Minutes
RATHO PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting on Monday 31st
January 2011
Present: Annette Wilson, Mike
Humphries, Christine Paterson, Ms Denise Penrose, Mrs Sarah Hall,
Councillor Alastair Paisley, Councillor Ricky Henderson, Graham Muir,
Angie Muir, Pat Robertson, Bobby Smith, Shona Johnson, Helen
MacGregor, Jackie Wright, Francis Barkey (Chair of Balerno HS Parent
Council) and Mike Ferrigan (PIPER).
Apologies: Councillor Ronald Cairns,
Gillian Brown, Ruth Gillan.
1. Council Budget Cuts Update
Initially the impact on Ratho PS was
discussed.
Ms Penrose(“DP”) explained that
Package 1 of the cuts has gone through and did not affect schools in
the front line too badly. Now however we are on Package 2 and that
will have an impact in 3 areas:
Economy savings: this means
heating & lighting. Ms Penrose thinks we have already done what
we can on this and not much more can be saved.
Janitorial service: there is to be
a cluster model. Her current understanding is that this means
several janitors will be based at the High School and will come to
Ratho on a rota basis. This might mean we do not get such a good
service as at present. Also, the link and commitment of one
particular janitor to the school will be broken. What will happen
in emergencies?
A reduction in management time.
This means a reduction in the time of the Head Teacher or Principal
Teacher. In our case it probably means that Mrs Pettit’s one day
out of class will be affected. The Business Manager does not count
as management for these purposes.
Ms Penrose has not seen the actual
budget yet. Councillors reported that the budget will be set on 10
February. Departments will then allocate their funds.
Ricky Henderson explained that the
Council has a savings target of £90,000,000 over the next 3 years.
In the coming year it is to save £45 million: roughly 4.5% of its
budget. The SNP/Lib Dems will propose a budget and it is theirs
which will probably pass. If one cost-cutting proposal is taken out,
then another to save money needs to be substituted.
In Education the savings are predicated
on changes to teachers’ terms & conditions ie unpicking the
McCrone deal. There is no ability to raise additional revenue due to
the Council tax freeze.
At this stage the way to try to
influence the budget would be to email Marilyne MacLaren (“MM) (the
Convener of the Education, Children & Families Committee at the
Council) and other SNP/Lib Dem Councillors eg Ronald Cairns with your
concerns.
What we as a Parent Council can do: We
can make our feelings known about the areas to be cut. The
Councillors present agreed that 40 individual structured letters of
protest have more impact than 1 joint letter from a Parent Council
(ie the actual numbers of protests are mainly what is taken account
of!).
Points that could be made would be eg
to express concern about the change to janitorial working; or to
suggest that front line services should be protected and savings
should be made in the “back office”.
MM has already said that secondary
school closures are politically unacceptable so the money cannot be
saved in that way.
How the cuts will impact on Balerno
High School (“BHS”)
Francis Barkey spoke on this:
BHS is to lose £160,000 from its
budget next year. As 90% of the BHS budget is staff, that is almost
inevitably where this money will be saved. In future years there
will be further cuts.
His understanding is that the head
teacher only has discretionary spend of around £30k/40k so he thinks
that how the money is to be saved will be dictated centrally.
He also understands that the McCrone
deal will need to be renegotiated in order for the savings to be
made, probably in the salaries of promoted teachers.
Re the proposed janitorial
arrangements: FB does not think that the janitors will be based at
BHS but rather at a “superhub” somewhere in central Edinburgh.
He feels the janitors’ sense of belonging to a school will be lost
and the service will be compromised.
People know there have to be cuts and
there is almost a sense of inevitability about all this. The BHS
PC’s view is that what we need to do is have a targeted approach to
try to influence where the cuts should fall – so eg we could argue
for frontline services to be protected. BHS Parent Council would
rather see cuts in management positions at the Council. In
particular BHS PC are concerned about the janitorial proposals and
will be arguing against those.
Actions:
AW will put on our PC website the
list of email addresses of people to contact to express your views
on budget cuts.
Any parents who are concerned
should try to influence where the cuts fall by contacting
Councillors to express their views.
DP offered to circulate
appropriate information from us about the cuts by ParentMail.
[FB left.]
2.PIPER
presentation (School, Home & Community Climate Change Action)
Mike Ferrigan attended the meeting to
speak about this.
He explained that he is an
environmental activist, mostly on voluntary basis. About 4 years ago
he set up PIPER (Parents in Partnership Eco-Reps) as a sub-group of
Currie High School Parent Council. This Group actions climate
change/eco issues within the school and wider community. MF has
since enabled creation of a further 6 sub-groups within schools and
that is how the project expands.
MF has sourced funding for the PIPER
project so that when sub groups are created, they receive some
funding for eco issues.
What happens initially is that MF comes
to the school dressed as a penguin - Professor Pongu - and tells the
children about the project. Project folders are then handed out in
class and these comprise:
DVD
presentation about the PIPER project and climate change
Pupil surveys on
the subjects of energy usage, sustainability and transport.
Parents survey –
parents will be asked if they have skills and/or time they can
provide to help the school and community with environmental projects
Optional home energy check form
for parents
The completed folders are returned to
MF.
