Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 19 November 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 19 November 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson, Michelle McArthur, Vicky Carr, Anne Williamson

Apologies: Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes, Amanda Arkell

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

■ Headteacher’s Update/Report

This is attached for your information, which Mrs Ross discussed at the meeting.

■ Behaviour Policy

A copy of the Positive Behaviour Policy was given to the group at the meeting. I attach copies for those who didn’t attend the meeting.

Action: If you have any comments or concerns regarding this, can you contact Mrs Ross direct.

■ Area Parent Council Networks

Keith spoke about the meeting he recently attended at Raploch Community Campus. This was to gauge where Parent Councils are and where they are going. Eight Primary Schools and one Secondary School were represented at this meeting. The attendees were split into groups to brainstorm the good/bad points and their wish list (which was to try and get more parental involvement). Keith said it was a very intense meeting and everyone was enthusiastic and passionate about the topics being discussed. The action points have been collated and will be circulated shortly.

Keith spoke about the Primary 7 transition to Bannockburn High School and the open evening that parents had attended. A copy of the Bannockburn High School newsletter was shown to the group for their information.

Our Parent Council Insurance Policy has been paid for, for another year.

Keith mentioned the survey that is being done of views on a national parent’s body. This survey has been circulated to all Parent Councils, to be completed by the end of the year. I have already e-mailed and gave copies of this to you.

Action: Please can I have your comments/feedback on this survey as soon as possible, for those who have not yet replied.

■ Stuart Hislop from Cowie Community Planning Group (CCPG)

Stuart came to speak to the group about how the CCPG want to engage with the schools in the village to promote Cowie and make it a better place to live. The CCPG wish the children to express through ‘art work’ their aspirations for the village. It is hoped that from their expressions the CCPG can incorporate this into their future planning. This is likely to be a brochure of some type and may allow the CCPG to feature some of the children’s work. As a means of providing some support to the school the CCPG intend to give the school £250.00. This money can be used towards acquiring ‘art’ materials for the project.

Action: Stuart is happy to liase with Mrs Ross direct regarding this project, which is to take place before springtime 2009.

■ A.O.B

1. Keith made a suggestion about taking pictures and making calendars of our lovely village. We agreed this was a good idea and may consider this in future.

2. Bernadette had raised an issue on behalf of a couple of people that had approached her, as there was a perception about prize fixing at the Bingo Tea raffle. Rachel mentioned that there was an order to the raffle prizes, along with extra prizes that were not needed for the Bingo and any additional ones that were handed in on the night.

Action: Mrs Ross made a suggestion that in future the raffle prize is announced/shown before the ticket is drawn. It may also be an idea to break up the raffle during an event like this and have this at the beginning/middle and/or end.

3. Bernadette confirmed that there was approximately £800.00 in the Parent Council Account. This was from the Bingo Tea and the Halloween Disco, which were both a huge success, less the funds used for the buses for the Christmas Pantomime. The devolved budget has a total of £380.00, which has been allocated to the Parent Council this year.

4. Rachel spoke about the Waterstone’s Big Book Project which took place on Friday 24^th October in the school. The children in Primary 4-7 were asked to donate a book they had enjoyed reading at home and bring it into School for others to read too. They were asked to write a brief review of the book in class. Rachel asked was there any reason this project was not open to the whole School. Mrs Ross suggested that the rules for this were stipulated by Waterstone’s and she would double check on this.

5. Julie mentioned the school’s website and asked if this could be made more interesting and exciting, i.e. by adding class pictures and also work that the children had done. This may entice more people to look at the website and leave messages/comments.

Action: Scott and Mrs Ross agreed to get together to look at this. Check out some of the pictures which have already been added, since our meeting took place!!

6. Vicky asked for her name to be put forward for the Fund Raising Group as she wants to be more involved with this. It was discussed that the committees/groups for Fund Raising and Curricular Issues had not been set up for this year, although the groups are ‘open’ and anyone can join and become involved at anytime.

