Council Services for People, Department of Education DRAFT

East Lothian Association of Parent Council Members Meeting held on Wednesday 25th March 2015, Brunton Hall,

Present:

Colin Henderson, Chair, ( PC), Val McIntyre (Principal Officer), Darrin Nightingale (Head of Education), Gaynor Allen (Musselburgh Grammar PC), Lynne Binnie (Principal Educational Psychologist), Joanne Bloomfield (Stenton), Gordon Crawford (Yester PC), Trisha Higginson (St Martin’s R C PC), Matt Justin (Cockenzie PC), Lesley Kennedy ( PC), Iain Lawrie ( PC), Karen Leitch ( PC), Alastair McConnachie ( PC), Sharlene Miller (Stoneyhill PC), Nicola Semple (Athelstaneford PC), Nat Spring ( PC), Elaine Towler (Haddington Infant PC), Laura Muir (Clerk),

Apologies:

Carol Snow (NPFS Rep), Iain Clark (Pinkie St Peters PC), Councillor Shamin Akhtar (Convenor of the Education Committee), Shona Blakeley (Campie PC), Pam Floyd ( High PC), Kate Kelman (Kings Meadow PC), Nicola Riddel ( PC), Jacqui Stone (Elphinstone PC), Juliet Williams (Law Primary PC), Louise Elder (Knox PC), Sharon Malcolm (Cockenzie), Hazel Grigg (Whitecraig),

Action 1 Welcome and Introductions

Colin Henderson welcomed everyone to the East Lothian Association of Parent Council Members Meeting and introductions were carried out. Darrin was called to a meeting with elected members and will therefore be late in arriving. The agenda items were moved to accommodate this.

2 Apologies and Approval of Minutes

Apologies were noted as above. The minutes of the last meeting were approved without change.

3 Lynne Binnie, Principal Educational Psychologist

Lynne Binnie is the newly appointed Principal Educational Psychologist based within the Education Department. Lynne introduced herself and provided a summary of her career before joining East Lothian Council earlier this year. She also gave an over-view of her role/responsibilities and emphasised that her team provide a service to schools and also carry out major research to support children/staff in our schools. Lynne is looking to develop a leaflet for Parents and Carers and hopes to revamp the information on her service currently held on ELC’s website, Lynne offered to come back to a meeting next year to share provide an update.

Colin thanked Lynne for attending the meeting.

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5 Matters Arising

School Catering Lorraine Faulds has asked for any feedback or questions in regards to School Meals to be sent to: [email protected] which they will include in a FAQ section on the website. It was agreed to invite Lorraine to a meeting next year, it was noted that Parents would be interested to see the uptake of schools meals next session of Primary 4 pupils following their entitlement to Free School Meals in P1/P3. Val to ask Lorraine if this would VM be possible.

Survey The Survey is now ready to go; Val thanked all Parents for their feedback and help with the Survey. After a discussion/vote it was agreed that the Survey will be sent out after the Easter Break. It will also be advertised on ELC’s Consultation Hub, website, twitter, facebook, and schools will be requested to include a link on their website and newsletters.

Training Requests

Val invited any training requests for this coming term or for the new school year from August 2015 to be sent to the Parent Council Inbox: [email protected] Two LM suggestions received were for First Aid and Food Hygiene training. An email will be circulated to gauge interest in these courses. The Food Hygiene Training is the only course which incurs a charge for Parent Council Members which can be paid from the Parent Council budget, held within the school.

It was requested that David Gilmour’s contact details were included in the minute for any Edubuzz related enquires: [email protected] or 01620 82 7114

6 Area Partnerships

Gordon Crawford from Yester Parent Council informed the meeting that all parent councils in the Haddington and Lammermuir Ward have now been invited to be full members of the Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership.

It was agreed at the meeting that the Area Partnership meetings dates would be requested LM from Kaela Scott to avoid clashes with the ELAPCM Meetings.

The Area Partnership Minutes are available on the Council Website or by clicking on this link

7 Update from Val McIntyre

Discussed under matters arising.

8 National Parent Forum of

Apologies were received from Carol Snow and a written report will be provided by her in due CS course.

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4 Update from Darrin Nightingale

Budget Darrin thanked all Parent Council Members for the feedback received on the proposed efficiency savings in advance of setting the Budget. The budget for the next financial year is very similar to the current budget. The savings had been identified but due an agreement with the Scottish Government to guarantee teacher numbers, East Lothian are unable to make the savings in the way(s) previously identified. The teacher numbers are to be kept st the same as at the Census on 1 September 2014. Darrin and his team will be checking these numbers every quarter/13 weeks. Alternative savings have still to be identified.

A comment was made by Iain Lawrie, Chair, Humbie PC, that the procurement contract

currently in place for resources may not be the best value for money and that schools should be able to use Amazon to source supplies, given the budget pressures/challenges they now face. . Darrin agreed to look into this. DN

9 Future Meeting Dates and Venue Please note change of date for our final meeting of this academic session;

 27th May 2015 - Brunton Hall, Musselburgh

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