PIXIESHILLPRIMARY SCHOOL

PARENT FORUM MEETING (Future Agendas and Workshops)

Thursday 12th October 6pm

Present: Martin Smith (Head),Mrs Lee, Mrs Walker, Mr Butterworth, Mrs Kingsbury

Summarised Discussion Points
1 / Minutes of last meeting
MS discussed that the suggestions made into the 3 year plan had been added
2 / Introductions and Terms of Reference
MS asked all to make introductions. New parents to the forum were welcomed.
MS discussed the terms of reference and clarified why we are doing parent forum, the impact of this in the past, what the parent forum does/doesn’t do.
3 / Future Meetings
MS explained that as a few members of parent forum have left and new members have joined, it would be good to discuss what agenda items we would like to cover over the next few weeks. Until recently, MS has been driving agendas but is reluctant to keep doing this as he wants to hear about what matters to parents.
Some suggested future meetings are:
  • Communication – good in the main but issues with accuracy of emails, dates, calendars which are causing confusion (This agenda may include use of mobile phones at collection and drop off time).
  • Special Event days e.g. Back to the Future, Wellbeing Week, etc (also thinking through the time of day of these (after school and choosing days carefully??)
  • Child Led workshops (MS explained we would be discussing workshops as the next agenda item).
  • Sports (recently discussed at parent forum so may wait till next academic year)

4 / Workshops
MS explained to parents that past workshops have had mixed attendance and sometimes, analysis of this doesn’t give a clear picture e.g. phonics workshop in 2016 attended by over 30 parents but less than a dozen in 2017. MS explained that sometimes, this can be disheartening for staff who throw their heart and soul into projects. We have introduced age appropriate crèche for all workshops. Some parents suggested the timing of some of the workshops might be proving a barrier for some and perhaps the best time was straight after school at pickup time. MS said he had typically set them at 6-7pm starts so that parents could get in from work and attend but would be happy to consider earlier start times.
Parents were asked what workshops they would like.
  • A governor workshop would be useful so that parents can understand what they do in the school and what their role is. MS agreed this would be useful and will raise at future committee meetings.
  • Maths – many parents confused by modern methods and acronyms (used in education generally) such as numberbonds. Would it be possible to have a glossary. MS thought one had been done in the past but needs to check on this. Happy to sort one if not present. Parents indicated this workshop is the most important workshop to do of the ones discussed.
  • Managing child anxiety and promoting resilience and tying this to fixed and growth mindset work which has been taking place in school. Parents expressed this has not yet been easily understood. This workshop would be 2nd place in terms of priority from the list.
General issues
  • Meet the teacher (not really a workshop) – would be helpful to talk to teachers about making them jargon free. MS agree to raise this with staff.
  • It was suggested that Governors could approach parents in the playground to gauge what workshops other parents would like.
  • Letters for workshops should be given well in advance (MS explained this is usually the case but there have been occasions where this has been shorter as gaps have appeared in the diary to accommodate)
  • Parents would like more communication from parent govs – some parents unaware who the new parent governors are. MS explained they have a website page and we have introduced via the newsletter.

5 / Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 23rd Jan 2018 and will be about communication.
Next steps
MS will look to arrange a maths workshop this academic year.
MS to discuss governor workshop at future committee meetings.
MS to check if we do have a glossary in use and to send/resend? this out.
MS to discuss with governors gauging workshop requirements of wider parents in playground.
MS to put item on parent governors in the next newsletter.

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