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MID YELL PARENT COUNCIL
A meeting of the Mid Yell Parent Council was held on Monday 11th January 2010.
Present: Mrs. Jackie Guthrie, Ms. Karen Smith, Dr. Rosie Briscoe, Mrs. Alexa Coutts, Ms. Anne Smiles, Ms. Yvonne Gray, Mrs. Michelle Morris, Mrs. Jill Thomson, Messrs. John Irvine, Graham Hughson, Neil Thomson and Mark Lawson.
In Attendance: Councillors Laura Baisley and Robert Henderson
Apologies: Ms. Hilary Franklin.
Dr. Rosie Briscoe welcomed Mrs. Laura Baisley and Mr. Robert Henderson to the meeting.
Mrs. Laura Baisley asked Mr. Lawson if he would like her to meet with staff, he said he would ask staff and get back to Mrs. Baisley.
Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
Dr. Rosie Briscoe explained that Mr. Lawson would be giving a presentation on “Curriculum for Excellence” with particular reference to the Senior Phase of education.
Dr. Rosie Briscoe expressed her concern that a large number of parents had not received their letters regarding the initial Blueprint consultation meeting,this Wednesday 13th. She informed the meeting that she had spoken to the Schools Service on this matter.
Mrs. Laura Baisley asked if the structure of the meeting on Wednesday had been established. She said that we should not be led by the Schools Service. She explained that the limited financial figures available maybe inaccurate and that she could not understand how a large department could fail to get figures or a mail merge correct.
It was pointed out that Page eight of the “consultation plan” leaflet issued by the Schools Service says that financial information for all options will be made available for public to see, including transport costs.They are not available.
Dr. Briscoe said that she had sent 3 letters/e-mails to the Schools Service.She had received a brief non-detailed reply to her first e-mail only, outlining what would happen at the meeting in very general terms only. In her letters/e-mails she had asked if there would be questions and answer session,as well as questions in groups, and whether there would be time for facilators to report back before the end of the meeting. She had been asked to Chair the meeting on Wednesday night but she didn’t yet know what was expected of her.
It was stated that we are going into “consultation” without any hard information to consult on.
Councillors had been invited to seminars, but were not allowed to share minutes of meeting with Parent Councils. Mrs. Baisley said are they not hearing what teachers are saying.
Dr. Briscoe said that we have until March 31st (the end of the “informal consultation” period) to question things.
It was suggested could we not have our own meeting with parents and send our own comments. If we are not happy with consultation meeting on Wednesday we could ask the Schools Service to attend our own meeting. Mrs. Baisley said that “Iniative at the Edge” carry out in depth consultations and that she would be willing to help if it was decided this was needed. She had attended a pre-Blueprint meeting and reading the outcome the only area which was not affected much was the South Mainland. She did not know where “options” had come from, but it looks as if the Schools Service have ignored what most folk think.
Mrs. Baisley said they did not know the feelings of all councillors but some see the Blueprint as saving money. She felt that looking at the education budget in isolation would not help with overall spending. She believed that unlike many other authorities in Scotland, Shetland schools don’t have devolved budgets. Mr. Lawson said that in Shetland, schools only control a small amount of their own budgets. We have no control over our staffing, electricity or transport costs. In other authorities there can be a higher percentage of budgets devolved to schools, eg. Supply staff budgets, if a staff member was off they could decide whether to get in cover, or share the work load between existing teachers,and the school could then make use of the money saved. Devolved School Management Officers were put into post to support a higher level of Devolved School Budgeting but the financial responsibility did not follow.
Mr. Lawson explained a spreadsheet of costs of different schools to members, explaining that costs were hard to split up between Secondary/Primary and Nursery. It was discussed that if schools close, a large amount of costs will have to be split up between the schools remaining.
Dr. Briscoe asked Ms. Smiles if Community Council were being consulted on Blueprint; she said they were. A meeting is due soon and someone from the Schools Service will be present
Dr. Briscoe said that she would speak to Schools Service on the night of the meeting and ask about a “question and answer” session. Mr. Lawson said that if the presentation planned was the same as the one he had seen, it was mainly a discussion of the consultation pathway theSchools Service were obliged to follow. Dr. Briscoe said that she hoped they would speak about Curriculum for Excellence.
Individual schools being “centres of excellence” for certain subjects was discussed.It was agreed travel would be an issue, but it would be the same as North Isles children going to Lerwick! Mrs. Baisley said that she would like to see this being discussed.
Mr. Lawson said that the vocational courses were proving very successful with children going to Lerwick one day a week.
Mrs. Baisley asked Mr. Lawson to explain about Community Schools. Mr. Lawson said that this was when the school was the hub of the community with people of all ages being able to access the school for exams and courses, and being able to share some facilities eg libraries. It was agreed that this should have been part of the new build but it had been taken off the plan.
Dr. Briscoe asked about Blueprint meeting again and how will we make sure our questions get put across.It was suggested that a Parent Council member could be on every table if there is a group format of meeting like last time- it could help to bring up relevant points. We don’t know how many groups there will be.There will possibly be 6-8 people per table. If they come with the same list of questions as last time it will take a while to complete the forms. A copy of the presentation has been requested too, although there has been no reply to that request.
It was thought that it was council policy to acknowledge all correspondence. Mrs. Baisley asked with the Parent Council’s permission she would e-mail expressing her concerns over lack of correspondence.
It was suggested that if we are not happy with the consultation process we all should say so at meeting.
Mr. Lawson gave presentation on Curriculum for Excellence and explained the new “senior phase”.
It was thought by members that the “Blueprint” contradicted Curriculum for Excellence. One member asked Mr. Lawson if members writing the Blueprint were aware of Curriculum for Excellence.
Mrs. Baisley said that she was concerned that communities would be so concerned about losing their secondary departments they would “give up” their small primaries. She also said that she had been delighted to learn about Curriculum for Excellence from this meeting, and could see the potential for sharing resources and making more use of ICT.
It was brought up that children having to go to Lerwick at end of S3 was a backward step instead of coming forward, and that it was taking away pupils choice. It was also brought up that ASN had not been discussed tonight.
Everyone agreed if we are not happy at end of meeting we should tell them.
Mr. Lawson said that he thought that after all consultation had been done it should 2-3 weeks before it was all published.
It was thought that after all the informal consultation had been done they would not be much chance to make a difference.
Mr. Irvine said that all the “options” will have to got to the Scottish Executive. If theSchools Service are told they can’t close schools, they must have something else to fall back on. If options A or B are not accepted what option is available? Could we propose two more options?
Mr. Lawson said they should look at schools and teachers and then give options available to pupils.
The question was asked whether there are opportunities for Secondary teachers to undertake training to offer more choices. Mr. Lawson replied yes.
Mrs. Baisley said that there should be a Social /Economic study done even if a stage of school were to change.
It was agreed that on Wednesday night we would meet briefly after meeting.
Question was raised regarding Creche-one is being arranged.
Next meeting Wednesday 27th January at 6.30 p.m.Hopefully both Unst and Whalsay will have had their meetings by then, and there may even be info from the Mid Yell meeting on the website.