Minutes of Parent Council meeting 4th September 2013
(Open as MS Word .docx Minutes of 4 September 2013 )
Roslin Primary School Parent Council
Minutes of Meeting on 4th September 2013
Present: John Phillips(JP)(Chair), Claire Witney(CW)(Treasurer), Simon Bullock(SB), LyndseyHayes(LH1), Rhona Farren(RF), Dorothy Denham(DD), Andrea Berry(AB), Sam Hamilton(SH), Pam Stewart(PS), Sarah Keer-Keer(SKK), Caroline Findlay(CF), Jon Steele(JS), Lisa Ritchie(LR) (Secretary), Andrew Coventry(Councillor)(AC), Shelley Kay(SK), Mairi Needham(MN), NinaSobecka(NS), Zoe Fergie(ZF), Kim Blair(KB), Alison Herd(AH1).
Apologies: Lynn Harrower(LH), Angela Newton(AN), Alex Clark(AC1), Annie Douglas(AD), AnnaHulton(AH).
Minutes of meeting on 5th June accepted.
Matters arising from previous meeting:
Grounds: DD updated the PC. Fencing for the new public footpath by-passing the school to be done during the October half term and thereafter work to begin on laying the path. The Public needs to be able to access the Multi Use Gymnasium Area (MUGA) outwithschool hours and so both gridded gates will be left open overnight at present even though the grids are having a limited effect on minimizing dog fouling. The P1 and P3 gates are able to be locked permanently except for access to school at start and end of day. No signage intended by Midlothian Council (MC) to inform the public of the closure of gates so DD will discuss with Steven Small and PC agreed to arrange temporary signs if acceptable. Action: DD and CW.
Eric will contact the maintenance team re slabs requiring repair in P1 area and broken/incomplete fencing plus vandalized handles on gates. AC will follow up at MC too.
Funds: The Treasurer reported that the PC had funds of £3,900 but requires a reserve of £500 as per agreement at previous PC meeting. As the new stage will cost approx. £3,500 it was agreed to postpone the purchase of the stage in order to do additional fundraising (see below) and in the meantime buy the radio mics (approx, £200) and laptop (approx. £400) that can be used for assemblies and with the stage. Action: JP and DD. JP also to help AH1 with ipod link to amplifier/speakers. Action: JP.
Consultation: Working Party (CW, SB, JS, AH and LH1) to convene Tuesday 17thSeptember at 8.30pm, CW’s house to discuss PC newsletter, contacts, class reps, photo-board and website.
Recruitment: DD reported that the Head Teacher post was being advertised with a closing date of Monday 17th September. Short leet interview date is provisionally 1stNovember. DD hopes to interview for the new temporary P3/4 teacher next week with a view to starting after the September weekend. P1/2 part-time position will be advertised too and is currently being filled by a supply teacher.
Interview Training: JP, CW, SKK and AH already trained as volunteer interviewers. Three volunteers and one reserve required for Head Teacher interview on 1st November. Thought best to have a pool of volunteers to call on. CW to arrange for the School Group Manager, Suzanne Thayne, to train SK, AD, JS, SB and RF w/c 21st October. Action: CW.
Homework
JS raised his concerns and that of other parents that had spoken to him about the amount of homework given and the response of the school when he has previously raised his concerns. He cited research to support his position (http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/HWK01/HWK01.pdf)and asked for the views of parents to be surveyed again given the low response rate when parents were surveyed in June 2012. Several PC council members disagreed that homework was to onerous and pointed out that the school and PC had worked closely together on the last consultation and made improvements to consistency of practice across the year groups. JS and SKK suggested that using the Parent Consultations evening in October would improve uptake. All agreed to this and the issue will be addressed as part of the working group aiming to improve consultation with parents.
Composition of Classes
DD reported that a “Formation of Classes” booklet was given to the P1 parents in June so as to improve communication on composite classes and she hopes to give it to all parents with each class list. It can also be found on the website. Some parents who had children in composite classes would like to see parents having more opportunity to give their feedback to the school. Noted by DD.
Fun Day
SKK has had the PC sign made for the PC Fun Day stall and PS is going to run a book stall again with profits being put towards the new stage fund. Action: PS.
Fund Raisers
A working party was established to arrange a fundraising event for the new stage e.g. family photo shoot and a Christmas fundraiser project e.g. Christmas cards or tea towel (KB (lead), MN, RF, LH1) (DD suggested that the Christmas concert could be used as some kind of new stage fundraiser e.g. bucket collection at end.)
A working group was also established to organise the Christmas Bazaar/Toy sale (NS, MN, JP, SKK, PS, AC1, and KB). Any other volunteers will be welcome! CW mentioned we have an additional list of contacts of parents willing to help out on the day at such events.
Communication
Roslin Kirk sent a thank you letter for the PC’s £50 donation for use of the hall.
JP to liaise with Kevin McGuire regarding membership details and lead contact.
Action: JP.
DD to invite Nicola McDowel, one of the School Group Mangers, to our next meeting to discuss improving consultation between MC and parents..
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A.O.C.B.
ZF asked DD why parents of Bilston children were not shown round the school prior to the children joining in P3 as most parents have no experience of the main building. DD said that the meet the teacher event was an opportunity to see all areas not just the child’ own class however she could see the merit in this and will take it forward with the possibility of the leaving P7’s showing parents the school in June as part of the transition events.
DD advised that the new School Improvement Plan will be available shortly on the website.
There will be a crèche at the Parent Consultation evenings in October – CW to email for volunteers. DD will be available on the crèche at both evenings.
NEXT MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER AT 6.30PM
IN BILSTON
