review
The Board resolved to immediately seek to identify an independent expert to undertake a Board review process consistent with good governance practice.  It is noted that the independent expert would need to be external and not have any existing relationship with Pulteney to avoid any conflicts of interest. It is intended that the independent expert would advise the best practice process to undertake the review, and that the review be completed this calendar year.

Net Promoter Score Survey
The school conducted net promoter score surveys in November 2019 and 2021.  It was due to conduct the same survey in November 2023.  The Board determined to defer the survey until a future date (likely in 2024) to ensure the survey provides useful comparative data and analysis.

David Reynolds
Chair
Board of Governors