Evacuation November 27, 2008
Posted by Gael Gillan in : Uncategorized , add a commentEVACUATION !
The scene this morning at King’s Cross station was an upsetting one. The platform was crowded with sobbing mothers and frightened children of all ages, pushing and shoving to get on the train. Families hugging, squeezing and children hiding their faces in their mothers jumpers to try and stay together. The thick steam all around surrounded them like cloudy water pushing itself into any gap it can reach. You could see the train windows steaming up with the breath of children breathing through their mouths as their noses were pressed up against the glass trying to get one last glance of their mothers hankies waving about in the air before they left. Margaret King said ‘It is just the fright that hits you when the guard’s whistle blows and there is a chance you may never see your children again’.
reported by Caitlin B.
Primary 7 have been imagining what it would have been like to be evacuated. There has been lots of investigation and discussion before everyone became reporters for various newspapers in 1939. This is part of our learning about WW2.
If anyone at home has a story linked to this topic, please share it with us. We are particularly keen to know about life in Haddington during the Second World War. Did many evacuees come to our schools ?
Budget November 24, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentOnce again we were fortunate to have Provost Richardson attend this part of the meeting. The discussion was focussed around the You pay, you say consultation document from the council. The council propose to cut Education’s share of the budget by 1.5% over the next three years. This is on top of the efficiency savings that schools are currently implementing (6.5 % spread over 3 years).
King’s Meadow currently spends 95% of its budget on staff, so it seems impossible to see how these cuts can be met. Bear in mind that three out of the four year groups have maximum or near maximum class sizes. We are one depute teacher down, putting significantly extra work on Mr McGillivray and Mr Smith. In the last four out of five years the average class size has gone up, whilst the resource available per pupil has gone down.
Where could the savings come from?
Support for learning - by reducing the provision so that only the children most in need receive any kind of help? It is an acknowledged fact that though that 20% of children will require some additional support for learning help at some time in the school career.
Educational supplies budget - could this be scrapped, with no new books, jotters, pencils etc? This is only sustainable for a year at the most.
Heating - is not cheap and costs are most likely to go up. Do we send our kids to school in thicker jumpers?
Non filling of staff vacancies as they arise - this has already happening with the non-replacement of depute Mrs Martin, however, it could also extend to a reduction of school admin/clerical staff and and auxiliaries.
Contradiction?
These cuts will affect the life chances of all our children, and it seems inevitable that they will have greatest impact on the most vulnerable pupils. It is ironic that, in just June of this year, East Lothian Council made these specific commitments for our children:
- We are better educated, more skilled and more successful
- Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed
- We have improved the life chances for children
It is hard to see how continual cuts to the budget help King’s Meadow to fulfil any of these promises.
Action
At our meeting and as part of the You pay, you say consultation Provost Richardson asked for feedback on which services we value and where we felt cuts could be made. The parent council will be putting together a response that we will circulate to parents. If you agree with our response we ask that you sign it and return it to East Lothian Council. If you wish you can also add your comment directly to the council via the You Pay, You Say web site. The more support we can get from parents the more weight we have as parent forum to get our concerns taken seriously. We aim to get a letter to you via pupil mail for the end of the month.
From King’s Meadow parent council meeting – Wed 19th Nov 08
Email address November 24, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentThe parent council now has its own email address: parentcouncil@kingsmeadow.elcschool.org.uk
If you have any queries, or wish to have an item raised at a meeting then you can contact us using this address.
Web site November 24, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentThe new school website is gradually taking shape, and a growing number of parents are requesting email alerts for King’s Meadow postings. There are plans to have pages for each year group, with the opportunity for pupils to upload and share their work.
From King’s Meadow parent council meeting – Wed 19th Nov 08
Pupil progress meetings November 24, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentThe response from these new-style meetings has been positive. Parents have welcomed the flexibility of dates, and both teachers and parents have appreciated the extra time available for each meeting. Staff do recognise that there have been problems in managing the bulge of requests for some teachers on particular nights. There will be an review of how everything has gone at the end of the session, but with a view to maintain the more flexible format.
From King’s Meadow parent council meeting – Wed 19th Nov 08
November 2008 Newsletter November 19, 2008
Posted by Donald McGillivray in : School Newsletters , add a commentAgenda November 14, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentHere’s the agenda for our next parent council meeting on Wednesday.
agenda 19th Nov 2008
Parent council meeting – 19th Nov November 10, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentOur next meeting will be Wednesday 19th November. If you would like any issues raised please speak to any parent council member.
You pay, you say… November 3, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentEast Lothian Council have just issued a public consultation document, You Pay, You Say, describing education cuts for the next three years. Unfortunately this is not the current round of cuts, (sometimes referred to as efficiency savings) but new and further cuts. The council is now proposing to progressively reduce Education’s share of the county budget, year on year from 41.3% to 39.8%. Taking inflation into account, these cuts are real.
This will obviously have a major impact on our school. As a parent council we are concerned as to the effect yet more cut backs will have on our children.
The consultation closes on 19th December. We would really encourage everyone to look at the document and make your views known. This can be done directly to East Lothian Council, or through the King’s Meadow parent council blog (just add a comment to this post), or by speaking to a parent council member. Your support is invaluable - as a parent council we have far more impact if we can show we have the weight of opinion on our side.
http://edubuzz.org/blogs/haveyoursay
Lining up for P6 & 7 October 31, 2008
Posted by Liz Woodsend in : Parent Council , add a commentThis issue was raised at the parent council meeting (1 Oct - see below) and was subsequently discussed at the staff meeting of 6th October. The main problem is that there are significantly more children in P7 than in P6. By having the children lining up and using the cloakrooms as they currently are addresses this imbalance and means that there is less congestion in the P7 cloakroom. The staff felt logistically, this was still the best option and therefore the current arrangements should remain. The teachers appreciated the reasons why this issue was raised by pupils, and would like the stress that King’s Meadow is now trying to move away from having discrete year groups and towards having an Upper School (P6, P7) and Middle School (P4, P5) instead.
