Dalkeith High School Parent Council AGM

Tuesday 9 September 2014 7pm DHS Conference Room

Welcome: Caroline welcomed everybody to the meeting especially those parents new to the Parent Council

Present: Caroline Pearson, Anne Murray, Colin Gerrie, Morag Ryan, Marianne Flockhart, Raja Avslan Khaliq, Lorraine Taylor, Bill McQueen, Liam Cairns, Bill Henderson, Julie Darling, Anne Williams, Stephanie Heasman, Deborah Slater

Apologies: Chantal Bruce, Jane Richardson, Roslyn Wright, Sarah Davie, Pauline Kennedy

Notification of AOCB: Should amalgamation of Parent Council and PTA meetings continue?

Minutes from previous AGM: These were approved

Election of office bearers:

Chair: Caroline Pearson (Nominated by Anne Williams, seconded by Anne Murray) Secretary: Deborah Slater (Nominated by Marianne Flockhart, seconded by Stephanie Heasman) Treasurer: Anne Murray (Nominated by Caroline Pearson, seconded by Morag Ryan) PTA Contact: Jane Richardson (Nominated by Caroline Pearson, seconded by Anne Murray)

Chair's report: Caroline summarised some of the contributions to the school made by the Parent Council over the last year including the Centenary (Burns Supper, DHS Through the Decades, Centenary Merchandise, Centenary raffle, school show, fund-raising for stained glass); amalgamation of Parent Council and PTA meetings; exam room issues; change of uniform supplier; communication between school and home (website / app); development of school vision and values; changes to how effort and achievement in school are recognised / prize-giving;

Kept up to date by school on introduction of the new national qualifications; changes to exam leave; tracking and mentoring; development of eProfiles; vocational options for S1 and S3; introduction of anti-bullying ambassadors; School Improvement Plan

Caroline finished by thanking all involved for their input into what is a very successful Parent Council.

Treasurer's Report: A full report was postponed to a Parent Council meeting later this term. Anne Murray only took over from June Douglas as Treasurer just before the summer break. Much of the money raised during the Centenary year so far has been banked in the school account for practical reasons. This now needs to be drawn down into the PTA account. Once this housekeeping has been done then a full report can be presented. All agreed. Head Teacher's Report: Colin Gerrie gave a report which included:

 information about staff changes: permanent, temporary and NQTs. Colin feels that the school is good at recruiting and retaining the best teaching staff and there is a good balance between youth and experience  School vision; the strategy and tactics that will help achieve this including individualised timetables for the pupils in the lowest 20% in terms of attainment with practical options including construction skills and hairdressing. Options aimed at closing the gap in attainment  Achievement Working Group led by Steve Kelly: success evidenced by Duke of Edinburgh scheme up to gold, Sports Day, five football teams, reintroduction of rugby, increase in outdoor learning opportunities from P7 to S2 and beyond. Clear that more and more happening in terms of wider achievement in the school  Leadership Group: recruiting staff who add value beyond the classroom with, for example, the school show and Duke of Edinburgh  Tracking and mentoring continues to be very positive  Approaching 95% positive destinations for school leavers, aiming for 100%  This year focus groups of pupils will meet with the Head Teacher to discuss their ideas of how the school could improve  a breakdown of the excellent, record-breaking exam results  Colin gave an overview of Insight, the new system for comparing the success of schools with criteria including positive destinations, literacy and numeracy at Nat 4 & 5, points for every qualification gained, deprivation v. affluence in catchment. Colin explained that the catchment for DHS represents an even cross-section of Scottish society  School improvement plan: have delivered on new school website, App for ease of communication with home, Senior Award Ceremony introduced, etc.

Caroline thanked Colin for his report, praised the school for all of its many achievements this year and requested that we return to more about Insight and the School Improvement Plan at future meetings. Colin agreed and suggested that he would like to gather further ideas from the Parent Council to feed into the School Improvement Plan. Action point DS: add to agenda for future meeting

AOCB: Caroline suggested that amalgamating the Parent Council and PTA meetings over the last year has been a success. The strategy of forming a small sub-group when a fund- raising event is planned has worked well during the Centenary year so far. It was agreed to continue with joint meetings.

Lockers: the subject of lockers was raised again. Colin said he would get an update on that and bring it back to the next meeting Action point CG and DS (add to agenda)

Centenary update: Book due out soon will be priced £7, plan a final event before the end of the year, craft fair being planned by Sara McDermott at which PTA could sell Centenary merchandise

Caroline thanked everyone for attending and invited everybody to stay for tea and coffee in the staff room.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 23 September at 7pm in the conference room Further dates: 11 November, 13 January, 24 February, 31 March, 19 May