Minute of AGM 2008
Present:
Jean Balloch (Chair)
Stewart Buchan (Vice-Chair)
Susan Dalglish
Anne Dowie
Clare Eadie (Treasurer)
Eric Eunson
Lynn Eunson
Dianne Garvie
Holly Kilday
Louise Kirkpatrick
Lorraine McKay
Jane Park (Co-opted Teacher member)
Lesley Paterson
Veronica Rodger
Eleanor Simpson
Dawn Slight
Margaret Stewart
Ronnie Summers (Headteacher)
Steve Williams
1. Apologies:
Heather Wallace
2. Chair’s Report:
Jean presented the Parent Council Annual Report (below) highlighting the following points:
• Trying different ways of organizing the meeting.
• Developing interest groups – Communication, Fundraising, and new for this session, Health.
• East Lothian Council training
• In common with previous parental organizations MGSPC is not a forum where concerns regarding individuals are discussed. Those should be taken to the appropriate Guidance Staff.
Musselburgh Grammar School Parent Council replaced the former School Board and Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of previous years. This was in accordance with legislation (Parental Involvement Act 2006) and the parental choice to abolish the PTA in our school because there were similar interests in both groups.
WHAT DOES PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT MEAN
Parental Involvement is not just about attending meetings and making decisions about the management of the school – it is much more and calls on all parents to get involved in whatever way suits them.
The general idea of making changes was to get away from the stuffiness of School Board meetings and introduce more flexibility of how parents can be involved with their child’s school
WHAT HAS HAPPENED THIS SESSION
We set up a committee of 30 members from the Parental Forum ( ie all the parents in the school) and meet on a monthly basis, for two hours.
Meetings have been held
on different evenings to introduce more flexibility for parents.
Most importantly, the parents have been trying to work on the format of meetings to facilitate a more comfortable setting that encourages parents to get involved in different ways.
For example, we have tried to encourage full discussion of a variety of topics by breaking into small groups for short periods of time. This allows people to get a chance to air their views, listen to a smaller number of people and manage everybody’s time more effectively.
It also means that we get those golden ideas and opinions from people who may not feel comfortable talking in front of a lot of people.
INTEREST GROUPS
Another difference is the introduction of Interest Groups. They meet independently of the main Parent Council whenever and wherever they want and can involve parents from any area in the school who have a like-minded interest.
They may be set up for a particular task or could be ongoing with different parents being involved over their duration.
Their only remit is to make a monthly progress report to the Parent Council for information and support purposes.
At present, there is a Fund-raising group who
have ran a Car Boot Sale, marshalled a marathon
and raised funds through the 50/50 draw.
The Communications group have been exploring ways of improving the dynamics between parents, staff, pupils and the wider community using the latest technology as well as rethinking traditional methods.
Ideas for new groups include
• Health
• P7/S1 Transition
REPORTING
The Head Teacher gives a monthly report along with parents who have attended training courses or other meetings,
The new partnership with the Pupil Council is ensuring that issues felt by our children can be made from their perspective.
There are some vacancies on the Parent Council and your interest will be appreciated.
3. Treasurer’s Report
Clare presented the audited accounts. Total income for the year ended 5th September was £704.25. This had been raised by one car boot sale, two 50/50 lotteries and marshalling the Edinburgh Half marathon. Some donations were also received.
There was discussion about how the funds should be spent and it was decided that £200 would be given for healthy snacks and outdoor speakers to support the S1 Health Day, £250 to help provide school uniforms for families experiencing financial hardship and £200 to protect various wall hangings donated to the school in order that they can be properly displayed.
The issue of the cost of transport for sporting events held away from the school was raised and Ronnie will bring details of these to a future meeting.
The Fundraising Interest group will meet before the next Parent Council meeting to consider future events and specifically a Christmas Raffle.
4. Amendments to the Constitution
The following amendments were circulated to the Parent Forum prior to the meeting:
i. Paragraph 2, point 4 amend to read “To develop and engage in activities which support the education and welfare of all pupils.”
ii. Paragraph 5. Delete “distributing parents equally by yeargroup”
iii. Paragraph 12. Insert “if a member of the council fails to attend two consecutive scheduled meetings and also fails to pass apologies to the Clerk or Chair either directly or via another council member they will be deemed to have resigned their council membership.”
iv. Paragraph 16. Amend the final sentence to read “The Chair, or delegate, will complete the report and submit it for approval by MGSPC, such approval to be given by the end of June.”
v. Paragraph 22. Insert “22a. Interested parties will submit items to be considered for inclusion in the agenda to the Chair at least seven days prior to scheduled meetings.”
vi. Paragraph 22. Insert “22b. The Clerk will circulate an agenda to parent council members at least four days prior to scheduled meetings.”
vii. Paragraph 28. Amend to read “…of MGSPC and affiliated interest groups.”
