Minutes
RATHO PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting on Monday 8th November 2010
Present: Annette Wilson, Ruth Gillan,
Kim Craven, Christine Paterson, Ms Denise Penrose, Mrs Sarah Hall,
Councillor Ronald Cairns
Apologies: Councillor Alastair Paisley,
Councillor Ricky Henderson, Mike Humphries, Graham Muir, Angie Muir,
Gillian Brown, Pat Robertson & Bobby Smith.
1. Budget Update
The sum of £10.5million is to be cut
from the Children & Families budget. There are various proposals
as to how that money could be saved.
Gillian Tee, the Council’s Director
of Children & Families has got parents involved in the
consultation process – so Annette for instance has attended an
event at which there was a brainstorming session about where the cuts
should fall.
Councillor Cairns mentioned that if we
have particular points about where the cuts should/should not fall,
we should let him (or indeed another Councillor) know, so that he can
fight it on our behalf.
2. Uniform Survey
Ms Penrose has included some guidance
about uniform in recent weekly notes, and separately the Parent
Council has been consulting to obtain parents’ views on uniform.
Ms Penrose has not so far made any changes to existing uniform, nor
has she yet taken any decisions about uniform for the next school
session (2011/2012). She does however want to see more consistency
in the uniform which the children wear. She strongly believes in
school uniform as instilling worth and value in the children.
Turning to the survey results (collated
by Annette):
Question 1: polo shirts: Ms
Penrose wants to see one colour. She notes that you can’t get
black polo shirts from a superstore. It was noted that the Council’s
schoolwear vouchers can be used in school (not just in shops) to
purchase uniform – this fact should be promoted.
Ms Penrose has looked into different
school uniform manufacturers and her view is that the one we have at
the moment offers the best quality for the cheapest price, so she is
not inclined to move. She is however looking into whether the
manufacturer can supply cardigans with school badge on for next year,
as various people have suggested that a cardigan looks better than a
sweatshirt with pinafores or school dresses.
Some people have pointed out that the
current white school polo shirts with badge do not wash well.
A suggestion re uniform is that once
your child has grown out of any item of uniform, if it can be reused,
it could be donated to the school. The school would have a cupboard
where any donations of clean, ironed uniform are kept and anyone
needing uniform would be welcome to look through the cupboard and
take items in return for a donation to school funds.
Also to assist with budgeting, Ms
Penrose has introduced a system where uniform can be ordered monthly
rather than annually.
Question 2: guidelines for uniform:
No decisions have been taken on this area yet. Ms Penrose is still
consulting & considering. Any decisions made to change
uniform/as to uniform for 2011/2012 will be notified well in advance
and will have to be clearly expressed.
On school photo day it was suggested
that all children should wear the sweatshirts.
Question 3: items available for
purchase: Ms Penrose will look into getting samples brought into
the school of items that might be made available for purchase eg
fleeces, waterproof jackets & book bags.
As an aside it was noted that having
the uniform survey to talk to people about greatly raised the profile
of the Parent Council at the Parents’ Consultation night. The tea
& coffee was probably not worthwhile although appreciated by
teachers – but they can always have coffee made for them in the
staff room kitchen. For Parent Council members, the lesson to take
from the evening is how helpful it was to have something to do or
promote on the night.
3. Christmas dinner at school
Ms Penrose is planning to encourage the
children to have a Christmas dinner, and hopes to make a special
event of it for the school.
Annette suggested that if extra people
are required to serve the food, then parents could be recruited to do
that.
4. Vandalism to school property
Just before the October week, when
everyone arrived at school on a Monday morning, it was found that
over the weekend the pumpkins from the school garden had been taken
and speared on the railings. The children were horrified and upset.
Councillor Cairns encouraged Ms Penrose
to report such incidents to the police and to keep a log, as
otherwise the extent of any problem will not be known.
