Minutes from Parent Forum 26/4/17

Minutes from Parent Forum 26/4/17

Attendees

Chair person – Robyn Tumber (RT)

Vice chair – Kelly Spalding (KT)/Racheal Guy (RG)

Deputy head – Kath Tookey (KT)

Parent governor – Darren Trigg (DT)

Secretary - Cheryl Townsend (CT)

Treasurer 1 – Trish Beharry (TB) - resigning

Treasurer 2 – Jennie Roper (JR)

Caretaker – Chris Cunningham (CC)

Caretaker – Mick Mandell (MM)

Dee Guppy (DG) – new treasurer

SarafinaDolcey – (SD)

Tanya Coombes (TC)

Laura Chapman (LC)

Apologies

Headmaster - Mr Imbush (prior engagement)

Zoe Piccard - (ZP – new baby)

Treasurers

TB - Resigning as treasurer due to time constraints and work commitments

DG – Has been nominated and seconded and now officially starts her role as Treasurer with JR.

Updates from last meeting:

Requests

• The School has requested a donation for their commemorative mugs. The Parents Forum cannot afford the full amount. Treasurers to confirm funds and vote on amount to be donated after finances are understood.
• High-vis jackets. A second set of jackets for the children to wear on outings have been requested. We will get a quote and hopefully fulfil this request.

Walkway between buildings

Parents have asked when this will be usable. This will not be completed before the 8thof May as this is when the contractors will be coming back to start work.

School website

This has still not been updated. CT to address with Mr Imbush.

Play equipment

The Parents Forum to seek an update from the school council regarding playground equipment requests.

New business:

Parent Forum email address

The Parents Forum have requested an official school email address to use in correspondence with companies and business when organising events as it will look more official. RT sourcing a mobile phone for the Parent Forum secretary (CT).

Parent praises

Parents have expressed amazing feedback with the success of the open day. They particularly enjoyed looking around the building without the children present as they felt they could really take in the surroundings. The photographs on the wall was highly praised. Another open day opportunity to view the school is planned for July where hopefully more parents will attend.

Parents Forum praise

The Parents Forum was highly praised and people expressed how happy a forum we are and parents felt we worked together extremely well and we present a very happy parents forum. The Mayor of Thurrock also agreed and said she “really liked the dynamics the parent forum have setup” and highly praised us as a team. The school staff was also very thankful for the donations of the croissants from the Parents Forum.

Caretaker and office staff praise

The caretakers (MM and CC) and the reception/office staff are to be thanked kindly with all their help and support to the Parents Forum who were very accommodating with the smooth running of events.

Parking issues

DG read a letter from a year 3 pupil regarding walking safely to school (Fortin Close). This included cars parking on pavements forcing children to walk in the road. MM confirmed this is a Highways issue, not a school matter and urged residents to complain to Highways to highlight points raised. The council have previously seen parking issues for themselves however the situation has not improved. We are considering chasing this up with the council again.

Security

The main reception has a ‘blind spot’ when people enter and leave the building via the internal main door as receptionists can’t monitor and see who is entering and leaving once they have released the door from the reception. Children have been seen holding the door open for each other. KT was pleased this was brought to the school’s attention, however has clarified that the door should not be open unless anadult is present and will speak to Mr Imbush regarding this.

Year 6 boosters

These start at 8:15am. Parents experienced issues getting into the building on a particular morning. MM confirmed a problem with the timer which needed resetting and has now been resolved.

Parent Forum bank account

Treasurers (DG and JR) to attend an appointment at HSBC bank on the 4thof May in the hope to finally open a bank account. All Parent Forum members agreed to DG and JR to be signatories for the account.

The rules to be followed regarding the bank account are:

1. No transactions to take place without the approval of 1 treasure and 1 other committee member.
2. Signatories to confirm approval of transactions with the relevant person before adding their signatures.
3. Over the counter withdrawals can only be made when both signatories are present.
4. Cheques must be signed by both signatories.

Treasurers to update their progress in the next meeting.

Non-uniform day

A ‘break the rules’ day made an amazing amount of money. The Parents Forum have requested to use this idea to raise funds for the summer fete. KT to confirm this, however we mutually agreed on a 50/50 split between the school funds and Parent Forum funds. Mr Imbush to confirm and arrange a date for this with RT.

School finishing times

Parents of both juniors and infants have complained about the children coming out of school late. This has a knock-on effect with parents/carers collecting from both buildings. Mr Imbush to address with teachers. Nursery has been queried with their hours however they have a set 3-hour session and this is non-negotiable.

Movie night

This will take place on 12thMay and the 19thMay. The ticket price was discussed and everybody agreed that the current £2 per ticket is too low and the price was agreed at £3 per ticket for this and future events alike. KTrecommended that we do this as the current £2 per ticket was too low. A separate meeting has been arranged for Wednesday 3rdof May to discuss this event in detail. Mr Imbush to confirm the hall availability. The juniors have a possibility of a games event (rounder’s, football match etc.).

The Parents Forum continued to discuss the fundraising for the summer fete.

Next meeting 7thJune.

Minutes taken by C Townsend.