1. Connect Scotlandhttps://www.connect.scot/

Connect Survey: What’s Next and How are you Doing? https://bit.ly/ConnectNextStepsSurvey – live now until the end of June.

Interim findings of the survey so far: https://bit.ly/ConnectNextStepsInterim

Additional support: Enquire is the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning, managed by Children in Scotland and funded by the Scottish Government. Enquire offers extensive support and information to families about anything relating to additional support for learning. https://enquire.org.uk/

Talking about Transitions – which can also be accessed through Connect http://www.talkingabouttomorrow.org.uk/

Education Scotland also provide the following support

A reminder of the weekly newsletter for parents: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/a-weekly-newsletter-for-parents-and-carers/

Save the Children – resources to help support parents and kids during Lockdown https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/coronavirus-information-advice/resources-parents-kids

2. Respect Me:Positive relationships are hugely important to a child’s health and wellbeing and bullying can  have negative impacts on both mental and physical health. We all have an important role to play in helping children deal with and cope with bullying behaviour when it happens but also to help children learn all about positive relationships.

In our summer 2020 webinar series we will be guiding you through important topics related to bullying. We’ll bring you up to date guidance, resources, and organisations that can help you support a child  to deal with bullying behaviour whether it’s happening online or face to face.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact us: enquire@respectme.org.uk

Detailed Programme Descriptions:

Wednesday, 22 July 2020, 6.30-7.30pm

Getting ready for High School. Transitions, Friendships and Positive Relationships

Moving to high school is an exciting time but for some children worries about bullying can feature at this time. Positive relationships play an important part in everyone’s health and wellbeing. Find out more about  how you can help children enjoy positive relationships, be respectful of others and prevent bullying behaviour.

Wednesday, 26 August 2020, 6.30-7.30pm

Online Bullying

Children are spending more time than ever before online.  In the most part they enjoy positive experiences of learning and connection but find out more about what can be done when children experience bullying online

Wednesday, 23 September 2020, 6.30-7.30pm

Helping Children Develop Resilience

We are all currently experiencing unprecedented changes to our daily lives and there is much we can learn from research on resilience to support ourselves and our loved ones through this experience. Find out more about what resilience is and how we can help children to develop their resilience in order to be able to cope with life’s challenges and adverse experiences such as bullying. w: www.respectme.org.uk

3. Chat with Us – Dumfries and Galloway Council – Deadline Monday at 9.00am for Questions 

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PLEASE CLICK BELOW FOR POSTER:

Cyber Resilience 

Present

Abby,Justine,Emma,Dawn,Julie,Pam, Mary

Apologies

Clare, Jess

Previous minutes reviewed and agreed no issues

Parental Engagement – Parent Council Role

Abby led a discussion around the role of the Parent Council(PC) with a view to giving parents a voice from a different perspective within school life particularly in view of the budget challenges ahead. Various ideas were discussed on how best to make it easier for parents to contact the PC together with opening up discussions around its role.

• Using the new website
• Parent Carers closed Facebook group
• Involving the Pupil Council
• Survey on what Parents want /expect from the PC and how they would prefer to support
• Stagger meeting times
• Tag onto another school event

After discussing at length it was decided that in order to achieve the best possible results Abby would put together a Survey Monkey with some simple questions to gauge what the barriers to parent engagement are. This will then be distributed via the Parent & Carers closed Facebook group. The results will then be assessed and the taken into account when setting future dates for PC meetings. Mary agreed that we could make an announcement at the Achievement Assembly (Friday13th December) drawing attention to the survey and announcing the outcome of the survey at the Christmas concert (Friday20th December).

The questions suggested –

What meeting time would suit best? Morning? Afternoon?

Any particular day of the week?

Would it be easier to attend with children or without?

Sharing transport?

How would you like To receive any PC communications ?

D&G Council budget follow up from last meeting

Proposals have been put forward after the two day meetings at the end of October. A PC forum to discuss these proposals will take place Thursday 21^st November 2019 7pm at Castle Douglas High School.

Burns night

Date set for 24^th January 2020

Group call to be sent out on 8^th January asking for ticket numbers. Must have final numbers by 13^th January.

Clare previously agreed to provide the catering. Parent volunteers will be needed to help her with the preparations

As per previous years, bring your own cutlery/crockery/glasses

Desserts by donation from parents

Hamper raffle – food/Scottish related donations

Immortal memory- TBC

Selkirk grace – P7

Toast to lads- TBC

Toast to lassies – TBC

Address to haggis – P7

Children also to perform poems & songs

Next meeting

Week commencing 13^th January 2020

Date to be confirmed after the outcome of the survey

AOB

Justine informed the PC that wood chips for the play area will be ready in the coming months.

A reminder that children can use their PE shoes as indoor shoes so there is no need to purchase extra pair of shoes.

Dear All

There has been a changing of the guard this year as our longstanding committee members, Jim (Chair), Dawn (Secretary) and Julie (Treasurer), all with children in their final years at Gelston, have taken a step back to encourage other parents to become more involved with the Parent Council while they are still around to offer and provide support and guidance.

It is not possible to properly thank them all for their time and commitment over many years of service to the school and all of the pupils but we do thank them most sincerely, and hope we can continue to fortify and nurture the role of the Parent Council within the school, as they have done.

