ACADEMY PARENT COUNCIL

Minutes of Meeting of Parent Council held on Wednesday 7th December 2011 at Kemnay Academy, Bremner Way, Kemnay

Present: Graham Peers (Chair) Jackie Smith Jenny Singer Elizabeth Russell Brid Mackay Helen Allan Jackie Owen Angie Wood Frances Cribbes Mary Lucas (staff representative) Fran Jones (staff representative) Darryl Peers (pupil representative)

In attendance: Dr Charlie Hunter (Rector) Cllr Hazel al-Kowarri Cllr Martin Ford

Apologies: Cherry Marks Fiona Logie (pupil representative) Cllr Fergus Hood Cllr Nan Cullinane

1. Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes were approved - proposed by Jackie Owen and seconded by Liz Russell.

2. Matters arising

Absent members – Letters were sent by pupil post to the two parent members who had initially shown interest in joining Kemnay Parent Council but who have not been contactable. No response has been received from either person so they are now removed from the Parent Council and have been replaced by two new members Frances Cribbes and Angie Wood. Graham also sent emails to the two current members of the Parent Council who have not been in attendance at meetings nor have sent apologies, to see whether they wish to continue as members. No response has been received from either person and as this is the third meeting in a row that they have not attended and not presented apology for they are both removed from the Parent Council in accordance with the Parent Council constitution.

CfE – powerpoint presentation has been sent out to all members.

SPTC insurance –PTA would like to take out the additional insurance for entertainers. This is available as an addition to the policy for £7 per annum.

Parent Council Finances – Jackie now has bank forms for changing signatory names as agreed.

Call for Evidence on Rural Education – questionnaire still to be completed. Graham to email proforma for responses to members and will then collate answers to form a representative response. Submission date is 12th January 2012 and anyone can also respond as an individual.

3. SQA results

Dr Hunter presented and discussed the STACs (Standard Tables and Charts) of 2011 S4, S5 and S6 results which show a tailing off in results compared to previous years. Points of note included the school roll is 710 pupils and this is likely to rise to 900 pupils by 2013-14. Currently there are 26% more boys than girls, with girls generally out performing boys. It was also noted that stay-on rates are not taken into account in outcomes for STACs where percentages are all expressed relative to the number of pupils the cohort had at the start of 4th year. Relative ratings are most helpful at subject level. CAT testing is now used to show a prediction of S5 outcomes. Baseline Assessments for S1 and S2 were also looked at – these look at individual learning styles and predict what each child might achieve in national exams at a later stage of their school life. Dr Hunter to forward the presentation information discussed.

4. Parent Council section of new school website

Unfortunately due to maintenance being carried out on the Council system it was not possible to view the website.

Jackie Owen reported on the template being used and that information is still being gathered. She is continuing discussions with Deb Hoad. The school is to add further information to the web-site and Dr Hunter will shortly lead a staff meeting entitled “How To”. The hope is that the new web-site will go live in early 2012.

The Parent Council to decide what headings they would like included in their area of the new site. It is hoped that the web page will also be available as an “app” for phones which have the capability to display this function.

This matter will be discussed more fully at the February PC meeting. Deb Hoad has offered to attend a PC meeting to further explain the planning details. Graham thanked Jackie for her input thus far and will invite Deb Hoad to next meeting. Parent Council members were invited to send any further ideas to either Jackie Owen or Deb Hoad via e-mail.

5. Parental skills

As Cherry was not in attendance this matter was deferred until a later date.

6. Head Teacher’s report

Dr Hunter presented his report (appended to this document).

7. Parent Council finances

Account balance stands at £378.34 with no outstanding commitments. Jackie Smith to arrange for change of signatory from Bruce Milne to Jenny Singer. .

8. PTA report

A member of the PTA subcommittee has taken on the role of Treasurer and will meet with the Parent Council Treasurer (Jackie S) in the near future.

There is £800 approximately in the PTA bank account with is more “200 Club” money to be collected and banked.

Funding of £25 has been asked for by the library.

A Quiz/Family Games night is being planned to take place towards the end of March. Darryl commented that the senior pupils would be keen to attend and help out at this event.

9. Student update

Darryl reported that there are currently about 30 volunteer members on the Pupil Council. It is particularly well represented by S4 and S6 pupils but there are no S3 representatives at the present time.

