Present
Anne Forsyth,  Gillian Boyle, Charles Jamieson, Veronica Dowling, Mary O’Reilly, Cllr Jim Fletcher, Lesley Garety, Cllr Mary Montague, Sally Gallagher, Clare Bowes, Josephine McGrotty, Catriona James, Margaret-Ann O’Donnell, Christine McCudden, Cllr Vincent Waters, Cllr Gordon Wallace, Judy Taggart, Roger Spooner, Gerry Devenney, Michelle Hynes, Brian Hughes

 Apologies

P. Hessett, Cllr Robertson, S. Jouannot, J.P. Sheridan, P. Rodgers

Minutes proposed and Seconded

Proposed- C. McCudden

Seconded- M.A. O’Donnell

Cllr Montague thanked M. O’Reilly for the comprehensive minutes taken for the PC meetings this year.

 Update on Robslee Campus

An update had been received from F. Morrison. This stated that Donald Gillies has now left his post and has been replaced by Raymond O’Kane. It explained that the work proposed to join the two campuses will be carried out on a design and build contract. It was noted that the Parent Council and the school would wish to be involved in any decisions that were made in relation to this. It is envisaged that work will begin in December 2013, but preparatory ground work will begin over the summer. It is still uncertain where the council will award the contract. It was hoped that Callum Houston and Maurice Hickey, parents in the school, would be involved in the process. The link is due to be completed by August 2014. There is also uncertainty about the costing and what additional funds might be required to complete the enclosed link, which is going ahead. C. Jamieson said that he would remain in contact with F. Morrison during this process of awarding the contract and would continue to pass on the school’s input. Cllr Wallace indicated that there is money in the council’s capital budget for the link and in response to A. Forsyth’s query about the cost being in excess of the budget, he said that if that were the case extra money may be found.

C. McCudden asked about the schedule for removing the huts and whether that space could be developed. C. Jamieson replied that one of the huts might be kept for additional teaching space, perhaps for science, since the huts are spacious. A. Forsyth said that the situation with the huts had not been decided yet.

S. Gallagher asked whether it was still the case that no one from OLM should be given access to the Robslee building. C. Jamieson replied that he had been given the plans and was familiar with the layout of the building but would hope to visit the building in the coming session to start planning how best to use the space there.

 Sub-groups

Communications

G. Boyle summarised the group’s initiatives and activities, speaking about the move to using e-mail and noted that R. Spooner and B. Hughes had been very helpful in carrying this forward. She said that although it had been hoped to issue consent forms by e-mail, it doesn’t seem that this will be possible. C. Jamieson noted that only seventeen families are not in e-mail contact.

The sub-group is working with the school on a Communications Strategy, which will include information about who to contact on various issues, and this will hopefully be launched in the coming session.

Work continues in investigating the use of Facebook and Twitter. R. Spooner and J. Devlin have also been doing further work on the website.

J. Taggart asked about the formatting of attachments to e-mails, stating that it has not been possible to open some of these. G. Boyle replied that the plan was to minimise the use of attachments and that the group was also working with the school on a policy for the most effective presentation of emails for parents.

R. Spooner drew attention to the issue of where to store the master copies of school e-mails. He noted that councils (and the school) use the Click and Go database and that this would be the least complicated option as it will be difficult to continue maintaining a spreadsheet. He explained that the e-mails are character/text-limited (ie there as a limit to the amount of text which could be placed in an email using Click and Go) but that a link to the website could be used where the full information would be available. He noted that the Click and Go system does not understand e-mails but that texts could be sent. M. Hynes asked whether it would therefore cost the school to communicate in that way and R. Spooner replied that e-mails are free but texting costs the school 4p for each text

B. Hughes said that it would be best to simplify the procedure by centralising information and providing a URL that people can go to. He also suggested that the council could be asked to increase the 120-character limit of the Click and Go system.

G. Boyle proposed that appropriate headings should be used for messages to make it easier for parents and staff.

S. Gallagher asked whether all information is on the website and how to find copies of letters. V. Dowling explained that there is a link to letters through the Hot Topics section, where the most popular tags can be found. R. Spooner said that some of the letters that J. Devlin had processed had not reached the website. He also referred to the intention to arrange information by class. G. Boyle said that some classes were missing from the website and that there should be some content for every class. V. Dowling said that clerical staff had been working on adding to the website, with the help of J. Devlin, and that staff already contribute to Glow pages. J. McGrotty said the focus for staff has been to contribute to and communicate through the Glow pages. R. Spooner asked whether Glow could be used to communicate with parents, but J. McGrotty said it was more for use by the children.

R. Spooner suggested that staff might be encouraged to contribute to the website, acknowledging that care would have to be taken to monitor content. C. Jamieson noted that this would be important for maintaining the image of the school. B. Hughes suggested that teachers could draft information for inclusion and someone could be responsible for checking it before posting it on the website.

