KING'S PARK SECONDARY SCHOOL

PARENT COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING: 8th December 2008

PRESENT: APOLOGIES:

Zoe Kean Simon Bates Colin Towler Greg Kousourou Janie Munro Louise Kinloch Niall Kinloch Margaret Logan David Bryce Margaret Barr Tom Feasby Anne Burke Marjorie Sinclair June Wells (Clerk)

1. YOUTH HEALTH SUMMIT

Tom Feasby was welcomed to the meeting. Along with Janie he had attended the Youth Health Summit at . The Summit covers all secondary schools in SE and was based on the health survey report carried out in 2005. A cross section of S4 King's Park pupils (last year's Pupil Council) attended. Pupils worked in groups, assisted by Claire Harker who helped them in preparing presentations.

Positive findings for King's Park pupils are that they are more likely to walk to school, are healthier eaters and are less likely to vandalise property. The negative findings were King's Park pupils are more likely to have tried smoking/alcohol and less likely to have visited the community centre.

The lack of use of community resources did stand out. John Harkins had advised that the action plan would be a great advantage in helping to establish facilities in area. He will keep us posted of future developments. A lack of support from community resources was also flagged up. Robert Booth is Chair of our area committee and was very interested to hear about lack of facilities in area. Robert is also involved in the Sensory Garden. There was much talk from pupils of other schools about our lack of facilities and this led to discussion about territory and breaking down of barriers. Many young people would be open to meeting up in an attempt to start this process.

Tom also advised the final report was not yet available on line but he could make copies available if requested. He did warn that the report was 67 pages long!

Niall said it would be good to see the report. Colin suggested sending pdf would be best way to do this. Tom will speak with Janie and she will forward in due course.

Discussion then followed on facilities. Pupils have expressed their preference to having facilities in the community rather than a "club" at school. There is still reluctance to use Holyrood facilities as perceived as being facility of Holyrood school. Research had been carried out re clubs etc in catchment area. There were many church based, army cadets, boy brigade type clubs but no real independent facilities, but once SFA football club opens up this may change. Ref letter from Cllr David Ritchie, Cashback for Communities, may be a source of possible funding.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the previous minute were approved.

3. MATTERS ARISING

Associated Primaries: Visits to the Parent evenings went well and still worth doing.

Merrylee Catchment: This has still to be progressed.

Fire Doors: The chains are now off and the doors have been refurbished with an assurance they cannot be kicked open.

Solar Panel: No progress until February.

Water Damage: The fire escape and various windows have been repaired but still to be tested with heavy rain. Plasterwork had also been carried out.

New Signatory: Janie had attended at bank to be told forms had to be filled in with Bob agreeing he is no longer a signatory. To be looked into at end of meeting.

Panto: This had been a great success and thanks were giving to Zoe and Margaret Logan for organising.

4. CORRESPONDENCE

Margaret Barr reported that Community Council were looking for a delegate from Kings's Park Parent Council. Simshill and Old Cathcart Council had asked on a previous occasion but it was felt it was not appropriate for parents to represent King's Park school on community issues. It was agreed that minutes should continue to be exchanged with possible greater input on matters of concern to both, but no delegate put forward at this stage.

SPTC letter: Annual report now available from their website.

Minutes of Simshill and Old Cathcart Council were circulated. Two representatives attended the recent King's Park concert, which had been praised in the minutes. A reference was also made to email sent by Margaret Barr re scheduled change to school times. A newsletter is to be sent to residents.

Jim Knox, Area Manager of Land and Environmental Services praised King's Park school and the Community Council for the work carried out by pupils re litter bins.

Mount Florida Parent Partnership had asked if we have been receiving any emails from other Parent Councils. Margaret Barr happy to send emails again to progress this.

A letter was received from Councillor David Ritchie about Crime in Scotland. He refers to statistics about police on the street and falling crime rates and also to the Cashback for Communities scheme.

5. CONSULTATION ON PARENT NATIONAL BODY

The SPTC consultation questionnaire needs to be completed by January 2009. The government are not in a position to endorse the organisation but only to impose the need for this kind of organisation. The general feeling is that SPTC is a very good organisation and having been around since 1949 it was felt unnecessary to establish new one. The problem with creating a new body is that it possibly could be under government control and not remain independent like the SPTC. It was agreed it would be an impossible task for parents to carry out these roles alone. The feeling is that SPTC should be supported and be allowed to stay independent of any government intervention.

It was agreed it would be useful to fill in the questionnaire at this time. Much discussion took place and answers to individual questions on questionnaire were arrived at. The views will be expressed as those of the Parent Council and not as from individuals. Janie thanked everyone for their contribution and would make the completed questionnaire available.

6. SUBGROUPS

Culture Club: The panto was a great success and it was agreed this should be built on for the future.

Sports: It was suggested that the PE Department list all activities they are currently involved in to help with establishing the sports facilities. This will be done but is perhaps better left until the new timetable comes into force and they will have a better idea of what they can then achieve in allotted times. Colin asked that the PE Department also considered how many times activities had to be taken out of school every week and facilitated in sports halls etc. This would help with the proposal for an on site sports hall and give a better idea of what is involved in the practicalities of running the PE Department, including scale of poor equipment etc. Colin and Niall will liaise directly with the PE Department with the possibility of meeting up on Friday, 12th December after 3 pm. Margaret Barr to arrange.

