Welcome to Cowie Primary Parent Council Blog


Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 17 October 2007:
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Attendees: Michelle McArthur, Audrey Ross, Keith MacAskill, Avril Knox,
Anne Williamson, Bernadette Wheatley, Christine Fairbairn, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Debbie Innes, Brenda McPhee, Amanda Arkell, Isobel Munro

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Scott Ferguson
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Introduction/Welcome

Keith thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and introduced Ishobel Munro, from Stirling Council, to the group.


Re-Visit Community Plan

Isobel came to talk about the Community Planning process which has been drawn up. Isobel spoke about communities of regeneration areas and what they have done, i.e. Braehead looked at the National Health Service and access to services, and Fallin focused on the negativity in the village and what could be done to improve this. Community Council meetings have already taken place in Cowie. Isobel mentioned that the next step is to issue a survey/questionnaire to every household in the village. She was looking for volunteers to help distribute and collect these questionnaires. She was also looking for volunteers to take part in future focus groups.

Action: Isobel thanked the parents at the meeting and will contact members of the Parent Council who volunteered their services to help with this initiative.


Amend and Approve minutes of the last meeting on 12 September 2007

Keith went over the minutes of the last meeting as follows;

1. Keith has not had a response from Rosemary Nairns about the funds left over from the Parents Association.

Action: He will continue to chase this.

2. Information about the Parent Council was detailed in the recent newsletter issued by the school to all pupils in P1-P7 and the nursery.

3. After consulting Clare Stevenson, who is a member of St Margarets Parent Council, she confirmed that their notice board cost £284.00 including delivery and a further £20.00 to erect. This was supplied by Wilson & Garden and ordered through Charlie Wilson at Stirling Council, Viewforth.

Action: The Parent Council will need to make a decision about this and its location at a later date. It’s not an ideal time just now due to the refurbishment work which is taking place.

4. The questionnaire was issued along with the October 2007 newsletter to all pupils in P1-P7 and the nursery. This is to be completed and returned by Friday 26 October 2007, to be entered into a prize draw.

5. Anne, Rachel and Michelle updated the group on the progress for the Halloween Disco on
1 November 2007. Keith mentioned that the Liability Insurance should be in place by this date.

Action: Keith will arrange for the Liability Insurance to be finalised before the disco. He will also supply apples for the Halloween Disco and to the nursery children, as it was decided apples would be donated to the nursery after consulting Mrs McClure and Mrs Love. Michelle agreed to get juice and crisps for this event. Rachel will issue a note to P1-P7 pupils nearer the time about a prize for the best dressed, asking for volunteers to help on the night and to ensure pick up of children promptly after the event. The Parent Council will consult with Mrs Ross and decorate the hall a couple of days before the disco and discuss last minute arrangements at that time. Mrs Ross was asked to do a briefing to parents about ‘best practice’ before the disco takes place.

6. Mrs Ross asked for an amendment to be made to the minutes of the last meeting about the School Refurbishment. She confirmed that if there are extra funds available these ‘might’ be used to refurbish the gym hall, instead of these ‘will’ be used. The refurbishment has now started. There was some confusion about access points to the school, as the workmen arrived earlier than expected. Mrs Ross would like to thank all parents/carers for their continued support in using the new access points, while the refurbishment work is underway.

7. Parents have concerns about the security and vandalism to the school and its grounds. In the past, the school gates were locked. However, a decision was made by Stirling Council to keep the gates open as the locks kept getting vandalised.

Action: Rachel will follow up the action point from the last meeting and contact Bob Wylie to see who is eligible for the £10,000 grant mentioned during an earlier Pupil Council Meeting. This would go towards improving the grounds of the school.

8. Mrs Ross confirmed that the school playground should be swept every morning. Mrs Young who runs the Eco-Committee has now received the new ’pencil shaped bins’ for the playground. These will be put out and brought back into the school on a daily basis. The school hope to get larger bins from the Community Council after the refurbishment work is completed.

