Annual General Meeting 2011...

A Message from the President - Judy

Many of you will be aware of the highly successful,Supporting Engagement and Learning' conference recently held in Melbourne. The conference was offered at a subsidised cost made possible by a grant given through the Warrawong arm of the Foundation of Graduates in Early Childhood Studies (FGECS). Dr Louise Porter set the tone with her engaging key note address followed by a number of excellent workshops that built on the days' theme. The Warrawong Advisory Committee must be congratulated on their vision and work in accessing the funds and developing the guidelines for this conference. Their hard work enabled a very diverse group of early childhood educators and students to access a truly outstanding professional development day.

New members and others, who have had cause to contact the AGECS office in the past fifteen months, would be aware that we have been fortunate to have had the services of Tracy Bell our first ever paid administrator. For many years presidents and others have mooted the idea that an organisation like ours could benefit from a person who would take the bulk of administration away from the often busy and still professionally active office bearers. Whilst this administrative position has been a new development, many older members will be aware that our other employee, Dianne Burgess, has been with us for more than ten years. Over that time Dianne has faithfully supported and informed many AGECS Treasurers about the administration of our finances. Incidentally Dianne has a similar paid role supporting the FGECS organisation.

During this past year, with the advantage of having both administration and bookkeeping backup, AGECS Council has been able for the first time in many years to do things differently. The most significant change has been an improvement in our capacity to engage with and be more responsive to our members. One welcome outcome of this new activity has been a surge in new memberships; all good news for the future life of the organisation. However, sadly for us, Tracy has moved to a full time position and is only available to us on an occasional basis. The first impact on this loss is our inability to respond immediately to phone and email messages directed to the AGECS office. As for now, we ask members to be patient and to leave a message. Someone will get back to you in time. Another impact of losing our administrator will be a delay in preparing the September AUDAX. Tracy had been employed to help produce AUDAX and, unfortunately, we do not have any volunteers to step into the role in time to meet the September dead line. Council however is hopeful of producing an AUDAX by the end of the year. We also hope that in the near future we will be able to appoint a new administrator or place a volunteer into the position until we do.

Please note this year our Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 22nd October at Gowrie Victoria. New and old members may wish to consider joining the Council and are encouraged to do so.(Nomination forms attached). Being part of the Council can be an excellent way to fast track your knowledge of the extensive breadth and diversity of early childhood activity in Victoria. Council meetings are held at Melbourne University - Frank Tate Room on a monthly basis. Please leave a message at the office (phone no. 8344 0990) if you would like to discuss coming onto Council or send an email to info@agecs.org.au. A current member will then contact you to discuss your interest in joining.

Who are our colleagues? Another wonderful outcome from the conference was seeing the ease in which graduates and students from the many courses of early childhood studies came together to share in a networking and learning experience. Whilst reflecting on this new paradigm the AGECS Council felt that it was important to update our organisational policies, procedures and constitution to reflect the changes in our profession. We have been reviewing the wording of our constitution particularly as it pertains to who can join the organisation. As any change to a constitution is a serious step, the Council is very aware there are due processes that must be followed and that it is important to make changes under a spirit of good governance. Members are asked to participate in this process by either attending the AGM on October 22 (see Notice of Meeting sent in following email), casting a vote by postal vote or sending a proxy form to the AGECS office. (AGECS, PO Box 12163, 58 Franklin Street, Melbourne, Vic, 8006).

Council believes the proposed word changes to membership policy and practices will symbolically signal a new era in collegiate support. The message being, that we acknowledge the rich possibilities we create when we actively support and learn from our colleagues from diverse working environments. If this is the new reality then we can expect to play an important part in improving the quality of early childhood services for children and their families across all early childhood services and training institutes.

Finally I have an end of year diary date for you to note. On Thursday afternoon 24th November we have booked tables in the Garden Room at the Observatory Cafe at The Royal Botanical Gardens from 3.30 -  5 p.m. Then at 5.15 p.m. we will be joined by an education officer who will, as a free service, escort us around the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden. After 6 p.m. you may wish to arrange to have a meal with colleagues in one of the many cafes on Domain Road. We are hoping this time slot will encourage some of our retired members to come into the park for an early catch up with friends and former colleagues as well as to meet up with some of the non working Council members for afternoon tea.

Once again I look forward to meeting and getting to know more members at the AGM and or at the garden event later in the year.

Judy Dunn

President