Minutes
RATHO PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting on Monday 4th
September 2012 at 7.30pm
Present: Bobby Smith
(“BS”), Ruth Gillan (“RG”), Annette Wilson (“AW”), Neil
Langhorn (“NL”), Christine Paterson (“CP”), Ms Denise Penrose
(“DP”), Mrs Claire McGlynn (“CM”), Christina Enever (“CE”),
Chris Cartwright (“CC”), Morag Dalton (“MD”), Councillor
Ricky Henderson (“RH”) and Councillor Bill Henderson (“BH”).
Apologies: Helen
MacGregor & Councillor Dominic Heslop.
1. Treasurer’s Report
AW presented a note of
expenses from the Family Fun day and her ongoing accounts.
Current balances are
£872.01 in the Garden Fund; £518.14 in the general PC account. AW
confirmed that we will receive another allocation of PC funds next
summer.
A payment of £274.60 has
recently been paid into the PC account by the Council. Monies have
been paid out to the Garden Group for ongoing expenses and further
monies are due to them for expenses incurred. £56.93 will be paid
out to AW from the general account for the Family Fun Day.
AW has some left over
Lucky Dip prizes from the Family Fun Day. These will be offered to
the PTA for the Christmas Fair failing which CE offered to buy them
for her party company. Leftover perishables will be donated to the
school.
DP though the Family Fun
Day was great and all agreed. It was noted that this event was
jointly organised by the PC & PTA.
AW explained that the
Council is no longer paying the Clerk payment which we previously
claimed for the PC account. Now it is only paid if the PC is
actually paying a Clerk to take minutes; invoices etc would be needed
and they would need to be declared as taxable income of the Clerk
receiving payment.
DP mentioned in relation
to the garden that there are tools stored in the school which, due to
lack of space, she would like to see stored outside. RG explained
that the concern is security and that an outside store could be a
target for troublemakers.
There was some discussion
about how the tools could best be stored – perhaps in some sort of
camouflaged container. DP set no time limit to their removal. CP
offered to speak to Shona Johnson about this.
As a PC, we agreed
previously to donate some of the PC funds to the school for the
purchase of flip cameras, with the bulk of the money coming from the
PTA. DP explained that the cameras are good practice in schools, in
line with the Curriculum for Excellence and a useful aid in
reflective learning.
The overall cost of the
cameras is around £700. We agreed that after AW has been paid for
expenses for the Family Fun Day, we should donate the bulk of the PC
funds in the general account to paying for these, leaving a float of
at least £50. We decided to revisit the exact amount we want to
give from the PC at the end of the meeting. The balance of funds
will come from the PTA.
[Subsequent note: we
forgot to finalise the amount at the end of the meeting; subsequently
AW emailed PC members and it was agreed to keep at least £150 as a
balance in the general PC account and so we agreed to give a cheque
for £300 for the cameras to the school.]
{Councillor Bill
Henderson arrived.]
It was asked whether the
school might need money to buy more recorders? DP confirmed that
they have enough for this session; she might need more next session.
2. Ongoing role of the PC
Should the PC be more
proactive and/or high profile? How can the PC better assist the wider
parent community?
There was a general
discussion about the various roles of the PC.
BS would like to see
better links between our PC and those of other schools.
AW noted that the CCwP
[Consultative Committee with Parents – a Council run consultation
system between Council officials and PC Chairs] is currently under
review. At the moment there is a cluster rep from Dean Park PC who
attends these meetings, but input is not sought from us nor is
feedback given.
It was noted that Graeme
Sives is the new Headteacher at Balerno and he will be open to new
ideas.
There was some discussion
about Ratho Action Group and its input to the school. It is a kind
of pupil council, with 2 pupil reps per class. Currently CM chairs
the Group, with Helen MacGregor also attending. NL confirmed that he
has attended in the past to discuss the school orchard. CM explained
that for example, RAG has recently been working on the Canal Adoption
Programme. As a PC, we could try to send an attendee to at least one
RAG meeting per year, to learn more about what they are doing. It
would be good to forge a stronger link with RAG.
Within the PC we have
been involved in some good things recently: eg the homework survey;
the orchard.
What does DP want from
the Parent Council? She’d like to have PC reps available to assist
on school and community projects. AW suggested that if DP wants
support on an issue, she should be able to come to the PC for
input/support. It should be a fluid arrangement, not rigid, and
should recognise that people have different skills.
We asked the new parent
attendees at this meeting what they thought about the role of the PC.
They are still not clear what is the purpose of the PC? What
communication do we have with parents? Do we produce a newsletter?
It was suggested that the PC should produce a termly newsletter for
parents & carers, explaining who is on the PC and what is our
core business; we should also keep our website up to date.
