ACADEMY PARENT COUNCIL

Minutes of Meeting of Kemnay Academy Parent Council held on Wednesday 7th March 2012 at Kemnay Academy, Bremner Way, Kemnay

Present: Graham Peers (Chair) Jackie Smith Jackie Owen Elizabeth Russell Brid Mackay Helen Allan Frances Cribbes Eric Marston Mary Lucas (staff representative) Darryl Peers (pupil representative)

In attendance: Dr Charlie Hunter (Rector) Cllr Hazel al-Kowarri Cllr Martin Ford Deb Hoad (Support Services Co-ordinator)

Apologies: Jenny Singer Cherry Marks Angie Wood Fran Jones (staff representative) Cllr Nan Cullinane

1. Minutes of previous meeting

Cllr Hazel Al-Kowarri noted that in Item 10 of the minutes (Student Update) it had been recorded that Cllr Cullinane had reported back that the meeting between Vera Walker and the Pupil Council had gone very well, when in fact it was she, Cllr Al-Kowarri, who had reported back.

With this amendment the minutes were approved - proposed by Brid Mackay and seconded by Frances Cribbes.

2. Matters arising

Parent Council Finances – Jenny needs to complete a further bank form for changing signatory names as agreed.

New website – Deb Hoad was in attendance at this meeting and was welcomed to the meeting by Graham – further reporting is given under item 4 of these minutes.

Parental Skills – reported under item 5 of these minutes.

Potential joint meeting with cluster Primary School Parent Councils – email has been sent to the Primary School Parent Councils suggesting a meeting on Monday 14 th May 2012. Supportive replies have been received from Kemnay and Kintore Parent Councils. No responses yet from Alehousewells or Kinellar.

3. Accommodation update

Since the last Parent Council meeting there have been two meetings relating to accommodation:

Firstly a meeting at Kintore School relating to the provision of a second Primary School at Kintore (attended by Graham).

It should be noted that although the current proposal includes an option for a small secondary school this meeting does not form part of the forthcoming consultation on the provision of secondary school provision in the Kemnay Academy catchment area.

Kintore School is already well over the capacity for which it was originally designed and with the amount of new housing being built in Kintore additional provision is essential. Council are consulting stakeholders on their proposal of a phased development: • Phase 1 – a 325 capacity school with core facilities suitable for 540 • Phase 2 – increase the capacity to 540 • Phase 3 – a 540 capacity Academy with community learning facilities to create a 3-18 joint campus school It is hoped to have the new school open (phase 1) by August 2016.

During discussion at this meeting Graham pointed out that based upon experiences at Kemnay Academy a capacity of 540 is too small for a viable Academy which would be unable to offer the breadth of course choice that parents and Curriculum for Excellence require. The current financial environment will only exacerbate this.

No date has been set as yet for a further meeting.

The second meeting was held at Kemnay Academy and related to planned improvements and extension of the Academy (attended by Graham and Liz).

This was the follow up to a meeting held on 18 th January at which the Parent Council had not been represented due to the invitation having been sent to an incorrect email address.

The plans presented at the meeting showed changes to those that had been discussed at the Parent Council meeting of 1 st February. Many of the changes resulted from a very fruitful meeting between Derek McWilliam, one of the architects, and the Pupil Council. One of the main concerns of the Pupil Council was whether the canteen and social areas were going to be large enough to cope with the school population even after the modifications were complete. Amendments were suggested to the atrium area and link into the “old” hexagonal section of the school that will better utilise space and marginally increase the size of the social areas although in reality the area might still be considered too small.

The disappointing aspect of this stakeholder meeting was that the schedule given for the phases of work showed significant slippage compared to the programme originally discussed with the Parent Council.

Phase 1 is now not due to start until February 2013 (was October 2012) meaning that the badly needed extra PE facilities will not be available until October 2013, after the start of the school year (was August 2013 in time for start of school year). This creates a serious problem for the Academy in timetabling PE for this term.

Phases 2 and 3, which provide a new two floor building containing additional classrooms and some internal alterations to the existing building, have both slipped by six months to August 2014 completion but Aberdeenshire Council are still hoping that the final phase (Phase 4) will still be complete by March 2015 as originally planned.

The total cost is still expected to be £9 million.

As there are currently no further stakeholder meetings planned it was asked what the Parent Council can do to ensure that this timescale is adhered to and there is no further slippage. It was felt that a better understanding of the “due process” that the project needs to follow would be helpful and allow the Parent Council to keep a check that the necessary progress is being made. Councillor Ford was able to advise the dates of the various committee meetings and milestones that the project has to meet. This will allow the Parent Council to know when the most appropriate times are to initiate dialogue with Head of Service Wilf Weir.