Mrs Ross mentioned that Iain Binning, School Travel Co-ordinator from Stirling Council, would like the Parent Council to take on the work of preparing a School Travel Plan and combine this with St Margarets School.

The bike racks offered to the school by Iain Binning were free of charge. Mrs Ross confirmed the school are not liable for accidents, damage to bikes in the school playground and can’t enforce children to wear helmets. The Parent Council will need to consult with parents at a later date to gauge their views on this. It was mentioned that Recyke-a-Bike in Fallin do Cycling Proficiency Courses in conjunction with the Police.


Action: Keith agreed to contact Iain Binning about the School Travel Plan and the Cycling Proficiency Courses. Isobel Munro later confirmed that the Community Policeman, Malcolm O'May, and a representative from Recyke-a-Bike in Fallin will be attending St Margarets School at the beginning of November, about Cycling Proficiency. Julie will speak to Clare Stevenson for further information about this.

9. No action taken forward from the previous meeting about School Uniform.

10. The school are once again collecting Tesco vouchers and also tokens from Nestle cereal boxes. Posters are in the school to advertise this. Mrs Fleming who collates the Tesco and Sainsburys vouchers, will inform parents when the resources purchased last session arrive in the school to let them know what these were used to buy.

11. No action taken forward about joining the school and the community together.

12. Mrs Ross confirmed that the outward bound course in Perth for P7 pupils has been booked for 16 May 2008. Approximately 11 pupils are taking part in this and deposits have been paid. It is unlikely that funding for this course is now needed from the Parent Council, as teachers/parents may be asked to take their own cars as opposed to hiring a mini-bus.

Actions: The set up of the school web-site is progressing. Mrs Ross will pursue the progress of this with Scott Ferguson.

13. Some Parent Packs were returned so that these could be shared with other parents.

Homework Policy

The current homework policy was written in 2004 and does not appear to have been shared with parents. Mrs Ross has decided to re-visit this policy. She has already had discussions with teachers and the new homework policy, called Independent Homework Selection, is being piloted in P5. It is hoped it will be rolled out to the rest of the school through time. The teacher decides on a variety of homework tasks set in meaningful situations for the children, and in P5 this makes up a 16 square grid. The teacher selects the tasks he/she wants the children to attempt and the children get to select tasks alongside this (a minimum amount of tasks are chosen, and the children can complete as many tasks as they want). The completed work has to be handed back to the teacher over a 4 week period.

Mrs Ross asked parents at the meeting to brainstorm the purpose and expectations of this new homework concept. The outcome was very encouraging. Mrs Bairner, the P6 teacher, plans to run a homework club on a Tuesday for P4-P7 pupils. This will help support children if they have problems doing homework and gives the children who attend the club the chance to use the computers and other resources for research and presentation purposes. There are plans to extend this club, depending on the interest of the children.

Debbie mentioned homework satchels which some children already use to carry their homework in, instead of the plastic folders which are provided by the school and tear easily. They can be bought from Logo-Xpres for £3.99.

Action: The homework satchels are something the Parent Council can consider at a later date, if they felt it was a priority for the children.

Traffic Problems

Avril and other parents at the meeting had serious concerns about the safety of their children, due to the traffic congestion on Mount Oliphant. There has always been congestion on this road and the refurbishment work at the school is only adding to this problem. Avril has already reported a recent incident to Bannockburn Police Station.

Action: Julie agreed to write to the Community Policeman and Bannockburn Police Station about the concerns parents at Cowie Primary School have.

A.O.B & Close

Debbie mentioned the ’Book People’, a book supplier, who are very competitive and the quality of their books are excellent. They work on a commission basis where the school receive 10% of the sales. The school already have a book supplier called Scholastic.

Amanda asked if the school were participating in a Harvest Festival. Mrs Ross confirmed not this year.

Action: Debbie will provide more information to Julie about the Book People, who will pass this onto Miss MacDougall to consider.

Date of the next meeting

This will be decided shortly and communicated to all parents who have children at the school.