The new groups set up are as follows. If you didn’t make the meeting on 19 November and want to become involved with any of these groups then you can join at any time. Just let the others in the group know you are interested.

Fund Raising Curricular Issues

Vicky Audrey
Rachel Scott
Bernadette Julie
Michelle Fiona
Fiona

7. Fiona asked what was happening with the fenced grassed area within the School playground. Mrs Ross confirmed this is being used for sports and there is a proposal next year for Grounds for Learning. Fiona also mentioned the entrance to the School at the Community Centre access point, as this is very uneven and a few people have already tripped and injured themselves.

Action: Mrs Ross will speak to Colin Whiting about this entrance to the School. Keith agreed to do a letter also.

The issue with litter and broken glass bottles found in the playground was discussed at the meeting. This is the responsibility of the School Janitor, who should inspect and clear the playground before children arrive in the morning.

Action: Mrs Ross agreed to take this issue on board to try and resolve.

8. Mrs Ross spoke about the forthcoming events leading up to Christmas, the Pantomime and Christmas Fun Afternoon (both have now passed), the Candlelit Procession to church on 10 December at 6.00pm, the Christmas Parties (various dates as detailed in the School Newsletter) and Church Service on 19 December at 11am.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting has been set for Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 7pm in the School. Prior to this date, the Fund Raising and Curricular groups may meet up and discuss issues they can then share at this meeting, i.e. the Fund Raising group will need to meet up and discuss/organise plans for the Valentines Disco in February, prior to the date of our next meeting.

BINGO TEA

It was a full house at Cowie Miners Welfare on Thursday 2 October. Cowie Primary Parent Council hosted a Bingo Tea, to help raise funds for the children at Cowie Primary School. A massive £800.00 was raised which will go towards the purchase of an interactive whiteboard, an education tool used in the classroom that helps make learning interesting and fun, and to subsidise future school trips.

We would like to thank everyone who helped organise and run this hughly successful event, for their kind donations and the local community for their support.

The star prize, a t-shirt signed by Olympic Cycling Champion Chris Hoy, was framed, raffled and won by Alastair Knox in Primary 5. We were also lucky enough to receive tickets for a museum and stadium tour of Hampden, Scotland's National Stadium. Thank you to Mr John Smith, former president of the SFL, for organising this prize. This was won by Mr & Mrs Byrne who kindly donated this to the school.

Other prizes included a MP3 player, ice rink tickets, meal voucher for King Robert Hotel, Roundabout Executive Travel mini-bus voucher (which was again kindly donated to the school), family cinema ticket, voucher for Pizza Hut, £20.00 Woolworths voucher, Cava, Harrods Chocolate, a bouquet of flowers, food hamper, various children's toys and much much more!!!

Minutes of AGM Meeting on 3 September 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 3 September 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes,
Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell, Michelle McArthur

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the AGM (Annual General Meeting) and the first meeting of the new school year.

■ Income & Expenditure for 2007 -08

A copy of the Income & Expenditure report was presented to the group. This shows that our balance is in credit by £27.69. Keith commented that a credit balance is what we are aiming for each year. The budget allocation we get from Stirling Council is still unknown, but we are hoping this will again be in the region of £380.00.

Keith said that we should have a target in mind for this year’s fund raising and suggested an amount of £2,000.00. Anything in excess of this is a bonus and we aim to make as much money as possible for the benefit of the children at the school.

■ Office Bearers for the new school year

The new office bearers appointed are as follows:

Keith MacAskill - Chair
Rachel Byrne - Vice-Chair
Julie Moran - Secretary
Bernadette Wheatley - Treasurer

■ Headteacher’s Comments/Report

Mrs Ross spoke briefly about the last school year and her priorities for this year, which is handwriting/presentation, consistency of teaching and development of listening/talking. She also mentioned the school is looking at literacy circles, highlighted by the HMIe report. The eco-committee is working towards their green flag. Diversity and Literacy weeks have been planned for later in the year.

The school is still looking at targeting more communications by e-mail, as the cost of photocopying is expensive and the budget is very tight. Please supply your details to Mrs Ross if you would like future communications to be e-mailed to you.

