Shawlands Academy PTC

Minute of meeting of PTC AGM – Monday 8^th October 2018, 7pm

Academy Conference Room

1.         Welcome & Introductions

Derrick Wright (Chair) welcomed Cllr Norman MacLeod (Pollokshields), Cllr John Molyneux (Pollokshields), 1 parent – Helen Wallace and the committee.

Present (from the PTC): Derrick Wright (Chair), Jan Ziervogel (Treasurer), Patricia Hunter (Secretary), Ann Downie, Stephanie Summers, Angus Brown, Jane Wright, Kathrine Bell, Craig Thomson, Lesley Turan, Mrs Ann Grant, Mark Symon and Jonathan Graham

2. Chair and Treasurer’s reports

Shawlands Academy PTC Chairperson’s report 2017- 2018

Shawlands Academy Parent Teacher Council (“PTC”) exists to work with the school to improve the education and welfare of all young people at Shawlands Academy. We do this by:

• continuing to support and widen opportunities for our young people;

The PTC hosted a Careers Evening for pupils, parents and carers, with over 30 “career consultants” for our young people to speak to on jobs in areas as diverse as medical / health-related careers, engineering and ICT, teaching and childcare, music, theatre, law, architecture, PR & advertising, the Police, Army and car mechanics

We held a Festival of Sport which involved showcasing the sporting talents of the school and with the help of community sports clubs gave adults and children a chance to try out a range of sports which included tennis, netball and fencing

• represent the views of parents / carers on the education provided by the school and other matters affecting the education and welfare of the pupils;

We contributed to the Glasgow City Council Education Consultations. We continue to actively ensure the voice of parents are heard at the Scottish Government, local authority and at the school level through positive dialogue and representations at the Glasgow Parents Forum

• exploring complimentary fund raising options for the school

We have 2 funds that the school manage, Achievement and Purchase fund. The PTC Achievement Fund is to support wider inclusion of your young people and the PTC Purchase Fund, is used to provide specific items which fall outside the education budget. We aim to contribute to these funds annually so this year, in addition to the Festival of Sport fundraiser, we are accepting direct payments from parents, and have received a Social Grant from Shell. This is in addition to the £400 direct to the PTC from GCC. We also have a potential submission to the  Pollokshields Partnership Fund to help with financing the up and coming Shawlands Academy 125^th Birthday Celebrations.

• continue planning for the school’s 125th Birthday in 2019

A group have been working on plans to celebrate Shawlands Academy’s vital presence in the community for 125 years. We will be working with the school,  Shawlands Primary School , other feeder schools and involving the community to make it a great year long bash!

The PTC could not have achieved what it has without the support of others: the wider community, City Councillors and the City Council’s Pollokshields Partnership. Mrs Grant, as Head Teacher and adviser to the Parent Council, provides thoughtful advice and support, together with the direct involvement of Mark Symon and Jonathan Graham, two other members from the Management Team of Shawlands Academy. I would also like to offer my personal thanks to all PTC members for their commitment and hard work over the past year and to those other parents/carers who give up their own time to make the events over the year a real success.

There have been a few changes in the PTC membership with two parents stepping down – Alison Ramage and Jan Ziervogal our treasurer for 6 years. We thank them both for their contribution to the PTC and particularly to Jan for her unstinting care of the PTC books.

We currently have spaces on the committee and would encourage any member of the parent forum to come along and join.

Derrick Wright, Chairperson, Shawlands Academy Parent Teacher Council, 08 October 2018

3. SHAWLANDS ACADEMY PTC TREASURER’S REPORT 2017-18

• Opening balance £1,601.17
• Income Total             £1,741.59
  • GCC 2017 Funding                                    £400.00
  • Festival of sport – net proceeds £912.66
  • Teas & coffees at Parents’ Evening £103.13
  • Direct parental contribution             £40.00
  • Cheque not cashed & cancelled £285.80
• Expenditure Total                        £824.48
  • Careers Night 2017             £330.96
  • Careers Night 2018             £424.94
  • AGM/PTC meetings refreshments £68.58
  • School Purchase & Achievement Funds NIL
• Closing balance £2,527. 28
• Objectives over coming year
  • Seek additional sources of finance
  • Undertake 125^th anniversary activities
  • Contribute to both School PTC funds

The main outgoings were standard running expenses for Parents’ Evenings and the Careers Night.

