Newfield Home School Association (NHSA)

Transcription

1 Newfield Home School Association (NHSA) Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 17 November 2015 Present Emma Anderson (Co-Headteacher), Liz Lancaster (Newfield School Teaching Assistant), Nicky Keirl (Y7 parent), Fiona Ross (Y8 parent), Yo Tozer-Loft (Y10 parent), Gill Osguthorpe (Y10 parent), Jim Lewis (Y9 parent), Rahana Zaheer (Y10 parent), Anna Hickson (Y8 parent), Emma Staley (Newfield HR and Admin Manager) (minutes) Apologies No apologies were received. AGM 1. Welcome and Introductions Emma welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending. Emma acknowledged that Charlotte Bowyer previously chaired the group and did a fantastic job working in partnership with them. Following introductions Emma outlined the agenda for the meeting explaining that the first part would be an AGM where roles within the group would be considered, ensuring all members had an understanding of what they wanted from the group and agreeing the draft constitution. The second part of the meeting would be the normal business of the group. 2. Constitution and Election The Aims and Objectives of the group were discussed and agreed. Emma questioned whether the aims and objectives of the group were too wide and stated that the group needed to be mindful of what it could realistically do and what its function was whilst ensuring that they were not bordering on the role of the leadership and governance of the school. Jim felt the soft support provided by the NHSA at parents evenings and events made a difference to both students and staff as well as parents and the school community. Membership of the Association was discussed and agreed. The group asked if it would be possible for a governor to attend the meetings and suggested a rotation so it was a different governor each time. Action: Emma Anderson agreed to take the request to the next full governors meeting in December to see if a representative could attend the next meeting. The Structure of the Association was discussed. Following a vote all members agreed and confirmed Emma Anderson as Chair of the group. Emma confirmed that Mrs Balfour, Newfield School Finance Manager, would be Treasurer of the group. It was agreed that in the event of the Chairperson being unable to attend a meeting, a committee member would Chair the meeting.

2 EA was formally voted in as Chairperson. The constitution was agreed pending minor amendments. A revised copy was to be circulated with the minutes. Action: Emma Staley Membership of the national Parent Teacher Association was discussed. Action: Emma Anderson agreed that the school would pay the membership cost. 3. Finance Report Emma apologised that the finance statement was not available for the meeting. She confirmed that the group had made a slight profit and would circulate the statement with the minutes. Normal Business 4. Minutes and matters arising from the last meeting (14 September 2015) The minutes from the last meeting were agreed as a true record. 2.1 NHSA Events Yo reported that the pub meeting had not been successful. A change of venue, perhaps a café/coffee shop, was suggested for the next meeting. It was agreed to hold the next meeting around transition time. The invite would therefore go out at the end of May/beginning of June for a July meeting. 2.2 Provision for an additional language Further discussion took place regarding languages. Emma confirmed that there would be a full curriculum review this year and that languages would be one of the priorities. It was reported that a parent petition had been accepted by the school but as at the last meeting nothing further had happened. Charlotte Bowyer had reported that parents views had been considered and that she would be speaking to the Head of Languages. It was anticipated that progress would be made this year for Year 8 and 9 and parents had hoped that languages would be back on the curriculum from September Parents were frustrated that there didn t appear to have been much progress. Emma reiterated that languages were on the school s priority list and explained that the school needed to plan for that provision. Staff across the Trust were at capacity at present so there was currently no flexibility with timetables and no additional provision available in terms of being over staffed. The school was therefore unable to give an answer or a timescale for when it might happen. Emma acknowledged that was frustrating and not the answer the group wanted.

