Onslow College PTA Annual General Meeting

14 March 2011

Arboretum Report Report

Last year saw a pretty hearty team of parents and students in the arboretum.  It was good to see the core group joined by some new members from the PTA and a pretty healthy group of new parents, commandeered at the Year 9 and Year 10 dinners.

I’d like to thank the PTA for their continued encouragement and, as mentioned above, their helping hands at working bees.  I’d like to offer my particular thanks to Penny Kinsella for her enthusiasm and support last year.  It made a huge difference to have this liaison with the school, not to mention her attendance at most of the working bees during the year!

Waipahihi Stream Project

The Green Group continues to work well on the Waipahihi Stream project and is making good progress on their stream restoration work.  The planting has reached the end of the site closest to the entrance sign and the planting completed so far is looking great.

2011 Working Bee Timetable

The working bee timetable worked well last year and we will continue the programme again this year.  We’ll have our first working bee on the second Sunday in April and will meet on the first Sunday of the month from then on.

Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan

On Tuesday 21 of December, Onslow College was visited by the President of the Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan, Mr Hobun Ikeya. He was accompanied by two of his colleagues Ms Aya Inoue and Mr Daisuke Nakayama. Representing Onslow College were Penny Kinsella, Deidre Burke and Harumi Hasegawa. On a blustery and rather wet morning, we were able to show off the Arboretum (which was remarkably sheltered inside) and the Waipahihi Restoration Area.

Our visitors were most impressed with the scope of our activities, and also the way in which we worked with our students, parents and teachers to develop a culture of sustainability and environmental awareness.
 
The ECS-J is a non-profit and non-governmental organization engaged in research and study on natural environments in concert with government agencies and environmental organizations in Japan and around the world.

PTA Donations to the Arboretum Project

The PTA has been a supporter of the Arboretum project from its outset, with a donation of funds most years.  This financial support has been essential to the development of the Arboretum and has probably provided the impetus for the Waipahihi Stream project.

From the outset, accounting for the spending of these funds has been provided by monthly updates to the PTA meetings.  The requirement was that the money was spent well and for the purposes agreed at the monthly PTA meetings.  While there were a couple of items the PTA specifically funded (commemorative seat and engraving for the Onslow College Reunion), the majority of the PTA’s contributions have served to supplement the general ongoing cost of developing the Arboretum:

• Removal of trees
• Track work
• Purchase of plants
• Purchase of materials for the annual year 9 projects (purchase of sphere materials, purchase of rubbish bin materials, purchase of paving materials, etc)
• Hire of weed eaters
• Spraying of gorse
• Provision of tools, gloves, refreshments for working bee people

There was no requirement from the PTA to balance the PTA donations and Arboretum spending to the last dollar.  This would have been an impossible task as the Arboretum spending was always greater than the funds provided by the PTA, with funding coming also from grants and other donations.

The spreadsheet accompanying this report captures the donations made by the PTA since it began supporting the arboretum project and a number of costs that were covered by these donations.  These costs amount to just a little more than the PTA donations received. 

It would be heartening to see the PTA continue to support this project.  If it does, I would like to suggest that from now on the PTA liaise with the school, perhaps on a six monthly basis, to get an update on how the PTA funds are being spent, being mindful that this update can only provide a general overview and not an exact accounting for funds unless the PTA choose to fund specific equipment or work.

Proposed Purchases for this Year

The first item on the wish list is a hardy four stroke motor mower for the Dell and the Meadow.  We discussed this last year and I charged one of our manly parents to investigate Trade Me prospects.  I will follow this up with him in April.

I think for now we should continue to rely on well-equipped and competent parents and Hire master for our weed eating machinery.  I am happy to continue to bring along gloves and a selection of tools to supplement those brought along by parents to our monthly working bees.

I haven’t lost sight of the possibility of a storage shed for tools and will be liaising with Jan Szydlowski on this as we get the beginning of term one under our belts.

Plan for 2011

In addition to the general maintenance work in the arboretum I would like to see the group working on the following tasks:

• Continue to work on generating a good group of people working on the arboretum and the Waipahihi Stream

• Complete another cut back and spray of gorse in the Dell and on The Meadow
• Start a mowing programme in the above two areas to encourage the establishment of two ‘lawn’ areas
• Survey and cut a gentle track from the Dell to the top track to provide a secondary path from the bottom to the top level
• Cut a series of steps up the Stairway to Heaven
• Focus the winter planting on the (1) Stairway to Heaven, (2) the edges of the top track and (3) the bank in front of the top tennis court, between the arboretum and the Waipahihi Stream.
• Start work on connecting the arboretum to the Waipahihi Stream.

By the end of 2011 I would like the Arboretum to be a place where students are able to go to enjoy their lunch, read a book and enjoy the peace and quiet it provides.