DRAFT
Draft Minutes of the Hope Community School Parent Council meeting held at 7.15pmon Wednesday 27April 2016 in the Hope Community School.
Present:
Steve Sankey (Chair), Ingrid Norquay (Treasurer), Cecily Cromby (Secretary),Eve Hourston-Wells (Vice-Chair), Kevin Denvir, Heather Dockery, Andrew Drever, Melissa Lindsay, Lesley Macleod, Trish Nicholson, Paula Peace, Jane Phillips, Olive Rendall, Stephanie Stanger (Head teacher), Nicola Taylor, Fiona Thompson, Kerrie Tucker, Sarah Wood, James Wylie.
- Welcome and Apologies
Steve welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies received from Shaun Hourston-Well, Tara Kirkpatrick, Sean Page, Ellen Pesci, Judith Scott
- Minute of the meeting held on 11 November 2015
The minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2016 were unanimously agreed. Proposer: Trish Nicholson. Seconder: Ingrid Norquay.
- Matters arising
Item 5: School playground
Ingrid Norquay advised that there was not a dedicated fund for the school playground but that money was available and had been identified to be spent on the playground.
Item 6:School transport
Steve Sankey advised that the matter had been resolved with the addition of a second morning school bus and that all seemed to be working well after a route reversal suggested by parents.
Item 7: School patrol officer
Steve Sankey advised that the matter had been resolved and that OIC had agreed to fund a school patrol officer for an experimental period of one year. It was noted that the advert had gone out and that people were known to be applying.
Item 9: AOCB – Litter
Stephanie Stanger advised that a letter had been sent to parents asking for help to collect litter in the school grounds. She advised that there had been some, though not a large, response. Eve Hourston-Wells asked if litter picking could be done at weekends to enable working parents to help out. Stephanie said that this would be fine. It was noted that gloves and the correct equipment would be provided.
Stephanie advised that Donald had tried various things to improve the effectiveness of the playground bins, but to no avail. She noted that there was a debate over the budget for playground bins which had delayed any action.
- Financial Statement
Ingrid Norquay advised that the current balance of the PC account was £3,582.56. She noted that the sale of the school bags had made a profit of £315 and that they were still selling.
Ingrid did not have detailed accounts of money spent on the school playground to hand and advised that she would look back at what had been spent/dedicated on the playground. Sarah Wood advised that she would soon receive an invoice for £1,000 for the Scrap Store Shed.
Sarah noted that £200 had been offered by the Parent Council to pay for new toys for the playground and that this had not yet been spent. All agreed that this should be spent soon so that children involved in raising the funds could benefit.
Action: Sarah Wood
Ingrid advised that she would remain as treasurer until the AGM but would then step down as the role of treasurer was a possible conflict of interest with her job as school clerical assistant.
- Head Teacher’s comments
Stephanie Stanger highlighted a number of recent events that had taken place at the school. She noted that the P6 trip to Hoy was a real success and thanked Kevin Denvir and Suzanne McNair for their involvement. She advised that the Jutland commemorations were going well and that Donald had constructed an interactive map that would soon be installed at the Pickaquoy Centre. She highlighted the instrumental course that was currently taking place and informed parents of the concert being held on 28 April. Stephanie noted that a number of events and trips would be taking place in the coming weeks including: full school trip to Lyness; athletic competitions (she thanked Judith Scott, Cindy Mackenzie and Laura Cromarty for their help coaching); P7 trip to Lagganlia; andKGS transition days.
- Staffing
Stephanie Stanger advised that although nothing was yet set in stone, she wanted to keep parents up to date with the outcome of a recent Head Teacher’s staffing meeting. She advised that Suzanne McNair will be replaced by another probation teacher and that due to significant support needs, the school would receive 17 hours additional Support for Learning Assistant hours next year and an additional morning of Support for Learning teacher time. She noted that because of reduced nursery numbers next year, the school would lose Hayley Skea. She advised that she was not yet sure as to whether the school would keep Magnus Garson, Alice Beams and Morag Ewing, but noted that Helen would be returning to the kitchen this term.