An emergency Pupil Council meeting was held on November 11th with regards to the litter problem around the environs of the school. Dr Hunter and Callum Swanson (Kemnay Academy’s Youth Parliament Representative) were in attendance. Refuse bins that were reported to have been placed around Kemnay recently have yet to be found! A number of Assemblies next term are to be based around the theme of “Litter”.

School uniform is changing from green to black. 271 parents responded to the questionnaire and the vast majority were in favour of the proposed change. The new uniform will be phased in by 2013.

Darryl also put forward the suggested idea of a weekly blog by members of the Pupil Council and wondered whether the Parent Council thought this could become a feature on the new school web-site. The Parent Council agreed that this was indeed a very interesting idea.

10. Correspondence

Received: • Notification of SPTC event “Parent Council Essentials” at Buckie High on Tuesday 22nd November 2011 • Schedule of other SPTC “Parent Council Essentials” events, nearest are on Tuesday 20th March 2012, on Tuesday 29th May 2012 and on Wednesday 3rd October 2012 • SPTC Backchat 123 • Electronic versions of Leaflets from the Scottish Government previously received – “Parents as Partners” and “The purpose and role of Parent Councils” • Reminder of Aberdeenshire Council Formartine & Community Engagement event at Academy on Wednesday 2nd November 2011 • Reminder of Aberdeenshire Parental Conference at on Saturday 19th November 2011 • Invitation to participate in survey seeking views on education resources for young children between the age of 0-3 or 3-6 years • Notification of Aberdeenshire Council web page put together to provide support and guidance to Parent Councils • Notification of new Parent Council email account • Feedback from Aberdeenshire Council Formartine & Garioch Community Engagement event • SQA update email • Notification of Aberdeenshire Council Curriculum for Excellence information events, nearest is at Westhill Academy on Tuesday 24th January 2012

11. Forthcoming events

P7 parents evening on Wednesday 11th January 2012. Graham and Frances will attend. Newsletter input required by Wednesday 14th December 2011. Graham to prepare.

12. Next meeting

Next meeting will be held on Wednesday 1st February 2012 at 7.30pm in the Academy.

Thereafter meetings will be held on:

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Wednesday 25th April 2012 Wednesday 6th June 2012

With the Parent Forum Annual Meeting on Tuesday 19th June 2012.

After the meeting the Parent Council enjoyed a tour of the new bright, spacious and impressive art and technical areas. Meeting of Kemnay Academy Parent Council 7 December 2011 Head Teacher’s Report

Staffing Ms Deborah Donaldson has been appointed as PT Guidance and has taken up post this week. Ms Donaldson was previously teacher in charge of a support base at Harlaw Academy in City. Miss Lloyd undertook this position on an acting basis until then. Mr Roger Hopwood has been appointed to the position of permanent teacher of Physics and takes up post later in December. The 0.4 FTE fixed term position in Art has been filled by Mrs Fiona McHardy while the maternity leave post covering Ms Walker’s absence has been filled by Ms Joanna Hopwood. Despite advertising 3 times, no applications for the post of fixed term teacher of Business Education to cover the maternity leave of Ms Braid have been received. Dr Diane Duguid has returned to her post of Maths teacher on a phased basis following extended sick leave. In the office, Mrs Karen Stephenson has left to take up a new post. Mrs Melanie Farquhar has taken up post as senior clerical assistant on a fixed term basis. Mrs Alison Marr remains on sick leave and is being covered by Mrs Doreen Sutherland.

Accommodation Further meetings of the project team including Mr Shand, Ms Hoad and Dr Hunter have taken place and draft options for a major extension to the Academy have been drawn up. These require to be considered by senior officers and approved by members before a clear timescale for works can be shared. The extension of Art and Technical is now complete and has been handed over. Minor adjustments will be made in due course. Mansells, the contractor, made a presentation on 1 Dec of 2 clocks to the Academy SMT and staff involved in recognition of their helpfulness and overall success of the project. The area was opened simultaneously with the launch of the 30 Anniversary Book on 1 December. The performance area is no longer committed to Art and has returned to a flexible area for teaching and for additional canteen space.

Cashless Catering Aberdeenshire policy is that all schools will operate cashless systems. A very tight timescale for implementation has been created. Colleagues from the catering service have visited the Academy to consider the location of units for pupils to charge cards. Implementation for us is likely at the start of term 4. Pupils will all need a National Entitlement Card to operate the system. It will take account of free school meals. In due course, parents will be able to charge the cards on-line. They will also be able to get information on the items that their son/daughter has purchased.

