Minutes: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at Netherlee Primary School
Present: Ailsa Crum; Sara Lang; Val Graham; Liz Grant; Sandra Mitchell; Cress Maher; Brenda Williams; Lisa Bullen; Vivienne Wilson; Kirsty McNeil; Susan Whittington; John Stoner; Seona McKenzie; Joan Murphy; Cllr Ralph Robertson (part); Cllr Gordon McAskill (part)
Apologies: Margaret MacDiarmid; Sue McMillan Tim Adams; Steve Galloway; Karen Hussain; Aida Santory, Christine Lannon, Cllr Mary Montague
1. Minutes of previous meeting held September 23, 2008 were approved.
2. Matters Arising not otherwise on the agenda
In relation to the previously minuted item about maths homework, it was agreed that at a future date, Bryan McLachlan, deputy headteacher would talk to the PC about his plans for maths at the school in his role as maths co-ordinator. It was agreed this would be helpful in the wider context of the PC, and the parent forum, learning about Curriculum for Excellence. Action: SM to liaise with BM
3. Communication received since the previous meeting
ERC Parent Councils’ Forum will meet on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 7.00 pm at St Luke’s HS in Barrhead. Action: Anyone wishing to attend with Ailsa Crum should let her know.
4. School Standards & Quality Report
Sandra Mitchell circulated copies of the latest S&Q report and will invite all parents and carers to pick up a copy from the school office or download it from the school website. Action: Further discussion about the report can take place at the next PC meeting
5. Doctors’ surgery
The councillors attending the meeting advised that contributions to the area’s Local Plan have to be submitted by November 4. Apparently the ERCs’ website suggests that the planning permission that has been granted is beyond ‘outline’ stage but this according to Councillors Robertson and McAskill is inaccurate. The Residents’ Association is going to be writing to ERC prior to November 4 and it was thought that Stephen Clark from the Residents’ Association might like to talk with someone from NPC before the November 4 deadline. Lisa Bullen is going to look online and draft an email on behalf of NPC outlining the NPC’s concerns and circulate the draft to NPC members. Actions: LB to liaise with Stephen Clark and circulate email in advance of deadline.
6. Projects Update
The sub group co-ordinating the production of the commemorative booklet is progressing its work. The booklet now has two significant advertisers and requires one or possibly two further major supporters to cover the majority of the costs before the sub-group will approach the local community shops and businesses for support to cover the final costs. All PC members were asked to consider contacts. A final push is required for final photographs and final bits of text including some memories to tie the material together. Aida Santory has kindly agreed to lead the design and production element and requires everything to be input using Quark Express. A side-benefit of the anniversary work was discovering the licences to use the Quark programme could be purchased relatively cheaply for the school. The PTA has agreed to purchase 18 Quark Express licences for the school. These will be used in a variety of activities by the pupils including to support an after-school journalism club which Aida is leading on. Action: Sub-group to proceed
Sara Lang, Tim Adams and Vivienne Wilson have formed a sub group with Kirsty McNeil and will meet on Fri, Oct 31 at 2.30 pm. The first initiative will be to encourage parents (with their children’s input) to prepare healthier lunch boxes and it was agreed it should be part of a multi–layered process dovetailing with the children’s and teachers’ efforts.
KM announced she had successfully negotiated over £3k worth of funding for the cookery initiative including a Cookery Club to run for P6 in early 2009. Twenty four teachers have passed a food handling exam and materials and equipment can now be ordered. After December, equipment can be used during class time. The sub group already has lots of ideas and references. Meanwhile the PTA will continue with its fund raising tuck shop activity at events, in its usual way, until ERC provided clear instruction on what it deems appropriate. Action: KM, SL,TA, VW to liaise
c. Sports Day
The topic of a formal sports day had been raised earlier at the AGM. New PC members Joan Murphy and Seona McKenzie both expressed a willingness to explore ways to facilitate such an event and were drafted on to the sub-group headed by Liz Grant which was formed at the last meeting. Liz Grant is now going to consider an appropriate route to take the project further. Much discussion took place on historical issues that conspired to make this a difficult event to achieve within timescales and with available staffing resources. The PTA has already set aside Saturday, June 20, 2009 as the event date for a sports/fun day. At the end of the discussion it was neatly summed up by Lisa who said that while the answer to many parents’ wishes was a “sports day” it was not always clear what parents wanted to achieve from holding such an event was thought that maybe more research of the parent forum needed to take place. After that the sub-group could then more clearly define the focus of the day’s activity. Once the terms of the event were known and agreed the next stage would be to secure early commitment of necessary resources. Actions: LG to set up sub group; SM to put item in November newsletter