The legacy is the PC subgroup and what
it does in the future. The project should be parent and pupil led;
hopefully teachers will get involved also.
In signing up to PIPER the sub group is
given £1,000 of kick start funding. This goes to the PC treasurer
and is banked through the PC. The sub group then creates an action
plan to spend the money, and they are responsible to report back to
the PC. The types of thing the sub group might spend the money on
are: recycling measures; Bags for Life distributed through local
shops, vegetable plots; planting fruit trees; litter picks.
Professor Pongu
will be appearing at Ratho Primary school soon.
It was noted that
at Ratho we already have the Ratho Action Group and a good number of
parents who help out with the school garden. Ms Penrose sees that the
PIPER project will extend the work already done with these parents
and pupils giving more opportunity for more children and parents to
get involved, and will support the schools application next year for
its next green flag!
[MF & AP left] [PH also left].
3. Update on 2011-12 class organisation
Ms Penrose advised that on the basis of
the projected roll, 6 class teachers’ have been confirmed for next
session. Her ideal position is not to re-composite the classes next
session. This will mean there will be a P6/7 composite, not a
straight P7. There are currently only 12 pupils who will be P7 next
year and she thinks this is too small for class by itself.
The maximum number for a composite
class is 25.
Ms Penrose explained that to create a
straight P7 class would adversely affect other children as it would
mean full classes at every other stage. Smaller class sizes benefit
the other children in the school. The school would lack capacity for
new pupils; she has to leave space in case others enrol (eg the first
Cala Homes will be occupied in August). She also has to allow for
placing requests. The number on the school roll can essentially
change up till June.
SJ & AM (as parents of pupils who
will be in P7 next year) put on record their very strong objection to
this. They think that next session’s P7 class should not be
composited and should be a class on its own for that final year, as
is usually the case. There is much to be done to prepare children
for High School and these children should have that time spent
individually on them. They should be allowed to feel special and in
a class apart. To have a composite class cuts across the buddy
system. That the children want to feel special & different in
their last year of primary school is highlighted by their request for
red sweatshirts.
AW is also to be a parent of a P7pupil
next year but does not have an issue with a composite class provided
all P7-specific activities still go ahead.
Ms Penrose does not believe that
children in composite classes are disadvantaged. The point was made
that eg at the moment some P5s in the 5/6 composite get French
lessons while P5s in the 4/5 composite do not. Ms Penrose
acknowledges that there should be consistency and fairness in what is
taught across year groups, even if the year group is split across
different classes.
4. Specialist teachers and music tuition
The woodwind teacher Miss Hallas is to
leave at the end of this session (June) and will not be replaced, due
to budget constraints.
Parents have in the past been told that
if they buy an instrument, then the Council will provide tuition, so
this cuts right across that understanding. The outlay on the
instrument was significant and to take this tuition away really
restricts the musical opportunities available to our children.
Various options for getting woodwind
tuition were discussed, including going up to Balerno High School for
lessons (probably not practical) and asking Miss Hallas if she knows
of anyone who might provide lessons as an After School Club. It
would still be up to parents to provide the instrument (and of course
to pay for the lessons). All Council instruments will have to be
returned.
Ms Penrose reported that although Mrs
Marr has retired, the pupils are still involved in music. They
currently do a programme called ABC Music which means they spend
15/20 minutes per day singing in their classrooms.
MH mentioned the Youth Music
Initiative, which provides free musical tuition.
The only other non class contact
teacher in the school is Miss Imrie, PE specialist.
5. Parents’ Night (24/25 March)
It was agreed that as happened at the
last Parents’ Night, the Parent Council should have a presence
during the evening session and should seek to have a purpose. Any
ideas on what we can do to AW please.
We will probably not provide teas and
coffees this time as not many people took us up on that.
6. Training update
RG is to go on recruitment and
selection training so that both she and AW will be trained once MH &
PR leave at the end of this session. If anyone else wants to do this
please speak to AW.
AW has a package called Devolved School
Management and Finance Training for Parents that she can make
available if anyone is interested.
AW has already circulated papers about
Effective Membership of Parent Councils.
7. Notice of AGM: 9th May
As usual the first half of the AGM will
be organised by the school to involve various presentations by the
children. Then we’ll do the formal AGM business.
MH will be standing down as treasurer.
AW thought maybe she should stand down as Chair and let someone else
do it. She offered to be treasurer. Others suggested that AW is a
good Chair and should stay on.
CP said she will continue as secretary
if needed but equally if someone else wants the opportunity she will
stand down.
Are there any applicants for the
various positions? If so they should speak to AW.
At the AGM we will have a treasurer’s
report.
8.AOCB
School uniform swap cupboard:
Ms Penrose is looking for a place for this. The idea would be that
outgrown uniform (including gym shoes/wellies) can be handed in to
the school and that any parent can then take what they need from the
cupboard in exchange for a donation to school funds.
Ms Penrose confirmed that 29
April will be a school holiday.
Money from Cala: Ms Penrose
has emailed them the price for a pirate ship for the P1-3 playground
(£1,900) and awaits a reply.
PTA Swap Night: this will
be 12 March.
NEXT MEETING: AGM: Monday 9th May 2011
at 7pm
