Supporting the School in Its Work with Pupils

ST MARK’s PARENT Council

•The Parent Council has responsibility to represent the views of parents on a wide variety of educational matters

•We have four key functions:

–Supporting the school in its work with pupils

–Representing the views of parents

–Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery education and the community

–Reporting to the all parents

•The Parent Council support the school in:

–Reviewing the school’s improvement plan

–Encouraging parents and relatives to become involved in the children’s education (parent helpers, clubs, talks, and so on)

–Communicating with South Lanarkshire Council and local councillors over important issues affecting the school

–Supporting initiatives, such as educating families about internet safety

2015/6 : WHAT DID WE DO?

•August 2015 : Communicated to parents that future teacher/ class allocations would be made after returning from summer holidays. There had been concerns raised by parents over summer 2015 that children/ parents had suffered anxiety

Update: This process was implemented in Summer 2016 andproved more successful

•August 2015 : PC had raised concerns that pupil safety was potentially compromised at the small zebra crossing as cars could skid as they travelled downhill.

RESULT: A barrier was installed by SLC over summer

•October 2015 : PC sent communication to parents re inconsiderate/ unsafe parking around school and in preparation for forthcoming winter PC contacted SLC to confirm that similar gritting procedures would be put in place as previous year

RESULT : SLC agreed to grit drop off zone

•November 2015:It was noted that the school has space to accommodate Pre/ After School facilities and PC felt this would be invaluable. Ongoing

•December 2015 : PC noted that the question ‘Do you feel you child is challenged enough?’ was not included in the Parental Survey. It was requested that the above question be included again in the survey. Some felt that over the past year they had seen a tangible improvement in pace and challenge. There was also some discussion about the feedback given at Parents’ evenings and how this dialogue could be improved.

RESULT : Question added and improvement in feedback noted

•February 2016 : PC discussed incentivised charity events and that a number of parents had complained about this. Mrs Campbell confirmed that the school had reviewed this and would not be participating in these again.

•February 2016 : PC contacted SLC regarding the ‘ambiguous’ lower access road.

RESULT : SLC painted road markings to stop problem

•April 2016 : Most critical issue of 2015/ 16. PC undertook many discussions with SLC, local councillors, Scottish government regarding the critical lack of staffing ( as did other parents)

RESULT : Following prolonged talks , the staffing issue was resolved

WHAT CAN WE DO BETTER?

•Communicate better and involve more parents

•Ensure all parents are aware of website

Twitter@stmarksham, PTA Facebook page St Mark’s Primary School PTA

•And much more …. Please tell us!

Parent Council : CONTACT

•We’re here to help. If there’s something which worries you, or which you’d just like to suggest or speak about, let us know. Simply speak to one of the Parent Council

•Alternatively, email us at:

•Or JOIN US!

•We meet on the first Thursday of each month at 7pm and we’d love to see you there