KirkhillPrimary School
KirkhillPrimary School, Kirkhill Road, NewtonMearns, G77 5RJ
PARENT COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES OF MEETING TUESDAY11thNOVEMBER 2014
ATTENDEES
June Lake (Chair), Corin Ling (Vice Chair), Kiran Gallacher (Treasurer), Tracey Davie (Secretary), Louise Bruce, Angela Sommerville, Farhat Ali, Paul Morrison, Nadia Ahmed, Michelle Smith, Saj Sadiq, Wendy Cunningham, Emma Love, Bappa Sarkar, Baligh Shaar, Sharon Ruff, Nandita Pandey, Joyce O’Shea, Zafar Shah, Laura Donaldson, Laura Sorley, Alison Anderson, Yvonne Donaldson, Lesley Menzies, Scott Russell, Yvonne Hughes, Rhiannon Harvey, Shabana Hussain, Lisa David, Cllr Barbara Grant, Colin McKane and PC David Cunningham.
- Apologies
Eric Ingrand, Stephen Short, Thomas Widmann, Clare Logan, Rona Orr, Louise Dunlop, Karen Nicol, Jane Burnside, Yvonne Nisbet, Gillian McRobb, Jenny Bushell, Elaine Wallace, Shabana Hussain, Jade Barrett, Cllr Ian McAlpine, Cllr Jim Swift and Rev James Boag.
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Agenda Items
2.Presentation by PC David Cunningham
3.Matters arising from the last minute and approval of minutes
4.Parent Council Matters
5.Head Teacher’s Report
6.Any Other Business
7.Dateof Next Meeting
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June Lake opened the meeting by welcoming Cllr Grant.
- Presentation by PC David Cunningham
June L was delighted to introduce PC David Cunningham to give a presentation on Internet safety.
PC Cunningham has been a police offer for 20 years. He was based at Giffnock office for 10 years and has been the Mearns Castle Campus police officer for a year and a half.
2.Presentation by PC David Cunningham (cont’d)
There are 5 campus officers covering East Renfrewshire schools in order to educate children about the law.
One of the major issues which constantly arise is the Internet. In primary schools discussions regarding cyber bullying, social media, passwords and security on social media sites are frequently addressed. PC Cunningham reiterated the importance on children not sharing their passwords with friends, brothers, etc. He also expressed the importance of parents checking on what their children are doing on the internet and to emphasise the importance of internet safety.
PC Cunningham mentioned that posting a message of Happy Birthday on Facebook or another social media site that organised crime groups can work out your date of birth and use this information.
PC Cunningham emphasized the importance of teaching children at a young age to be aware of what they are posting.
A parent asked what the minimum age was for using sites as Instagram and Facebook and the recommended age is 13 years old and above but this isn’t enforceable in law.
PC Cunningham finished his presentation by emphasizing the trust and relationship between parent and child. For more help, is a useful tool for parental advice on social media sites, mobiles and new technology. It also gives names of safe sites for age appropriate children.
It was asked if the school deals with social media bullying and Yvonne D replied that if it affects the pupil in school then action is taken.
3.Matters Arising
No issues were raised from previous minutes.
Approved: Emma Love
Seconded: Michelle Smith
4.Parent Council Matters
June confirmed that the recent shopping night raised £1300. June L wishes to thank Mr Shah for the donation of drinks and Mr Singhs for the pakora.
The book fair generated £3700 with commission back in books worth £2200. June L wishes to thank Mrs Pathi and Mrs McFarlane for all their work in running the book fair. Mrs Pathi also highlighted that next year would be her last year for running the book fair. Mrs Hughes has drafted a letter asking for parent volunteers. Ideally anyone interested should put their name forward and Mrs Pathi would be delighted to shadow the new helper next year and pass on all the information and template required for running the book fair.
4.Parent Council Matters (cont’d)
The school disco is on Friday 14th November and as discussed at the previous parent council meeting, helpers were to come through the class rep. This system would also be used for the school fair. In order to build communication with class reps and parents/carers it was suggested that one of the Kirkhill pupil groups could interview different members of the parent council.
It was raised whether all disclosed parents/carers were on the new PVG scheme. Wendy C assured that everyone had been updated, however would confirm this.
