Draft Minutes of the Gairloch High School Parent Council AGM meeting, 5th October 2009
Present: John Port, Mary Rogers, Alison Grove, Sandi Urquhart, Jennifer Robertson, Susan MacLean, Andy McSwan, Christine MacLennan, Robin Fox, Jean Ross, Yvonne Spence, Tina MacKenzie, Elspeth MacDonald, Isobel MacKenzie, Clare Caley, Lynn MacKenzie, Sam Banister, Suzanne Laing, Duncan Donald
Apologies: Nevis Hulme, Gillian Morrison, Richard Greene
Mary thanked everyone for attending the meeting and handed over to Robin as previous chair. Robin explained that he had stood down as chair because of work commitments and he thanked Mary and the rest of the Parent Council for all that had been done in recent months. Mary then presented Robin with a gift and card to thank him for his work as chair of the Parent Council.
Chairperson’s report – Mary explained the objectives of the Parent Council included working in partnership with the school to ensure the school is welcoming and inclusive, supporting the education and welfare of pupils, fundraising, and representing the views of parents/carers. The PC has been active in fundraising, which will be spoken about later.
As well as fundraising, our main focus in the past year has been on the cuts to teaching staff. We first heard about this in March and have since written many letters to MP’s and MSP’s. We have had an immense support from parents past and present, and the wider community. Mary would like to make a special thank you to Charles Kennedy MP for his support. The turnout at the public meeting was spectacular and this was noted by Highland Council. Last week, the PC met with Hugh Fraser, Director of Education. There will be no changes in the current year but Mr Fraser is willing to meet with the PC later this year to discuss the situation for the next school year.
On the school website, there is a section detailing many achievements of past pupils. One email was received prior to the current staffing crisis from Tim Causer, former pupil, who has just completed his PhD and commented on how it was Mr Richardson who had got him so interested in history. This highlights the importance of maintaining all subjects on the curriculum at Gairloch High School.
Malawi Link – Dr Clare Caley gave a presentation on her recent visit to Malawi and the Mlozi School. She said it is good for the children in Malawi and also the children in Gairloch High School to learn the similarities and differences between cultures to enable them to become responsible global citizens.
Last year, the S1 undertook a Malawi project which involved many of the subjects they are involved in, including craft & design, music, art, social sciences and science. They put on a show of their project to other pupils in the school, also to children from the local primary schools.
Clare has also done Primary Activity days with the local primary schools. This has helped the transition between primary and secondary school and also encourages the younger children to think about Malawi.
The Link Schools Programme aids communication with most S1 – S3 pupils and some S4 pupils corresponding with children in Malawi and there is also a joint project on the reasons that children go to school, to understand each other’s culture better.
When Clare went back to Malawi this summer, she took books that had been purchased by last years S1 from money raised at their bring and buy sale. She noticed on this visit that there was more community involvement and more teaching staff, also that the grades achieved by pupils were better than before.
Clare is now applying for a reciprocal visits grant to allow Malawi teachers to come here to work on a joint curriculum project. She would also like to see pupil visits in both directions in the future.
Fundraising – Sandi explained that Jennifer, Yvonne and herself were the fundraising sub group. Over the past year, they had done a bottle bingo and a stall at the Highland Gathering, raising about £1000. The parent council had also been involved in catering at school functions, the bring and buy sale, the prize giving and the Primary school Christmas event. Sponsors for the calendar were also obtained.
The PC are hoping to do a bonfire and firework display on the 7th November, a bottle bingo on the 28th November and a mega raffle at the Poolewe market on the 5th December. Jean Ross is going to advise re a beetle drive in the term after Christmas and it is also hoped to get a supply of re-saleable items to sell.
French Trip – Andy McSwan showed a video of the French trip by pupil Gemma MacLean and another video by a pupil in 6th year who had not gone on the French trip, showing the pupils enjoying a mountain biking activity. There are also a wide selection of photos on the school website which show the extent of activities enjoyed by the pupils who had gone to France and the pupils who had stayed for the activity week here.
Head teachers report – Staff cuts – 2 years ago, the school roll dropped below 200, which had an effect on the staff ratio according to the formula. Fortunately, staff already in the school were qualified to take on the guidance and managerial roles, which meant that some of the over staffing was absorbed naturally. Due to the budget squeeze, the Highland Council wanted further reductions immediately. It has been a difficult time and the support from parents and the wider community is appreciated.
Curriculum for Excellence is coming into place. This is where the curriculum is reinvented around individual pupils. The choice of subjects gives greater problems if there are less teaching staff. There is possibly to be a curriculum for S1 to S3 pupils offering general subjects and another curriculum for S4, S5 and S6 pupils with specialised subjects and specialised teachers. Highers and advanced highers will be kept. In S1 to S3, there will be fewer contacts so they may see the same teacher for different subjects or not study as many subjects at the same time. eg. 1 teacher will teach a broad social subjects course. These changes will gradually come into effect when the current P7 come to High School.
The school once again achieved good exam results with a good overall achievement in many areas including Duke of Edinburgh awards. Regarding school improvement, there is collaborative learning with cross-curricular work and staff working together across the subjects, looking at the different ways of engaging children. In numeracy transition, the maths teachers are working with P7 teachers so that all children are learning similarly and this helps with a smooth transition into High school.
The homework policy has been addressed, reinforcing that homework should build on what was learnt in the class room. John stated that the school is still one of the best in Scotland and it will remain so.
The school has been 15 years in the new school building. A video link to the You Tube site will be put on the school website.
Parent Council members 2009 / 2010
The existing PC stood down and the following were selected for 2009 / 2010: Mary Rogers, Robin Fox, Sandi Urquhart, Jennifer Robertson, Christine MacLennan, Jean Ross, Alison Grove, Tina MacKenzie, Gillian Morrison. More parents are needed, and it is not necessary to be on the Parent Council in order to help. Please come to our next meeting to see what goes on. If you live some distance away, it is possible to do a great deal by email. Parents and carers are very welcome to come to our meetings to see what goes on.
Susan MacLean was co-opted on – proposed by Sandi Urquhart and seconded by Yvonne Spence.
Teacher representative – Andy McSwan
Issues raised by Parent Forum – Adult learning – utilising the school facilities and encouraging the community back to school. John said that adults were also able to join school classes if they wished to take Standard or Higher courses.
HE department – to put back on the curriculum
Housing for new staff – it is not clear whether local professionals will be able to buy houses in the new development
Ensuring the school building is a resource for the whole community.
Duncan Donald asked about the school eco group. The level had not been maintained since Abiy Orr left but the school is looking at re-instating the eco group to work towards obtaining green flag status. This will be part of the school improvement project.
Duncan also asked about vocational certificated courses offered to pupils. The school offers skills for work at Int 1 and Int 2 levels.
Accounts – Alison handed out a spreadsheet detailing the income and expenditure for the past year. Money raised from the PC went towards transport to activities for those not on the French trip and entrance to Monet’s garden and the Eiffel Tower for the other pupils. The PC also part funded the 6th year’s year book.
Date of Next Meeting: Monday 9th November, 7.30pm, Gairloch High School. Meetings are open to all members of the Parent Forum (i.e. all parents and carers of pupils at the High School who are invited to attend).
The meeting closed at 9.30pm
