Minute of Keith Grammar School Parent Council Meeting held on Tuesday 19th January 2016
Present: Carol Barron, Keith Comrie, Fyona Duncan, Judy Gordon, Keith Gray, Steve Hickin, Karen Lees, JamusMcpherson, Stewart McLauchlan, ClaireNeish, Mary Rettie, Annabel Ross, Diane Runcie, Laura Simmers, Judy Theodoreson.
(1)Welcome and Apologies: Laura Simmers welcomed Karen Lees who is Moray Council Quality Improvement Officer (QIO) and had attended at request of the Parent Council to discuss Education Scotland Inspection report. Apologies were obtained from Susan Garrow and Louise Hickin.
(2)Inspectors Report. Karen Lees was present on behalf of Moray Council to talk about the support the council is giving to KGS on the back of Education Scotland Inspectors report. Jamus and Ms Lees both pointed out that the major improvement areas highlighted by the report were already known by the SMT (senior management team) as areas that required improvement and plans were already being drawn up by SMT to tackle these issues at the time of inspection.
The Strategic Planning document (emailed to PC members) is being regularly updated by the school in conjunction with Ms Lees. Regular updates of this document will be made available to PC members. There is a move to make the language used less jargon-driven for so we can understand it.
Much discussion was carried out about practical support being given to the school by various organisations. George Sinclair, Moray Council, is working as assessment officer and is in school to help raise attainment. Education Scotland have provided a head teacher from the Central Belt for practical support. Ms Lees is herself a regular at the school. The council sees that the school is moving forward already.Jamus has no doubts of the ability of SMT to improve the school.
Progress is monitored in a number of ways: student voice, observation of classes by Moray Council, peers etc, parent evenings and discussion groups, data driven.
It was felt the staffing issues over the past few years did little to help the situation within the school (see Rector’s report for update on staffing issues). Moray Council now have a number of strategies in place to tackle this Moray-wide problem, and are continuing to look at other options, including how teaching contracts work.
Looking at the relationship between parents and teachers (data obtained from teachers and parents questionnaires) there appeared to be a wide gap in perception between the two groups. Some teachers felt that parents don’t engage with the school, and some parents felt ignored by the school in their views. It was suggested that a new sub-group, comprising parents council members, pupil council and teachers, could be formed to tackle this issue and maybe draft better questionnaires for both groups. Laura Simmers and Claire Neish volunteered to be part of this group. Other group members will be involved depending on when the group meet.
(3)The minute of the previous meeting was approved by Judy Gordon and seconded by Julie Theodoreson.
(4)Matters arising would be dealt with in Item 10 re fundraising.
(5)Rector’s Report:
Staffing news (Issued by email 13/1/16, updates in bold)
We had 2 new members of staff starting with us at the beginning of term. Rebecca Cowie took up post as Acting PT Guidance for Smith and will cover the remainder of Lynn Jex’s Maternity Leave. Luis Perez is covering Lee Whitley’s Maternity Leave in Maths. Both of them have hit the ground running and are getting their faces known amongst staff and pupils.
Erin Wood currently with us in HE on Thursday and Friday will start as Acting PT HE at Speyside High School on 18 January. This will be at least until a new HT takes up post. The longer term position will be discussed as timetabling for next session takes place. In the meantime Evelyn Urquhart will be able to take on her classes with 2 periods of Evelyn’s timetable going to internal cover where the classes will carry out research for and write up of course assignments.
Shortly before the Christmas Break we appointed Jay Burgess as PT English and Rosie Daley as Teacher of English. Jay is coming from Lornshill Academy and it is hoped she will be able to start on 8 February. Rosie is currently at Eyemouth High School and will start on 16 February after the long weekend. Helen Bodiam has decided to finish with us on Friday 29 January. She has done a great job of providing stability and support for the department and her contribution has been appreciated by staff, pupils and parents. There will be at least a week of a gap before Jay takes up post so, once again, we will have to mobilise our Guidance staff to provide short term cover in order to ensure continuity of experience, particularly for those sitting exams this session.
Just this week we appointed Katy Duncan to the post of Inclusion Project Coordinator. Katy is currently employed as a Youth Worker and Children’s Services Worker linked to the Keith ASG so already knows many of our young people and has worked closely with ASN and Guidance in the school. Her links to existing support agencies will prove invaluable in her new role which aims to reduce the number of children excluded from school and to ensure that those who are excluded are able to maintain their education and get back on track as quickly as possible.
Stacey Hamilton has returned to Buckie High School as Acting DHT and will remain there until a new DHT is appointed. Peter Geddes and Ross Jagger are again sharing the Acting PT Maths duties. Stacey’s classes are currently being covered by the Maths department and Carol Wood, ASN. The advert for the temporary replacement closes on Friday so hopefully we will have some good applications. (Further information is required if we are to be able to proceed to interview)
Also closing on Friday is the re-advertisement of the Teacher of Biology vacancy. There have been a number of expressions of interest this time so we are confident that we will be able to at last fill this vacancy and remove some of the pressure from the other Science teachers who have been covering all the classes on this timetable.(Interviews will take place on 22/1 with appointee starting on 22/2)
Filling these posts will give the school back the staffing capacity that we have lacked for a number of years now which would allow us to progress our development priorities both at subject and whole school level and so provide the consistent high quality educational experiences that our young people deserve. At the risk of cursing things, I am very positive that we have turned a corner and that with the support, and challenge, of the parent body we can really work together to push our school forward.
