Please click on the link below to view our Parent Council Constitution for 2023-24 agreed at the most recent Parent Council meeting on Monday 18th of September 2023.
Parent Council Meeting Agenda & Minutes – EGM Monday 4th September 2023
Click on the links below to view our meeting agenda and minutes which were agreed at our most recent meeting.
Parent Council Update for Families
Communication with Families – The main job of a 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. The Parent Council wish to promote contact between all parents and the rest of the school community. As such the Parent Council would like to encourage families to get in touch with them to express their views and ideas. Below you will find the updated Parent Council email address. The Parent Council will endeavour to respond to emails within 5 working days. Please note, all pupil specific queries or concerns should be addressed directly with the school.
wallacewellpsparentcouncil@glow.sch.uk
The Parent Councils main method of communication with families this year will be via the school website. Please see below for the links to the Parent Council sections on the school website. Here you will find Parent Council minutes from meetings along with, the Parent Council Constitution, the Parent Council Action Plan and any other relevant information
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/gc/wallacewellprimary/parent-council/
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/gc/wallacewellprimary/category/parent-council-news/
The Parent Council are very much looking forward to working with the Wallacewell Parent Forum this session.
Parent Council Meeting
Next Parent Council Meeting – All Welcome
Monday 18th September 2023 6-8pm
Childcare for school aged children will be available.
Agenda
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Parent Council Constitution
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Headteacher Update
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Parent Council Mission
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AOCB
Our Parent Council 2023-2024
Chairperson: Emily Clarke
Vice Chairperson: Ross Nisbet
Secretary: Elizabeth & Caryn Smith
Treasurer: Valentina Vagka
Contact Email: wallacewellparentcou@glow.sch.uk
What is the Parent Forum?
The Scottish Government passed the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 to encourage and support more parents to become involved in the life and work of the school.
The membership of the Parent Forum is made up of all parents who have a child at an education authority school. Membership of the Parent Forum allows parents to have a say in the local arrangements to enable their collective view to be represented on matters such as the quality and standards of education at the school and other matters of interest to parents. One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
What is the Parent Council?
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at the school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in include:
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Supporting the work of the school
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Gathering and representing parents’ views to the Head Teacher, education authority and HMIE
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Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils and the local community
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Fundraising
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Involvement in the appointment of senior school staff
Who can be a member of the Parent Council?
Generally members of the Parent Council must be parents of children who attend the school and the chairperson must have a child in the school. However, the Parent Council can decide to co-opt other members including school staff and community representatives who have knowledge and skills to help them.
In denominational schools, the Parent Council must invite the relevant church or denominational body to nominate a representative to be a co-opted member.
Source: Glasgow City Council
Health Promoting School
Wallacewell Primary is a health promoting school. Please be mindful of this when providing breaktime snacks for your child. Pupils only have a 15 minute break in the morning and as such will not have time to eat multiple snacks. Pupils should also bring a filled water bottle to school which they will have access to and can refill throughout the day. Please note that whilst juice can be brought to school in packed lunches for enjoy at lunchtime, pupils should not bring juice to school in their class water bottles.
We want keep all our children safe. As some members of our school community have severe allergies to nuts we kindly request that families avoid giving pupils products containing nuts for break/lunch for example Kinder Bueno, Peanut Butter, Nutella & Snickers. We kindly ask that you check the ingredients of snacks before allowing your child to bring them to school.
Communication with Families
Dear Families,
We keep in touch with our families in a range of different ways –
- whole-school newsletters
- class newsletters
- letters/notes/reminders
- phone calls
- meetings
- groupcall messaging
- parents evenings
- report card
- updates on social media (Twitter)
We know that some families feel they do not always get the information they need on time or that information shared is not useful. We want to stay in touch with families as much as we can and as such, this session, we have refreshed our school website. Families will be able to see examples of class learning through the website and will be able to access lots of useful information about the life and work of the school. We will no longer be using the Seesaw app. The website is accessible through the link below –
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/gc/wallacewellprimary/
The school will always try to get information out to families as soon as possible. We would like to encourage parents/carers to check their emails regularly and/or their Groupcall Xpressions app as this is our main method of communication. Click on the link below for further information about the Groupcall app.
Groupcall Xpressions – Parent Info
If you are having any issues with Groupcall please contact the school.
We would also encourage families to check school bags for updates and reminders from the Class Teacher however we would like to stress that Groupcall is our main method of communication and the sending of paper copies for all correspondence is not possible from both a budget and organisational perspective in such a large school.
We would like to encourage families to hand returnable forms back to the office as soon as possible e.g. photo permission forms, annual data checks, trip permission letters. Some families have shared that they would like us to be able to send out returnable forms electronically instead of paper copies having to be returned to the office. Whilst we agree that this would be easier for both families and the school as a whole, we unfortunately do not have access to the technology to do this. However we have put in place some processes this year to reduce the number of returnable forms. For example once you have completed a photo permission form, this will be kept on file for the duration of your time with us and will not be reissued. Families will need to contact the school directly if changes are to be made to any permissions. Where possible we will also send out questionnaires and consultations to families via Groupcall using Glow Forms.
This year we are introducing monthly newsletters for families where we hope to share as much information the life and work of the school and upcoming events as well in advance as possible. This will help parents/carers to be able to book in time off work etc. We have also had some feedback regarding the sending of information to all parents/carers. We have looked at our Groupcall system and from now on will ensure that, where appropriate, all parent/carers are sent Groupcall emails and messages. Again we would encourage all parents/carers to download the Groupcall Xpressions app and check their emails regularly. If you change your email address or any contact information please contact the school office to allow us to update our records.
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
We hope you have a fabulous weekend.
Yours
Miss L Davidson
Parent Council Update
Dear Families,
Last night we hosted our Parent Council AGM. All members of the existing Parent Council have now stepped down. We would like to once again thank them for their service and everything they have done for the school community over the years.
We did not establish roles for any new members of our 2023-24 Parent Council at last night’s AGM as a number of interested parents/carers were unable to attend. As such we have decided to host a brief Parent Council meeting next Monday (04.09.23) from 6-7pm at the school. This will be an opportunity for all parents/carers interested in the 2023-24 Parent Council to come along, sign up and help to establish a vision for this sessions Parent Council going forward.
We are aware than child care can sometimes pose a challenge for parents/carers looking to attend these meeting, therefore we will be providing child care for, those who need it, on 04.09.23 and at subsequent meetings to ensure those who want to attend can
As the new Headteacher at Wallacewell Primary I am very keen to establish a Parent Council and work collaboratively with them to get it right for our young people and our school community. I hope that you will be able to make it along to next week’s meeting.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Miss Davidson
Headteacher
FREE SCHOOL MEALS – IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Free School Meals
Lots of our families, who we believe are entitled to Free School Meals (FSM), have still not registered. As you will be aware all P1-5 pupils attending school in Scotland are entitled to free school meals.
For other pupils (P6-7), parent or carer must be in receipt of –
- Universal credit and earning no more than £726 in the monthly assessment period before you apply.
- CTC only with income under £18,725
- CTC/WTC with income under £8,717
- Income support
- Income-based jobseeker’s allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Asylum support from the Home Office
If your child is in P1-5 and also eligible for free school meals due to low income, you should still apply for free school meals to make sure that you get the Scottish child payment bridging payment. We would also encourage parents/carers of pupils in P6-7 to apply if you think you meet the criteria above.
Please visit the website for further information and to apply. If you require any assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at the school.
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/17885/Clothing-Grants-and-Free-School-Meals