Charities Fund raising for our two focus charities, Inspire and the Butterfly Trust, got off to an excellent start with the October ‘No Uniform’ Day realising £975. Members of the charity committee have actively engaged with Inspire, visiting Café Coast in Aberdeen to learn about the work of the Café Academy which provides hospitality training for people with learning disabilities. This year committee members have been given £10 as part of a ‘Double Your Money’ challenge. They have been asked to come up with their own innovative idea for raising money with a final target of £100 each. One pupil has already raised over £300. As part of the Jasmine Charity Challenge, each participating academy nominated a member of the local community for a ‘Heart of the Community’ Award. Our nominee was Vera Walker, until recently a nursery nurse at Alehousewells Primary School and now heavily involved with the Kemnay Friday community café. Vera was presented with her award on November 29 at Cine World, Aberdeen. Darryl Peers and Brogan Macdonald spoke on the night about Vera’s contribution to her local community. We are maintaining a link with Olivia Giles of the 500 Miles Charity and have two pink, talking money box pigs in the canteen which we call the ‘5p Pigs’. This will help reach the mile of 5p coins that we started last year. Pupils and parents are encouraged to continue bringing in coins. The annual shoe box appeal for the New Hope Trust has been a huge success and 91 boxes and a large amount of loose items left the Academy at the beginning of December en route for Eastern Europe. Thanks to all families who contributed.

Quality Improvement Matters It has been confirmed that Mr Wilf Weir has taken over as Head of Service for Kemnay Academy following a reorganisation of the Service. Mrs Alison Cook will remain as QIO until the end of term after which Mr Andrew Ritchie will undertake the roll. Our Leadership for Learning visit during which Heads of Service and QIOs spend a day exploring aspects of quality improvement at the academy has been scheduled for 14 December. The team will observe classes, meet teachers and pupils and look at background data and documentation before preparing a report. During week beginning, 21 November, members of SMT along with our PT Maths undertook a week long faculty focused review of the English Faculty. Following classroom observation, meetings with staff and pupils and initial feedback, a report was prepared to assist the Faculty with its self-evaluation. It is anticipated that 2-3 such reviews will be undertaken each session from now on.

ICT Matters A team from Corporate ICT visited the Academy in November to demonstrate the final draft of our new website. Staff, pupil’s representatives and parent Council reviewed it and made comment. These are being reviewed by the corporate team. Once the website is updated on the basis of this feedback, training for key staff will be provided to allow them to maintain the site. The aim is for it to go live early in the New Year. The draft website is accessible on:

http://arcadialite.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/kemnay/

Work to allocate Glow user names and passwords continues and final arrangements for these to be sent to parents are being made. Letters outlining procedures along with an information pack should be sent out before the end of this term.

Comenius Project Four colleagues form Germany and Austria visited the Academy, 16 -23 November, to pursue our current Comenius project. The final phase will take place in March when the team, including pupils, will visit Germany.

Litter in the Community No response from the Council’s Environmental and Waste Service to review the location of bins and clearing regime has been received. An interest has been taken by Mr Dennis Robertson MSP and the issue has been looked at via an emergency meeting of the pupil council.

30 Anniversary Book The 300 page book, “Kemnay Academy – The First 30 Years”, was launched at an event on 1 December. Guests were entertained by our musicians, a talk from ex-AHT, Doug Marr, and by Alex Anderson (editor) who ran a quiz on the year 1982. Well over 120 guests attended and had the opportunity to tour the new Art/technical accommodation. Students from the next expedition groups helped out throughout the evening.

Consultation on Uniform Following consultation initiated by the pupil council, returns were analysed and overwhelming support for the following was demonstrated:

Change to black from green Retention of the white polo shirt Discontinuation of the sweatshirt Introduction of black v-neck sweaters and cardigans (girls) with the Academy badge Introduction of a new tie for seniors All pupils to have the shirt and tie option

Redesign of our badge and logo will not take place but a thin orange stripe will be added to the Academy tie to acknowledge the new Caskieben house. The new uniform will be introduced for the start of session 2012/13 and items will be available from DFS, Inverurie. Existing pupils will have the option of continuing to wear the green uniform during 2012/13 as a changeover period. Thereafter, all pupils will wear the new black uniform.