Our Lady of the Missions Primary School Parent Council

Our Lady of the Missions Primary School Parent Council

Minutes of Meeting – 27 October 2016

The meeting was called to order by chair Gillian Boyle and acting head teacher Josephine McGrotty at 7:00pm

1.Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the September 15 2016 meeting were proposed and seconded by Chris McLaughlin and Mary Cluckie.

2.Response to Governance Review

In a change to the agenda, Joe McLachlan led with his comments on a proposed response to the Scottish Government’s Review on educational attainment. He summarised the plans to give head teachers more autonomy, centralise to some degree and divert resources around more deprived local educational authorities. The report consists of seventeen questions which he believes are difficult to respond to / understand and is concerned that East Renfrewshire Council’s current good practice in education would be adversely affected.

Gillian Boyle questioned whether each school’s PC should submit a response.

Chris McLaughlin asked for an example of ‘good practice’. J McLachlan said that ERC submits annual reports to parents unlike most other councils, and that ERC spend proportionally more on education than other councils.

Michael McKenzie asked how resources would be redistributed. J McLachlan explained that monies raised from council tax increases to Bands E-H would be collected in a central fund and reallocated to P1-S3 pupils in receipt of free school meals.

John Paul Sheridan considered that redistribution and further centralisation could create problems which didn’t occur here before. J McLachlan said that ERC does not have any particularly “deprived” schools, and that different percentiles tend to be educated together. Monies raised in ERC will therefore largely be diverted elsewhere.

Chris McLaughlin said that evidence money increases attainment does not exist.

Faheem Bhatti questioned how the PCs should communicate this to other parents. J McLachlan responded saying that there needs to be further consideration of how best to respond.

Cllr Jim Fletcher stated that COSLA are “near universally opposed” to the centralisation agenda.

Gerard Devenney said that he does not believe that throwing money at the problem is the solution and thinks this centralisation is ultimately problematic for people in East Renfrewshire. Tax increases will lower standards of living for residents seeking better lives. The centralisation will hamper educational attainment, which he feels is high because ERC residents have high educational standards, and this is not appreciated by the Scottish Government.

G Boyle thanked J McLachlan for his input. There will be further discussion at the next meeting. John Paul Sheridan will co-ordinate our efforts as a PC on this topic.

3.Further Response to ERC consultation on new admissions arrangements

Gillian Boyle advised that our response has been submitted, and groups of parents and pupils had taken part in follow up meetings with Education Scotland inspectors. It was a short meeting that could only scratch the surface of the many issues raised by the consultation and the Council’s recommendations would be published in December 2016.

Chris McLaughlin wanted to know whether the ERC Education Committee will vote for it.

Faheem Bhatti raised concerns regarding the consultation of P4-6 pupils as part of the process. He doubted pupils understood the subject. G Boyle replied that this was standard council procedure and was mandated for any consultation. Josephine McGrotty replied further saying that pupil council reps attended a meeting where they were asked to give details to their classmates. P4-7 were asked because pupil voice is important. She emphasised that the process had been carried out entirely in accordance with the process established by ERC and had been handled very sensitively. The children showed a good degree of maturity in taking part.

Mary Moore accepted that the school would have carried out the process correctly however stated that she felt that it was inappropriate that nine year olds be treated as stakeholders as she did not feel the children could understand the issues properly, particularly when the issues were very personal for some families in the school.

Joanne Logan stated concern that her son in Primary 4 had “no idea what he was asked” and was not allowed to state that he didn’t know. J McGrotty advised that it was not compulsory for him to vote.

Other parents raised issues about the vote. Faheem Bhatti addressed the fact that the parents were not informed about the pupils vote. Pauline Murphy asks about the results, with Michael McKenzie seconding her with concerns about the “validity” if some pupils did not understand. Michael Harvey raised concerns that parents don’t know how their children voted, but their classmates do.

J McGrotty said she will discuss with ERC’s Janice Collins (Quality Improvement Officer) the parents concerns. Gillian Boyle agreed with parents generally on this issue and undertook to write to ERC on behalf of the PC reflecting these concerns.

Cllr Mary Montague said she would hope that the presentation was appropriate to the age and learning stage of children, and would expect it to have been a learning opportunity.

4.Priorities for the Year Ahead

Gillian Boyle asked for volunteers to join several steering groups to tackle issues throughout the school:

• Standardised testing and reporting
• Communications group – refreshing the email transition and creating a closed Facebook group to discuss school matters
• Food group – following up on last year’s survey and other issues
• Traffic / parking – ongoing problem, someone is required to take over this group
• Playground project – linking with PSA to develop / improve the playground and the grassy space in particular

Michael McKenzie asked about the trend in increasing P1 admissions. G Boyle said that this will be capped at 120 if the consultation goes through in December. Cllr Jim Fletcher advised that ERC uses census information, but it is difficult to predict migration (especially from Glasgow to East Renfrewshire) and is almost impossible to predict when schools do well and thus attract more pupils – the present formula is based on children per new house building, and expecting a third to go into Catholic education.

