St Andrews Parent Council - Minutes of 26.11.2013

St Andrews Parent Council - Minutes of 26.11.2013

Present:

Andrew Drever, Kay Groundwater, Thelma Holt, Andrea Massey (minutes), Anna Ritch, Sylvia Robertson (Chair), Kirsten Scott

Apologies:

Marlene Budge, Dorothy Darbyshire, Gwen Hall,

1. Minutes from previous meeting:

Minutes of 30/10/2013 proposed by Sylvia Robertson, seconded by Kirsten Scott.

1. Recruitment and Selection Training

TH has been notified of further training on 12th December from 2.00-4.30pm; PC members are welcome to attend and should contact Thelma if they wish to do so. Thelma will ask if we can be notified further in advance of the next training, as this is rather short notice.

1. Renewal of bus contract

There has been a query from a parent regarding the timing of the school day, and whether 9am might be a better start time for working parents. Any changes would mean changes in the times of the school buses, which can only be negotiated when the school transport contract is up for renewal.

After discussion with the parent, who is now happy (they can drop their children at 8.45, in time for a 9am start in town), it has been decided not to raise that issue at the present time, realising that there are cost implications in this current difficult financial climate. This issue may be revisited in the future.

1. Open day/ evening - feedback

It was generally felt that this went very well. In particular, the children are delighted to be so involved, and to get to show their parents round their school.

One or two issues were raised. In particular, a few parents commented that they would rather have had individual appointments. A reminder will be sent to parents that staff are always happy to talk to them and it is fine to contact the school at an time to arrange this. If you have any queries or concerns about your child, please do get in touch, and don’t feel you have to wait for a Parent’s Evening.

1. Christmas Concert and Raffle

A raffle to bolster school funds will be held at the Christmas Concerts (evening of 10th and afternoon of 11th December). PC members will organise this - we will combine the prizes into “hampers” (so that there are fewer, bigger prizes).

1. Scrapstore Playpod

TH has disseminated a Scrapstore Playpod information pack to PC members. We are all very keen to go ahead with this, as we think it would be fantastic for our children. We will look at how to take this forward at our next meeting.

1. Emotional Intelligence

TH explained that this is about getting a suitable balance on praising our children. If we overpraise, we can give young people unrealistic expectations or make them quick to give up. Specific praise is encouraged. We want our children to be able to say – ‘If it didn’t work that time, I can try again’. Imogen Kerr and Graeme Ramage are working with the school on this and the Roots of Empathy programme is tied in with it.

1. Parent Council Newsletter

It has been decided that a PC Newsletter should be brought out in late January. AM will make up a list of possible topics for inclusion and will disseminate, so that we can begin work on this before the next meeting.

1. Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 14th January 2014 at 7pm.

1. AOB

Christmas Cards: It has been requested that TH send out a message suggesting that instead of children exchanging Christmas cards with all their friends, they instead send one to the class – which will go on a special tree. This is only a suggestion and if children want to do otherwise, that is fine.

Reading night: A reminder thatVictoria Campbell, the author of Viking Gold will be coming next term.

Extension: Following discussion at the last meeting, Sylvia Robertson has written a letter to Peter Diamond asking for an update. We have recently informally heard that nothing will happen until 2015/16 and are looking for clarification.