[Councillor Ricky
Henderson arrived.]
Should we meet on a night
other than a Monday?
CC suggested that we need
a clear message on our objectives eg the cameras: what are they to be
used for in school; how will they help the children’s learning; why
should they be purchased? It was suggested that messages about the
groups available for parents to join at the school (ie PC, PTA,
Garden Group) are not necessarily being heard and understood by the
wider parent forum.
DP agreed that the
messages from the PC need to be clearer. She offered to create a
space on the school noticeboard for PC info.
CE suggested that the PC
needs to be more specific about what people can do to help the
school.
It was noted that on the
PC we have struggled for numbers recently, as have the PTA.
There was discussion
about the need for a clearer approach on parental involvement;
perhaps a joint meeting with the PTA is needed to take things
forward?
What does the PTA do?
Each year the understanding is that the PTA pays for certain standard
things eg a pantomime; the school leavers’ trip. It usually has
extra money and the PTA then speak direct to the school about what to
donate it to.
At Ratho the PTA has
historically been separate from the PC – but should it be? DP
suggested that it would be easier for her to have one parent body to
deal with. It need not be called the PC or the PTA eg it could be
the Ratho Family Council. It was noted that the PTA do
understandably like to have ownership of what the money they raise is
used for. If there was one parent group then a meeting of all could
start together then break off into PC/PTA sub-groups? At the moment
there aretwo entirely separate sets of meeting dates.
NL is concerned that DP
is waiting too long for decisions eg as to funding for the flip
cameras. With money for them coming from both PC & PTA, it has
been a laborious process to sort out. One group would bring immediacy
to meetings.
Discussion reverted to
having an open joint meeting of both PC & PTA. It was agreed
that there should be a joint meeting and DP should chair it. She can
set out her vision of the way forward and facilitate a discussion
amongst those present.
MD & CE are attending
the PTA meeting tomorrow and will explain to the PTA tomorrow what
was discussed at this meeting tonight.
BS had earlier intimated
that due to work pressures, he had to stand down as PC Chair with
immediate effect. AW nominated RG as interim Chair and CP seconded.
Thanks to RG for accepting. BS will remain as a PC member.
At her last school DP
said that the PC was very active. They became very involved in
community issues eg traffic calming measures. AW mentioned that the
Ratho Environment Group is looking into improving the appearance of
the lock ups at the school gates.
Should the PC have a
specific link to the RDCC? The RDCC meet monthly on the 6th
of the month.
DP was left with the
task of organising a date for the joint meeting of the PC & PTA.
The agenda is to be set following consultation with the respective
Chairs. DP will then publicise it in her weekly newsletter.
3. AOCB
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Discussion
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Action points
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There was a
discussion about violin assessments and instruction. DP
confirmed that these are continuing. AW asked If Ratho could be
allocated a day other than Monday for a change – as this day is
greatly disrupted because of Monday holidays etc. DP agreed to
look into this.
It was noted that
in a future school session, if that is needed, then the PC might
want to think about organising funding for new musical
instruments.
BS has an email
from Wendy Gray at the Council listing PC contacts in other
schools. As RG is Interim Chair, he will forward that to RG for
information.
DP confirmed that
there has been no change as regards getting a new lollipop person
to stand in for Carol while she remains on sick leave. This led
to a conversation about other methods of safely crossing Main
Street. CM suggested a walking bus; RG a zebra or pelican
crossing. BH confirmed that this is something he can look into
ie getting a traffic count done and pushing for a formal
crossing. The RDCC may be a good place to push for action on
this?
Also as regards
safe parking around the school, BH advised that he can ask that
Community Safety Officers run a campaign. CM asked if RAG could
get involved in any such initiative, please? In the context of
parking, it was noted that as this school covers not only the
village but a wide rural area, some parents of necessity drive
their children to school.
NL enquired about
the school football team. John Colquhoun has agreed to continue
coaching it. The team is enrolled in the Soccer 7s (for P6 &
7 boys) and play regular matches. P4 & 5 girls are now
getting the chance to learn football skills.
School events:
the Parent Consultations are on Thursday 11 & Friday 12
October. On Thursday 27 September the school is holding two “Big
Writing” workshops for parents. These workshops will inform
parents about this new approach to teaching writing skills in
schools.
DP advised that the homework jotters are to
remain blank (ie unlined) due to the different types of homework
(not just writing) which are set Some parents had wanted lined
jotters to assist the children with writing in a straight line.
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DP
DP
BH
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4. Date and time of next meeting
No date for the next
meeting was set in view of the agreed strategy being that the next
meeting should be a joint PC/PTA meeting on a date to be set by DP.