Anne Marie O’Brien raised her concern that the school is getting too big, as such the school was unable to have Halloween parties like neighbouring schools. Josephine McGrotty said that the PSA is responsible for events, ands that they decided to refresh the annual event calendar this year. G Boyle advised the family Halloween disco sold out every year, leaving kids disappointed, and it may be there will be a kids only disco in future. She also noted that the PSA had last year organized all the various events and fundraising with a committee of only 8 parents out of all the parents in school so some rationalisation was required. There seems however to be a bigger number on board this year which was to be welcomed. G Boyle also mentioned the application for lottery funding for a future multicultural food and art festival. Geraldine Leonard also added that Halloween adds pressure on making and buying costumes, similar to events such as Book Week.

Jo Heraghty asked about media reporting of anxiety in young children increasing, and asked how the school reflected this. J McGrotty advised that the Personal and Social Development strand on health and wellbeing begins from P1, mentioning the “Fun Friends” approach and stressed that this is a main strand of the curriculum.

G Boyle reminded members as a general point that the PC is not the appropriate vehicle for discussing individual pupils and teachers, and that parents should discuss such matters with Josephine and the deputies.

5.Achievements and Successes

Mary Cluckie thought that the “Crazy Hair Day” where pupils wore red clothing and wacky hair styles for Show Racism the Red Card was a success.

Faheem Bhatti said that new parents to the school appreciated the online booking format for the “meeting the parents” slots.

Gillian Boyle thought that the stage mass was beautiful.

Mairead Brophy liked the Twitter updates as she gets to see what the children do in PE and outside, and noted she was aware of an app for class teacher updates and parent comments. G Boyle suggested she send in details. Josephine McGrotty responds to her comment on homework updates and said that this is available for P5 and up on Glow, with paper copies as an alternative should parents require this .

Pauline Murphy requested meetings for P1 parents on homework expectations. J McGrotty advised that the curriculum event in November will discuss input on phonics and reading.

Anne Marie O’Brien suggested Glow should be used for transition to St Ninian’s, and would like parents to receive digital training. F Bhatti advised that he knows a parent who makes apps, and will try to get him to volunteer for the school.

6.Acting Head Teachers Report

Josephine McGrotty advised that the Head Teacher post remains vacant. The vacancy will be readvertised in January, and she will remain in the acting post until Easter. ERC considers that she school requires an experienced and exceptional headteacher and is prepared to wait for the right candidate to emerge.

Chris McLaughlin asked how many applications were received for the role, but J McGrotty is not privy to the information on the number of candidates for the role and could not say.

J McGrotty announced that Mrs Miller had a little girl, and that there will be two further maternity leaves in the next few months.

Mrs Rae and Mrs Broadley will be responsible for the lowest performing 20% of pupils in the school.

Class teachers remain encouraged to take personal development forward, and J McGrotty congratulated Miss Cummings for her recent Masters Degree with Merit in Inclusive Education, mentioning her “Lego Therapy”.

The parents evenings were successful with online booking, and out of the 512 responses to the evaluation, 99% agreed with the key statements on attainment, progress and being informed by the school on pupil progress.

The P7 pupils are excited about their Lockerbie Manor trip.

Parents commented favourably about the Rosary Group.

Mrs Kane will run the forthcoming House Day, and a variety of activities will be on offer.

The school has been fitted with wifi for staff, and will install 90 laptops into the school. Pupils will only have access to devices in the building, and they will not be allowed to use their own devices.

7.AOCB

Parents asked about the Daily Mile pilot scheme taken up by P5 pupils. Josephine McGrotty advised that this is supplementary to PE. Parents and pupils are enthusiastic, and it is hoped to extend to the rest of the P4-7s. Mary Cluckie and Jo Heraghty both advised that their P5 children are more focused and enthusiastic as a result of this.

For background, Gillian Boyle noted that the Daily Mile is a perimeter run/walk that aims to increase stamina, enthusiasm and general wellbeing. She advised that the school in Stirling which introduced the scheme saw increased fitness in pupils and an absence of obesity in children. It has been adopted by hundreds of schools nationwide.

Gillian Boyle noted that a parent had complained about teachers parking in the Drop-Off Zone, leaving less than half the space available and causing tailbacks. J McGrotty says she has already advised teachers to park in the central area, but will continue to monitor the situation.

Next Meeting

December 8 2016, 7:00pm, Our Lady of the Missions Primary School.

Motion to adjourn was made at8:00pm and was passed unanimously.

Present

Faiza Ali, Catriona Bark, Faheem Bhatti, Clare Bowes, Gillian Boyle, Mairead Brophy, Mary Cluckie, Marie-Claire Darroch, Roisin-Alana Di Giacomo, Wasif Hafeez, Michael Harvey, Jo Heraghty, Michelle Hynes, Claire Johnston, Geraldine Leonard, Joanne Logan, Michael McKenzie, Joe McLachlan, Chris McLaughlin, Mary Moore, Pauline Murphy, Amogh Naik, Anne Marie O’Brien, Afzal Shaikh, John Paul Sheridan, Almas Yunis, Josephine McGrotty, Jacqueline Devlin, Nicola Cochrane, Maureen Cumming, Paul McCann, Cllr Jim Fletcher, Cllr Mary Montague, Cllr Ralph Robertson,

Apologies

Ishrat Bashir, Afzal Shaikh, Denis Heraghty, Judy Taggart, Pauline Hessett, Jacqueline Stewart. Claire Johnston, Cllr Wallace, Cllr McCaskill, Cllr Watters

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