The school has a huge wish list, like most schools, and is looking for help to purchase more interactive whiteboards, which cost approximately £3,000 each, as they are a tremendous learning resource. The ICT equipment is also in need of being updated.

The Primary 7 trip to Dulguise has been booked for next year, at a cost of approximately £110.00 per child. The school is looking to do a fundraiser to help raise funds for this trip.

Keith thanked Mrs Ross for her commitment over the last year and we all agreed she has done a great job and has worked very hard.

■ A.O.B.

1. The Annual Parent Conference at Viewforth, Council Chambers, will be held shortly. Details of the exact date will follow soon, for anyone who is interested in attending.

2. A Parent Forum is to be held on Saturday 20 September at the Raploch Campus, from 9.00am – 1.30pm. Supervised play services and lunch will be provided. If you are interested in attending please let Julie Moran know and your details will be passed on to Elaine Murray.

3. Parent Council logos were shown to the group and Scott Ferguson agreed to update this so it is displayed on joint communications being sent by the School and Parent Council.

4. The Eco-group will be doing the mobile phone re-cycling again this year. If you have any old mobile phones, don’t dispose of them in the meantime!

5. Keith had received information and a DVD for the Curriculum for Excellence. This was passed to the school and will be explained to parents/carers at the Curriculum evening on Wednesday 17 September 2008.

6. Rachel spoke about the Bingo Tea fundraiser which has been organised by the Fund Raising Group, for 2 October 2008 in Cowie Miners Welfare. Rachel confirmed that letters will be issued to all parents/carers about this event and tickets will be on sale in the school, (costing £1.50 for adults and £1.00 for children, for entrance and refreshments). All staff at the school will be invited. A letter has also been issued to local businesses asking for donations for prizes, to be handed direct into the school.

Rachel had asked Mrs Ross what the school would like to purchase with the monies raised. The priority for the school is interactive whiteboards and ICT equipment.

Details of this fundraiser will be posted in the Eastside News, Stirling Observer and shops in the village.

Rachel mentioned that we need helpers to sell the tickets. We will also be asking for helpers on the night to collect entrance tickets, sell bingo tickets, hand out prizes and serve refreshments.

We spoke about a raffle at the Bingo Tea and Rachel said that the Fund Raising Group will consider this further before the event.

7. Rachel spoke about the Community Council as she had heard they have funds amounting to £10,000.00 to spend on the local community. Keith will follow this up and try to attend their next meeting.

8. Rachel has made up Certificates for the children that helped out at the Community Litter Picks in July. Mrs Ross agreed that these will be handed out at an assembly by the Chair of the CCPG (Cowie Community Parent Group).

9. Fraser at Active Stirling has confirmed to Mrs Ross that there is no resource at present to carry out the Cycling Proficiency training.

10. Agreed date for the Halloween disco is Thursday 30 October 2008. Further arrangements and details about this are to follow.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting to be held in the school at 7pm is on Wednesday 19 November 2008.

Of course the sub-groups previously set up for fundraising and education issues can meet up as and when required. Details should then be fed back to the main group at the next available meeting.

Parent Council Annual General Meeting

Please note the Annual General Meeting of The Cowie Primary School Parent Council will take place on Wednesday 3rd September 2008 at the school, starting 7pm.

All Parents, Carers, Teachers and everyone with an interest in the future of the School are invited to attend.

Business will include the nomination of Office Bearers and planning the Parent Council duties and plans for the forthcoming school year.

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 June 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 June 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran,

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes,

Bernadette Wheatley, Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell, Michelle McArthur

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the final Parent Council meeting this session. It was an opportunity to discuss our success over the last school year and to decide if any action points from previous minutes needed to be carried forward to the new school year.

Keith confirmed that the AGM (Annual General Meeting) would take place as our first meeting in the new school year. We will look at electing various roles at this meeting.

■ Our Successes

The newly formed Parent Council was set up in 2007 and considering this was our first year, we all agreed we have done very well.