With continued healthy finances, the PTC will continue to seek to support the school in its activities and seek alternative sources of funding via events and accessing available grants.

Jan Zeirvogel , Treasurer, Shawlands Academy PTC 08 October 2018

4. Head Teacher’s Report

Mrs Grant presented her report this year from her new iPad. The 3 areas she wanted to talk about were Vision Values, Pupil Equity Fund and Attainment and Achievement.

Vision Values – Mrs Grant assured that Shawlands Academy would continue to adhere to the schools core values: Respect, Compassion, Integrity and Equality.

The school are proud of their achievements and aim to maintain a nurturing, caring environment whilst maintaining a high quality of education and support for its young people.

Pupil Equity Fund – Closing the Attainment Gap. To achieve the school’s objectives in raising attainment levels throughout, the school have concentrated on:

EAL, Literacy and Numeracy, Early and First Level Learning, Family Learning, Developing the Workforce, Pastoral Care (with heavy emphasis on attendance) Mentoring and Counselling, Breakfast Clubs, Uniforms and School Day Equipment.

During the presentation Bailie McLeod asked specifically about mentoring in the school. At this point Mark Symon confirmed that as well as a full MCR Pathways program available to pupils, there are many areas that the school offers full support to their young people from their pastoral care to counselling services at every level.

            Attainment and Achievement

This year’s Academic Results

Mr. Graham spoke about the excellent results in this year’s exam.

S4 – Since 2011 to date there has been a continued upward trend in the overall attainment levels. Pupils gaining 5 or more passes have out performed the current comparators. There were also 20 S3 pupils with Nat 5 passes and 3 with Higher passes.

S5 – Performances this year met with all the national comparators. One notable performance was Iqra Mazhar who attained 7 Highers. Her performance is even more remarkable as she only arrived in Scotland from Italy 4 years ago speaking Italian and Urdu.

S6 – The results are the best 6^th year results to date. 1/3 of the pupils gained 5 higher passes. Almost 1/4 gained Advance Highers.

The school is very proud of these achievements and noted that they are consistently above the national comparator as set by the Scottish Government. The school also has 50% EAL pupils which does have a significant impact on the school and is not currently part of comparator criteria.

Wider Achievement

6 Green Flags – International School Award, Silver LGBT Charter, DofE Centre of the Year, European Championship School Sports Star – Designed by 3 Pupils, Unicef Rights Respecting School Bronze Award, John Muir Award, Youth Philanthropy Initiative, Duke of York Award (digital version of DofE) and Employability Bronze Award, Winners of Public Speaking Competition and the many sporting achievements gained by pupils.

Improvement Plan – as an ongoing HGIOS 4 (How Good Is Our School) self-assessment, the school will concentrate on: Ensuring Wellbeing, Equality and Inclusion, Raising Attainment/Achievement and Creativity and Employability.

Bailie Norman McLeod was complimentary about Shawlands Academy but particularly impressed with the ongoing progress of the school under the direction of Mrs Grant.

Cllr John Molyneux thanked the school for his invitation. He, again, was very complimentary and was impressed with the continuing improvement and aspiration of the school.

6. Election of Office Bearers

            The following people were elected to the following PTC positions:

7. Shawlands Academy 125^th Anniversary

• A year to celebrate the fantastic history, vibrant contribution to the community and what the future holds for our brilliant school
• Planning has already commenced on the events and activities within the school. 3 key events along the lines of : Some flavour of the ideas:
  • Celebration of Shawlands culture – in early February 2019.
  • A summer showcase event – June 2019.
  • Doors Open Day – in collaboration with the Shawlands Primary school – September 2019.
• Success will come from participation from across the school , parent / carer forum and wider community
• Communication through new and existing channels – eg new FB page, school website, twitter etc.
• Funding options are being explored and will require a true cross community effort
• Logo winner – Our new logo was designed by – Aimee Thompson

8. Close

Derrick Wright thanked everyone for attending.