PARENT COUNCIL MEETING 3-10-11

PRESENT; Marina Thomason, Kareen Anderson, Albie Redshaw, Winnie Tulloch, Susan Williamson, Ingrid Dickie, Katy Hay and Claire Lawson.

1. APOLOGIES; Robert Jamieson

2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING FOR APPROVAL Albie approved and Winnie seconded

3. MATTERS ARISING. GARDENING COMMITTEE The gardening committee has not met this term but intend to have a meeting early next term. The bairns did very well at the Yell Show with their vegetables, getting a trophy for their basket of vegetables. The community night to clear out the sheds was well attended. Some of the contents were kept, the metal has been kept to sell for scrap and the rest was either burned or put to the skip. Thank you to all who helped. POLYTUNNEL- The bairns are going to contact the Northmavine Development company about buying a small poly tunnel. Separate fund- raising has been taking place for this. The Up-Helly-Aa committee have donated £300, £211 was raised at a chippy night and £120 was raised at a coffee morning. It has been suggested to apply for another community council grant to help but as their budget has been cut, we shouldn't rely on this. The poly tunnel costs about £1000 and there will be costs involved with putting it up. The Sound School has recently put one up and got help from the Moving On Project and the Development group. Colin Dickie said he would help with getting it set up.

INSURANCE The School Service has taken over all Parent Council Insurance( to make it cheaper). Marina had a letter to say that we are insured but as yet we have not been charged for this. Marina is going to check with Hayfield House, to be sure we are actually covered and if we are going to get the bill.

PARENT CHAIR BI-ANNUAL MEETING Marina attended this meeting in May. The Dunrossness chair spoke about how the Blueprint was affecting our Schools. He thought not shutting schools was making everyone else suffer cutbacks. The Aith vice chair wanted to set up a working group to engage with the S.I.C to make sure they were making decisions based on facts. He also seemed to think closures were needed. The whole idea of the working group died a death after Mike Russell’s memorandum putting a stop to school closures for a year.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Two parents have approached Marina about this subject with their concerns. Claire said religious education is part of the curriculum and she teaches from the Kirk of point of view as that is the local kirk. Claire said that parents have the option to opt put of religious education for their bairns. This would mean either the parent could come in and supervise their child while religion was being taught or the bairn would be in the same room but not taking part in the lesson. Claire also pointed out that bairns who opt out would not be able to take part in the Harvest Thanksgiving and the Christmas play. Susan asked why, as you don't have to be giving thanks to a god for your harvest. Claire said she meant that they would not go to the kirk for the harvest thanksgiving. Susan said that was already covered as letters always went out asking if the bairns were going to attend the kirk so they know whether or not to practise the songs. Katy said that various other religions were also taught and everyone agreed that it was important for bairns to understand the different religious views and respect them.

MATHS One parent spoke to Marina about their concern about the level of maths being taught in school. Usually when only one parent expresses a concern, they would be directed to take it up personally with the school, but as there was a questionnaire at parents night about maths, Marina thought it would be appropriate. The results of the questionnaire are in the head teachers report. Maths is taught 4 times a week.

BLUEPRINT FOR EDUCATION The and Burravoe Schools are still awaiting the decision on closure. This is such a shame for the schools to be in limbo. There is more about the blueprint in the head teachers report.

4. CORRESPONDENCE A National Qualifications Survey Report was published in August. Confidence levels are low among respondents to the survey. 78% of responses expressed low to average levels of confidence compared to 19% expressing average to high confidence. Some of the comments highlighted specific concerns as follows; lack of clarity and understanding about the specifics; acceptance of new qualifications by employers and higher/further education establishments; children may leave school with nothing or only an internally assessed qualification; readiness of schools and teachers; number of Nationals young people will be able to sit; current S2 cohort are guinea pigs. In the September issue of “backchat” an article says, the General Teaching Council has just launched a consultation on proposed changes to the way it deals with cases of teachers whose competency or conduct is being considered. It's important that parent's and carers have their say in this. You can find details of the consultation at http://www.gtcs.org.uk/independence/consultation- fitness-to-teach.aspx SQA recently published the unit specifications for the new National 4 and National 5 qualifications. If you would like to comment on these, go to the Have Your Say facility on the SQA website. You can also read a summary of feedback they have received on the new qualifications. Go to www.sqa.org.uk The National Parent Forum of Scotland Newsletter, August/September. This mostly focussing on the curriculum for excellence. Here are some useful links if you would like more information. National Parent Forum of Scotland [email protected] Enquire – the national advice service in Scotland for additional support for learning www.enquire.org.uk Education Scotland – more detailed information on Curriculum for Excellence http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk Parentzone – information for parents on all aspects of children's learning www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentzone Scottish Qualifications Authority – for the latest information on qualifications www.sqa.org.uk

5. HEAD TEACHERS REPORT School Roll There are 22 pupils in the school. The projected roll is 2012/13 – 28, 2013/14 – 30, 2014/15 – 29. Obviously this could change at any time. Katy Hay is due to start her maternity leave in October and this post has been advertised. Blueprint Update Swimming instruction will stop now. Pupils have received their 6 week block for the year. There is to be a 5% cut in budgets for next year. This may be increased depending on Mike Russell's decision on Burravoe and Uyeasound. There has been no discussion about the cut to classroom assistant posts. The ASN review has not yet begun. CfE We are going to put out some information to parents about each of the 8 curricular areas. We have a responsibility to inform parents about what children need to learn through all areas. At some point through the year we are reviewing our vision statement and aims. This will probably take the form of a workshop where parents can look at a variety of other school's aims and decide on what we want. These ideas can then be collated and a choice of aims put out for consultation. Initial results from the survey on 'maths' within the school show most parents would like some more maths home work sent home. This would more likely take the form of games and websites rather than traditional worksheets. Staff had had some initial discussion about 'maths bags' which relate to a specific topic. Eco Committee As part of the ongoing work to achieve our Green Flag award, I need to give a report to the Parent Council on the work of the Eco Committee. We are now recycling plastic bottles which are taken to Lerwick. Pupils are doing a survey on litter at the moment to establish parental/community views on litter around the school. Our Eco Committee page is now on the website but still has all the information to be added. We have installed water hippos in the toilets and made posters to remind us to save water. John Simpson came and looked at the insulation in the top classroom. He is arranging for insulation to be put right through to the back room. He is also getting Dennis Buddle to look at fitting more efficient radiators. This should help keep the room warmer in winter. A letter has gone to Walls Bakery asking them to provide plastic boxes for families to collect waste for the compost bins. We have received our silver award which is displayed on our achievement board. Assessors come to the school to look at our work when we apply for our Green flag. The Garden Committee are going to meet to review the work done this year and make a plan for next year.

Singing around the World Concert is on 6th November. Can the Parent Council do the teas/homebakes? Parent Council said yes. 6. AOB Susan had been asked by a parent, who funded the crofting connections trip? The school put £75 towards the cost of this. A parent had also voiced their concerns about the school dinners coming from . The school is quite happy with the meals which are of a high quality. There have been instances of parts of the meal being left in Mid Yell but this has always been sorted out before the bairns eat. FUNDRAISING – Susan suggested another beetle drive and bingo night. Marina suggested having another sale in the new year as this raised a lot of money last time. Katy suggested having a food night . We decided to have a bingo and beetle night with food. The food being wraps and chilli with all the salad and dips. Marina is going to organise the food and Susan is going to organise the date and do the poster. Parents are asked to bring a raffle prize.