5. AOCB
Communication: Kim Craven
made the point that some parents are still adjusting to the new form
of communication. Some parents need to be regularly bombarded with
information and a weekly note doesn’t do the job of reminding you
daily. In the past ParentMail operated not just as information but
also as a reminder system. Ms Penrose agreed that communication is
going out less often but said it is instead all collated into one
weekly note. Neither she nor her administrator has time to issue
daily emails. Other parents do like knowing that information goes
out on a Friday and that on that day, you need to check the website
for the newsletter. Annette suggested there is a place for both
ParentMail and the weekly note.
Ms Penrose is looking into the
cost of the ParentMail system. At the moment we are signed up till
October 2011; she wants to run a trial of a Council texting service,
the intention being to use this for emergencies eg a lollipop lady
not on duty or a school closure. If it doesn’t work well we’d
still have ParentMail. Some admin is needed to set up the texting
service eg collating mobile numbers, so this is something to be
tried out in the New Year.
Ms Penrose also pointed out there
is a calendar (of events, in addition to the term dates calendar) on
the school website. She is keen to encourage parents to make
more use of the school website.
Councillor Cairns enquired whether
the school has a projector. Ms Penrose confirmed we have a
visualiser.
Councillor Cairns also drew our
attention to funding available from various Partnerships, in our
case probably the Pentland Partnership. They provide grants
for eg newsletters or for interiors of buildings (not the fabric).
The Partnership meets 6 times a year. Ratho has historically not
obtained much funding from this route. Ms Penrose immediately
thought of a few ideas! The next Partnership meeting will be in
January 2011.
Ms Penrose advised that interviews
are taking place for a teacher for P3/4 to cover Miss Souza’s
temporary absence and she hopes to make an announcement in the
Friday note [now done]. Any gap in cover will be covered by a
supply teacher.
Next week is Book Fair week.
Ms Penrose has decided to open the school for the Book Fair at
certain times during the day. Any book donations to the school are
welcome. Mrs Hall will look into finding book plates to mark such
donations.
Ms Penrose is keen to obtain a
grant from the Foyle Foundation who might donate money to improve
our school library. Ms Penrose would like us to have an
electronic library system which would record what books the children
are reading, how long they are taking etc. This has to be applied
for by a Parent Council or PTA & Kim is looking into it.
Ruth asked if anything can be done
about mud in the P1-P3 playground. Ms Penrose is looking into
getting funding for next session, probably to install matting.
Unfortunately the problem is due to the geographic situation of
certain areas of the school grounds.
On equipment for the P1-P3
playground, a sub-committee is to be set up to devise a 3 year
plan. Annette suggested that nursery be consulted as those currently
attending will be some of the main ones to benefit.
Ms Penrose mentioned that funding
is available through the Creating Confident Kids initiative. A
meeting is to be organised about creating a “Ratho Through the
Ages” mural, again in the P1-P3 playground (behind the hippo
bin).
Ms Penrose has been asking Cala
whether they will support the community here by supporting the
school. So far they have offered £1,000 which is not enough for
the trim trail Ms Penrose was hoping to create (that would cost
£7,500). So she is thinking maybe a pirate ship could be installed
in the P1-P3 playground, so that it has a structure. Also the
surface games could be repainted.
Annette mentioned a CCWP
meeting on Thursday 25 November at Waverley Court. We are
looking for volunteers to attend.
The CCWP pre-budget meeting is
on Wednesday 15 December at 6.30pm at Broughton High School.
Annette is looking for a deputy to attend as she cannot.
The breakfast club is
currently running well. Ms Penrose thinks it is beneficial for the
children who attend as they have a good breakfast and then a wee
play before school so they start work in a relaxed frame of mind.
It has been confirmed since the meeting that Aegon currently provide
the funding for the breakfast club.
Kim was pleased to report a profit
of £789.73 from the Race Night on 6th November at
the Bowling Club. It was noted that Councillors should be advised of
such events in future please. Results will be on the Parent Council
website.
The PTA is also planning to hold a
family ceilidh on Friday 28th January 2011 in the
Community Centre.
NEXT MEETING: Monday 31st January
2011 at 7pm
AGM: Monday 9th
May 2011 at 7pm
