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
■ Behaviour Policy
■ 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
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 24th 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.
