Kingussie High School Parent Council

Kingussie High School Parent Council Draft Minutes Meeting: 29 April 2014

Present: Parents: Kate Christie (Chair), Penny MacKenzie (Treasurer), Merryn Appleby (Secretary), Ali Leiper (Fundraising), Ewan MacKeachan, Andrea Newbery, Eileen Stuart, Eileen Holmes, Joan Dallas, Mary Anderson Staff : Ollie Bray (Head Teacher), Marjory Deans (Teacher Rep), Lucy Hodes Others: Bill Lobban (Local Member)

Apologies: Mark Lynch, Deb Tait, Susan Denman, Mark Diggins, Nicki Diggins, Jaci Douglas (Local Member), Iain Adamson (Depute-Head), Gregor Rimmel (Local Member)

Production Presentation At the invitation of Merryn, Lucy Hodes, music teacher, gave a brief update on production progress (all going well) and asked if the PC would be happy to help with some of the up-front costs. As the school has not had productions for some years, there is very little in the way of make-up, props, costumes, etc. Purchases each year will gradually build a good supply for future years. The PC agreed to give £300 and offered to run a raffle on each of the three nights of the show. PC thanked Lucy for her hard work and expressed delight that there is, at last, a KHS production. ACTION Penny to give cheque to Lucy (made out to the school fund). Fundraising team to organise raffle

MAIN MINUTES

1) Minutes of Previous Meeting: 13th March 2014 a) Accepting of Minutes: As there were no requests for amendments, Ewan proposed that the minutes be accepted as a full and accurate account of the meeting and Ali seconded. b) Matters Arising (several matters are covered elsewhere on the agenda) i) Snagging - Ollie confirmed that there are still snagging issues, but work is progressing. ii) Highland Council Review – Still no response from HC regarding PC involvement in the review of the delayed completion of the extension. It was agreed that there is little to be gained in continuing to pursue this issue and that our energy is best spent elsewhere. No further PC action. iii) ICT Provision – Kate has received an acknowledgement of letter from Hugh Fraser's secretary, which is a hopeful sign. Although he is retiring and his post, with his responsibilities, are being picked up by Bill Alexander, Bill Lobban advised that we continue to communicate through Hugh Fraser. ACTION Kate to forward her letters to Callum Macintosh & Bill Alexander 2) Head Teacher’s Report a) General  School community has recently being in mourning due to loss of a S4 Pupil (Rachel Waters)  S4, S5 and S6 now on study leave (non-exam candidates have work experience)  Scanning Operation with the Drugs Dogs in the School went well  Internet Safety Evening went well  First two Drugs and Alcohol information evenings have gone well o Extra encouragement to attend Kingussie Evening on the 15th May o Might be good to have a PC rep at these types of evening  Home Learning Review starts 22nd May b) Inspection  Started on the post inspection action plan.  HMIe Follow up visit (Alistair Brown - Area Inspector) - 26th May c) Curriculum  Currently working on the timetable for next year  Some challenges: o Hospitality o Sport and Recreation o Psychology  Curriculum depends on staffing d) Staffing  Science Technician appointed (Paula Imperiale)  Next week - Interviews for PT Maths, Biology Teacher and Business / Computing Teacher (Strong leet for all).  Readvertise PT Languages.  Very short staffed in the office (speaking with the LA) e) Budget  School continues to be in a deficit. 3) Seniors' Last Day a) The last day was very positive without any untoward behaviour or damage, which was great news. PC expressed appreciation of the seniors and the management for handling the situation so well. 4) ICT Vision a) Ollie is still waiting on a visit from Ron Mackenzie, responsible for buildings and provisions, before this can be taken forward. ACTION Ollie to continue pressing for Ron's visit Kate to write follow up letter to Hugh Fraser re: ICT Bill Lobban to get Ward Members to write to Hugh Fraser highlighting the discrepancy between Grantown and Kingussie provision

5) PC Finance a) Bank balances remain the same. Fundraising a/c £1289.27 and Transport a/c £1305.81. b) We also have £721 for the lucky numbers draw, less £33 for the April draw, leaving £688. i) April draw winners are: Scott Riach - £19.80, Kirsty Anderson - £9.90, Charlie Newman - £3.30 c) Cheque for the production of £300 handed in to school on Friday. d) We are due our annual funding from Highland Council based on pupil numbers but forms have not yet been sent from HC. ACTION Penny to follow up. 6) Fundraising a) Donation Request Letters. There are three types of letters being sent out:

