Parent Involvement
From participating in Parent races at Prep Athletics Day, to attending Working Bees and sitting on a Shark Tank panel for VCE Business Management students, the possibilities are just about endless for parents to be involved in the school life here at MECS.
What do you mean by parent partnership?
Due to our understanding of Scripture, MECS is a school that believes that the chief responsibility for the nurture and guidance of children belongs to their parents. Because the education of children has such a significant shaping role, parental responsibility must play a part in that education. This responsibility cannot be hand-balled to governments, businesses, or even churches for that matter. It belongs primarily with parents. This plays out at MECS in two main ways.
Firstly, our school is owned by an association that is made up of parents, past parents, grandparents and friends who value this approach to Christian education. Secondly, we are serious about partnering with parents, through the good times and the challenging times as we educate their children. We also encourage parents to be part of community in practical ways (coming to events, helping out, reading communications etc). It’s a great blessing and a wonderful privilege to be involved in Christian Education!
Association & Board
MECS is owned and operated by both past and present parents and staff, who join together to form the MECS Association.
Founded in the mid-1960s, the MECS Association has governed the school through a parent-governance model. This means that passionate parents oversee the direction of MECS, ensuring that the major governance decisions are made in line with the school’s vision and mission.
The Association elects Board members to govern on their behalf. Board members maintain and generate bible-based, best-practice governance policies to sustain and grow the school’s vision. The Board is also responsible for appointing Executive Leadership roles at the school: the positions of Principal, Business Manager and Heads of School.
For the ongoing success of MECS, it is vital that the school maintains a strong and committed Association, who will help the school prosper and continue to provide Christ- centred education. The Association has an informal meeting twice a year to receive updates about the school.
Ways to be involved
MECS is blessed with an active community of parents and grandparents that love to volunteer and be involved in school life.
We regularly host Parent Morning Teas as an opportunity for parents to get to know each other away from the Kiss n Drop zone and we invite parents to hold their own stall at our Mother’s & Father’s Day stalls.
Our ‘Cook Off’ days are well loved by volunteers who spend a day cooking meals to fill our Community Freezer so we are able to assist people in our community when they are sick or struggling.
We invite parent helpers to join us at Primary excursions to support our teaching staff and enjoy the fun of the day!
Parents are expected to attend 2 working bees throughout the school year to get to know other families and contribute to the stewardship of the school grounds. If a family does not attend the minimum requirement for Working Bees, a fee of $150 will be added to the family account in lieu of non attendance.
Other opportunities to become involved will be communicated through the MECS app and MECS Matters newsletter.
All volunteers must have a current Working With Children Check (WWCC). Parent volunteers are also required to read through the school’s Child Safety Policy and sign off that they will adhere to the principles and requirements outlined in the policy.