- Everyone agreed the findings of the HMIe report were very encouraging and show that the school is definitely moving in the right direction.

- The set up of the school web-site is an excellent way of communicating what is happening at the school and hopefully this will continue to evolve through time, with the involvement of the children at the school. Your suggestions on how to improve or develop this are welcome!

- The Halloween and Valentine discos were a great way for the children to get together and enjoy themselves. It also helped raise funds for the Parent Council.

- It was good to see that the School and the Parent Council can be a team and work closely together, i.e. at Parent Consultations, the Christmas Concert and the Fun Days.

- We shown that we can network with others. We helped the Communities Team distribute questionnaires to every household in Cowie. We raised concerns with the Police and local Councilors over pedestrian safety. We spoke to the Community Council and Focus Group about ideas for a Community Clean-up in the village.

- The trip to Dulguise for P7’s was very rewarding and a good memory for them to take away from their time at Cowie Primary School.

- The P7’s decided on their own Graduation Party this year and they thoroughly enjoyed it. They even wrote letters to the Parent Council to thank us for organising this for them.

From the total funds raised over the last year, together with the amount we received from Stirling Council and the monies passed to us from the previous Parents Association, we used this to subsidise the summer school trips by £5.00 per child and pay for the P7’s Graduation Party. With the small amount of money left over, we are looking to purchase water bottles for all the children at the school.

■ Minutes from the last meeting being carried forward

We will continue to pursue the £10,000 grant with Grounds for Learning, to improve the school playground.

Slogon for Parent Council communications still to be discussed and ideas put forward.

■ A.O.B

1. We agreed that we need to be more organised for fundraising events next session. The Fund Raising Group plan to do a bingo tea, shortly after the start of the new term. The school discos will more than likely be as before, Halloween and Valentine, along with a further fundraiser after Christmas time. A copy of the forward plan will be available from Mrs Ross, so that fundraising can be organised in advance.

2. A communication was given to parents/carers of the new P1’s to welcome them to the Parent Council and to give them further information about the group.

3. The school’s newsletters will continue to jointly communicate the activities of the School and the Parent Council. The school will continue to look at other ways of communicating this information to parents/carers, i.e. via e-mail.

4. The school plan to have a ‘meet the teacher’ event shortly after the children return in August. A ‘Literacy Week’ has also been planned for later in the school year.

5. The temporary classrooms were removed in July and the area was fenced and turfed.

6. The monies raised by the sponsored skip, more than £2,000 in 2007 to improve the school playground, has now been spent. This was used to pay for the football, basketball, noughts & crosses and draughts markings, as well as other playground equipment. This will also be used to pay for the school staged area, which should be ready for the new term.

7. The ‘Eastside News’ is a new newspaper being distributed to local villages. The school is aware of this publication and it can be used as another way of publicising the achievements and celebrating the success of the school.

■ Date of Next Meetings

AGM - Wednesday 3 September 2008 at 7pm in the school. We hope to see you all there.

The next meetings to follow this are in the school at 7pm on:

19/11/2008

25/02/2009

27/05/2009

Of course the sub-groups previously set up for fundraising and education issues can meet up as and when required. Details should then be fed back to the main group at the next available meeting.

Mrs Ross, can you organise the lets for these meetings.

Date of Next Parent Council Meeting

Our final Parent Council Meeting for this session has been set for Wednesday 25 June 2008. If you are interested in attending please contact Julie Moran, via the School, before this date for further details. Any agenda points you have should also be passed to Julie Moran.

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 7 May 2008

Attendees: Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Vicky Carr, Rachel Byrne,
Bernadette Wheatley, Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell

Apologies: Avril Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes, Scott Ferguson,
Julie Moran, Michelle McArthur


Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

Amend and approve minutes from last meeting on 12 March 2008

1. It was confirmed that Scott had up-dated the School web-site http://www.cowieprimary.ik.org/ and now had a feedback/comments facility.

2. The Community Centre access point is now open.

3. Mrs Ross agreed that the Eco-Group would be happy to liaise with the Parent Council with regards to a Community Clean-up. It was agreed that combining the two schools would work well.

