A student-led vision for parents and friends of Docklands Primary School

The Docklands Primary School (DPS) Parents & Friends Association now has a face of its own, thanks to school’s incredibly talented students – a milestone which was celebrated at a special assembly in August.

Parents & Friends (P&F) Associations are organisations set up to support schools. They are an integral part of the Australian school system dating back to the mid-19th century. They were created to provide a formal structure for parents and others interested in the welfare of the students to plan and organise activities for the benefit of the school, and the ongoing development of students.

P&F Association members provide invaluable support to the school in several ways with the primary motivation of building a sense of community. The activities may include promoting cultural and social diversity by growing membership and participation of all parents in the association.

Channelling parents’ views to the school leadership about school policies that have been identified by the school for review.

Discussing, planning and organising events, such as welcoming new students and parents at the school, second-hand book and uniform schemes, social opportunities, comedy, movie, disco nights, twilight markets, barbecues, free breakfasts, parent information sessions, raising funds for the school.

Our school is only a few years old. Most of our families are new to Australia and are still getting their head around how to fit into the Australian education system. Therefore, it takes time to explain to our parent community what the P&F Association does and the important role it plays in ensuring students’ wellbeing at the school.

We encourage all parents to join the P&F. It will help our students, our families and the school, we will be able to have more and bigger events and activities for our students.

P&F currently has 20 members, and we want more. We’re also were very excited this year with a Docklands resident joining P&F.

Local residents volunteering with the school creates invaluable connections between the school and local community.

Local resident Maureen Jacobsen is helping the school to organise learning materials and assist in setting up the exhibition at the Library at the Dock.

“I am very happy and enjoy being able to volunteer and assist at the Docklands Primary School library,” Ms Jacobsen said.

“The school library provides a space for the children to read and learn in a comfortable, safe environment. It is also great to see the children learn to appreciate the beauty of books and assist the teachers with the reading resources.”

Earlier this year the P&F Association ran a logo competition asking children to put their vision of the parents’ and carers’ community on paper and create an identity for our group of passionate volunteers helping create a vibrant, active and supportive school community.

P&F received more than than 30 logo submissions, each worthy of representing P&F. It was such a hard task to choose, but in the end we decided to put it to the students’ vote.

The winning logo was created by Grade 4 student Yashasree, who received a book signed by the school principal Adam Bright as a prize. “Yashasree’s design looks fantastic. Its style, layout and colour scheme are perfect. It represents our local area – Docklands’ marine feel, our community and its values being the heart of it all,” P&F vice-president Anna Chillakuru said.

“We are so proud of our students, the sophistication of their work was well above what was expected.”

P&F and City of Melbourne have organised an exhibition of all the submissions that can now be viewed at the Library at the Dock. We invite the Docklands community to visit the display to celebrate our children’s creativity and talents. •