MINUTES OF MEETING OF DUNBAR GRAMMAR SCHOOL COUNCIL

held on 28 January 2010

Present:

Kate Darrah (Chair)Sheilagh Fallon (Staff)

Ysabelle Thackray (Head Girl)Karen Baikie (Parent)

Diane Watt (Co-opted)Kenn Amabilino (Parent) – during Item 4

Elaine Steven (Parent)Iain MacKenzie (Parent)

Jane McIntyre (DGSA)Michael MacKellar (Head Boy)

Attending:

Mr P Raffaelli (Head Teacher)

Mr D Simpson (Depute Head Teacher)

Ms A Cosgrove (Clerk)

1. Welcome and apologies

Kate Darrah welcomed all present. Apologies had been received from Allen Simpson, Sharron McLennan, Kate Triscott and Cllr Jacquie Bell.

2. Additional Agenda Items

Accelerated Reader Funding Application

Derek Simpson was invited to speak on Accelerated Reader. He advised of the latest development in the programme – Home Connect. This had a virtual bookshelf so that parents could see what books their children have read, and allows parent participation. Every piece of assessment could be reported within two working days.

The suppliers had offered 27 months of the programme for a cost of 18 months, and because of the re-allocation of other funds, there should be enough to last 2 ½ years if the School Council was able to make the contribution requested.

Mr Simpson distributed a graph showing the improvement in reading age using the programme.

Iain MacKenzie queried the reading list. He felt some of the books listed were inappropriate for S1 or S2. Mr Simpson explained that the list given out had been a sample, but was not an up to date list. The Librarian, teachers and others would be involved in selecting books and Iain MacKenzie was invited to be part of this group.

Michael McKellar asked how students with no home internet access would be able to use the programme, and Mr Raffaelli responded that Notebooks would be available for students to borrow, and the Library was also open after school hours. Free internet access was also available in the Public Library.

After discussion, it was agreed by all that the application for £1620 to part fund Accelerated Reader would be supported.

3. Minutes of meeting of 16 December

Proposed by Kate Darrah, seconded by Iain MacKenzie.

4. Matters arising:

(i)Head Teacher’s Report

Mr Raffaelli reported as follows:

Head Teachers Conference: This had been hosted in the School today.

Consideration of Community Trust Schools: This was only one area that was under consideration as part of restructuring in anticipation of 10 – 15% cuts next year. No decisions had yet been made about a possible Trust. A conference would be held in the Spring for a discussion of the whole picture and all partners would be invited to participate.

Sederunt – Kenn Amabilino joined the meeting.

Elaine Steven asked what the options were, and Mr Raffaelli advised that the current structure, slimmed down, was being looked at. The financial position depended on the Scottish block grant after the Westminster election and how much local authorities allocated to education.

Staffing: A report on staffing was made to the School Council.

Questions were asked about the changes that could be made within different departments due to cutbacks, and Mr Raffaelli explained what the results would be in departments which may have less funding. There was considerable discussion about the effect this could have on pupils’ education. Mr Raffaelli emphasised that any cutbacks should not affect university or college entrance in the particular subjects.

(ii) Staff Report

Sheilagh Fallon reported that because of the uncertainty over anticipated financial cuts and the pressures of Prelims and marking on top of normal duties, staff were finding life difficult at the moment.

(iii) DGSA Report

Jane reported that the Burns Supper had been very successful with the Head Boy and Head Girl’s contributions being excellent. Some Primary pupils had attended and all pupils had been very well behaved.

(iv) Student Council Report

Ysabelle advised that a meeting had been held on Tuesday, and as concerns had been put forward about the social area, a questionnaire would be issued to students. Some artwork was planned for the walls of the social area, with a possible House points competition for the work.

On the vending machine, this would be installed by Elite Catering in the social area on a trial period to see if it would be worth the rental. It would dispense flavoured water, cereal bars, smoothies and items such as pretzels which students had asked for.

Students were thinking about organising a Spring Fling Dance, and would take feedback from others on how this should be organised.

Photos of the School Council were on the notice board, as well as minutes of their meetings, and a tab on the website would happen.

The Learning Wall had been begun.

Ysabelle and Michael were thanked for their work.

(v) Communication

Mark Tennant had given some training to a teacher rep from every department on how to put documents on the website. It was proposed that Mark be asked to provide some tuition to enable the School Council to have access and upload documents. The website had been useful in informing parents during the recent bad weather.

5. Funding Update

The Clerk would circulate the Signpost to Funding update to all members.

6. Treasurer’s Report

The available balance as at 8th January was £3,114.69. The lottery licence required to be renewed. Action – Clerk to send application form

The cheque for the Pond Pump of £99.50 had not yet been cashed.

There had been some difficulty over obtaining signatures for the new account. The Chair and the Treasurer would organise. Action – Chair/Treasurer

200 Club Draw – Winner No. 67, Karen Bain.

An application for funding had been received from Lesley Gillies, Pupil Support. As this had not met the required timescale, it would be considered at the February meeting.

7. Correspondence

A large amount of correspondence had been circulated. The Chair drew attention to specific items:-

  • Training sessions in Recruitment and Selection. Most parents had attended this training.
  • Training on Understanding Your Role as a Parent Council member – 15 March. Iain MacKenzie would attend.
  • Information about a Parent Council Conference on 24 February. Kenn Amabilino would attend.
  • Cluster meetings where a presentation would be made on Community Trust Schools. Karen Baikie could attend the Knox Academy meeting on 9 March.
  • East Lothian Association of Parent Councils meeting on 9 February. Kate Darrah would attend.
  • Invitations to attend meetings on Dunbar in Bloom and Sustaining Dunbar. Regrettably both dates had passed.

The Chair asked if a rota could be arranged to attend the Cluster meetings which were important to attend, and members agreed to do so. The Clerk would obtain details of the dates for future meetings and would circulate.

The Chair queried whether some of the meetings could be run on a virtual basis. Mr Raffaelli advised that the technology was not reliable.

8. AOCB

The Clerk was asked to contact the members that do not attend meetings to see if they still wish to remain on the School Council.

The Clerk to issue the username and password to the Parent Council e-mail system.

Date of Next Meeting – February 25th: funding meeting at 6 pm to be followed by the School Council meeting at 7 pm.