BSS News

In this post, when we use the word ‘parent’, we are referring to any caregiver or guardian of a student attending Ballarat Specialist School, as recorded in our system.

School council is a committee made up of school staff and parents who come together twice a term to oversee the governance of the school. “Governance” means the direction the school is going, or the “big picture stuff”. The other term you might hear when we talk about running a school is “operations”, which means the day-to-day work that a principal does.

In this post, when we use the word ‘parent’, we are referring to any caregiver or guardian of a student attending Ballarat Specialist School, as recorded in our system.

School council is a committee made up of school staff and parents who come together twice a term to oversee the governance of the school. “Governance” means the direction the school is going, or the “big picture stuff”. The other term you might hear when we talk about running a school is “operations”, which means the day-to-day work that a principal does.

School council exists to support the school and guide it in the best interests of its students. Our members are enthusiastic and considerate of our diverse community. We’re always looking for more members to have their say and help make our school the best it can be!

The three critical roles of school councils are:

• Developing the Strategic Plan

• Approving the annual budget

• Setting and reviewing policies

• Developing the Strategic Plan

Every four years, Ballarat Specialist School undertakes a school review, where we make sure we’re following Department of Education policies, look back at the last four years and make new plans for the next four years. We get input from staff, students and parents on what’s going well and what we can do better. The School Strategic Plan (SSP) has new goals (what we want to do), targets (how we’ll know we’ve done it) and key improvement strategies (how we’ll do it) for where we want to be in four years time.

To make sure we reach our new goals, every year we make an Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) that chooses some goals and targets to focus on and decides on real actions we will take to get there. School council approves both the SSP and the AIP.

Ballarat Specialist School’s most recent school review was in 2024, and thanks to the feedback from parents, students and staff, we’ve been able to make some great plans for the next four years, focusing on what’s important to our specific school community.

Approving the annual budget

Ballarat Specialist School is a government funded school. We receive money from the government based on how many students we have, and as a specialist school we also receive more funding through the Disability Inclusion (DI) program, which gives the school extra money to support students with disabilities. As our students need to have an intellectual disability to attend, all of our students are able to get funding through DI. The amount they get depends on what we need to help them learn and grow.

The school uses this money to pay for staff, buildings and grounds, classroom supplies, therapy equipment, and lots more. School council reviews all the school’s spending and makes sure that we keep our students at the centre of everything we do.

Setting and reviewing policies

School policies are a set of rules that explain how we do things at Ballarat Specialist School. As a government school, we have to follow the policies that the Department of Education sets, but we have some local policies that we tailor to suit our school.

Some of our policies are related to the day-to-day operations of the school, so they are made and approved by the principal and other staff. Some are related to the big-picture governance, so they go to school council for approval. School council also has a policies subcommittee made up of parents and staff who have input into making the policies. All our policies are informed by the Department of Education’s guidance.

What else do they do?

School council also connects with the community and organises things like fundraisers. In 2023 and 2024, we had a great success with a Bunnings BBQ which were each able to raise several thousand dollars to support our Bike Education program and represent the school in a positive way in the local community. Our new bike track is perfectly even and has the same line markings students would see when riding their bikes in the community. It’s one of the ways BSS can help prepare students with real life skills that will allow them independence in the future

We hope to continue to make a difference through events like this!

Who is on school council?

School council is made up of 12 members—8 parents and 4 Department of Education employees (school staff). Within those members, we have a:

• President

• Vice president

• Treasurer

• Secretary

31 of our Senior School Music students participated and hosted the Royal South Street All Abilities Performing Arts Eisteddfod Extravaganza over the 6th and 7th of September 2023 at the FARM campus.

The event was co-planned with Melba Performing Arts and the 2023 VET Music Students. The community came out in droves with standing room only left up the back for majority of the schedule performances.

The Senior Campus at Ballarat Specialist School is very excited to be joining with Country Grocers in Skipton for a 2nd year after a very successful pilot year in 2022. For those unaware, this wonderful opportunity came into fruition last year when past teacher, Ben Decis offered us this valuable program.

Ben and his family own and operate Country Grocers and have 5 stores in the region: Skipton, Trentham, Avoca, Smythesdale, and Ballan. 

For the last 23 year’s Ben’s family have been one of the many independent family-owned businesses that operate Grocery Stores in small town markets that sit at the heart of local communities across Australia.

This year Country Grocers are proud to have put in the hard work to become their own enterprise and completely independent to IGA. Even with this massive change to their business and the challenges it has presented, Country Grocers has made the return of this program a priority and were committed to finding time to offer us this amazing work experience program. We are exceptionally lucky.

Once more, Ben and his Country Grocers team have offered to turn the Skipton supermarket into an operating training hub for 11 of our year 11 and 12 students. Ben, his store managers Ashlee and Courtney, and his other chosen staff, along with two supporting staff from BSS, join the students each Wednesday in Term 3 to support them learning valuable retail skills that may assist them in gaining employment in the future.

From the moment students enter the store each Wednesday they are treated as though they are employees, dressed in appropriate Country Grocers uniform and name tags. The students have already learnt beneficial information on how a supermarket operates from day to day, including many of the behind the scenes’ aspects.

Over the past four weeks our Grade 6 students have been participating in an Art Therapy program which has been focusing on supporting their transition from Primary School into Middle School. Each week had a different focus for the students to express themselves through art work; creating a safe space, my chill/Zen place, gratitude boxes and celebration/achievements.

Below are photos of the students art work along with comments from students who participated in the program:

We would like to congratulate our amazing senior school students that have been awarded their full VET Certificates this year.

Students have worked hard over the year, and in some cases over 2 years to be granted a Vocational Educational Training certificate in their chosen industry. Their dedication and commitment has been wonderful to see, especially their joy when they learnt they would be receiving their completed certificate.

Certificate II Sport & Recreation:

• Joshua Taylor

• Harry Dobbin

• Bailey Ohlsen

Certificate II Kitchen Operations:

• Shakira Heath

• Lily Terry

• Jasmine Nanscawen

• Eloise Buck

• Elizabeth Maver

• Braiyden Oakley

Certificate II Horticulture:

• Luke Bullen

• Charlie King

• Michael Haywood

• Harrison Norman

• Brendan Casley

• Orrin Cooper-Donaldson

• Eli Flatman

Certificate II Animal Studies:

• Ainsley McKenzie

In total this year we have had 80 senior school students enrolled in a VET certificate, this includes 8 high support students enrolled in Certificate 1 in Life Skills. We are extremely proud of all the students efforts and willingness to try hard in their VET studies. In 2023 we have many students pursing the 2nd year of their chosen VET course, as well as some new VET courses on offer. Students are able to choose from the VET certificates taught onsite at the FARM that include: Life Skills, Kitchen Operations/Cookery, Sport and Recreation, Visual Arts, Retail, Music Industry and Horticulture. Students are also able to choose from a range of VET courses offered off-site through the Highlands LLEN VET cluster.

Below photos: Bailey and Josh who have been awarded their Certificate II Sport