Abernethy Primary School Parent Council

Abernethy Primary School Parent Council

AGM 20th January 2015 - Minutes

Present: Pete Moore, Judy Burke, Tracey Borthwick, Ross Watson, Ros Watson, Howard Edge, Feri Collins, Sylvia McFarlane, Sara Denner, Liz Smith, Fiona Eaves, Jo Mackenzie, Toni Kearton, Heather Rae, Cllr Jaci Douglas.

Apologies: Bridget Trussell, LuckaPoyner, Jane Forrest, Evril Spencer, Julia Hay, Jackie Convery, Rhona Bootle, Adele McCoughney.

Approval of minutes of previous AGM on 28th January 2014

Nothing outstanding.

Proposed by Sara Denner, seconded by Sylvia McFarlane

Chairs Report– Ross Watson

Introduction

This has been my first year as Chair of this organisation and been a big learning curve for me learning everything we do. When I was voted in, there were two main objectives to take over from the previous year. These were the playground pen and the nursery snack money issue. There were also a number of fundraising events to plan and meetings to organise.

Tracey, Lucka and Jo have been brilliant at keeping us all right with finances, minutes and fundraising and I am sorry to see Tracey resign from this role as she has been so efficient at it. In addition to these three, there are many many others who have helped throughout the year with events, website, fireworks, cakes and much else besides. Thank you to all of these people who have assisted and made this another good year for the Parent Council.

Nursery Snack

Now managed as a cash account through Heidi Young. Thank you for taking this on.

Playground Equipment

After a long process, we have now selected a tender and are in the process of applying for Awards for All funding. We are writing to local organisations like the Nethy magazine and the Community Council to ask for assistance through sponsorship, and are working with VaBS to access funding through other streams. This is being done with support from Howard, Jaci and staff from Highland Council.

Consultation on budgets

Responded to that consultation, contacted Councillors, Community Council, Fergus Ewing, Danny Alexander and attended meeting in Inverness. Remains a live issue that we need to be aware of.

Communication

• Facebook group with 48 members, representing the majority of the lower half of the school.
• Support from Councillors with Jaci Douglas attending meetings when she can.
• Open discussion at meetings between Parents and Teachers.
• Minutes on the school notice board.
• Articles in the Nethy magazine.

Fundraising

• Jo has made a massive effort to organise events, and keeping the rest of us right.
• Now split the accounts to dedicate funds to the playground equipment, with newer events funding that account with the older events money going to the main account to fund Howard’s requests, when we feel we are able.
• Have funded every request from the school.
• Using our account, and constitution, the football team through Liz, have gained funding from Awards for All, which will appear on our accounts.

Next Year

• Increasing awareness of what we are doing amongst parents of pupils in the top half of the school, and seeking their involvement.
• Looking at the fundraising events, how we plan them further ahead, do we want fewer bigger better events and look to shelf events like the table top sale, unless more people come to support them?
• Sponsorship by the likes of the Nethy Hotel was great at Hogmanay, it would be good to make more of these opportunities to assist with fundraising the outdoor classroom. These opportunities could come from working with the likes of the Country Dancing group.
• Looking at the constitution and rewriting it to update it, with an EGM to vote in changes, with support from VaBS.
• Addressing budget challenges through taking an active role in consultation processes.

Conclusion

It has been a busy year with a lot of positive work done by lots of people. I feel we are in a strong position financially and continue to have a lot of support in the community. It is going to be an exciting year ahead, with phase one of the playground equipment hopefully appearing in the playground and the funds there to keep Howards requests satisfied!

Financial Report – Tracey Borthwick

Tracey handed round and explained the Statement of Financial Activities, which has been independently audited by Ann Trail. In summary:

Total income£3683

Total expenditure£1843

Surplus£1840

New balance£5454

Election of Office Bearers

Chair Ross Watson remains in post

TreasurerTracey Borthwick stepped down. Judy Burke offered to take on the role. Thank you to Tracey for all of her hard work keeping the books right over the last two years.

SecretaryLuckaPoyner remains in post.

AOB

Pete Moore thanked the Office Bearers for their work unseen over the last year.