MINUTES OF LOCHARDIL PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 AT 7.00 PM IN LOCHARDIL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Present: Alasdair Christie, Kirsten Campbell, Gail Matheson, Sharon McArthur, Ian Soden, Alastair Maclean, Olivia Melville, Sarah Bilsland, Lizzie Burke, Clare Mackenzie, David Hamilton, Barry MacKellaich, Pam O’Hara, Ana M Garcia Rubio, Audrey Kellacher, Susan Considine, Gill Rodgers, Maria de la Torre, Muriel Murray, Jane Day, Caroline Leitch
Apologies: Karen Latif, Nicki Hutcheson, Lynne Maclennan, Pauline Fox, Donna Mitchell, Julie Douglas, Vaila Neill, Kate Traill, Michelle Irving
1Welcome and Apologies
Alasdair welcome everyone to the meeting and introductions were made. He said that the Agenda would take a slightly different order due to Alastair Maclean and Jane Day attending the meeting for specific Agenda items.
2Parking at School
Sergeant Alastair Maclean had been asked to attend the meeting to discuss the ongoing parking issues around the school particularly evident at the beginning and close of the school day. Alastair said that he had been present at the school in his Police vehicle on three separate occasions recently to assess the situation. He had spoken to at least one parent who was parked inconsiderately.
Alastair had not realised the extent of the problems prior to the meeting and said that he would be patrolling around the school area for the next five weeks in a bid to ensure that parents/carers were parking considerately.
It was noted that Lochardil Road, Lochardil Place and Morven Road were the problem areas particularly at the junctions where cars are parking right up to and sometimes on the junction. There have also been instances of cars parking on the zigzag areas outside the school gates and also over residents’ driveways.
Staff and pupils have tried to sort the issue in the past but have been met by rudeness from some parents/carers in their bid to resolve the problem.
Alastair will attend the next meeting of the Parent Council and report back on any progress.
It was suggested that perhaps Green Drive Hall car park could be used as a “Park and ride” option however it was noted that this car park is not particularly big and would not hold a lot of cars.
A “walking bus” was also suggested although this needs regular volunteers to work.
Th JRSO pupils ae working on a reward system to encourage pupils to walk to school.
It was also suggested that the bigger school gate opening onto Dornie Place may also be an option although this may extend the parking issues into Dornie Place.
Alastair was thanked for attending the meeting.
Action: Alastair Maclean
3Kitchen Works/School Playing Field
Jane reported that the kitchen refurbishment works were on schedule and the new kitchen will be ready in 5 weeks.
The school playing field has had one application done and one is scheduled for next week although this may be weather dependent.
The grass will then be cut by Greentech (not Highland Council) with two further cuts scheduled for the Spring.
The drainage works are complete on the school side however they are waiting for Scottish Water to open the road outwith the school grounds in order to connect the drain. It is hoped that this work will be carried out in the next two weeks.
Parents asked if the school playing field would still be ready for the children to use in term 4 and Jane confirmed that this would still be the case.
It was noted that the playing field looks excellent at the moment with the grass coming in well. It was asked that a proper maintenance programme be in place once the works are complete so that this problem does not occur again. It was also felt that clubs using the field, such as the football club, should be aware of warning signs of damage and who to report this to.
Jane said that when the grass is cut, the cuttings are not picked up but this is supposed to benefit the grass. She said if that at any time anyone feels the grass needs cut they should contact Jane in the first instance.
Audrey said that with regard to the kitchen work, everything that has been promised has been delivered to date. The staff in the canteen are working together to ensure that their work runs smoothly and this is helping to alleviate the stress levels previously felt by staff.
It was noted that carpets and other internal improvements have been provided by Morgan Sindall during their kitchen work and these are outlined in Audrey’s Head Teacher Report.
Janes was thanked for once again attending the meeting and thanks were also extended to Robert who had attended the previous Parent Council meeting and had also been working on these points.
4Minutes of the Previous Meeting and Matters/Actions Arising
The Minutes were approved by all and all matters/actions arising were covered in the Agenda for this meeting.
5Cleaning Budget/Hours and Future Arrangements
It was noted that the future provision of facilities management, cleaning and catering would be provided by the Department of Development and Infrastructure at Highland Council.
Audrey said that she and the staff still have major concerns over the standard of cleaning within the school since the cleaning hours had been cut from 56¼ hours to 40 hours.
The impact of the cut in hours is being felt throughout the school and she is going to meet with the cleaning supervisors to try to see what can be changed in order to improve this and bring standards back up.