Amendment ii was accepted by eight votes to seven. All other amendments were accepted unanimously. It was also agreed to renumber the paragraphs avoiding duplication. The amended constitution is available via the school website www.mgsonline.org.uk .
5. Issues
No other issues were raised.
6. Head Teacher’s Report
Ronnie presented the following report:
School roll at 23rd September 2008 – 1340.
Very full S1 and S2 – few spaces for incoming pupils to district and roll-capped for those outwith district. S3 and S4 also roll-capped, but less of an issue for registration and more of an issue for entry to subjects and entry at the correct level. S5/6 has 300 pupils which is close to expectations – big S6 at 118. A number of issues round course choice for S3 and S5/6 as ever, but running a very tight timetable.
Budget
I have spoken before about efficiency savings expected of 2% which translates to £97,000 in session 2008/9. We’re finding it very hard to get the budget to balance this year – we had an overspend in session 2007/8 of nearly £37,000 - about 0.66% of total budget. There should be more income as census roll figure should be above 1327 and appointments to staff have occurred at a lower point on the teaching scale than the retired incumbents, so we are far from final figures. I have made various expenditure cuts in ICT and supplies and services to reduce costs. I have briefed John Sowerby on the reasons for the projected overspend and have spoken to Maureen Jobson, Acting Head of Education about it.
Staffing
Permanent appointments were made in RME (Religious and Moral Education) and Home Economics and a number of staff were appointed as job shares. I decided not to fill posts in Mathematics and English permanently, but have appointed 2 teachers on temporary contracts in English and await the arrival of a teacher in Mathematics. I have interviewed and appointed replacement staff in Chemistry and Music in the last week. We asked for a higher number of NQTs (newly qualified teachers) than normal as a mechanism to reduce staffing costs but received fewer than expected, which impacted on departmental timetables. One NQT left inside the first week.
HMIE Follow through inspection
This was carried out by John Sowerby, Quality Improvement Officer in East Lothian on behalf of HMIe since the first report was very strong and remains in the top third of reports published for secondary schools since 2005. We addressed the action points in the report to their satisfaction.
Results
I enclosed details of the 2008 examination results in my mailshot to parents. We produced a strong set of results for S4 – 30% at Grades 1-2, 77% at Grades 1-4, 91% at Grades 1-6 - but S5 Higher results slipped back marginally but not unexpectedly given the lower Credit pass rate in 2007 while those pupils were in S4. The overall trends for the school remain upward and we perform well against our comparator schools. Poor attendance impacts on attainment every year and we work hard to liaise with parents to make them aware of this. We are working to reduce the numbers of pupils unprepared for the world of work – the More Choices More Chances group – and various initiatives try to keep these pupils engaged in education through college release, extra meetings with Careers Scotland, Princes’ Trust etc.
School Improvement Plan 2008/9
• Improve the consistency of learning and teaching across the school – be establishing learning teams, using AiFL (Assessment is for Learning) techniques and using How Good Is Our School 3 Quality Indicators
• Implementation of A Curriculum for Excellence – developing various in-school projects
• Improving the Pupil Voice – develop the role of the Pupil Council, use SELS software to ask pupils about their experiences, develop the prefect system
• Develop the role of the management team representative – to support departments and individual staff
A Curriculum for Excellence
Scottish education is undergoing change. Much of what we do will be retained, but redirected into making pupils develop the 4 capacities as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. This reflects much of what we do here in any case and the shift of interest in achievement as well as attainment sits very comfortably with our school ethos.
There is a great deal of information available on this, but much of it is intended to support and guide practising teachers. A pupil’s experience of schools will be expressed in outcomes and experiences and this reform should help in drawing together a pupil’s knowledge and skills and not leave them in separate subject boxes. It is an opportunity to make teaching and learning better for pupils, but it would be fair to say that the profession is grappling with the change.
There is a consultation until the end of October 2008 on assessment and qualifications which I spoke to at the last Parent Council meeting. The proposals include having examinations in Literacy and Numeracy and pupils will only sit 5 subject examinations rather than 8. I would advise parents to have a look at the proposals which are likely to take effect in session 2012/13 – so it is some time away.
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He added that, following concerns about cleaning last year, cleaners had been in school during the summer holiday and had done an excellent job in preparing the school for the new term. Improvements to ventilation had also been made.
7. New Council Members
New parent members, Eric Eunson, Lynn Eunson, Louise Kirkpatrick, Veronica Rodger and Dawn Slight were formally welcomed to MGSPC. There remain seven parent member vacancies.
8. Selection of Office Bearers
The following office bearers were selected:
Chair Stewart Buchan
Vice chair Eleanor Simpson
Treasurer Clare Eadie
Date and time of next meeting
Wednesday 22nd October 2008 at 7pm.
This minute is pending approval at the next AGM in September 2009.
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