Draft Minutes of the Tarves Parent Council Meeting

20th February 2008 at 7.30pm in the School Staffroom

Present:
Martin Sisley (chairperson), Keith Western, John Stone, Bob Davidson, Wendy Middleton, Pamela Ackers, Kathy Summers, Alan Mann, Marek Gorski, Helen Wilcox (minutes)

Apologies:
Sheila Ferguson, Kim Davidson, Alan Gordon, Rosemary Carstairs, Paul Johnston

Minutes of the meeting on 14th November 2007:

These were passed as a true record of the meeting

1. Matters arising from the minutes:

Marek has re-established contact with the e-twining schools and things are progressing.

Following on from discussions with parents it has been decided to take P7 pupils to Poland again this year. They will be away from 17th – 24th May. The flights have been booked from Prestwick. There will be 13 children, 7 adults and 3 members of staff. The cost is expected to be £300/child and £330/adult. During the same week P6 pupils will be going to the Compass Centre at Glenshee with pupils from Cultercullen School. It was decided that Abernethy had become too expensive.

To comply with disabled access regulations a ramp has been put in place to provide access to the nursery store. This is not in an ideal position and is slippery when wet. However we have been informed that it is necessary.

Parents are still unhappy with the situation in the P1/2/3 class and it was discussed at some length. Marek said that the ‘paired writing’ with Primary 6 pupils was now taking place. Staff have been ‘in-serviced’ about the new ‘activity learning’ policies but these will take time to implement fully. He is considering devoting the next curricular evening for parents to the new ‘activity learning’ schemes. This will be held in March. Marek hopes next year the classes will be such that all the Primary 3 pupils will be together. In the meantime the class is receiving extra support from classroom assistants.The parents are concerned because their children are not mixing with the other Primary 3 pupils as much as they would like, especially in areas such as drama, PE and art, and the children appear to be repeating work that they did in Primary 2.Marek explained that normally P1 -3 did not get specialist teachers and that the Primary 3s in P3/4 only got a specialist PE teacher because they were in with the Primary 4s. It is not possible for the Primary 3s in P1/2/3 to join this class as it would make the class size too big.The parents feel that nothing is being done to help the situation and that the problem is being left to resolve itself next year when the classes will change anyway. They also raised the issue of more parent helpers being brought in especially for work in the activity room. Pamela asked if this would allow a mix of Primary 3s from both classes to work together on an activity.Marek said that this would need to be carefully timetabled but he would certainly go back to the teachers and see if something could be arranged. He would like to see parent volunteers being used more in the school.

The concrete block has now got yellow lines painted round it and red lines over the top of it. However the plant pot has been moved back to its original position.

The pick-up point at Thornroan has been sorted out.

Parents still feel that the homework diaries are not being used to their full extent. Marek pointed out that the diaries are designed as a 2 way communication system and parents could also use them to pass information to the school. With regard to unfinished work, Marek doesn’t want children kept in at break times to complete work and if unfinished work is being sent home both he and the parents should be informed. He doesn’t want the children to equate work with a punishment.

2. Head teacher’s Report:

Ms Julie Wilson has been appointed as the new lunchtime auxiliary.

The school has been given some money which has to be used for building improvements. Marek is thinking about having the old toilet room cleared so that it can be used as a proper store for the PE equipment. He may also use some of the money to get the school sign put back up.

The school held a ‘pupil folder’ night where parents were invited to come with their children to see the children’s work. It was very successful and will probably be repeated next year.

3. Councillor’s Report:

Paul was unable to stay for the whole meeting but he wished to thank the school for completing the Haddo questionnaires. He also asked if the Parent Council could act on any issues and support the regeneration of Haddo.

4. After-School Club:

There has been a good response to the questionnaire with approximately 28 families interested in breakfast or after-school care.
Kathy has spoken to Anna Fisk but there is no money available at the moment from the authority however we have indicated a level of need. It would need to be set up as a business and either funded by the school PTA perhaps or by external funding. Methlick School is in a similar position so it may be possible to have a joint venture. The after-school club would have to be run by qualified staff and would need some form of insurance. It was suggested that the playgroup leader may be interested in running it. John is going to ask.

Marek is keen to have more after-school activities for the pupils. He has been speaking to the new ‘active schools’ co-ordinator who says that he can provide qualified instructors for various sports activities. This would cost about £30 per session so the cost per child would depend on numbers. It was suggested that a questionnaire be put out to assess the level of interest and which sports would be most popular. Marek has applied for a transverse climbing wall which would be sited outside at the back of the school.

5. Parent Council Funding:

The new bank account has finally been sorted out and we have received £192 from the authority as funding for this year. Helen was asked to find out how this figure has been arrived at.

6. AOCB:

The school is still looking for an accountant to audit the books. Alan Mann offered his services which were gratefully received.

The school blogspot is now up and running. It is open to anyone, however only the school can upload anything on to it. Apparently not all parents are aware of the blogspot so Marek said that another letter would be put out to inform parents. Any photographs of children on the site do not have their names attached and where names are put on, only first names are used.

The PTA is organising a summer fete this year and are looking for ideas and help. The provisional date is Saturday 14th June.


The next meeting will be on Wednesday 14th May at 7.30pm in the school staffroom.