KILLERMONT PRIMARY PARENT COUNCIL AGM. Minutes 15 September 2014

Transcription

1 KILLERMONT PRIMARY PARENT COUNCIL AGM Minutes 15 September Welcome Present: P Allen, C Bankier, L Macaulay, A McNair, G McNeill, E Smith, L Whitehall 2. Apologies Cllr Small, Cllr Moody, Cllr Shergill, S Chase, A Horn, C Morse 3. Minutes of previous meeting None 4. Matters arising None 5. Chairperson s report and correspondence L Ault had tendered her resignation prior to Summer break, so P Allen the new chair summarised the previous year s activity in her report and extended her thanks to all members of KPSC including parents, clerk, teaching staff, head teacher and councillors for their ongoing commitment which is very much appreciated electronic copy of full report is attached. P Allen also took the group through correspondence received as follows; Next Parent Council Forum Date TBC National Parent Forum This takes place on 4 October. More details can be found on the website A shuttle bus and crèche are available. It was noted that the National Parent Forum also has a

2 stand at the Scottish Learning Festival which takes place at the SECC 24 th and 25 th September. Site co-ordinators P Allen advised that D Chappell (Chair of ED parent Council) had advised that EDC plans to have a full council meeting about new arrangements for site co-ordinators on 25 th Sep. However he had written to Gordon Currie, Eric Gotts and Terry Allan suggesting that as there is no Forum meeting prior to these proposals being presented to councillors that they should either be delayed until the Forum had a chance to discuss them or a special meeting should be convened prior to 25th September. D Chappell is still awaiting a response so it is unclear if the council meeting will still go ahead. 6. Head Teacher s report E Smith presented her report looking back on the previous 12 months which reflected the extensive list of activities undertaken by the school many of which had a specific Commonwealth Games (CWG) theme. These included; Countdown started Interactive CWG board Clyde visit Pictures (made by the children) placed in Athletes Village East Dunbartonshire Fly the Flag Sports Relief Weekly CWG factoid PE working group (resulting in legacy of new programme starting in October) CWG theme sports day in June Celebrate funding of 7k Assemblies e.g. August had visits from baton carrier, official starter, Clyde-siders including E Smith all wearing their uniforms Active Schools Involvement legacy book (which was available to view at the meeting) KPS achieved Gold status in Active Schools Involvement Taster sessions for the children e.g. tennis

3 Legacy board (which was available to view at the meeting) capturing all the children s ideas about what they d like to do as a legacy of the CWG e.g. judo taster Sports Scotland School Sports Award this is an online assessment with an opportunity to go for Gold. After School clubs being run Monday to Thursday and some lunch-time ones too It was noted by the attendees that KPS had done extremely well during the CWG to enthuse the children and also to broaden their learning experience and knowledge e.g. one of the parents commented on how their child s knowledge of geography had improved significantly as a result of CWG related activity. 7. AOCB Kessington Farm planning application It was noted by the group that a 3D version of the plan is now available on-line for review Road congestion It was noted that planned work on Boclair Road between 6 th October and 30 th November is likely to cause significant congestion in the area including in Buchanan Drive where traffic calming itself is causing congestion currently. There was a strong view that there should be additional road patrollers during this time and that parents should be made aware of the increased risk for their children. Agreed the following action; Parent members to contact Councillors to raise their concerns E Smith to discuss with EDC contact for road patrollers E Smith to make all parents aware via the Newsletter advising against parking in Buchanan Drive Ergonomic Seating L Whitehall was keen to look for opportunities to run a pilot of circa 30 children using ergonomic seating. This has been raised before and whilst E Smith recognised the value of such a pilot the issue remains one of lack of budget for this type of equipment and also the storage of same. If L Whitehall was able to identify options that would be cost-free and not require storage it could be looked at again.

4 Awards for All A form is being submitted making a request for 10k to help improve the play areas and in addition the PTA has 7k ear-marked for the playground. Once the outcome of the request for funding is known next steps will be agreed. Giving at Christmas Discussion took place about how the children could get involved in giving to needy local children at Christmas time and in a way that would not add significant overhead for the school in terms of organising. C Bankier undertook to get a contact of a charity who works with SW. Sep 22 update: Action for Children contact is Grant McFarlane on Kirkintilloch Food Bank E Smith advised that Harvest this year will support this food bank and the plan is to keep a box on an ongoing basis to enable people to donate throughout the year. This idea came about as a result of the meeting with Killermont Church about building community partnerships. Letter from Mike Russell A copy of a letter from Mike Russell to schools thanking them for their contribution over the past year was circulated to the group for information. Parent feedback comment from school Newsletter E Smith shared a suggestion from a parent that there should be increased playground cover from 8.15am to enable early drop off for children. This was discussed by the group who unanimously agreed that this should not be a responsibility of the school given H&S, disclosure and budget considerations. It was also pointed out that a Breakfast Club is included in the existing After School Care Club arrangements which parents can choose to use. KPSC future focus and membership No new members. All agreed to continue this year. Discussion took place about topics that will both raise awareness of important issues that parents should be aware of and how we can generate more interest from parents in taking part at KPSC meetings. Main topics of concern currently are the proposed budget cuts and their impact on

5 schools services including changes to site co-ordinators. Agreed that KPSC members should attend parent meetings (see below for dates) to generate interest. P Allen will co-ordinate a rota of who can attend which meeting. C Bankier to share the contact list with all parent members to enable everyone to contact each other as required. Parent meetings The meetings will take place on Tuesday 28 th October 18:00 to 20:30 and Wednesday 29 th October 15:15 to 18:15. Newsletter Parking was raised as a problem again, so E Smith agreed to reference in the next newsletter. 8. Dates and times of next meetings Monday 3 rd November at 7.15pm Other dates TBC