Edition 4 | June, 2018

Board Matters

Board Matters

Simon Harris, Chair, FMS Board

Simon Harris, CEO, FMS Board

Since my previous InFocus Board Matters article, the nuts and bolts of our strategic plan are nearing completion, and our efforts are bearing fruition. It’s exciting times ahead for FMS. We have been testing the strategy model; develop, test, revise, develop further and refine.

Primarily, we can think of the strategy model in layers. At the base layer lie our core values; who we are, our Montessori philosophy, our commitment to provide a high- quality Montessori education from 0 to 12, and importantly, our philosophy and direction as a school.

The 2nd layer comprises our enabling functions. These functions allow us to operate effectively on a day to day basis, and enable us to expand when and where necessary, and provide support for the 3rd layer.

The 3rd layer is all about flexibility and realising opportunity; working out what and where the opportunities are in the market, and what we can do to enhance, communicate and demonstrate our Montessori offer.This is where we work to maintain relevance in the competitive market (without changing our core Montessori values), attract new families to our school and, therefore, ensure the business and financial side of the school is robust to ensure a bright FMS future.

This strategic approach has been made possible because of the focus and commitment demonstrated by our CEO, Denice Scala. She is the architect of this strategy and implementation plan, which has been backed by the Board. Denice has worked extremely hard and diligently to ensure everything lines up, is operationally achievable and will deliver the required results, while maintaining an element of flexibility to cater for changing market conditions. It’s an impressive piece of work, and Denice is very keen to share this with the FMS community. Denice will decide on a date in early Term 3 and advise the community in due course, so watch this space!

Taking into consideration the outstanding job Denice has done in transforming the financials of the school, lifting community engagement, improving staff development opportunities and remodelling the FMS administrative function, we are delighted to announce that the FMS Board offered Denice an extension to her contractual term as interim CEO. This is to ensure that this vital piece of work is completed to the specification and standard as set out. I’m pleased to say Denice accepted the invitation to continue in her role until later in 2019.

I mentioned community engagement above; one of the key pillars to our future success. From the Board’s perspective, the current community engagement is high and feedback has been forthcoming and much more positive. It's this wonderful community support for the school that makes all the difference as we move forward. Please continue to feedback, support and be involved in our FMS community. It’s appreciated by all, not least the staff who interact with parents every day. After all, these are the people shaping the lives of our children, and they’re doing a thoroughly fantastic job of it.