GEMS Parent Association

Isabella Plains Early Childhood School (IPECS) provides children and families with a vibrant, inclusive and supportive community based environment in which our children can grow and thrive. The GEMS Parent Association (GEMS), established in 2009, works hand in hand with the Birth-5 Manager, Principal, Deputy-Principal and staff of IPECS including teachers and Comms@Work educators to contribute to the learning and environments of our children.

All parents or carers of children at IPECS from birth all the way to the 8 year olds in year two are automatically members of the GEMS. We value the rich diversity of skills and experiences that each family brings to our school and understand that helping our school comes in many different forms.

At the GEMS you will find friendship, support, knowledge, a deeper understanding about our teachers and school; and opportunities for you to have a genuine impact and voice in your children’s safety, wellbeing and resources. You can take the lead on fun projects or just help out where you can.

The GEMs organise many fun community and educational events for our school students and their families such as:

• whole school discos
• sausage sizzles
• science show presentation during Science Week
• celebratory breakfasts for eg Mother’s Day, Father’s Day
• Art show and mini fete The GEMS also conduct fundraising activities to help provide improvements to the school and new resources for our children. These activities include:
• Mother and Father’s Day stalls
• healthy fruit fundraiser eg mangoes/cherries
• community barbecues eg Bunnings, Jordo’s Chop Shop
• Entertainment Book
• Stuck on You To help things run smoothly, a GEMS governing committee is appointed each year with nominations and votes coming from the IPECS school community. Positions in the committee include: President l Vice-President l Treasurer l Secretary l Delegates to ACT P&C l Returning Officer

Come to our meetings! GEMS meetings occur twice a term, generally on a Wednesday evening at 7pm in the Family Room. Families are very welcome to bring their children along. You can read previous meeting minutes here.

Look out for our updates on the school newsletter and you can also subscribe to the GEMS Facebook Page, the MailChimp mailing list and Google Calendar or get in touch with us via email.