The New Committee

Some of you may know who we are already but we are aware that many will not have met us or perhaps even seen us before and so we thought it might be helpful to introduce the new committee and let you know how you can get in touch with us.

Abby – Chair

Abby can be contacted by leaving a message with the school or directly by email on abby.mcateer@ggblaw.co.uk

Justine – Vice Chair (new role)

Justine can be contacted by leaving a message at the school or by email on justinehunter@hotmail.co.uk

Pam – Secretary 

Pam can be contacted by leaving a message at the school or by email on: pamshuttleworth74@gmail.com

Kay – Treasurer

Kay can be contacted by leaving a message at the school or by email on: kayd1985@hotmail.co.uk

What we are and what we do

Did you know? : All parents and legal guardians of children at Gelston Primary School are members of the Parent Council.

Not only are you members but your input and your support is vital to the future of the school and therefore to the futures all of our children too.

The Council states that the main job of the Parent Council is  “ to represent the views of the parents at the school so that all parents know that their views matter, and where they feel confident and comfortable putting them forward”.   Details of the duties of Parents Councils are not set in stone and so it is up to us to decide what we want our role to be within the school and the wider community.  Unfortunately, a job that we no longer have a choice about is FUNDRAISING. With increasing and ever more significant cuts to school budgets both nationally and within our region unless we raise money there will be more and more fundamental things that our children will miss out on as well as some of the more pleasurable ones like school trips and parties.

Some of the things that we do:

• Organise Social and Fundraising Events

• Support the school in their social and fundraising events

• Promote contact between parents/carers and the school

• Be involved in the appointment of the Headteacher

• Discuss matters that are of interest to parents in the context of their child’s education and life within the school community

Some of the additional things that we can do if there is interest among members:

• Report on policy and budget matters
• Contribute to the school handbook and improvement plan
• Maintaining volunteer lists and/or rotas

Some of the things that the money we raise gets used for:

• Educational Trips
• Annual  Christmas outing to the pantomime including refreshments
• P7 leavers and P1 welcome gifts.
• Travel expenses
• Cooking ingredients
• Outdoor skills equipment
• Accelerated reading books.

Some of the things we may have to start using the money we raise for:

• Maintenance of school grounds including weeding, hedge and grass cutting
• Play equipment
• Books and other resources

Looking forward

Starting with the very basic assumption that we all want what is best for our children and we know from experience that by coming together as parents and carers as the Parent Council we can make a very positive and significant contribution to the experience our children have throughout their Primary years through the work that we do. BUT, we can only do it if everyone gives their commitment and support. It is not fair to assume that the committee will do it anyway. We can’t and we won’t. We have jobs, families, social lives and other commitments too.

We know that some people have more time than others and that for some people the idea of having to come along to a meeting would make them run for the hills so if you wish to help and be involved but do not want to come to Parent Council meetings then please let us know and also let us know if there are particular jobs that you would like to offer to undertake.

Examples of jobs:

• Grant Applications – Mrs Lidstone-Scott has advised us already that we are going to have to get better at looking for grant funding to match or supplement our fundraising efforts. We could really use the help of someone who is already used to doing this or who is willing to take the time to find out.
• Practical help with weeding, and other grounds maintenance.
• Admin assistance within school day– photocopying, laminating, unpacking orders etc
• Providing Raffle Prizes and Hamper items
• Setting up for and tidying up after social and fundraising events
• Baking for social and fundraising event
• Putting up classroom displays
• Repainting the playground games markings 
• Running a book fayre
• School uniform swap – organising and running this each time the school have an event open to parents and carers.

It may all seem a little bit daunting but if we all pull together and have a plan then we can and will make a difference to the quality of the experience our children will have at school.

Making Changes

One of the first things we would like to do is to try and make Parent Council as accessible as possible. To help us to work out how we might achieve this we have prepared the following short survey:

Click link to access survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KYGDMHL

The survey will remain open until 5pm on 10^th December 2019 when it will close and we will review the feedback received. Once we have been able to discuss the findings of the survey we shall be reviewing where and when meetings are held in order to try and make sure that everyone who wants to be able to attend is given an opportunity to do so on at least one occasion in each school year.  If you feel there are barriers to accessibility which are not covered in the survey then please do also let us know.

The Committee also want to make ourselves accessible to parents and carers and therefore please feel free to speak to any member of the Parent Council Committee regarding relevant Parent Council matters.  We want you to feel comfortable and we want you to feel able to give your views. Our contact details are above within the introductions to the committee members.

Thank you

Abby, Justine, Pam & Kay

Gelston Parent Council AGM Minutes

Present: Justine, Jim, Mary, Emma,Angela, Clare, Norma, Pam, Liz, Kay Julie & Abbey

Apologies: Dawn, Abbey

1. Welcome to meeting and apologies
2. Previous minutes approved from AGM 2018
3. 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.
4. 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.

5. 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

6. Marys’ head teacher’s report

(see attached)

7. Election of office bearers

8. 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.

9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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

7^th 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 (8^th October) after a shared lunch.
• School show before Easter holidays to raise money for school funds too.