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Hi Stephen – some feedback from The Friends’ School in Tasmania:
– Who within the school administers the venue hire process and liaises with renting organisations? Is it a specific position? Our Events and Marketing Coordinator does the arrangements and invoicing. They are part of the Community Engagement team. Our Venue Coordinator for the Performance and Auditoriam Centre does all the logistics and event supervision.
– How do you handle cleaning and other issues that arise? We charge additional for cleaning, for every event. $150 for our main centre, $75 for smaller spaces
– is security or equipment damage an issue? No, our agreement covers us for this. We are selective as to who use the facilities.
– Do you have long-term bookings that cause conflict with ad hoc school use? No, we removed these over the last 3 years, as it became an issue with School priorities/demands and having to move external groups. We won’t lock in regular bookings and we also don;t look at bookings for the following year, until December/January.
– How do you determine the hiring rate? Compare to other similar venues. My tip is don’t start too low and keep increasing regularly with CPI/external factors.
Good luckHi Natasha,
We too struggled for engagement and attendance at P&F meetings in recent years. Each school environment is different, but I think an incorporated P&F entity can be quite polarising – you either love the big commitment, or you don’t. The ones that love the big commitment are generally shrinking in this busy and hectic world we live in.
So we have pursued and embraced a Parent Year Group model this year. This means 2 to 4 reps for each year group. No major fundraising focus (leave that the Community Engagement / Development Office) and provide opportunities for parents to support and communicate with one another and the students. We get the group together once a term (still early days) and are developing a schedule of communications and events.
We are still in the development and establishment phase, but so far attendance is good and the meetings have been very engaging. We have 2 x events they have bought into for the 2nd half of this year, so all positive.
Good luck!
