St Mary & St Mina’s Coptic Orthodox College has a Parents and Friends Association (P&F), which was established in 1999, at the same time the school was opened.

The P&F is a non-profit organisation and consists of a group of parents (President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer and Members) who volunteer their time, services and talents collectively to assist the students, teachers and other parents for the benefit of the College.

Aim:

• To have a strong presence of the parents of the College, and any other interested members of the community

• To be actively involved in the College’s activities.

• To provide fun fundraising activities for the benefit of the students and the college. The parents work jointly together and provide a wonderful spirit of service with their generosity in time, effort, talents and donations.
  

Services:

• School canteen – operates once a week, and is completely run by mothers of the school and other members of the community. The food sold at the canteen are provided fully by the P&F budget.
  
  
• Classroom assistance – parents provide regular assistance to the teachers in the classroom. This includes; listening to children read, changing reading books daily, sharpening pencils, tidying classrooms, going on excursions, wrapping school books and many other activities which the teachers would otherwise do. Having assistance from the parents in the classroom allows the teacher to spend more valuable time with the students.
  
  
• Fundraising activities – these activities raise money to purchase valuable resources for the College and provide an opportunity to unite the school and share together in an exciting atmosphere. This allows the students and parents to make valuable contributions to their College.

Purchases for the college in 2005:

• Paint smocks for all new kindy students
• $15,000 donated to assist in the completion of the science lab
• new lockers for all high school students (value $7,000)
• new cd players for all classrooms
• new outdoor benches for high school students (value $1,500)
• providing gifts package for 2006 kindy and Year 7 students.

Meetings:

• Help on the 2nd Tuesday of every month during the school term, from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at the Rockdale Campus.
• These meetings are attended by parents and designated staff.
• A guest speaker is invited to talk about a topic which will benefit parents followed by a message from the principal or director.
• The P&F president provides any P&F updates, followed by tea/coffee and light refreshments.
• Some topics that have been presented this year are: Basic psychological needs of children; The home the first school; Discipline and boundaries for your child; Preparing for the pre-teen years.

"Research has proven that parental involvement in a child’s school produces confidence and success in the student's performance"

Contact:

• If you are wishing to be involved in any of the above activities, please contact the school or the P&F President Magda Bassilious (Mob: 0409-586-838) or any other P&F members, who will be happy to provide more information.

Mrs Magda Bassilious
President of Parents & Friends Association (P&F)