Here at the school, we are always keen to act on suggestions made by the school community in connection with the work that we do. We feel it is important that we TRULY work together at everything that we do. We may not always agree about matters, however we should not be put off voicing concerns or equally expressing our pleasure about all aspects of the work that is undertaken TOGETHER.
Today, I had a parent ask me about School Council minutes and how they could access them.
I felt that it was an important enough question to make the answer available to all of you.
To date the Minutes are always posted on the School Noticeboard located at the front door of the school. They are usually around 3 months old because NEW minutes need to be ratified (checked basically) at the next meeting before they are posted.
In order to make them available to as many of you as possible, I have decided to post them on this Blog site.
Please feel free to read them and post any comments at the end that you may wish to make.
Minutes of the Parent Council Meeting
14th November 2007 at 7.30pm in the School Staffroom
Present:
Martin Sisley (chairperson), Alan Gordon, Keith Western, Rosemary Carstairs, Marek Gorski, Helen Wilcox (minutes)
Apologies:
Sheila Ferguson, John Stone, Bob Davidson, Kim Davidson, Wendy Middleton, Pamela Ackers, Kathy Summers, Paul Johnston
Minutes of the meeting on 26th September 2007:
These were passed as a true record of the meeting
1. Matters arising from the minutes:
The Christmas fair is going ahead on the 23rd November. Posters and flyers need to be done to publicise the event.
Marek has been on an e-twining course and had made contact with some schools in France and Poland. Unfortunately his information on the database system was deleted in error so he will need to re-register.
There has been a mixed response regarding the proposals for the Primary 7 trip. A meeting will be held for parents in the near future.
The nursery storage container has now been fitted with shelves and hooks.
The finalised constitution for the Parent Council has been sent to the Law & Administration Department.
The situation in the Primary 1/2/3 class is still being monitored. The Primary 3 pupils are receiving extra support and are integrated with the other Primary 3 pupils as much as possible. Parents are still expressing concern regarding the social development of their Primary 3 children in the P1/2/3 class. Marek said that it was the school’s intention to introduce ‘paired reading’ in January. This would involve the Primary 3 and Primary 6 pupils. He also said that there was a move towards more structured play in the activity room, which he felt would be of benefit.
The Works Department have decided that the best solution for the concrete block in the playground is to paint yellow lines around it. The Parent Council feel that this is not very satisfactory but that one of the large plant pots can be moved near the block and thus reduce the hazard.
Since Paul was unable to attend the meeting there was no feedback regarding the pick-up point at Thornroan. Marek thought that there was still a problem but this will be followed up at the next meeting.
There was a short discussion on the subject of unfinished work being sent home with pupils. It was agreed that if an explanatory note was put in the homework diary this would be a great help. The parents felt that the homework diary as a means of communication was good but that it is not being used to its full potential yet. Marek is going to discuss this with the teaching staff.
2. Head teacher’s Report:
Marek reported that the interactive whiteboards and software that were purchased some time ago are finally being installed. The school has had a mobile unit for a while but it is not easy to set up and is a potential trip hazard. All the classrooms will now have permanent ones. They are an excellent resource and all the teachers are looking forward to using them.
Rosemary Carstairs is in charge of organising the events for Children in Need on Friday.
There was a meeting of the Health Committee today to discuss the next health topics that the school will focus on. A questionnaire was sent out to parents asking for their views. Unfortunately only 16 families out of 75 replied to it. Of the families that replied there was a wide range of views. The Council felt that this was due to two factors, namely parent’s views depended on the age of their child and some of the topics were not very clear as to their content. Teaching staff and the Pupil Council were also asked for their views. These differed from parent’s views.
AUDIT RESULTS IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE
Teaching Staff
Mental health
Dental health
Alcohol
Smoking
Parents
Healthy eating
Drugs
Alcohol
Physical health
Pupils
Physical health
The topics will be covered by all the pupils, even though some are more relevant to some year groups than others.
With regard to the Physical health, Mary Bruce from the Health committee is prepared to help and an activity week is planned for the end of May. It was hoped to hold a skipping workshop in conjunction with Active Schools however due to a very poor response from parents (one) this has been postponed. The letter that was sent out by Active Schools about the workshop may have been misleading for parents and this is why there was such a poor response. Kathy Yates, from Active Schools, will be at the school Christmas fair to explain to parents exactly what is involved with the skipping so that hopefully we may get more volunteers. Marek would like to have more after school activities available for the children but the problem is getting helpers.
Primary 4-7 are currently getting Judo lessons once a week thanks to Active Schools.
It has been difficult to fill the post of lunchtime auxiliary. There were no responses to the first advert and two people applied after the second advert but both of these withdrew before interview. The job has been advertised once more.
3. After School Club:
Completed questionnaires have been passed to Kathy Summers and hopefully she will be able to report back at the next meeting.
4. Parent Council Funding:
Keith had a problem with the bank when he tried to close the School Board account and transfer the funds to a new account for the Parent Council. Helen is going to seek the advice of Ian Adams in the finance department and liase with Keith over the outcome.
5. AOCB:
Marek asked if anyone knew an accountant who may be prepared to audit the school’s books as these need to be done every year.