3 Parents expressed a number of concerns. They were concerned about phasing languages in for higher achieving students. Emma confirmed there was some provision for French at present. Concern was also expressed that an additional language didn t become subsumed within another language following some earlier discussion about how it would be taught alongside French as that wouldn t give students enough of both languages. Parents also felt that languages should be introduced earlier as a segway as it was difficult to learn a language in two years without any prior knowledge or experience. Emma outlined some options but explained they were only ideas at present and the school needed to work through all the options in more detail. Parents acknowledged that it was tough on the curriculum but felt that if students had a penchant for languages they shouldn t be disadvantaged. It was suggested that for those interested, films or literature could be resourced in a different language so that they could engage in a way that wasn t too academic but gave them some exposure. Emma reassured the group that additional languages were still being considered and informed the group that she was meeting with the Head of Languages the following day where she planned to start discussions with her. 2.3 Home-School Communication Website Details of stationery still to be added to website. Action: Emma Staley Emma asked if there was anything else the school could be doing regarding communication. Parents felt that they received the right amount of texts and found them really useful. They also received s for school wide communications. It was reported that when parents received texts, they also received the same message by . Emma Staley confirmed that was due to a default setting of the system the school used (Keep Kids Safe). Overall, parents were happy with the level of communication. Parents asked if the Extra-Curricular timetable had been produced as they were unable to find it. Emma Staley confirmed it was on the website under About Us, Lunch and After School Activity Programme. Emma asked if parents thought sending the newsletter out by social media would have the same impact. Parents agreed that they preferred the paper version and liked seeing it on reception in primary schools which they felt kept Newfield in people s consciousness. Some parents did not like the font used.

4 Discussion took place about an electronic version either ed or put on the website. Emma Staley confirmed that the school were struggling to do this at the moment due to the size of the document and it had not been possible to date to compress the file. Action: Emma to feedback to Mr Faulkner about the font. Understanding Student Reports Emma reported that there was a national issue around assessment in schools at the moment. Schools were moving to a completely different system away from levels. Assessment would be much more personalised in the future but Newfield would be adopting Sheffield co-ordinated and consistent approach, tailored for Newfield. Emma had therefore been speaking to Miss Green, SLT lead on assessment and data about how we get information to parents that is user friendly and completely understood. Information would be coming out with reports but some information sessions would also be held. Emma confirmed she would also be working with primaries and would be inviting primary Heads to talk to Newfield about what s going on in primary schools so that the school had an understanding and could then track and pick up any issues to ensure a seamless transition. 5. NHSA this year/focus for the group The focus for the group was discussed during the AGM when reviewing the constitution. 6. School Priorities Update Emma reported the following school priorities: The school would be focussing on making sure the experiences for students were entirely positive and that meant a focus on the quality of teaching and learning that was happening in classrooms. Professional development for staff would also focus on making those experiences good or better. Emma reported that the school had some fantastic practice and some great practitioners so would be using that expertise across all departments. Within teaching and learning, the school would also be looking at things like making sure homework was set regularly and making sure that the school communicated that homework. The school would therefore be implementing something called Show My Homework in January and staff training for that system had just started. Parents asked if the system showed progress/results. Emma confirmed it could but the school would only be using it as a basic recording tool initially. She also confirmed that students would still have planners. Homework/Assessment in line with national changes to assessment and the move to a different grading system. Quality feedback to students. This would also be the focus of the next training day for staff.

5 Literacy and developing literacy across the curriculum so that students could access the assessment criteria that was needed for GCSE. There was a big push on literacy at present and the school would be moving that on where necessary. Low level disruption as part of drive for making experiences good or better, the school would be tackling some of its low level disruption. Information would be going out to parents about a change to the Code of Conduct. The school would be moving towards less warnings and rewarding good behaviours immediately. It would be a points based system with very clear demarcation. Website Emma acknowledged Gill s work around building a more fit for purpose website and thanked her for her efforts. She confirmed that the school had now commissioned someone to design a brand new website that would be a lot more streamlined and would hopefully be launched early in the New Year. The initial homepage was circulated for discussion. Emma reported that the school had reflected on last year s results and why that happened. Results looked much improved based on those predictions but the school were working with Curriculum Leader s to ensure security, rigour and quality assurance with everything it was doing adding that school felt very positive moving forward. 5. Any Other Business End of term Panto - NHSA to do refreshments during the interval. It was noted that there was nothing on Facebook advertising the panto. Action: Emma to arrange for details to be posted on Facebook Facebook - It was reported that there had been a big discussion on Facebook about Newfield and whether or not parents would send their children there. The discussion had started negatively but following contributions by a number of parents had ended really positive. A parent had also got in touch with Gill privately afterwards with some really useful ideas about transition. Action: Gill to Emma with the parent s comments/thoughts 6. Date of next meeting Next meeting Wednesday 20 January 2016, 6:30pm at Newfield School.