Social and Fundraising: It had been decided not to hold a Christmas raffle as the timescale was too tight, but a Spring raffle should be organised. Anne suggested having a fundraising table at the Christmas concert which would also help with networking and informing parents of our fundraising role. Tickets could also be bought for a small raffle at the table. had raised £900 with their Christmas fair. Anne also suggested including photographs of school improvements, completed through fundraising, in newsletter prior to Spring raffle as a way of encouraging parents to contribute. Fundraising projects remained vague with the suggestion of improving fund reward schemes. Football strips, outdoor trips and reward trips were also mentioned.

Website: Martin, Colin and Janie met with Margaret Barr. Margaret demonstrated how to incorporate the Parent Council into the King's Park website. Colin has been progressing this. Anne suggested that rather than just having the minutes displayed there could perhaps be buttons to flag up recent achievements, ie road safety success. Newsletters could also be added as pdfs. This might encourage people to more actively explore the website. Margaret advised that there had been nearly 9,000 hits since the end of last May, which was very encouraging. Marjorie suggested that the website needed more publicity as it was a very good source of information. Janie said she flags it up with everything she sends out, and it is also publicised in newsletters.

7. SCHOOL REPORT

T Feasby reported on the recent Health Summit which was attended by South East pupils

M Barr reported:

PUPIL NEWS – Well done to:

• Basketball Team - King's Park 61, Lenzie Academy 57. • Anina Khamisha and Caitlin Forsyth who were 2nd and 3rd in the Glasgow Schools’ Indoor Rowing competition, which was hosted by King’s Park Secondary School. • King’s Park pupils and staff raised £1,500 for Children in Need. • The 6 senior pupils who took part in BBC’s Question Time, broadcast from the University of Strathclyde’s Barony Hall. Laurie Motherwell asked a witty supplementary question about John Sergeant leaving ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Unfortunately there was not enough time for Chris Ruddy to ask his serious question about how young people are portrayed by the media. • The pupils who took part in the school’s Question Time event the week before, where topical moral and ethical issues were debated by guest speakers from various faiths and none. • P7 pupils from our partner schools, who took part in the P7 Challenge, which was a great success, including the healthy snacks made by the children of Hilltop Nursery School. • All the pupils and staff who hosted the Open Evening, which was a great success. • All the pupils who performed in George Square at the opening concert of Winterfest.

VARIOUS

• Repairs have been effected to deal with water ingress. At the moment all seems well, but the next bout of heavy rain and strong winds will test this. • The fire doors in the main block, and the entrance doors in the Admin block, have all be refurbished. It should no longer be possible to ‘bounce’ them open, nor should the entrance doors need to be chained. • Staff from Gateway have begun filming for the school video which will appear on the website. They took footage during the Open Evening, and recorded S1 pupils talking to senior pupils about their experiences. Unfortunately the technician is ill and filming has been postponed until January. • Thank you to Mrs Zoe Kean for organising the tickets for the Prefects’ Panto – Cinderella in the King’s Theatre. Very enjoyable. • Pupils and staff have been identified for the Mentoring programme which will begin shortly. • Anne Marie McGovern, Area Education Manager, and David Lawson, Quality Improvement Officer, visited King’s Park’s senior management team for the annual Performance Review. Statistics were scrutinised and issues were discussed. It was noted that we are an improving school – they were impressed with the wide range of initiatives in the school to improve learning and teaching, and to improve pupil performance. • Concerns about safety – some parents repeatedly stop on the zigzag lines outside the school when dropping their children at school. A message in the Newsletter met with no change. M Barr has photographs, and will consult the police. • The learning community will invite Brian Boyd of the University of Strathclyde to hold an information evening for parents and staff of all schools in the learning community – probably in February/March. The focus will be Curriculum for Excellence. Brian Boyd was on the original working group which prepared the strategy.

EVENTS

• Christmas Ceilidhs will take place next week. S1, S2 and S5/6. Unfortunately no tickets were sold for the S3/4 ceilidh, so it has been cancelled. • S3 SVS class will hold a coffee morning on Thursday 18 December, to raise funds for their trip to Castle Toward.

INVITATION

• Members of the Parent Council are warmly invited to attend the Christmas Concert on Wednesday 10 December. Please let M Barr know how many tickets you require.

STAFF NEWS

• Mr Paul Grimes has been appointed Acting PT Pastoral Care during the absence of Mrs Liz Aitken.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Anne suggested asking probationary teacher, Gillian Francis to speak at Parent Council. It was agreed to do this. Wendy Dougan, Pastoral Care, will be asked to speak at meeting in January and Gillian will be asked to attend March meeting.

Claire Harker has offered to take the place of Bob Cochrane as staff representative. This was agreed by meeting.

Curriculum for Excellence: Margaret Barr gave a very quick presentation. She gave a brief background that 6 years ago there was a national debate about Scottish education which gave birth to the Curriculum for Excellence. She also explained it was not just about the curriculum but involved every aspect of a child's experiences at school.

Margaret also mentioned that the Parentzone website was an excellent source of information.

The DVD was then shown.

7. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Monday, 12th January 2009