C. Bowes asked whether it would be possible to have a presentation on using the website at a Curriculum evening.

C. McCudden suggested that it might be useful to have a schedule of important dates on the website.

Traffic

C. McCudden suggested that the Woodfarm Pavilion car park was in need of re-lining and drew attention to the problem of cars not parking in designated bays. She asked whether the matter could be raised again in the new term with a view to re-educating the children.

C. James asked whether it would be reasonable to report cars parking outwith designated bays to the council but Cllr Waters replied that the community wardens would have to witness the violation. G. Boyle asked whether the community wardens would have any power in this respect, but Cllr Waters indicated that they could only act if cars were parked in disabled bays when they shouldn’t be, in which case there would be a £60 fine. Community wardens have no authority in private car parks.

M. A. O’Donnell suggested that parents might patrol the car parks in high-visibility vests. C. Jamieson replied that he had done that in the drop-off car park in the morning but could try it at the Woodfarm car park too.

R. Spooner also noted the problem of parents waiting in cars with the engines running, which is illegal.

C. Bowes asked whether there were any plans to line the overflow car park. Cllr Waters replied that he was not aware of any such plans.

L. Garety referred to the ongoing problem of cars parking on both sides of the access road into the school.

 Uniform

A Uniform Guidance note has been issued, emphasising the importance of raising standards in uniform.

A nearly-new uniform sale took place this term. Although this was not very well attended, those who did attend got good quality uniforms at excellent prices with the school receiving a small amount for school  funds.

L. Garety suggested that having the sale straight after school was possibly not a good time for parents. G. Boyle said that various times have been tried in the past (eg at the curriculum evening) and the PC would continue to explore different options. C. James asked whether new P1 parents had been informed about the nearly-new sale and G. Boyle said that they had been told about it and that a sale had also been held  at the P1 Induction afternoon (though with no uptake or interest at all so this was unlikely to be repeated).

A. Forsyth referred to the blazer sale which would be held on the same night as Academy Uniforms coming into the school.

Cloakroom

C. Jamieson explained that he had been waiting for quotes to be passed to him by the Clerk of Works for fitting doors onto the cloakroom. Two quotes of approximately two thousand pounds had been received. Work is due to take place over the summer holidays.

Berryhill Road

Cllr Waters had spoken to the Roads department about the problems on Berryhill Road, but since the road is not owned by the council, it will not be possible to line it. However, the council will put up 20-speed-limit roundels over the summer. Cllr Waters also spoke to J. Docherty at St Ninian’s and the problem of dangerous parking will be highlighted to parents in the school newsletter.

S. Gallagher asked what can be done about the extremely dangerous parking on the brow of the hill requiring cars to swerve out into potentially oncoming traffic. It is an accident waiting to happen and with the number of children walking up and down this road (without a pavement at this section) any accident could easily be fatal. Could the community wardens assist here? Cllr Waters said that dangerous parking  would be a police matter. Cllr Montague explained that Community Wardens can only take action where traffic enforcement action, such as double yellow lines, was already in place. She also indicated that the police had not refused to continue issuing parking tickets but that it could not be a priority due to manpower.

Quality Improvement Plan

C. Jamieson explained that every school publishes a Quality Improvement Plan annually, in which the school sets out a plan for the forthcoming year and audits the previous year’s plan. The plan for OLM is part of the local cluster plan and takes into account also the national agenda.

It sets out the vision, values and aims of the school, as well as the priorities for 2011-2014. Targets have been set in the area of modern languages (French and Mandarin), as well as in Literacy, Numeracy and Mathematics and PE. Staff will undergo training in the implementation of GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Pupil) in August and leaflets about this will be available to parents and pupils then also. In addition, there will be staff training on the introduction of ‘God’s Loving Plan’ as a teaching resource.

Headteacher’s Report

C. Jamieson thanked everyone for a successful year. He spoke about the efforts to improve opportunities for involving parents, encouraging them to contribute both to the curriculum and to after-school clubs.

He thanked the PSA, in particular for their organisation of the school fete and the money raised through that.

C. Jamieson referred to the first Communions and Confirmations that had taken place and which involved more than two hundred pupils. He commended the chaplains and staff who contributed to the success of these events.

He noted that Lepra had thanked the school for its donation.

The House system had been successfully introduced and implemented and will form the basis of Sports Day.

The Internet Safety evening, presented by Anne McLean, was attended by a good number of parents.

A number of visits had been organised this year and pupils had visited places such as Holmwood House, the Scottish Parliament and Stirling Castle.

A Chinese showcase had taken place at St Ninian’s. It is hoped that the school’s Confucius Hub will be further developed.

A number of pupils had participated in the Glasgow University Mathematical Challenge, where they received two silver and ten bronze medals.

The members of the Parent Council were thanked for their contribution this year.