Action: No update from Debbie who agreed to speak to her Dad who is part of the Community Council, to see how they can help.

Action: Rachel will continue to follow up the previous action point and speak to Bob Wylie about the £10,000 grant mentioned during an earlier Pupil Council Meeting.

Action: Julie will contact Margaret Brisley again for a response to her previous communication, about the concerns over pedestrian safety at Mount Oliphant.

4. We spoke again about using some of the Parent Council funds to buy water bottles for children to use during school time. Before taking any further action with this, we will speak to Debbie to get an update as she was going to ask her employer about the availability of free water bottles. Mrs Ross also agreed to speak to Mrs Young who may have contacts at Highland Spring. Rachel confirmed this company kindly donated water for ‘Fun Fit Friday’. We would also need to confirm numbers to include the new Primary 1’s. It was suggested that we sell the water bottles on the Fun Day but it was agreed after some discussion that some children might not bring them back to school after the holidays.
Action: Debbie to update the group on the availability of free water bottles from her employer. Mrs Ross to speak to Mrs Young.

5. Mrs Ross confirmed that she had some logos and would show them at the next meeting.

6. Mrs Ross confirmed the School Uniform Order for this year included homework satchels.

7. Mrs Ross confirmed she had spoken to Mrs Young regarding the Primary 7 Graduation Party and the school would like help from the Parent Council with this event. Mrs Ross confirmed that there would be 15 children graduating.

Action: Rachel agreed to speak to the P7’s to find out what kind of party they would like.

8. Mrs Ross confirmed that she had still not received the HMI Report.

Agenda

1. The Fund Raising Group confirmed that they had decided not to organise a fundraising event as there was alot going on in the school during the last two months of term i.e. Fun Day, Sports Day, School Trips and P7 Graduation etc.

Action: To obtain school forward plan from Mrs Ross so fundraising can be organised in advance for the following year.

2. Keith suggested to the group that we wait until the AGM Meeting to elect a Treasurer/second signatory for the Parent Council Account. The funds raised so far are kept in the school funds account. Rachel informed the group that including the devolved budget of £380.00 there was £1233.57 altogether. As mentioned in the last meeting the Parent Council are donating £5.00 per child to help towards the cost of their end of term excursions.

Action: Treasurer to be elected at AGM.

3. Sports Day will be organised by Primary 5 and Mrs Fleming as part of their Citizenship topic. Mrs Ross informed the group that the ‘huts’ should be moved in time for Sports Day on 6 June 2008. She confirmed however in the event of the grassed area not being available Mrs Devlin at St Margaret’s agreed for the school to use their playing field. The group voiced their concerns over the organisation of last years Sports Day confusion over time, potted sports in morning and races in afternoon resulting in parents coming to school twice etc. Mrs Ross also advised the group that there is a possibility of the grassed area being covered with astro turf. Claire Stevenson Chairperson of St Margaret’s Parent Council may be obtaining the turf from Forthbank, Stirling – this is still to be confirmed.

Action: Mrs Ross will investigate further into the running of Sports Day and discuss with Primary 5/Mrs Fleming.

4. Unfortunately the playground has been left in disarray after the building works. Mrs Ross confirmed that after numerous communications with contractors the various potholes left as a result of the refurbishment have now been repaired. The litter in the playground is still a concern. Mrs Ross also confirmed that the Pupil Council was now eager to spend some of the money they raised on equipment and staged area as planned before the refurbishment. There was some confusion over whether or not children could play football. Mrs Wheatley confirmed that a new football rota had been started for the P4-P7’s and that it was only stopped due to the lack of space during the building works. There is a possibility that football markings may be laid for the P4-P7’s as previously mentioned by the Pupil Council and that the P1 - P3’s could play football on the grassed/astro turf area.

Action: Mrs Ross will speak to School Janitor regarding litter.

5. Some members of the group voiced their concern with regards to dogs being allowed in the playground during school hours. Bannockburn Primary School has ‘No dogs allowed’ signs however Mrs Ross said they didn’t make that much difference.