The Cleaning Team is now almost complete with only one vacancy to be filled however the hours currently being given to the school for cleaning is simply not enough.
It was felt that perhaps a cleaning rota or schedule for the cleaners would perhaps help.
It was noted that although Kevin Grant is once again the full time FMA for the school his remit does not include cleaning.
Alasdair suggested that he would write to letter to Highland Council regarding cleaning within the school on behalf of the Parent Council and this was agreed.
Action: Alasdair Christie
It was felt by parents with winter coming the situation could perhaps become worse with muddy shoes, winter bugs etc. Audrey said that it was still necessary to stress the 48 hour rule for sickness bugs where children should not return to school until 48 hours have passed since the last incident of sickness.
It was agreed to leave this item on the Agenda for the next meeting so that an update can be given.
6Administrative Volunteers
It was noted that recently there have been a further 8 PVG applications approved and 5 are pending.
7Chairperson’s Report
Alasdair had not prepared a report for this meeting as all items he wanted to discuss were on the Agenda.
8Head Teacher’s Report
Culture
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/ Right of the Month – (November)
5. Gender Equality Article 5 All children have these rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what their parents do, what language they speak, what their religion is, whether they are a boy or girl, what their culture is, whether they have a disability, whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.
Staffing update –
- Mrs Megan Bee will begin maternity leave from 23/01/17 and her maternity cover vacancy will be advertised asap to cover her post. We still await information regarding the advertisement of the vacant 0.2 ASN teacher post we have and this maternity cover post.
- We are currently interviewing for 2 more EYP posts due to increase in pupil numbers, bringing our ELCC staff total to 15 in the team. We also have 7hrs clerical post for the ELCC vacant which will be appointed very soon also.
ELCC
Breakfast provision is now available at Lochardil PS. It is situated within the ELCC provision and further information can be accessed through the office. We are experiencing issues with our out of school care provision due to building regulations and standards, and criteria we are required to meet. We will keep you up dated on this.
Communication
We continue to use our tried and tested forms of communication, and recently introduced the group emails and texting service. The phone system has been replaced and now offers different options to best meet the needs of the caller and reduce waiting time when calling. Please be reminded the class teacher is the first point of contact for parents regarding their child, or clerical for any administration queries. The volume of class queries being directed to and expected to be managed by the HT is a pressure and takes away time from other aspects of the school, particularly when experiencing I.T. related issues. Huge thank you to the support from parents for their solution focussed and positive mind sets. We need to keep our lines of communication open, transparent, and 2-way as a partnership to share responsibility to improve and be the best we can be.
Apologies to anyone who unfortunately experienced complications including billing delays or additional charges for childcare. Both Highland Council and our Childcare Manager have worked to resolve issues. Thank you for your understanding.
Finance - School Fund
The annual donation from parents/carers is used to support items such as -
- Christmas parties/ P1 Santa gifts
- Entry fees – cross country, athletics, gymnastics, football (some), maths challenge, to name but a few!
- National Trust membership
- Buses for competitions where pupils are representing the school (no charge is made to pupils for these clubs etc)
- External visiting performers e.g. theatre company etc. that offer wider learning to enhance our children’s learning experiences etc.
- Subsidise finance for curricular outings if required
- Provide additional curricular resources
- Support special projects
- Improve the school environment
The photo commission received to date is £857.45 with more to be added once all payments are collected. & the P7 Enterprise School Disco raised £958.42.
We will continue to support charities as planned throughout the year. Next on the calendar is Children in Need.
Campus
Building works- Kitchen on track for hand over on 05/12/16. Morgan Sindall construction and in particular Patrick Johnston, Site Manager, have been super to work with. Close links with Jane Day, Estates Officer, and Mark Greig, Maintenance Officer, has also provided a strong support and any advice required with quick response.
Repairs – Grass pitch maintenance and repairs underway.
Drainage works were carried out during the October holidays, and currently await a warrant from Scottish Water to complete the works out with the school grounds.
The Trim Trail has been given the go ahead and financial support to fund the deficit lost due to delays has been agreed. We are awaiting competitive quotes for installation.
Harling has been replaced to ensure external walls are of standard.
Internal improvements–
Morgan Sindall carried out works during October holidays –
5 classrooms in the main building have been fitted with new carpet and lino. Amazing improvement to the room and the learning environment, thank you Highland Council and Morgan Sindall & Co.