C. McCudden said that a number of P4 parents had asked her to thank staff for all their hard work in preparing the children for their First Communions.

G. Devenney complimented the school on its handling of these occasions, in particular for the way in which non-Catholic pupils were included.

M. O’Reilly asked what would be done with the responses from parents about skills and talents they could offer to the school. C. Jamieson replied that the information was being collated into a database.

C. McCudden asked whether parents who have been disclosure-checked for the school are also eligible to help with nurseries too. C. Jamieson replied that East Renfrewshire disclosure covered all nurseries and schools within the authority.

C. Bowes asked about whether disclosure checks carried out by other local authorities were valid within East Renfrewshire. C. Jamieson replied that at the moment this was not the case, but the matter was being looked at. He referred to the database of disclosed parents held on the Click and Go system.

Cllr Montague raised the issue of payment for disclosure checks. C. Jamieson said that parents do not pay for it and that the school is not charged. C. Bowes said that it would be worth letting parents know that, as more might be willing to come forward to help.

A. Forsyth thanked Tracy Burns for her help in processing these disclosure forms at no cost to the school.

C. Jamieson noted that the main priority for obtaining disclosure checks is the parents who help out with the football. Next, it is those parents who can help every day, then finally those parents who are only available on certain days.

S. Gallagher asked whether children would be wearing house colours for Sports Day. J. McGrotty said that it was still being finalised. C. McCudden asked whether the school might invest in house-coloured tabards for such events. C. Jamieson said that he would investigate the cost.

S. Gallagher asked about the school prayer. V. Dowling answered that a copy of the prayer is in every classroom and that many pupils have now memorised it.

Litter

J. Taggart updated the PC on developments in the Litter Initiative. She has been continuing to liaise with J. Cassells. It has come to her attention that the land around the school belongs to the Education department and therefore the Cleansing department is not responsible for maintaining it. In addition, she learned that the overgrown areas around the river, which make litter-picking difficult, are deliberately kept overgrown to keep children from the river. Regarding the areas around the cages, it has been indicated that the caretaker should make sure it is clean after every let.

C. Jamieson said that Brendan Docherty and the Eco Committee would continue with litter-picking initiatives and J. Cassells has suggested that staff could come into the school to speak to the pupils.

A. Forsyth asked whether any new bins had been provided. C. Jamieson replied that new bins were to be provided for plastic recycling. G. Boyle said that it might be useful to position one at the cages. J. Taggart suggested putting up signs to discourage littering.

G. Devenney informed the PC that when St Ninian’s pupils participated in litter-picking, a number of parents objected when their children came across inappropriate content. M. O’Reilly noted the problem of broken glass in the lower car park. Cllr Waters said that the council will clear broken glass as soon as it is reported. There is a Ring and Report number for such things (0800 013 0076). Cllr Montague added that J. Cassells could probably arrange for recycling bins to be provided. Cllr Waters said that councils will have to recycle from next year.

AOCB

M. Hynes thanked A. Forsyth and G. Boyle for their work on the PC this year.

R. Spooner raised the issue of the security of the lunch-payment system, suggesting that PIN numbers were being abused. C. Jamieson said that he would look at the security issue, but there had been situations where parents had paid money into the wrong accounts and J. McGrotty indicated that the photo of the pupil comes up when the PIN number is entered as a measure to prevent pupils using other pupils’ numbers. C. Jamieson added that a form would be given to parents on which they could record the days on which they wish their children to buy tuck.

G. Boyle updated the PC on the activities of the Playground Action Group. There is a plan to refresh playground equipment using Sainsburys Active Kids vouchers. In addition, some parents have been identified to help G. Boyle to re-paint the playground games over the summer time and weather permitting. There will also be an appeal for parents to help at break times, as well as at after-school clubs.

C. Jamieson noted the success of Health Week and thanked those involved, in particular Clare Haveron. Other schools have requested a copy of the schedule of events used during that week.

The PC thanked R. Spooner for his contribution in helping the P6 pupils with the computer-programming course.

C. Jamieson extended an invitation to all parents who had helped during the year to attend a Strawberry Tea at the end of term.

L. Garety asked about teaching allocations for the forthcoming session and whether there would be any new staff. C. Jamieson replied that there would continue to be an additional music teacher and also a new teacher for the lowest twenty percent of pupils. In addition, there will be three new permanent and three temporary staff, including a new principal teacher for the middle school, who comes from St Joseph’s primary school. There will also be a slight increase in pupil support staff and an increase in the hours of two other members of staff. There will be six teachers allocated to primary 1 instead of eight. Three NQTs will join the staff.

Cllr Montague asked whether the NQTs have included any former pupils. C. Jamieson said that that had been the case in previous years and was a very rewarding experience.

G. Boyle thanked M. O’Reilly for taking the minutes for the PC this year. She also thanked the PSA for their hard work and contribution to the school.

Date of AGM: Thursday 19th September 2013