Action: Mrs Ross will look into Stirling Council’s policy on this matter and may obtain signs in due course.

6. It was confirmed that the Community Centre is not being used for gym as the classes are now going outside.

A.O.B.

1. The group asked Mrs Ross if the school would like any help from the Parent Council during the Fun Day or whether we should have our own stall. It was decided that the Parent Council would choose to run two stalls. Mrs Ross showed the group a list of activities/stalls and ‘Guess the combination of the safe’ and ‘How many sweets in the jar’ were chosen. We would run the two stalls together with an area showing other parents an overview of what we have all achieved to date i.e. events, money raised and future plans etc.

Date of Next Meeting: To be confirmed.

UPDATE ON FUNDS RAISED FROM THE FEBRUARY 2008 DISCO

A total of 125.77 was raised from the last school disco in February 2008, which was
organised by the Parent Council. Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to this event. It was a success and the children had fun!!

CHANGE OF DATE FOR NEXT PARENT COUNCIL MEETING

Please note - the date of the next Parent Council Meeting has been changed from Wednesday 30/04/2008 to Wednesday 07/05/2008 at 7pm in the school. All parents who have children at Cowie Primary School are welcome to attend. See you there!

March Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 12 March 2008


Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Michelle McArthur, Audrey Ross,
Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Avril Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes


■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

■ Amend and approve minutes from last meeting on 16 January 2008

1. Keith confirmed that he has received a cheque for £612.00 from the previous Parents Association which will now be banked into the Parent Council Account.

2. The feedback we received from parents at the Parent Consultations on 6 February 2008 was very positive. We asked parents for fund raising ideas, their ideas on how to improve the school, if parents would support a Race Night and feedback about the Cowie Primary School website.

3. Action: Rachel will continue to follow up the previous action point and speak to Bob Wylie about the £10,000 grant mentioned during an earlier Pupil Council Meeting.

4. Keith has had no response from Iain Binning about the School Travel Plan. Mrs Ross confirmed this was because he was no longer in his post as School Travel Co-ordinator. The Cycling Proficiency Courses will be considered by the group at a later date, run by
Recyke-a –bike in Fallin and the Police.

5. Amanda asked if visitors to the school website http://www.cowieprimary.ik.org/ could add their own comments/feedback.

Action: Scott will update the site to include a comments/guestbook facility.

6. It is hoped the Community Centre access point to the school will re-open soon.

Action: Julie will contact Margaret Brisley again for a response to her previous communication, about the concerns over pedestrian safety at Mount Oliphant.



7. Rachel asked at our previous meeting if the school would consider being involved in a community clean up, due to the amount of rubbish lying within and outside the school playground.

Action: No update on this as yet. Mrs Ross agreed to liase with the Eco-group to see how the school can support this. Debbie agreed to speak to her dad who is part of the Community Council, to see how they can help.

8. The school disco in February 2008 was well attended and the children really enjoyed themselves. A huge thanks to Gavin McArthur who was our D.J for the night. We agreed that the infants would have benefited from playing more games to keep them occupied. An update on the funds raised at this event will be detailed in the next school newsletter, to be issued to parents/carers in April 2008.

9. We spoke about using some of the Parent Council funds to help with the cost of replacing the curtains in the Gym Hall with black-out blinds. This would benefit all children in the school. We agreed to re-visit this at a later date.

10. Keith confirmed that the Race Night would go ahead in April/May 2008 and a date is still to be confirmed. He suggested that a steering group be set up to organise this event. After further discussion we set up two steering groups as follows;


Fund Raising

Rachel Byrne
Amanda Arkell
Michelle McArthur
Bernadette Wheatley
Julie Moran


Education Matters

Audrey Ross
Anne Williamson
Scott Ferguson
Keith MacAskill


These groups can meet at any time, as and when it’s appropriate, and would feedback to the main group on their progress at the next available Parent Council meeting. Keith mentioned that these groups are not exhaustive and other parents can join them at anytime.