June L wished to thank all parents/carers who sold tickets for the shopping night.
It was raised that some parents were put off by the ticket price for the shopping night and it was suggested whether to try a different format for the evening. All suggestions will be discussed with the Events Committee.
5.Head Teacher Report
The issue of dangerous driving near the school grounds was raised, however, as this is not a school or parent council issue, if anyone is concerned regarding dangerous driving, please report this direct to Giffnock Police Station or dial 112.
Mr Shaar raised the issue of the East Renfrewshire Council cuts and what we as a Parent Council could do.
Yvonne D explained that all the financial proposals were on the East Renfrewshire Council website and explained briefly the main proposals. £20 million is to be saved over the next 3 years. If anyone had any feedback which they wished to raise with the financial committee regarding the proposals, within the East Renfrewshire Council website “Citizen Space” allows for people to voice their opinion in a confidential manner and will ultimately affect decisions.
Final decisions will be made in February and “Citizen Space” is only accessible for the next 3 weeks.
Cllr Grant urged parents to make their views known for the campus cops as she feels they provide a valuable service and would be terribly missed.
Miss Harvey and Miss David were pleased to report that Kirkhill received their 3rd green flag. The assessment consisted of a full whole morning speaking to the Eco Committee. The next level is for the 4th and last Green Flag. Yvonne D was delighted with all involved and praised the achievement as being for the whole school.
Mrs Donaldson tasked the pupil groups to lead new and different ideas. The Web Reporters and Mrs Lord were involved with the idea of a poppy garden. Every child made a cardboard poppy and held a minute silence. Unfortunately due to pending rain, the poppies had to be brought inside, however, photos can be seen on the plasma screen at reception.
Mrs Hughes conveyed the thanks of the pupils for paying for Hopscotch Theatre to come into the school to tell the story of St Andrews. Mrs Hughes had letters from P7, P5 and P2 which would be put on the website.
5.Head Teacher Report (cont’d)
Mr Russell’s class attended the provost debate on Monday. One of the debates was “should animal testing be banned?”. The vote ended up 17 each. Mr Russell commented that it was interesting to see some of the children change their minds and arguing in a respectful way. Cllr McAlpine who was at the debate said it was one of the most constructive debates.
Last Friday, a dyslexia event was held at Mearns Primary. This is the second time this event has happened. Last year it was at Mearns Castle High School showcasing what they were doing. Two pupils from P6 at Kirkhill attended. Both pupils thought it was a good idea and were very excited after the event as it showed what pupils with dyslexia were good at rather than what they struggle with. The pupils are keen to hold a dyslexia club either after school or during lunchtime and to be led by pupils.
June L asked Yvonne D if there was anything that the Parent Council could purchase for the school. Yvonne asked if it would be possible to purchase portable hobs as cooking is part of the curriculum. Approximate prices will follow.
From January 2015, all primary 1’s to 3 are entitled to free meals. This is a national decision from the Scottish Government. Yvonne D and head office are currently working out the practicalities.
Lastly, Yvonne D wanted to cover issues with the recent Primary 7 competition called Young Writers. Yvonne D explained that the school is inundated with competitions and there is no policy set by East Renfrewshire on what we should enter. All competitions are the final decision of the Head Teacher and is chosen if it fits in with the curriculum or sounds like something the children would enjoy. The Young Writers competition is where the children can write a poem and those successful are published in a book. The school has had experience with this company and it has been positive. Two of the Primary 7 teachers took up the offer of the competition as part of their writing class. The 2 classes were entered and nearly every child was successful in getting their poem into the book. Yvonne D felt it was a bit strange that so many of her pupils had won and contacted Gerry Mann in the legal department at East Renfrewshire. Mr Mann confirmed that the company was working within the law as parents were not under any obligation to buy the book at £17.99. Yvonne D will not be using this company next year and will be sharing her recent experience with the other schools within the cluster.
6.Any Other Business
Before the close of the meeting, June L reported that Eric Ingrand had stepped down as Treasurer and Kiran Gallacher would be taking over. The Parent Council wished to thank Eric for all of his contributions.
7.Date of Next Meeting
The next Parent Council meeting will take place on Tuesday 20thJanuary at 7.00pm at Kirkhill Primary School.
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