Stephanie advised that the school role for next year was due to stand at 90. Due to restrictions on class size and number of teachers provided, some year groups would have to be split. Stephanie advised that she and colleagues had tried every conceivable way to avoid splitting year groups, but that the P2, P4 and P6 groups would be split. She noted that this was not ideal but was the only option.
Stephanie informed members that she had spoken with other Head Teachers and the Education Department and that the decision had been taken to split the groups on the basis of age. Splitting year groups by ability was thought to be too difficult an option. Stephanie reassured parents that all children would get a learning experience that was suitable for them and acknowledged the fact that the split could make some children anxious, but that all staff wanted to make it work the best they could. She noted that it could just be for one year as the school role was dropping in the years ahead.
Ingrid Norquay noted, and members agreed, that parents appreciate that the school does what it can. Kevin Denvir noted that we needed to work to minimise the impact on the children and advised that some children had found it hard when classes were split in previous years. Ingrid noted that the benefit of a small community is that parents can help minimise the impact by making sure that the children see each other out of school.
Stephanie noted that some of the classes would be difficult to split and that final decisions had yet to be made, for example, the P2s could be split 8:6 or 9:5. She advised that she had extensive experience of teaching mixed age and ability classes when at Burray School.
Trish Nicholson asked if pupils could change class at the request of parents. James Wylie suggested that he answer the question. He thanked Stephanie for a very good overview of the situation. He advised that the policy of splitting classes by age was ‘set in stone’ in a similar way to that of all P1s starting at the same time and moving up in August, but noted that special considerations would be taken into account.
James noted that teachers have a duty to ensure that all children progress and advised that he was confident that Stephanie and colleagues would manage this well, especially as Stephanie was a highly experienced composite teacher.
Heather Dockery thanked Stephanie for the support that she and Lesley Macleod had provided her and her two children, in particular her daughter who has additional support needs. Ingrid noted that she thinks the teachers will take the changes in their stride.
Kevin expressed confidence that the educational side of composite classes would be well managed, but was concerned that the social side could be an issue. He explained that common experiences bring children together and that splitting peer groups could change the landscape of friendship. He suggested that time within school (not just at break) be made for peers to get together and that both the school and parents need to work to bring the children together. Kevin and Ingrid both discussed experiences that their children had when their classes had been split in the past.
James noted the school was not starting from scratch with and that work had already started to look at the curriculum plans.
Andrew Drever commented that it was good to hear the issues being discussed by parents and staff in a positive light. He noted that the concerns of parents can rub off on their children.
Stephanie advised that the classes would be announced in June and noted that they would definitely be announced before the end of the summer term.
Steve Sankey asked if the physical infrastructure of the school could cope with a role of 90 children. Stephanie advised that the school would take back the room currently being used by the playgroup and that this, along with careful timetabling, would work. She noted that the school role would drop after next year – this year the nursery had 22 children which would fall to 15 next year. James noted that it was hugely important that children had other spaces in which to learn and said that it was positive that the school had 90 pupils.
- School grounds and security
Stephanie Stanger highlighted a number of planned changes that would improve the security of the school grounds: the black gates would get mesh put in front of them; the wall by the bins would be heightened and the gate replaced; the pond would be fenced off; and a tap fitted outside for the nursey courtyard. She advised that the bushes would be cut back and that this job had been added to the OIC contract so should now be done on a regular basis. She noted that the new doors were working fine and that a water machine had been placed inside the school.
Sarah Wood informed members that Jason Scott had been building the shed for the Scrap Store and that it would be in place by the weekend, positioned by the existing sheds. She advised that Scrap Store training would be held shortly and that Orkney ZeroWaste would be providing items to fill the store. She was hopeful that it would open in June and suggested and event be held.
Andrew Drever suggested that wheelie bins could be used to store the equipment and noted that St Andrew’s School use them. Sarah confirmed that the school would like some.
Action: Andrew Drever
Sarah noted that some of the playground equipment would be replaced and that she would engage the children in the process.
Action: Sarah Wood
Jane Phillips advised that the school had been invited to apply for funding from Tesco again. She noted that the application submitted in December 2015 had not been successful, but it had been a very rushed process. She will pass the information on to Sarah.