11. We agreed to re-visit the role of Treasurer next session. A separate account exists within the school for Parent Council Funds. Irene Gower is the main signatory for this account.

12. We spoke about using some of the Parent Council funds to buy water bottles for children to use during school time. Before taking any further action with this, we will speak to Debbie to get an update as she was going to ask her employer about the availability of free water bottles.

Action: Debbie to update the group on the availability of free water bottles from her employer.

13. We agreed that Parent Council Communications should have a ‘slogan’. Mrs Ross mentioned that in future she would like to see communications being issued with Cowie Primary School, Stirling Council and Parent Council ‘slogans’.

Action: Please bring along your ideas for a Parent Council ‘slogan’ to our next meeting.

■ A.O.B

1. Amanda asked if the school could include homework satchels on the school uniform order form this year.

Action: Mrs Ross said she would arrange for this to be done.

2. Rachel asked what arrangements have been made for the Primary 7 graduation and leavers party, as the Parent Council are happy to help with this.

Action: Mrs Ross will speak to Mrs Young about this.

3. The Parent Council agreed to subsidise a school trip for each class by £5.00 per child next term, from Parent Council funds.

4. Keith and Mrs Ross spoke about the HMIe inspection the week commencing 17 March 2008. The inspectors will be in the school for three days and will meet with different groups of people, i.e. parents, teachers and the Parent Council. The last inspection carried out at the school was in 1998, but this will not form any part of this inspection. A copy of the final report is normally available approximately six weeks after the inspection takes place and the school will then implement the action points.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting has been set for Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 7.00pm in the school. All parents are welcome to attend this meeting.

Action: Mrs Ross agreed to organise the let for this meeting.

Date of the next meeting

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 7pm in the school.

January Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 16 January 2008

Attendees: Michelle McArthur, Audrey Ross, Debbie Innes, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Christine Fairbairn, Anne Williamson, Keith MacAskill
Apologies: Vicky Carr, Scott Ferguson, Avrix Knox, Amanda Arkell
■ Introduction/Welcome
Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.
■ Amend and approve minutes from last meeting on 28 November 2007
1. Keith confirmed that the funds from the previous Parents Association will be passed onto the Parent Council.
Action: He will update the group with more information when this happens, with details of the amount.
2. We agreed to look at ordering a notice board for the school at a later date. Mrs Ross confirmed that the mobile notice boards being used at the infant and junior entrances are being put to good use. We will continue to use these to advertise events as and when required.
3. We agreed to canvass for more parent opinions about what we do well at the school and what can be improved, during the next Parent Consultations on 6 February 2008.
Action: Julie will organise the set up of a flipchart and coffee/teas for this.
Mrs Ross will look at sourcing cup holders from the school’s catering supplier.
Debbie agreed to speak to the ’Book People’ about setting up a stall at the Parent Consultations and will inform Mrs Ross about this.
4. The group discussed the closure of all gates at the school and not just the one at Mount Oliphant, for security and vandalism reasons. Mrs Ross confirmed that all parents/carers who have children at the school would need to be consulted before any action is considered about this. We will pick this up at a later date.
5. Action: Rachel will continue to follow up the previous action point and speak to Bob Wylie about the £ 10,000 grant mentioned during an earlier Pupil Council Meeting.
6. Action: Keith to update the group after speaking to Iain Binning about the School Travel Plan and Cycling Proficiency Courses. Children at St Margarets School have already started their Cycling Proficiency Courses, which are free of charge, and the plan is that all children will be put through this training.
7. The school website www.cowieprimary.ik.org is now up and running and will continue to develop through time. This was communicated in the December 2007 newsletter issued by the school. Mrs Ross plans to get children from each class involved with updating the web site pages for their class. Scott Ferguson will visit the school on a monthly basis to offer his help and support. A huge thanks to Scott for all his help with this.
8. Community Traffic Wardens appear to be patrolling the road at Mount Oliphant following the concerns the group raised about pedestrian safety. The concerns, with the increase of vehicles picking up and dropping off children, were mentioned in the December 2007 newsletter. Regaining the Community Centre access point should help ease the traffic congestion, as more parents may then use the Community Centre car park. Mrs Ross confirmed that the school refurbishment appears to be running slightly over time. This is the reason why the Community Centre access and some of the playground has not yet been opened up.
Action: Julie will continue to chase Margaret Brisley for a response from the Head of Roads and Transport Services, regarding the concerns over pedestrian safety.
■ A.O.B
1. Playground – Rachel mentioned the concerns she has with the amount of glass and rubbish lying within and outside the school playground. This is also a wider community problem. Rachel asked if the school would consider being involved in a community clean up. To report broken glass found within the village you can call Craig Gardner, StreetScape Team Leader on 0845 277 7000 - ext: 3824 or e-mail gardnerc@stirling.gov.uk
Action: Mrs Ross agreed to speak to the Eco-group to see how the school can support and become involved with this clean up. Debbie agreed to speak to her dad, who is part of the Community Council, to see how they can take this issue forward.
2. Fund Raising – The group discussed future fund raising events to raise funds for the benefit of the children at the school. It was decided that we would have a Valentine’s Disco for P1-P3 & P4-P7 on Thursday 14 February 2008. We also agreed to organise a Race Night for parents/carers/friends and relatives at the end of March 2008.
Action: Debbie and Anne agreed to organise the Valentine’s Disco, communicate this event and issue tickets. They will call on other parent helpers as and when required.
Mrs Ross will arrange the let for the disco from 6pm – 9pm and will inform the teachers of this event.

