Council Update

Dear Parents,

We are delighted to provide you with this update from the School Council, with the objective to provide regular and transparent communication about our ongoing activities through Link and on Cranbrook Connect during this time.

At the School’s AGM last week, which was attended by approximately 60 people, I expressed gratitude to my Council colleagues for their commitment to serving Cranbrook, which is done in a voluntary capacity, and for their unity of purpose over recent months. Council has met 30 times this calendar year to navigate the School through this period. We also welcomed the Rev’d Antony Weiss who was elected to Council at the AGM, as one of the two Anglican clergy representatives. Antony is the full-time resident Chaplain of St Paul’s College within the University of Sydney and was previously a long-serving master at SHORE.

Amongst other things, I reported at the AGM that, further to the School’s new masterplan approved by the School Council in 2023, we are now working through the design process for some of the additional facilities contemplated under the masterplan and for coeducation at Cranbrook. The Building & Development Committee met this week to progress this. There was also an update on the School’s new Strategic Plan, that we will release to the School community.

Once again, we encourage parents to apply to become Members of Cranbrook School, as an opportunity to contribute to the governance of the School.

We have been pleased with the progress on coeducation as monitored through our participation in the Coeducation Steering Committee. We have helped facilitate presentations of the new uniform to the CSPA enabling feedback from the Senior and Junior School communities through this channel.

This week, we again joined staff members for lunch at the School.  This is an initiative we started earlier in the year to enable staff to have informal and direct access to Council members in a two-way exchange for learning. Being close to our staff community is very important to us and we are grateful to be able to continue this engagement.

The external review process instigated earlier this year is progressing and Your Call has received a number of reports from members of the School community, including positive expressions of support. While these reports vary in complexity and some concern historical matters, many matters have now been closed; with all others being actively attended to. Along with Mrs Marquet and the Vice Presidents of Council, Amelia Hill Salter and James Sheller, I have been participating in weekly meetings with the School’s external advisors on the review process. We are committed to keeping the School community informed as we move through this.

We again take this opportunity to recognise Mrs Marquet’s generosity of spirit in taking on the role of Acting Head of School earlier this year and thank her for all her hard work in difficult circumstances. We have now commenced the search for a permanent Head of School and more details about this process, including consultation, will be made available very shortly.  

I hope this provides some insight into the ongoing work of the School Council.  Going forward, occasional updates from the School Council will be made available via this page on Cranbrook Connect:  https://www.cranbrookconnect.com.au/school-life/cranbrook-school-council.aspx

We welcome feedback as we continue to serve the best interests of the School. Please feel free to do so via the Council Secretary email address: councilsecretary@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au

Finally, we take this opportunity to wish all families a restful and well-deserved mid-year break.

Kind regards,

Geoff Lovell
President of Council