4. Parent Council section of new school website

Deb Hoad gave a demonstration of the new site and informed the Parent Council that it is still a work in progress that is not yet live and that there are a number of “skeleton” pages to finalise, some duplicate quick-links to be tidied and more relevant ones added e.g. letters home, breaking news etc.

The website will be sub-divided into the following areas:- Home, About Kemnay Academy, Faculties and Departments, Curriculum, Parents Area, Pupils Area and Contact Us.

Pages will include:- • School calendar – Parent Council meetings can be added. • Today’s events • Gallery – photos need to be checked for parental approval before adding to page. • Charity Committee – direct link to their separate website. • Links to useful homework sites. • Parent Council and PTA pages – Frances asked if these could be kept as two separate pages. • Each Department will have a link, glow links and information of interest to parents.

Documents will have to be converted from Microsoft to PDF, but this is easily done.

Deb enquired what exactly the Parent Council would like to see included on their page and asked that suggestions and ideas be e-mailed to Jackie Owen and she will share information with Deb.

Darryl asked about the planned Pupil Council page – this page is currently empty but will be discussed at the SMT meeting on Thursday 8 th March.

Deb and Scott Angus (the web team) have full editing rights to the website and can make any changes needed. The school office staff will be able to upload school letters and information but cannot change the layout – only the web team have the right to do this.

Kemnay Academy’s current web address will remain unchanged.

5. Parental skills

As agreed at the previous meeting, Graham has forwarded details of the site used by Aberdeenshire Council to facilitate group communication. This is currently in the process of changing from “Communities of Practice for Public Service” to “Knowledge Hub” run by the Local Government Association. Graham is a member of a group set up for Parent Council chairs.

No further meetings have been held with Lesley Stage since the last Parent Council meeting.

Concerns have been raised about the suggestion to use LinkedIn as a means of communicating with parents. Lesley Stage and Dr Hunter have concerns about personal details being too available on this site and Dr Hunter advised that using LinkedIn would have to be cleared through Aberdeenshire Council’s Corporate Communications department. There was also a general concern from Parent Council members that there is a growing backlash against sharing details on websites and that this may deter parents from participating. This approach may need to be reconsidered. As Cherry was not present at tonight’s meeting Graham will draw this to her attention for discussion at the next meeting.

It is still the intention to issue a questionnaire to all parents. Dr Hunter suggested that link week should be targeted for this as interest is high amongst “new” parents. An explanatory article did not go in the March School Newsletter but should instead now go in the one to be issued in June before the end of the school year. Cherry to finalise questionnaire for issue.

Cherry has advised that access to a computing event held at RGU may be made available to Kemnay Academy. This event has previously been available to city schools only but Cherry was hoping to be able to get representatives from Kemnay along in future. Cherry to send details to Dr Hunter.

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.

The end of the Parent Council financial year is 30 th April. Jackie to prepare accounts statement for review at next meeting in preparation for getting accounts audited. Frances will need to arrange for a statement of the PTA accounts to be passed to Jackie for inclusion in the Parent Council accounts.

8. PTA report

The PTA held a meeting on 5 th March 2012. Frances reported that their finances are very healthy due to the 200 Club and that the Senior Pupils had been a great help in encouraging new membership.

The bank balance currently is £1213.62 with £144 .00 still to be banked.

Frances has spoken to Mr Whitby, staff member and treasurer for the Rock Challenge group, about the possibility of making a monetary donation to help with the costs of funding their up- coming trip to the Scottish Rock Challenge Finals in Dundee in June.

A “Bottle Stall” fund-raiser is being planned for a Sunday in May at Thainstone Mart, Inverurie. Frances requested that (non-alcoholic) bottles be dropped off at the Academy by pupils and Phil Gaitor will organise storage of items brought. Alcoholic bottles will have to be handed in by an adult. It is hoped that this will be a successful event.

Imogen Day was the winner of an MP3 player in the 200 Club competition.

The next PTA meeting will take place on April 30 th at 7.00pm.

9. Student update

Darryl reported that two Pupil Council meetings were held in February. One meeting was with Derek McWilliam, Architect, (as noted earlier in minutes). Darryl volunteered to provide minutes for meeting.

Names have been forwarded for the election of a new Pupil Council chairperson to replace Darryl when he leaves the Academy. Elections will be held next week.

