From the Chairman
MR IAN ANDERSEN, CHAIRMAN
There are not many instances that allow me to connect with the whole Fairholme Community. One opportunity is when I speak at the ‘Presenting Fairholme’ events toward the end of each College year and this report is another welcome opportunity.
It is important, firstly, for me to assure you that Fairholme College had a great year in 2021, regardless of the underlying matters related to the Presbyterian Church of Queensland - which I advised the College Community of earlier in the year. Fairholme has continued to operate without any impacts or changes in its day-to-day operations - except for minor additional reporting arrangements. The College is in an extremely robust financial position, with little or no debt; our enrolments are very strong, with a full Boarding House. You might remember that we planned to commence construction of Stage 1 of the Master Plan during 2021. However, being both prudent and cautious, the Board of Directors chose to delay commencement of that project. This has been beneficial in a couple of ways, by ensuring that the plans were fully developed and approved; and that we received formal certification of the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation for our Master Plan which guarantees we can proceed in implementing the plan with little hindrance over the coming years. It is our
intention to commence the project sometime in 2022; and therefore we have included it in our 2022 Budget. This year we also developed and finalised plans to extend the Health Centre to provide additional rooms for isolation purposes. Work on these spaces commenced in the Christmas/New Year school holidays and should be completed by the end of Term 2 2022. As a Not-for-Profit educational institution, it is incumbent on the Board to review our governance arrangements on a regular basis. As such, the Board has determined, with the blessing of The Presbyterian Church of Queensland and the approval of the Receiver, to develop a proposal to be considered at an appropriate time, hopefully this year, to move to a formal corporate structure – like many other independent schools that are not part of a school system such as the Lutheran, Anglican and Catholic system. I must record my thanks to our Principal, Dr Evans, and the members of the Senior Leadership Team for their unfaltering
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