Gelston Parent Council AGM Minutes
Present: Justine, Jim, Mary, Emma,Angela, Clare, Norma, Pam, Liz, Kay Julie & Abbey
Apologies: Dawn, Abbey
- Welcome to meeting and apologies
- Previous minutes approved from AGM 2018
- Norma spoke about parental engagement and involvement of parents in the life of the school. Discussion around: open days, curriculum events/evenings, achievement assemblies based around specific areas, welcoming involvement of extended family members and the local community.
- Jim’s chairperson report
Welcome to this year’s AGM and thank you for your attendance tonight.
For those of you that don’t know I have been chairperson of this parent council for the last 7 years and, and in all those years I have talked about how important parents are to the life of the school. With increasing cuts on the school budget (more of that later0 it is more important than ever to be involved to help the teaching staff run a happy teaching environment for all our children to learn in.
So, what has happened over the last year at Gelston? I was involved on 20 September last year (how time flies) with Susan from Crossmichael at the first round of interviews to select our new head teacher: 3 candidates were selected and on the following Friday you all had the opportunity to meet the candidates and have your say. And as you know Mary was selected, beating the other two candidates to the post, it is unbelievable to think Mary has been with us for a year. Welcome Mary to our AGM and thank you for your effort in the last year, hopefully the first year of many. (I’m not selecting the next one!)
On the 25 january 2019 we held our Burns’ Supper in Gelston Village Hall. The children from gelston, entertained us withpoems and songs before Mickenzie piped in the haggis. Clare organised the food with help from parents – proving puddings. A bar was organised by the Swalwells. Brian toated the lassies and Sarah-Jane relied. Mary did the immortal memory before a ceilidh dance. I know a great night was had by all and hopefully these events will continue in the future.
The main event of the year was our Fun Run and Summer Fete on Sunday 9 June 2019. This is our major money earner for the parent council happening every 2 years. Thank you to everyone who made it such a fun day. Raising £1616.65 for school funds. This even takes a lot of running and it makes such a difference to what we can do for the coming 2 years to support the school.
As mentioned at the last AGM this is going to be my last as chairperson. It has been my privilege to be involved for so long. I will continue to support the school where I can but as I have nearly run out of kids coming to Gelston I feel it is only right to hand over to someone else to continue to take Gelston forward in the coming years.
Thank you to the secretaries, treasurers, parents and staff who have supported the school and myself over the last 7 years, a lot has changed and that’s inevitable, but we continue to be a small happy school with big thinkers! Thank you.
- Julie’s treasurer’s report
Treasurer’s Report
Balance at the start of session 2019 was £2143.41. The Burns Supper raised 268.81. We had a big fund-raising event at the end of the school year, we do this every second year. This raised £1615.65.
Throughout the year we paid the usual out: Fullarton Theatre Tickets and ice cream for the children, Science Centre entry for end of year trips, buses for the trips and then the expenses for the fun run and fete. The biggest expenses were the buses, trip and theatre tickets.
Gelston School Parent Partnership Account 2018-19
Income: £4726.23
Expenditure: £2143.52
Balance: £2582.71
- Marys’ head teacher’s report
(see attached)
- Election of office bearers
| Role | Name |
| Chairperson (for 1 year) | Abbey |
| Treasurer | Kay |
| Secretary | Pam |
| Vice chairperson | Justine |
- School Funding Issues from the recent Council meetings– due to Council budget savings schools are now faced with the following which are being looked at centrally by the council:
- Asymmetric week
- Virtual environments – not enough teachers to teach all subjects in local secondary schools
- Need more support from parents to fund/run school activities and learning
- Paperwork issues – trying to reduce this
- Funding for quality teaching staff, therefore cuts at the centre
- Work experience being utilised
- Bring a parent to school
- School leavers returning to schools to talk about experiences
- Catchment zones being reviewed
- Leaders, managers and Head teachers – streamlining?
