Present: Anna Fairhurst, Debs Shipway, Catherine Hunter, Annabel Mulcahy

Parent Council 2nd October

Present: Anna Fairhurst, Debs Shipway, Catherine Hunter, Annabel Mulcahy

Apologies: Dave Golding, Claire Wright, Jane Hornsby

1. Not many people here. Do we need more people? Is this not a good time?

For current people: not Tuesday or Wednesday. Could do Thurs at 2.30.

Mrs Fairhurst will ask the people on the list if they want to continue and if there is a better time.

2. Welcome to FS: Welcome was very good. Good that teacher went to the pre-school – helped the children feel welcome. The children liked that they knew Mrs Winter before the parents did. Good gradual start. The gradual start in September: some parents were worried that the first full-time week the children would be tired: they liked being able to have half-days; others would have preferred full time straight away! Mix of opinions.

Next year advertise that it’s OK to take children out at lunch time for longer.

3. Parents in Kennedy class would like ClassDojo again.

Working mums like to be able to have better communication with the teacher.

Using the school office introduces a middle-man and delays the response.

Parents like getting feedback on what the child needs to work at (photograph of work).

Answers from Mrs Fairhurst:

It’s important to work as a whole school team rather than having individual classes doing different things. We are launching Parenthub this week, which is an app which allows teachers and the office to send messages and pictures, with a few advantages:

• documents as well as pictures and texts can be sent
• it sends a text to any parent who does not have the app (so nobody is excluded)
• the office and headteacher can see what teachers have sent
• it will in the future link with other systems, including online payments

We need a précis of this in newsletter.

4. Positive: Teachers’ class letters on time and full.

5. From Claire Wright: children happy.

6. Lots of people have said Mr Lowe is really helpful. Lots of little things are looking good, e.g. flowers. He fixes things quickly and well. The place is looking great.

7. Carterton catchment area has expanded to include us. We are still in the Burford catchment area and partnership.

Burford School. still guarantees a place for everyone at Brize Norton School.

Mrs Fairhurst will put something in newsletter.

8. We need more people to be able to drive the minibus.

Could Mr Lowe help? January INSET maybe

9. Mashed potato has lumps in it. Roast potatoes cold. Roast dinner seems to be the biggest problem.

Mrs Fairhurst to tell Sandra. School Council. Talk to company if still a problem last time. Unannounced trial.

10. Cycling proficiency – children really pleased. Mrs Bostock and Mrs Webb work really hard.

11. The younger children love getting to know the older ones.

12. Idea from another school – older children a specific buddy with the little ones, or hi-vis jacket if helping little ones.

13. Positive feedback for Mrs Conner for Y1 children.

Extras points from after the meeting

14. Hawking class has had 15 spellings sometimes. It should be 10. This has now been sorted out.

15. Parents would like to know how well children are doing on spelling tests. Could the results, or tests, go home?

Mrs Fairhurst will ask the teachers. Maybe this is a good use of Parenthub.

16. The Y5s are enjoying working together for some lessons. The question was asked about seating when curie yr5s go into class Tutu- during the first 2weeks curie Year 5s had to sit on the floor during intros every time which some found awkward/ felt babyish.

Answer from Mrs Fairhurst: I spoke to Miss Musgrave this morning. She does ask them to sit on the floor for less than 5 minutes at the start of Computing. This is so that they come into the classroom quickly and they can get on with their learning. They all come in together, and when she was letting them choose where they sit, all of them would chat and fuss and the lesson took ages to get started. Now she asks her own class to sit in their own seats and the others to sit on the floor, but it’s just for 5 minutes while she tells them what to do; then they can choose where they want to sit.

17. Request for term dates for sept next yr- I know on the Oxfordshire website it says term starts 4th Sept but we usually have inset day or 2 at start of term which I am sure is helpful for the staff and also means a less long week for the children to cope with which is important for little ones, esp new reception children.

Answer from Mrs Fairhurst: INSET days: I have to choose five days across the year and run them past governors a year in advance! We have already set the dates for the 2018 - 19 year: 4th/5th September; 7th January; 3rd June; 24th July.