Action: Michelle will speak to Gavin to check he is available to supply the disco.
Keith, Julie, Christine and Rachel agreed to start sourcing information for the race night and will update the group at the next meeting.
3. Mrs Ross asked the group for their opinions regarding the school parties, church service, Christmas Concert, Calendars and CD’s. We all agreed that they were a huge success.
4. Rachel made a suggestion about the whole school being involved in a staged production. We agreed that it was nice to see the P1-P3 Nativity but inquired if it was possible for the P4 – P7’s to do a production jointly instead of singing Christmas songs. It was agreed that an enormous amount of organisation would be required to hold this kind of event. Mrs Ross confirmed she would take this comment on board in future. School concerts may not necessarily be an annual event as other things may be considered instead, i.e. candle-lit church service.
5. Keith asked if there was any reason why alcohol was not allowed as raffle prizes at the Christmas Concert. Mrs Ross confirmed that she felt it was not appropriate. We agreed that the Parent Council and School would work closely together with events like the Christmas Concert, i.e. the Christmas Raffle - although the Parent Council organised the raffle etc, the amount raised was given to the school.
6. Mrs Ross spoke about the ‘After School Clubs’ and confirmed that the school is now trying to offer a variety of clubs every day of the week. These were communicated in the January 2008 newsletter.
7. Monday 17 March 2008 is the start of ‘Health Week’ at Cowie Primary and St Margaret’s Primary. Children, Parents and carers will be invited to take part in a variety of healthy activities. More information will be sent nearer the time.
8. New furniture for P4-P6 classrooms is due to arrive at the end of January 2008.
9. Mrs Ross confirmed that the money raised to help improve the school playground would be used for this purpose. More than £2000.00 was raised and it is hoped some of this money can be spent shortly when parts of the playground are re-opened.
10. It was agreed that the role of Treasurer within the group was not required this session. We agreed to use a separate account set up within the school for Parent Council funds.
Action: Mrs Ross will look into this and update the group at the next meeting, as well as trying to find out the signatories for this account apart from Irene Gower.
11. Debbie will speak to her employer about the availability of free water bottles the children could use during school time. Action: She will update the group on this.
12. If you have any ideas for a ‘slogan’ for Parent Council Communications, then please bring them along to our next meeting.
■ Date of Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting has been set for Wednesday 13 February 2008 at 7.00pm in the school.
Action: Mrs Ross can you please organise the let for this meeting.

Next Meeting

Next meeting date is Wednesday 16th January 2008 at 7pm. All welcome.