Financial Position
The positive side of our inability to fill posts until now is that we have more money available for resources than would normally be the case to supplement Scottish Government money to support new qualifications. Departments have been invited to submit bids for additional resources to support our ability to meet our School Improvement Priorities. This money will be allocated before the long weekend allowing an impact for learners this session.
There is another small intake next session but, due to our current underspend position, we should be able to maintain our current staffing level in anticipation of increasing school roll in future years allowing us to continue to develop quality learning experiences for all our young people.
Curriculum/Subject Choice
Prelims for Seniors are now in full swing with study leave given to those with 3 or more National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher exams. Reports for S4-6 students will follow closely after to assist with preparation for the final exams and subject choice for next session. There has been significant review and development of subject choice support and procedures following feedback from the Inspection.
S3 reports will be out shortly and again these should not only summarise progress to date but assist with choices for the Senior Qualification Stage.
Again following feedback from the Inspection, we will make adjustments to the curriculum structure next session to better support our learners by giving more opportunities to discuss learning and progress, and due to the improvement in preparing for subject choice we will be able to return to discrete Sciences and Social Subjects in S3 allowing better preparation for attainment in the Senior Phase.
(6)Stewart reported that we have a healthy balance of about £6500, having obtained over £2000 from our successful tombola in Nov 2015.
(7)Correspondence: Tesco invited us to their Community Evening Gathering on Tuesday 26th Jan. They would like to find out how they might be able to help us in any planned ventures. Laura Simmers and Mary Rettie volunteered to attend.
An invitation was obtained from the Parent Forum for their next meeting dealing with Health issues in Elgin on Wed 24th Feb. Laura says she will attend and anyone else is welcome to join her.
(8)S3 Behaviour: A parent contacted the PC to askwhy all S3 pupils were pulled in to be spoken to about this problem and not just the core individuals involved. Jamus explained that there wereperipheral groups “enjoying the show”, and that witnesses to the antisocial behaviour were uncooperative with the school in their efforts to stamp out this behaviour. A lively discussion ensued with parents of current S3 pupils pointing out that this was a problem that has been in existence all through primary school and whereas some “problem” children have matured others continue to cause trouble. The school is continuing to develop strategies to tackle this problem. There has been an improvement in the peripheral behaviour. Katy Duncan will be working with the core group involved, with the emphasis being to keep these teenagers within the mainstream in order for them to access the curriculum for the senior phase. There is also more positive support for staff to enable them to highlight bad behaviour within class. Staff shouldn’t feel that they have to suffer in silence.
An aside to this S3 discussion was one dealing with the problem of snowball throwing at houses. It was pointed out that this is a Keith-wide problem and probably comes under the remit of the Community Council. Jamussaid he would look into this from the school point of view.
Another aside brought up was the difficulty a parent had getting an appointment with a class teacher. The school policy is that a meeting can be arranged but it is done via guidance teachers or SMT.
(9)School Vision/Values and Rights Respecting Schools: A new school Vision and Values document is being drawn up. Opinions from PC on this document should be sent to Mary Rettie and as secretary she will send collated responses to school.
Rights Respecting School Charter is under construction and again our opinions on the last three columns of this document should be sent to Mary Rettie and she will send collated opinions to the school.
(10) Fundraising: Tombola; Thanks to all who made it such a huge success. The British Legion is been booked for 16th Nov, 2016.
Rag Bag; A collection is to be made on Tues 2nd Feb. This is to be advertised in the Banffshire Herald and newsletter with a request for donation.
Tesco Bag Packing; To be held on Sat 27th Feb. Volunteers (so far): Donna Innes, Amber Lednor and sons Connall and Dylan, Diane Runcie, Carol Barron, Claire Neish and Becky, Judy Gordon and Murray, Mary Rettie, Laura Simmers and Eilidh.
200 Club; re-launch is ready to start in March. Stewart is well on top of preparations for the re-launch of the 200 club, with the first draw to take place March. The school office is to send out letters to the current 200 club members. An advert is to be placed in The Banter for new members.
The possibility of a summer term fundraiser was raised but it was felt that perhaps we should hold an event to encourage more parental involvement. Perhaps the new group could focus on this?
Community meeting at Tesco; inform about date of next tombola, discuss another possible bag pack OR raffle at front door. KGS staff are also attending to request more “educational” biased donations/visits.
(11) Funding Requests: The Outside Social Area still requires further investigation. Annabel Ross suggested looking at Scotplay. Her school was successful with lottery bid, greatly assisted by Scotplay staff member. Keith Comrie mentioned that The Baxter Foundation is looking for applications. EdintoreWindfarm was also mentioned as a possible source of funding.
However, more concrete plans of what is actually wanted outside, will be required before application for funding can be considered.
(12) A.O.C.B.
The website is now being done through GLOW. It can be accessed by old web address with automatic link to new location. A new app is being worked on. It was requested that a link for accessing “parents night booking system” could be added.
Only eight parents have requested to receive The Banter by email. It is hoped that when pack goes out at start of 2016/2017 term there will be a good uptake. It was also suggested that permission to receive emails from PC could be added to new form.
Burns Supper is to be held on Friday 5th Feb, £8 a ticket and we were asked to promote this event. Monies raised are going towards India trip.
(13) Date of next meeting is Tuesday 15th March 2016 at 7pm.