Martin proposed a vote of thanks to John Stone for repainting the school sign. It is just waiting to be put back up.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th February 2008 at 7.30pm in the school staff room.
Today, I had a parent ask me about School Council minutes and how they could access them.
I felt that it was an important enough question to make the answer available to all of you.
To date the Minutes are always posted on the School Noticeboard located at the front door of the school. They are usually around 3 months old because NEW minutes need to be ratified (checked basically) at the next meeting before they are posted.
In order to make them available to as many of you as possible, I have decided to post them on this Blog site.
Please feel free to read them and post any comments at the end that you may wish to make.
Minutes of the Parent Council Meeting
14th November 2007 at 7.30pm in the School Staffroom
Present:
Martin Sisley (chairperson), Alan Gordon, Keith Western, Rosemary Carstairs, Marek Gorski, Helen Wilcox (minutes)
Apologies:
Sheila Ferguson, John Stone, Bob Davidson, Kim Davidson, Wendy Middleton, Pamela Ackers, Kathy Summers, Paul Johnston
Minutes of the meeting on 26th September 2007:
These were passed as a true record of the meeting
1. Matters arising from the minutes:
The Christmas fair is going ahead on the 23rd November. Posters and flyers need to be done to publicise the event.
Marek has been on an e-twining course and had made contact with some schools in France and Poland. Unfortunately his information on the database system was deleted in error so he will need to re-register.
There has been a mixed response regarding the proposals for the Primary 7 trip. A meeting will be held for parents in the near future.
The nursery storage container has now been fitted with shelves and hooks.
The finalised constitution for the Parent Council has been sent to the Law & Administration Department.
The situation in the Primary 1/2/3 class is still being monitored. The Primary 3 pupils are receiving extra support and are integrated with the other Primary 3 pupils as much as possible. Parents are still expressing concern regarding the social development of their Primary 3 children in the P1/2/3 class. Marek said that it was the school’s intention to introduce ‘paired reading’ in January. This would involve the Primary 3 and Primary 6 pupils. He also said that there was a move towards more structured play in the activity room, which he felt would be of benefit.
The Works Department have decided that the best solution for the concrete block in the playground is to paint yellow lines around it. The Parent Council feel that this is not very satisfactory but that one of the large plant pots can be moved near the block and thus reduce the hazard.
Since Paul was unable to attend the meeting there was no feedback regarding the pick-up point at Thornroan. Marek thought that there was still a problem but this will be followed up at the next meeting.
There was a short discussion on the subject of unfinished work being sent home with pupils. It was agreed that if an explanatory note was put in the homework diary this would be a great help. The parents felt that the homework diary as a means of communication was good but that it is not being used to its full potential yet. Marek is going to discuss this with the teaching staff.
2. Head teacher’s Report:
Marek reported that the interactive whiteboards and software that were purchased some time ago are finally being installed. The school has had a mobile unit for a while but it is not easy to set up and is a potential trip hazard. All the classrooms will now have permanent ones. They are an excellent resource and all the teachers are looking forward to using them.
Rosemary Carstairs is in charge of organising the events for Children in Need on Friday.
There was a meeting of the Health Committee today to discuss the next health topics that the school will focus on. A questionnaire was sent out to parents asking for their views. Unfortunately only 16 families out of 75 replied to it. Of the families that replied there was a wide range of views. The Council felt that this was due to two factors, namely parent’s views depended on the age of their child and some of the topics were not very clear as to their content. Teaching staff and the Pupil Council were also asked for their views. These differed from parent’s views.
AUDIT RESULTS IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE
Teaching Staff
Mental health
Dental health
Alcohol
Smoking
Parents
Healthy eating
Drugs
Alcohol
Physical health
Pupils
Physical health
The topics will be covered by all the pupils, even though some are more relevant to some year groups than others.
With regard to the Physical health, Mary Bruce from the Health committee is prepared to help and an activity week is planned for the end of May. It was hoped to hold a skipping workshop in conjunction with Active Schools however due to a very poor response from parents (one) this has been postponed. The letter that was sent out by Active Schools about the workshop may have been misleading for parents and this is why there was such a poor response. Kathy Yates, from Active Schools, will be at the school Christmas fair to explain to parents exactly what is involved with the skipping so that hopefully we may get more volunteers. Marek would like to have more after school activities available for the children but the problem is getting helpers.
Primary 4-7 are currently getting Judo lessons once a week thanks to Active Schools.
It has been difficult to fill the post of lunchtime auxiliary. There were no responses to the first advert and two people applied after the second advert but both of these withdrew before interview. The job has been advertised once more.
3. After School Club:
Completed questionnaires have been passed to Kathy Summers and hopefully she will be able to report back at the next meeting.
4. Parent Council Funding:
Keith had a problem with the bank when he tried to close the School Board account and transfer the funds to a new account for the Parent Council. Helen is going to seek the advice of Ian Adams in the finance department and liase with Keith over the outcome.
5. AOCB:
Marek asked if anyone knew an accountant who may be prepared to audit the school’s books as these need to be done every year.
Martin proposed a vote of thanks to John Stone for repainting the school sign. It is just waiting to be put back up.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th February 2008 at 7.30pm in the school staff room.
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