2 i) Sports Match Funding. These are to find donors who will give a significant amount to match the £10,000 total available in matched funding. Fiona Young has already identified a charitable trust that has pledged £3000. ii) Sports Strips. Letters specifically asking smaller companies to sponsor sports strips. These will be sent 3-4 at a time. iii) Blanket request. These are a more generic letter asking for donations towards the PC for all its fundraising goals. b) £637.19 was raised at the Tesco bag pack day. Mr Mackay was invited to go ahead and order sports strips, as this was the purpose of the effort all along. The money has been handed in to Penny, and Mr Mackay will send an invoice to to the PC. c) No caption competition yet. d) Jewellery Night – planned for May. Publicity will go out soon and donations of jewellery and accessories sought. e) Sports Day. 27th June. Everyone is asked to come up with ideas for stalls and fundraising activities on the day. ACTION As many people as possible to offer to run stalls on the day. f) Charitable Status Application. This has proved to be a long and complicated process, but is nearly complete. Bill Lobban said that Voluntary Action Badenoch & Strathspey offer help with these forms. ACTION Ali to get form checked over by VABS before sending off. g) Awards for All Lottery Application is also nearly ready to go. The application needs to be in by the end of the 1st week of May. h) PC encouraged Ollie to get the school to come up with a funding wish list so there is a specific focus for fundraising efforts and grant requests. ACTION Ollie to draw up list with staff i) Ceilidh in November. Professional ceilidh bands are very expensive. Ali asked for any contacts or ideas for cheaper or free bands. j) Bikefest – 14th June. Ollie said the school will have a stall at this event and there is lots of fundraising potential there. k) Ward Discretionary Fund. Bill Lobban explained that the Ward Members are allocated £50,000 per year to be given to appropriate projects. These are usually sums of £2-3000 and projects need to demonstrate tangible added value and not things that should be covered by Highland Council. ACTION Penny to speak to Ward Manager, Liz Cowie Bill to email Ollie with list of last year's funded projects l) Lucky Numbers were drawn. Results above. For the scheme to be successful there is a real need for more people to join. Ali passed around forms and asked everyone to photocopy and persuade friends to sign up. ACTION All parents to photocopy and pass out Lucky Numbers forms and encourage more people to join. m) On behalf of the PC, Kate expressed deep appreciation to Ali and the team for doing such a huge amount of work with such commitment and energy. 7) Transport a) Neither Ken or Mark were able to attend the meeting so there was no transport update. 3 ACTION Kate to email Mark & Ken to check on progress. b) There is an unresolved issue within Highland Council about the number of Council mini- buses across the valley that are not accessible enough. Progress in resolving this has been slow, but KHS should be getting greater access. ACTION Bill Lobban to email Kate with name of relevant person in Community Services 8) Outdoor Learning a) Nicki unable to attend tonight and Ollie hasn’t had opportunity yet to share ideas with key staff, so actions carried over to next meeting. ACTION Ollie to share the ideas with key staff and refine it for discussion at next PC meeting. 9) Communication a) PC affirmed that communication between school and parents has been working very well and is much appreciated. b) Merryn asked about progress with website, as some subject areas are still blank. Ollie said it will just take time for that to build up. c) Generic Mailboxes. Stuart unable to attend meeting, so no report on progress with this. ACTION Stuart to set up mailboxes for Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Fund-raising Lead Communication Team to follow up survey idea with Ollie later in the year. 10) AOCB a) Extra teacher on PC. There is a place for a second teacher rep on the PC. ACTION Ollie to try and recruit b) School Action Plan. Kate asked when this would be presented to the PC and when the follow-up inspection would be. Ollie said he was waiting on consultation with Alistair Brown, our District Inspector. ACTION Ollie to confirm timeline for Action Plan and follow up inspection.

11) Date of Next Meeting: 4th June 2014, 7-9pm

Minutes faithfully submitted by Merryn Appleby, checked by Ollie Bray, Kate Christie and Penny MacKenzie.