Darryl hopes to introduce the successful candidate at the next Parent Council meeting. He will also allow the new chairperson to “shadow” him and to gain ideas on the planning and organising of Pupil Council meetings.

10. Correspondence

Received: • SPTC Backchat 124 (paper copy) • National Parent Forum of Scotland January /February 2012 newsletter including report from National Parent Conference 2011 “Curriculum for Excellence – One Year On” • Report from the Aberdeenshire Parent Conference held in November 2011 • Notification of Aberdeenshire Council Engagement Event with Parent Councils in , this event was subsequently cancelled • Notification of Commission on Rural Education meeting held in , Huntly • Notification of change of person within Aberdeenshire Council with responsibility for Parental Involvement, this is now John Harding, Head of Lifelong Learning and Leisure • Reminder of Formartine and Garioch Annual meeting at • Notification that Aberdeenshire Council is migrating its Community of Practice for Parent Council chairs to Knowledge Hub • Invitation to stakeholder meeting concerning the provision of a second school at Kintore along with confirmation that this does not form part of consultation arrangements regarding the provision of secondary schooling in the Kemnay Academy catchment area • Invitation to a stakeholder meeting concerning the development and refurbishment of Kemnay Academy • Responses from Kemnay Primary Parent Council and Kintore Parent Council concerning proposed joint meeting • Email from Councillor Ford providing indicative milestones for proposed works at Kemnay Academy

Sent: • Email to cluster primary school parent councils suggesting joint meeting • Email to Aberdeenshire Council enquiring if stakeholder meetings regarding a second school at Kintore formed part of the proposed consultation on the provision of secondary schooling in the Kemnay Academy catchment area

11. Forthcoming events

Deadline for newsletter input is 21 st March. Graham to provide.

Joint meeting with feeder Primary Parent Councils suggested for Monday 14 th May, still to be confirmed. Aim will be to refresh the Primary Parent Councils on the P7-S1 link arrangements at the Academy and to provide an update on how Curriculum for Excellence is developing at the Academy.

12. Next meeting

Next meeting will be held on Wednesday 25 th April 2012 at 7.30pm in the Academy.

Thereafter the final meeting of this year’s Parent Council will be held on Wednesday 6th June 2012 with the Parent Forum Annual Meeting on Tuesday 19 th June 2012. Meeting of Kemnay Academy Parent Council 7 March 2012 Head Teacher’s Report

Staffing Mrs Fiona Allan, PTG, has begun her maternity leave and Miss Christine Lloyd has taken on the role of acting PTG for Caskieben house. Miss Lloyd’s music post is being filled at present by Ms Lindsay Bray. Mrs Rachel Cooper, ASfL teacher, will begin her maternity leave on 16 March. The process to fill her post on a temporary basis is underway. Ms Vicki Williams has been appointed as temporary replacement for Mrs Paula Mahoney during her career break. We have appointed a number of staff to fixed term contracts until the end of session to support CfE developments, etc. These are Mrs Shona McIntosh (English) and Miss Gayle Cameron and Mr Peter Robinson (Social Studies). A similar post in Modern Languages will be readvertised. Mr Shand has returned to the Service a summary of our expected staffing changes for August 2012 so that probationer allocations and transfers can be managed before any remaining vacancies are advertised. It has been confirmed that the staffing formula will remain essentially unchanged for next session and that the expected 3% cut will not be applied.

Accommodation The second stakeholders consultation, chaired by Wilf Weir (Head of service), took place in the Academy on 23 February. Colleagues from Property explained the updated proposals for the extension. Earlier that week the architect, Derek MacWilliam, briefed the pupil council on the project. He received very helpful feedback from that meeting that led to adjustment of the draft plans. A slightly amended timescale was shared that could see work beginning in February 2013 rather than October 2012. This is to accommodate the various Committee stages and planning applications.

Curriculum for Excellence The in-service days of 14 and 15 February allowed colleagues to make progress with designing activities and assessment for the new S3. SMT undertook work to consider the necessary calendar adjustments that will be necessary with the new pattern of choice processes. Members also undertook a test of the proposed S4 plan by asking current S4 students to indicate the pattern of choice they would have made if offered 6 subjects. Mr Shand is now working up an option structure that reflects this. It will be tested further with the new S3 early next session. Later in February, colleagues met in cross-curricular groups to explore further opportunities for interdisciplinary learning in S1-3.

