Foundation Community
Fig Tree Circle
Camberwell Girls Grammar School is governed by the School Council and the Life Governors. The Fig Tree Circle Association Incorporated is the umbrella body for all Camberwell Girls Grammar community support groups:
- Parents’ Association
- Auxiliary
- Class Representatives
- Past Parents and Friends
- Old Grammarians’ Association (Alumnae)
The Fig Tree Circle seeks to strengthen the lines of communication between the School Council and all community groups, as well as provide a forum for the discussion of issues and ideas.
The Fig Tree Circle has the following roles in the School community:
- Governance of voluntary bodies, including new and novel groups emerging from time to time;
- Setting achievable goals for voluntary bodies, in conjunction with the School and the School Council; and
- Assisting School support groups to co-ordinate their activities.
As a School, we highly value the participation of parents – your participation benefits our School
community in many ways, both tangible and intangible and there are numerous ways to become involved. You are invited to join any one of the parent groups.
Parents’ Association
Of the several parents/students bodies that comprise the School’s non-professional society, the PA has the longest history. Founded in 1929/1930, the PA has been active ever since with regular notices in the School Record. Early activities were mainly of the conservative sort, e.g. in 1928, the PA arranged a ‘Cafe Chantant’ in order to raise funds for the School grounds such as upgrading the Junior School playground. This is a good early example of the PA’s mission to strengthen ties within the School by providing forums for girls, parents and teachers to interact.
The PA exists to arrange parent directed activities that provide a mechanism not only for strengthening the relationship between the School and the parents/students community within the School but raising funds to provide benefits and improve facilities for the School and the students. In essence, it facilitates both friend-raising and fund-raising.
The emphasis on friend-raising or fund-raising has shifted year-to-year, reflecting the perceived balance of needs; the latter usually precedes or directly follows a major development in the School’s infrastructure or expansion of student numbers while the former has been the default at other times.
The PA is the one parent body that seeks to arrange activities outside school hours, either in the evening or weekends to enable working parents to also attend the various organised events.
Auxiliary
The Auxiliary is a group of Junior and Senior School parents whose responsibilities are the operation of the Uniform Shop, the Tuckshops, facilitation of the annual Book Exchange and the coordination of social and fundraising activities. Such activities help to fund priority items for students including sport, music, art and library equipment, playground facilities and computer room refurbishment to name a few. Parents volunteer to help in the Uniform and Tuckshops under the supervision of an employed manager.
Auxiliary meetings are held during the School terms on the second Friday of each month. The meetings alternate between the Junior and Senior campuses, and the Principal of the host campus regularly attends to report recent accomplishments and to discuss current and upcoming issues.
All parents are welcome at Auxiliary meetings, but attendance is not necessary in order to help with an Auxiliary project.
Class Representatives
The Class Representatives help to organise year level functions. These are a wonderful opportunity for parents to get to know each other. They are friendly, low key events that are a lot of fun to attend. In addition, the Class Reps also run the Mother/Daughter Fashion Show for Mothers’ Day and the Father/Daughter Breakfast that incorporates a guest speaker for Fathers’ Day.
Past Parents and Friends
The Past Parents’ and Friends Association meet four times per year over lunch. Members of this group all share a common love and strong interest in the School. Each meeting provides a forum for the discussion of social and fund raising activities. All members of this group do not have a daughter currently enrolled in the School: rather, they have a passion for remaining an active member of the School Community.
For more information please contact:
The Foundation Office
Phone: +61 3 9811 8518
foundation@camgirls.vic.edu.au