- Equity of staff across the authority
- Outsourcing of spare rooms and schools being rented out after hours
Crossmichael our partner school has given feedback – we discussed issues specific to Gelston and what this all may mean for our children. Our main issue appeared to be the current situation with cuts to funding for children with additional support for learning needs – this is impacting upon learning and teacher health, time management is affected too due to the length of time staff are spending trying to locate funding and support.
- The administrative post had 19 applicants and 5 were invited to interviews. This will ease the issues at Gelston to give us the full complement of clerical staff.
- The state of the hedge into school was raised – issues with the branches reducing safe access along the path. Mary explained the Council do not maintain this and even the number of times the grass will be cut has been reduced. Parents agreed to try and help cut it back. Mary has contacted the Community Payback Team on two occasions but will try again as they said they could help.
- Issue raised regarding the safety of the playpark with the lack of bark in the area – again as a result of Counil savings this is not being topped up. Justine to ask Gelston Estate if they could help.
- Issue of grass being trailed throughout the school due to the grass cutters being in less frequently – agreed that all children should bring indoor shoes and change into these. This will help keep the school cleaner as the cleaning hours are also under threat.
Date of next meeting 4 November 7:15pm at Gelston Primary
Headteacher’s Report
Gelston Parent Council
7th October 2019
Thank you
- I would like to thank the Parent Council for your support this year and to the office bearers for your hard work.
SIP focus
- Targeted interventions to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy include ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ and ‘Closing the Numeracy Gap’
- Partnership schools are developing an improved Literacy and Language programme so that there is consistency in programmes taught in l&t, reading and writing.
- Partnership Schools are developing a ‘Better Relationships, Better Learning’ policy in collaboration with all stakeholders, Cluster Schools and D&G Council. I am on the regional implementation group. There is an expectation that all schools will focus on anti-bullying procedures alongside this.
Staffing
- At Crossmichael, Mrs Wilson continues to be absent from work and we wish her a speedy recovery. In the meantime, Mrs Glover is teaching the P1-3 pupils on a Mon, Tue, Wed and Fri and supply teacher, Katie Rae, is teaching them on a Thursday for continuity.
- At Gelston, we have one full time Learning Assistant (Miss McNeill) and Mrs Clifton is shared between the schools as she is delivering our interventions to close the attainment gap. Her wages are paid with our ‘Pupil Equity Funding’ so her remit is focused. This means that there is less general support within classes and due to the current financial climate we will be reliant on support from volunteers in school.
- We have a HNC Childhood Studies student in P1-3 every Monday and Tuesday – Amanda Kirkpatrick. We also welcome Abbie Fenwick, a Work Experience student from Castle Douglas High School who will join us during some of her free periods each week.
Communication
- New website has been created ( https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/dg/gelston/ ) where:
– pupils have capacity to blog about their learning and achievements
– there is capacity to share minutes of groups such as Parent Council, Pupil Council, House/ Vice Captains, Eco Group, Health Group, etc.
– newsletters available
– parental links to suggest ways to support your child with learning at home
– calendar
– school meals menu
– links to Parental Engagement resources
– Share SIP priorities
– Links to Survey Monkey to help inform school improvements
Health and Safety Training
- HTs expected to complete an IOSH Managing Safely e-learning course. This is a national requirement. It is expected to take 60 hours and involves an exam and practical project to be completed.
Budget
- D&G Council have to save £30 Million from 2019-2021.
- D&G Council has saved £92 Million over last 6 years.
- D&G Council needs Education to reduce its budget by 10-15% by 2021.
- Letter received by Mary to be shared with Parent Council. It is from Gillian Brydson regarding consultation with parents about what this may look like. (Mary shared letter.)
School Budget
- Require parents to help complete grant applications to support the school with initiatives such as playground development
- School having a sponsored Autumn walk tomorrow (8th October) after a shared lunch.
- School show before Easter holidays to raise money for school funds too.
