DRAFT
Minutes
RATHO PRIMARY SCHOOL
PARENT COUNCIL & PTA
Minutes of joint meeting on Tuesday 5th
March 2013 at 7.30pm & PC Meeting following
Present: *Neil
Langhorn (“NL”), Helen MacGregor (“HM”),
*Melanie McAllan, Mrs Smith, *Emer
Grimley, *Councillor Bill Henderson (“BH”), Jackie Wake, Jenni
Belfall, *Mrs McGlynn (“CM”), Brenda Binnie, *Chris Cartwright
(“CC”), *Lisa McCarthy, Leesa Roy, *Mrs Hall & *Christine
Paterson.
Apologies:
Annette Wilson.
Note: those asterisked
attended the separate PC meeting which followed the joint meeting.
Joint meeting
School report (CM):
The
Communications/Vision Group are having their first meeting on 8
March. They comprise one PC person, one PTA person, one staff
member (Mrs Hall), Mrs McGlynn and a pupil. Their first task will
be an audit of communication.
The Community Health
Group has had their first meeting and will meet next on the first
Friday after the Easter holidays – 12th April. The topic then
will be Food & the Environment.
A letter has gone
out about the 30 year anniversary activities. There will be lots of
great learning opportunities for the children.
The windows in the
school and some doors are to be replaced. The work starts 16th
March and continues during the Easter holidays. There won’t be
any disruption for the children.
Dog fouling: CM
first noticed a problem a week past Monday. She took it to RAG and
as a result the children have been designing posters encouraging
people to be responsible dog owners. These will be put up shortly.
Also, Gus the janitor is contacting the Council’s environmental
wardens about the problem.
The link to the
Friday note is being set up. CM is aiming to email the first link
to parents/carers by next Friday.
PC report (NL):
The Comms sub-group
hope to get a newsletter out asap. The first issue will be in hard
copy but in future they hope to use the school facility to email a
weblink. In the longer term this group want to look more closely at
upgrading the PC & PTA websites. It was noted that a flyer
about the PC & PTA for inclusion in the packs which the school
give out to new parents would be useful.
Road safety: AW
couldn’t come tonight but is hoping to set up a first meeting of
her new group soon.
The Council are
consulting on a Vision for Edinburgh Schools; anyone can comment.
PTA report (HM):
At their meeting to
follow, the PTA will mainly be discussing the Spring Fair (20
April). Anyone wishing to help should contact HM.
On dog fouling HM
mentioned that she filled in an online survey from the Pentland
Community Safety Sub-Group and mentioned the lack of bins in Ratho
for dog excrement. Others could fill in this survey also. There
are hard copies of the survey in the Library and HM will email the
survey monkey link to CM for the Friday note.
On 13 March there is
to be a meeting in the Church Hall about roads and transport (see
further below).
On 12 April there is
to be an exhibition by Cala about their proposed development of 100
houses in Craigpark Quarry.
Local website:
www.rathoonline.co.uk
The NHS are to use
the DVLA building in Wilkieston Road as the new Doctors’ surgery.
Dr Pandolfi retires on Thursday 7 March.
The Gala Committee
are holding a fun run (and 5k/10k runs) on Wednesday 29 May.
PC
meeting
Present: those asterisked
above.
1. Dog fouling & dogs being
kept under control
It seems that the school
is already actively addressing the issue of dog fouling as mentioned
above. We will monitor the situation and CM will let us know if
there is anything the PC can do to help.
BH confirmed that the
environmental wardens can operate covertly and when brought in
previously at Nether Currie and Juniper Green, made a big difference.
As regards dog safety, it
seems that the issue raised by Bobby Smith concerns one particular
dog. The RAG children are to be asked for their views and again we
are to keep an eye on this.
It was noted that dogs
should not be in the school or community centre (beyond the green
fence) but the path past the school is thought to be a public right
of way so all we can do there is ask people to be responsible dog
owners.
2. Housing & road safety
CC referred to the new
houses to be built in Craigpark Quarry and the impact that will have
on traffic passing through the village. Over the past few years
traffic has greatly increased and the village is now used as a rat
run. Many larger vehicles now drive through the village. The bridge
at the canal is not strong and if any serious problem were to develop
with it, that would cause a great deal of disruption. The poor
condition of Freelands Road was also mentioned.
BH advised that Freelands
Road is on the list of roads to be resurfaced. He generally believes
in fighting for more funding for rural roads and is against
development of the green belt.
The meeting on 13 March
was mentioned again. This is in the Church Hall at 7pm and will be
attended by Tony Lear, a roads manager with the Council. This
meeting is an opportunity for people to have their say about local
roads issues (also public transport).
As regards the school
roll, CM thinks that more children on the roll would be a positive
thing. In a small school the teachers have to work exceptionally
hard to deliver all the things which there would be more people to
provide in a bigger school eg each school still needs an Improvement
Plan, certain policies etc. An increased roll would mean more
management staff, more teachers, more money etc.
It was mentioned that the
lollipop lady at School Wynd is sometimes distracted by people who
stop to talk to her, in person or in their cars. CM is to follow up
on this.
3.
Balerno High School Parent Council meeting
This is to take place in
Ratho next Monday 11 March. It’s a good opportunity to find out
more about the High School. Parents can come along to this meeting
if they wish.
4. Future topics for the PC
Some PC members met a
couple of weeks ago and talked about areas which the PC might get
involved in. Some strands were:
School life: what
extra-curricular activities are on offer and what the PC could get
involved in helping to provide.
The School
Improvement Plan – inputting to this. A drop in session for
parents/carers was suggested, at which each person leading on a
particular area of the curriculum could give a short presentation.
Other areas the
school could work on improving. The Comms/Vision group is relevant
here. CM reiterated her strong view that parental engagement in the
school and in children’s learning is paramount.
Consultation on
school policies.
One-off issues that
crop up from time to time eg dog fouling.
NL will try to list
these.
5. AOB
CM mentioned that
she would like to have the opportunity to attend the PTA separate
meeting sometimes, rather than always coming to the PC, and it was
noted that on our next joint meeting date ie 9th April, she will
probably attend the PTA meeting.
There is a new café
opening in the community centre on 8th April. It will be open
during the week, from morning till early afternoon.
6. Future meetings
9th April
7th May (AGM)
4th June (NL suggested we
put the Christmas tree on our agenda!)