Cashless Catering The infrastructure to enable installation of the required card readers and charging equipment has been put in place. The Academy will be assisted to make the system live from Monday, 19 March. Checks that all pupils have the necessary NEC cards are underway. Staff have completed applications for cards to enable them to access the system. Discussions with the Catering Service on procedures for Link Week are underway.

Charities A variety of activities in aid of Sport Relief are taking place this week. These have been coordinated by the Faculty of Health and Well-being. They include lunchtime fun competitions, some of which contribute to House points and, on the Friday afternoon a “Sport Relief Mile” in which pupils and staff can take part. As part of Fair trade fortnight (27 Feb- 11 March) there have been a number of different activities taking place. A fair-trade tuck shop was provided and a ‘beat the goalie’ competition was held on Friday, 2 March. The two goalies, Mr Lawson and Mr Watson, were generous enough to purchase three prizes for the most successful footballers. Around £20 was raised at this event alone. Throughout the week Miss J Cameron has been running a series of lessons for S1 classes to promote awareness of fair trade. All proceeds raised throughout the fortnight will go towards our global fund which will allow us to ‘twin’ a toilet in a developing country. The next 6 – 8 weeks will be extremely busy, but the Senior Charity Committee have planned events to boost the current fund by several thousand pounds. They are: • ‘Chicks for Charity’ (a knitted chick containing a crème egg) They have had the support of the Knit and Natter groups from Kemnay and Kintore to produce hundreds of these chicks for sale. • Duck Race – 25 March • Ladies Night at Brantano, Inverurie, on 15 March – senior pupils will have a stall from 5 to 8 pm to sell home bakes/wrist bands/chicks and to promote the golf event in April. On the same night Ms Jones and two members of the Charity Committee will be at a Jasmine Challenge Speed Networking Event in Aberdeen. • 6th Charity Golf Event at Kemnay Golf Club – Monday, 30 April. If any member of council has a golfer in the family or could promote this event at their place of work it would be much appreciated. It has always been a successful day for all concerned.

Tree of Knowledge The Academy commissioned the organisation, Tree of Knowledge, to deliver motivational workshops to all pupils in S2 and S4. These took place on 16 and 17 February and included a very well received session for parents on the evening of 16 February. The session for S2 focused on decision making and self-awareness while for S4, it focused on motivation and the importance of mind set in the context of forthcoming exams.

Quality Improvement Matters During week beginning, 20 February, an intensive review of the Faculty of Design and Technology was undertaken. This was very positive and a record of the findings has been shared with members of the Faculty and with our QIO. The recommendations from the review will now be accommodated in the Faculty’s improvement plan. Meanwhile all faculties are nearing the end of their annual thematic review process in which they are taking stock of their progress towards CfE. Dr Hunter will appear the next Garioch Area Committee on 13 March to report on attainment and achievement over the last academic session.

Rock Challenge 2012 Kemnay Academy’s Rock Challenge team recorded great success at the AECC on 18 February. Our team came third overall but also achieved awards for Best Set, Best Video, Best Hair and was voted the Performers’ Choice by all the other schools. In addition, the team has been invited to the first National final in Dundee on 13 June. Arrangements are in place to allow this to happen. The video of the performance will be presented to all pupils at the Easter achievement assemblies during the last week of this term.

Madagascar Expeditions Following the withdrawal of a member of the expedition, a replacement from amongst the reserves has been found. Both expedition teams undertook a development day on 25 February and have now selected different itineraries. Members are continuing to raise funds and will take part in a sponsored abseil in Edinburgh later in March. A bag pack at Morrisons has also been arranged for the Christmas holidays.

Primary Transition The annual Wider Horizons evening for parents of P7 pupils has been organised for 14 March. The range of contributors has been refreshed. S5 student volunteers will run a simultaneous “Dragons’ Den” exercise for the P7 pupils. They undertook training by the RGU School Liaison Officer, Rachel Creegan, on the afternoon of 7 March. On Tuesday, 6 March, a group of S1 pupils undertook the Lego Green City Challenge with P6 pupils from our local Primary Schools. This activity focused on robotics and renewable energy and made good use of our newly acquired Lego equipment. Pupils built and programmed robots to complete a number of missions simulating real life environmental challenges. All P6 pupils will visit the Academy on 21 March for the annual Health event. Enterprise, lego, green day, health day, wider horizons, etc

Driving Ambition S6 students took part in the annual Driving Ambition event on Tuesday, 28 February. Our students were featured in an ITV news report about the event on 29 February.