ࡱ > Y [ X bjbj .D y % 8 8 L L D t " C C C C C C C $ E 3H C C C C C ) h * ( * xC C 0 D 0* H C H * H * v ] T D C C D H : FORFAR ACADEMY PARENT COUNCIL M I N U T E Ordinary Meeting held on Tuesday 31 January 2017 at 7pm in the Training Suite Present Gail McGuinness Depute Head Teacher Louise Nicoll Chairperson Julie Brown Vice Chairperson Gloria Garland Treasurer Alison Neave Secretary Mel Richards Lesley Cromar Jacqui Williamson Debbie Dallas Alison Kydd Frances Coutts Karen Smith Susan McDonald Jennifer Mitchell Donna Taylor Apologies Mel Lynch Head Teacher Graeme Wallace Depute Head Teacher Jane Maguire Pam Davie Caroline Crosby Welcome Louise welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked everyone for attending. Approval of Last Minute The Minutes of the previous meeting were approved by Lesley Cromar and seconded by Julie Brown. Matters Arising from previous Minute The only ongoing matter from the previous meeting was regarding the Skills for Work Energy Project. Louise informed the meeting that she was still trying to obtain leaflets to hand into the school. Items for discussion Forfar Community Campus Update Gail McGuinness updated the committee on the continuing progress of the Campus. Everything is on track and no issues of concern. Various amounts of training have been given to staff on the new equipment being installed. Equipment was being moved on Thursday 9th February and everything else to make sure the school was up and running on Thursday 16th February would be done on the two additional days off. Gail informed the committee that all the children have been told to attend the old school first thing on Thursday morning and that they would be taken over in groups throughout the morning to let the children see around the school and show them where the various departments were. Plans with room numbers will be given to the pupils to allow them to find rooms easily. A few questions were put to Gail:- When would lockers be made available to senior pupils? Gail advised that lockers would be made available but this would not be a main priority within the first few weeks of settling into the school. An issue regarding toilets from a new committee member was put to Gail enquiring if the toilets were unisex and questioned whether toilets within the school were locked during school time. Gail clarified the position on both these points. Would Ambassadors be getting shown around the school? Graeme Wallace would be contacted regarding this once he returned from the ski trip. Staff Update Gail McGuinness advised that there were several staff vacancies at the moment due to staff leaving to take up other positions. Several subjects were particularly low in staff numbers and the school were trying their best to recruit suitable staff to bring them back up to satisfactory staffing levels. Comment was made regarding the lack of maths teachers especially at this time of year when students were requiring extra help with studying for prelims and Gail acknowledged this. It is proving difficult to get suitable teachers as the applications being received were not what they are looking for. Hopefully by August 2017 they will be in a better staffing position. Gail confirmed that an advert for Mrs Gourlays position would hopefully be approved and be advertised soon. Update on Secondary School Week Julie Brown had attended a meeting in November where this was discussed. The new timetable will not commence until August 2017 and information regarding this would be sent out to parents well in advance of this happening. A point was raised asking what the extra periods in the new timetable would be. Mrs McGuinness explained fully what this would be, with each school year having different topics integrated into their timetable. School starts at 8.55am and ends at 3.50pm, Monday to Thursday, and finishes at 1.20pm on a Friday. Each period will be 50 minutes. Form time will last ten minutes every day. Attached is a copy of the proposed new timetable layout. Gail confirmed that as usual the new timetable will change in June and will work around the seven period day, school will start and end at the same time with a tweak to the timings of each class. Campus Advisory Group Representative No further update on this and Louise informed committee she would contact Graeme Wallace for follow up. Abhern Ceilidh The ceilidh will take place on 22 March 2017 in the Main Hall at the school. The committee will help with the bar work only:- Lesley Cromar Main Bar Louise Nicoll Main Bar Julie Brown Main Bar Alison Kydd Main Bar Gloria Garland Soft Drink Bar Frances Coutts Soft Drink Bar Pupil Council Rep Soft Drink Bar Louise to ask Mr Gow who the Pupil Council Rep will be and contact them to advise of time they require to be there. Louise to obtain Licence for drink to be served from Angus Council. AOCB A question was asked whether the facilities would be available to the school children at a discounted rate to encourage them to stay after school and get involved in sport activities. Mr Wallace would be approached regarding this matter once he returned from holiday and let committee know. Gloria confirmed that the signatories on the bank account had been changed. Julie confirmed that the Twitter account password had also been changed. A question was asked whether the de-merit report could be issued more frequently as receiving this at the end of the year was too late to sort out any continuing issues. Gail confirmed this would be looked into and would report back with comments. Date of Next Meeting 14 March 2017 at 7pm Mr Wallace to confirm which room this would be and let Alison Neave know so she can inform committee. Meeting closed at 9pm. PAGE PAGE 4 0 1 L M \ a y z { | } / @ A N y ɼ𢘋~p~fYLYLYLYB h; OJ QJ ^J hz)Y h`Z4 OJ QJ ^J hz)Y h % OJ QJ ^J hk[8 OJ QJ ^J hs: hE[ 5OJ QJ ^J hs: hE[ OJ QJ ^J hs: hs: OJ QJ ^J h#` OJ QJ ^J hxT 5>*OJ QJ ^J hc 5>*OJ QJ ^J hk[8 5>*OJ QJ ^J h> 5>*OJ QJ ^J h0 5>*OJ QJ ^J hl( 5>*OJ QJ ^J h h_e 5>*OJ QJ ^J + , z { } ! / A O [ j y $^`a$gd`Z4 $^`a$gd' $^`a$gd7 $a$gd#` $ a$gds: $a$gd@ y " # $ % ' / 0 | } $a$gd $a$gd' $p^p`a$gd2 $p^pa$gd@ $p^pa$gdL $p^p`a$gd % $a$gdM ! " % & ' . Ǽ⚍ylaVH= hZ_ 5OJ QJ ^J h2 hw