Architect plans have been completed and agreed to change the current cool room into a life skills base kitted out with kitchen facilities to enable adults and children to cook and better engage with those aspects of Curriculum for Excellence. A smartboard will be fitted for learning also so the room can be used by small groups of children requiring reinforcement of learning/ additional support in areas also. A safe calm space/ sensory type room has also been approved for works to improve the current facility/ room provision.
An SMT/ ASN office has been created from the old lost property store, and will have electrical and a data point fitted. This will be used as a breakout teaching/ learning area when the other area is made available.
The current cooks changing area is planned to be changed in to a Teacher Development Centre/ work space with data points added for computer access, allow for storage of resources, and a space to work when not class committed.
Scheduled repairs –
New wet wall selected for feature walls in both boys and girls toilets and will be fitted asap.
Path access along by the grass pitch will be tarred for improved safety, & outer facings to be painted.
Shrubbery area at end of the ELCC & P5/4 building will be removed and tarred/ grassed with seating added, potential covering, to make full use of space.
Author’s/ Storytelling Chair being made with some pupil input and gifted by Morgan Sindall for us.
Willow maintenance is £150 approx. Is there anyone knowledgeable/ willing to do this for us to avoid buying in support?
Cleaning hours
Continues to remain an issue. No change has been made to janitorial time to include additional cleaning. Feedback from Cleaning Dept. will be shared verbally due to awaiting update.
Community
Positive press coverage recently reporting our work with Ballet Lorent dance company and funds raised through Andrew Sumner running the Loch Ness Marathon for us. We nominated Highland Hospice and MFR Cash for Kids to share the funds raised. We will be working together again during December to support both charities and make an impact.
Lots of upcoming diary dates (see Newsletter calendar) to get involved with and opportunities to engage with the senior citizens in our local area.
Our Pupil Learning Council are going to be engaging with Highland One World and Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC to promote the Global Goals work in the community.
PVG info
The following parents/carers now have a PVG disclosure - Karen Latif, Caroline Leitch, Vaila Neill, Ana Garcia Rubio, Gema Rodriguez, John Bone, Marie Burns, Kate Traill.
PVG in process – Kirsten Campbell, Alistair Dowling, Doreen Morrison, Kathleen Inglis, Sharon McArthur
Curriculum
We have formed a Parent Focus Group for our ELCC as a result of findings from the ELCC Coffee and Chat session held. The group have met and are working on developing a Parent’s Guide to the ELCC by parents for parents.
We will be holding focus groups at various points through the session with a different focus, as a means of supporting the parent voice and taking action together to make a positive difference to improve our school.
We have bought in professional artists to provide opportunities for creative learning through the Expressive Arts across the school i.e. Dance, Music and Drama this term, and a new Nativity resource.
New this session is Mr Colin Delmonte providing weekly woodwind tuition to a large group of our P7 pupils.
We have invested in digital learning resources i.e. usb microphones, phonic website subscription, subscription to Nessy, a resource to support reading and spelling with a particular focus to support pupils with Dyslexia, and lots of class literacy resources to raise attainment and close the gap. We have supported numerous Career Long Professional Learning opportunities for staff to attend and share with others on return, and have James Cook, Project Co-ordinator for Raising the attainment in Literacy, delivering training on Emerging Literacy to all our EYPs supported by our P1 teachers in December. We have increased our resource provision in literacy and numeracy, purchase of Dyslexia friendly jotters, specialised tools to support ASN e.g. scissors, provided materials for a relaxing area in the ELCC and purchased child sized yoga mats to promote Health and Wellbeing.
We are using funds donated through sponsorship i.e. from the Marathon, and school funds, to support our increase in digital technology devices i.e. aim for an iPad for each class/ suite of iPads, as a start. Pupil Learning Council and staff also suggested using/raising funds for painted playground games or certain areas to play. Classes are yet to choose how they will spend their Parent Council donation on individual classes for this year, and as mentioned previously, last year’s £100 per class donation will be used jointly to either increase our provision of digital cameras, iPads, coding devices, or invest in our playground such as a playground marking(s) or loose materials.
STEM – We are embarking on an exciting learning experience by registering our P6 & P7 pupils for the CREST awards through Science, and challenging their learning and development using the CREST investigations, resources and ideas. We propose to host a Science week in March where these pupils will showcase learning to inspire and educate the younger pupils, parents, and promote joint business links for Developing the Young Workforce in this field. The beauty of the awards are that our primary children will begin to earn UCAS points for university courses for their future, and also start to link in with the programme run in the IRA.