Shawlands Academy PTC Minutes

Monday 14thJanuary2013

  1. Welcome and Apologies

Present: Kevin Kane(Chair), Muhammad Shafique (Secretary), Tom Prentice (Treasurer), Susan Lawson, Scot Alexander, Lesley Turan,Dorothy Simpson, John Donnelly, Jan Z, Susan Haynes, Marjorie Phillips, Tahir Mohammed

Apologies:Cherif, Kathy N, Liam M, John, David, Cath Sinclair, Kath D, Lesley

  1. Minutes (26th Nov 2012)and Matters Arising

Minutes: attendees at meeting to be noted, Mela date is 2013 and Cherif to share corrections.ACTION: Have all approved Minutes placed on school website.

  1. Correspondence- None except a marketing letter from local business.
  1. Finance:Tom reported a reconciled balance of £5,099.17 on 14th January 2013. £600 paid by Council on 12th. Dec 2012. The Treasurer presented the names of previous and current signatories. It was agreed by PTC thatKevin Kane, Susan Lawson, Cherif Merrouche and Tom Prentice to become / remain signatories on PTC account.
  1. Shawlands’ Parent Careers’ Night (Tues 15 Jan 2013): Susan H along with Scot Alexander and Lesley updated the PTC on the proposed structure of the evening. Registration and Refreshments to start at 7PM, at 7.30PM all 53 career consultants / reps would make their way to the workshop / class rooms. From 7.40 PM career representatives to start their presentations for about 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes question and answer session. These sessions to continue till the end of evening 9.00 PM. 28 career areas to be covered by career consultants. Around 200 students have shown interest in the evening.

Administration/Management
Advertising/PR/Media
Architecture
Beauty & Hairdressing
Biology
Chemistry
Construction/Building/Trades
Childcare
Computing/ICT/Game Design
Dentistry
Drama/Theatre Tech/ Stage Mge.
Engineering/Marine Engineering
Fine Arts/Graphic Design
Food/Chef
Journalism / Law
Medicine/Allied Health Services/Nursing
Music
Pharmacy
Photography
Police
Primary teaching
Psychology
Vet
Car Mechanic
Fire Brigade
Optometrist/Dispensing Optician
Athletics/Sport coaching

An estimated budget £75 was allocated by the PTC to cover refreshments tea/coffee and 70 bottles of water. Evaluation/feedback forms to be filled by students and parents.

  1. PTC Funding for school activities: £1,000 has been transferred to the school by the PTC to fund U16/18 Football strips. Tahir informed the meeting that the PTC had packaged up all of the school bids into bids to two of the Council’s Area Committees. It was hoped to be able to report on progress / success at the next PTC meeting.
  1. Mela 2013 planning: Tom provided feedback of last year’s Mela and a summary of income and expenses. Saturday 16 Marchwas agreed as the date of the 2nd Annual Shawlands Mela.The event will start at 1000 and finish at 15.00. Mrs Simpson to book the venue as previously. South Side newspapers to be approached for the news and publicity of the event. Awaz FM to be offered the status of media partner and their name to be printed on the poster. Tahir to liaise with them for the purpose and give feedback.

It was agreed to price stalls at £35 (as last year). Henna / tattoo stall to be managed by PTC. The issue of more pram parking to be explored. PTC members asked to take responsibility to market stalls in their area, with Susan H and Tahir to confirm booking of all stalls.

It was agreed to use the same design as last year’s poster – with changes to dates etc. Existing Mela banners to be deployed.

8. Head Teacher’s update: Mrs Simpson presented the report

Staffing:Chemistry teacher Ms Amy Keatings is settling in well.School welcomed the return of Mrs Eilidh Jack in the Modern languages department.Mrs Margaret Tennant is a starting a phased return this week. We will support her as much as we can as she has been off for approx 1 year. School Business Manager, Fiona Ferguson, is retiring on 31st March!

Last month of Autumnterm: Had been very busy. School Newsletter produced by Mr MacBride(PT Raising Attainment Achievement). Our two runners up in the Curry Competition (Asma Mohammed and Khadijah Rafiq) had lunch with the Lord Provost. S1 visited the Panto and had a ball…and we held a talent show on the last Thursday of term. Staff and pupils, led by Mr Din, held an Eid/Diwali lunch to help celebrate our school’s diversity; once again it was very successful. A lovely Christmas service was held on the Friday.

On our collegiate meeting on Wednesday 12th December we turned our thoughts to the S3 profile for Cfe. Our intentions are to keep it simple. Mr Graham, Mr Maguire and Mr MacBride are leading on this.

Councillor Archie Graham visited us on the 18 Dec wearing his Shawlands Academy-designed Commonwealth tartan tie!

Careers Evening:Arrangements in place for what promises to be a very successful evening. Mock option choices have been made by pupils in S2 and S4, 5 and the data will be used to inform the final versions of the form and the timetable. S2 Options commence at the beginning of February

S5 prelims:Commence next week all arrangements are in place.Supported study commenced last week.

Art:Another thirty S3 pupils visited Gallery of Modern Art (Goma) today as part of their coursework.

PSE:S1 about to go on visits to the fire station as part of the PSE programme

Transition events:Langside Primary used the assembly hall for a concert in December. Shawlands Primary used it to show a DVD to all their pupils. Mini visits from all Primaries are about to commence.

School of Rugby:The pupils have been invited to a Scottish Training Event at Scotstoun Arena next Tuesday.

S4 Reports: are currently being written and preparations are in hand for the parents evening on 30th January. Tracking data and mentoring taking place to ensure pupils are presented at the most appropriate level.

In-service day 13th February: Focus to be ‘Assessment and Moderation for Cfe’. The time will be used to work with our Learning Community, but be mainly Department-based.

Awards:Eight S4 pupils gained their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Isla Kempe S6 has gained a conditional place at Cambridge University to study medicine.

  1. AOCB: The issue was raised ofstudents not really being engaged in learning prior to the Christmas break, with classed being shown DVDs etc. Mrs Simpson assured the PTC that learning takes places as close to the end of term as possible. Kevin noted this issue had been raised previously with Mrs Grant.

Mrs Simpson drew the attention of PTC to thedeterioratingcondition of PTC- funded school benches.It was agreed that the PTC would seek to identify the supplier and seek information on how they might be repaired. ACTION: Peter to be contacted re. PTC bench supplier.