Action: Sarah Wood
Trish Nicholson suggested that cuttings could be taken from the willow trees and sold to raise funds. It was noted that it was now too late in the year for cuttings.
Lesley Macleod expressed her thanks to Olive Rendall for her hard work on the school grounds.
- Anti-Bullying Policy
The 35 page draft OIC document had been circulated to members. Steve Sankey informed members that the document had been given to Head Teachers and Parent Council Chairs at a recent meeting and that they had been advised to look at section 5.
James Wylie informed members that the Scottish Government had recently updated its guidance on bulling and that OIC had updated their guidance to schools accordingly. The OIC document (currently in draft form) should be used by schools to produce their own guidance on bullying. James explained that all schools, afterschool clubs, active schools, hostel, etc should produce documents that are in line with each other and of a similar structure.
James advised that Stephanie Stanger will take the school guidance forward and noted that the document states how the Head Teacher should create their schools own policy. He noted that a lot of the information included was set in stone, but that the Head Teacher would draft the policy and seek feedback from parents and pupils. It was noted that the Parent Council should help disseminate the document and ensure that parents knew how to make a complaint about bullying and take the process forward.
Steve Sankey noted that this was the first stage of a lengthy process and that the Parent Council should be involved at each stage.
James advised that OIC need feedback on the draft policy by the end of April. He advised that they would take on board all views and comments and that the final version would be produced as soon as possible. He noted that some of the guidance was not open to change, for example the categories of bullying and advised that the principles were already live but that a final document needed to be agreed. He noted that OIC need to ensure that schools firmly and openly deal with the issue of bullying and that parents and staff need to know the protocols.
Action: All
Steve suggested that the Parent Council focus on what we can do to help at the school and suggested that all members read section 5 of the document. He requested that members forward comments to him and that he would collate and forward to Stephanie and James. James noted that it would be good to hear the views of parents. Steve noted that everyone has witnessed bullying and reiterated that it would be good for parents to be involved.
- Gardening Club
Jane Phillips noted that the school grounds were fantastic but required a lot of maintenance. She noted that as a number of parents work it was difficult for them to find time to help out. Jane has encouraged pupils to do some of the work, but they need help with some of the heavy stuff. Jane advised that she was officially retiring in October and would like the work she has done in the grounds to carry on. She suggested a group of parents be set up to take the lead and perhaps arrange some out of school sessions. Jane will draft a letter to be sent out to parents.
Action: Jane Phillips
Trish Nicholson suggested that the opportunity be opened up to the community. Sarah wood will create a poster to display in local shops.
Action: Sarah Wood
It was suggested that parents and the community get involved over the summer and help harvest some of the crops planted by the children.
Heather Dockery offered a number of tools for use in the school grounds. Steve Sankey thanked her for the generous offer, which the school would definitely like to take up. Ingrid Norquay suggested that OIC could provide some more wheelie bins to store the tools.
- Traffic speed on School Road
Stephanie Stanger noted that a parent had raised the issue of traffic speed on school road. She suggested that a letter to parents from the Parent Council may work better than one from the school. Steve Sankey will draft a letter.
Action: Steve Sankey
Sarah Wood noted that the school bus did not always keep to the speed limit on School Road. James Wylie will raise this with the school transport department.
Action: James Wylie
Andrew Drever suggested that the police visit School Road and check traffic speed with their cameras. The police need not necessarily issue penalties, but rather issue a warning. This had been shown to have a significant impact on speed when used. He also suggested that pupils be involved, both working with police to check speed and producing posters. All agreed that this was a good idea. Andrew will speak with the police to arrange.
Action: Andrew Drever
Trish Nicholson suggested moving the signs on School Road as they were difficult to see when entering School Road from the new road and when leaving the school car park. It was noted that this has been raised before and that OIC had responded that they were ‘meeting the statutory requirements’. It was also noted that historically the Hydro were difficult to work with. Kevin Denvir suggested putting paint on the road. Unfortunately this would not work in a temporary speed zone.
Members agreed that a campaign should be launched to make the whole village a 20mph zone. It was agreed that the Community Council should lead on this. Steve Sankey will speak with the Community Council Chair about this.