Minutes

10 September 2008

Present:        Amanda Amos, Fiona Belbin, Sarah Kish, Caroline McCowan, Paula Macleod, Marg Meek, Anne Robbins

                        Ian Smith, Rector

Apologies:    Fiona Belbin

Absent:         Sandra MacFarlane

1.         Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on the 30 April 2008 were accepted.

2.         Matters Arising

i)          S3-S6.  The proposed changes to the S3-S6 curriculum have been made.

ii)         Monitoring and Reporting.  The school intends to do more monitoring and less reporting. The schedule of Parents’ Evenings will stay the same.

iii)        Questionnaire.  The issue of fairness really stood out on the pupil questionnaire responses.  A significant number thought that the school wasn’t fair.  With S1-S4 pupils, the issues centred on those with additional needs (especially if these needs weren’t obvious.)  In S5, there was a perception that a couple of pupils who were friendly and mature and enjoyed a good relationship with their teachers were receiving special treatment.

iv)        Polar Flag.  Elizabeth Marsham’s flag has been to the North Pole and has been presented to her at a special assembly.  Pat Cooper of Kinlochbervie has kindly donated his services and framed it.  The flag now hangs on the school’s wall.

v)         Instrumental Tuition.  On the 20 March 2008, Dr Smith began an email correspondence with Highland Council regarding instrumental tuition at the school.  The school has asked for a violin tutor for 1 hour per week and access to a brass tutor on a regular basis.  Bill Cousten has agreed that Highland Cover the costs; the actual details need to be worked out.

vi)        Staffing.  Stuart Petrie was appointed to the 03 Home Economics position. In the long term, the school hopes to offer Int 1 and Int 2 Practical Cookery in S5/6.

The Learning Support Department was understaffed in June; this was a temporary situation due to staff family illness and Mr O’Flagherty being away on unpaid leave.

David Clarke (Biology) has left the school and taken up a position in the Ascension Islands.  A new Biology teacher has been appointed (Stef Sutherland) but there has been a delay in finalising all details of employment.  Stef will start on 23 September; in the meantime, the post is being covered by a supply teacher.

Over the summer, the school lost 0.4 from its Staffing allocation.  All Highland schools had to lose 3% of their staffing budget.  Our school was able to manage easily because we had a 0.6 vacancy for Home Economics.

Technically our school is overstaffed.  The staffing levels are based on 92 pupils and we currently have 62 pupils.  Highland Council has decided that overstaffing must be addressed.  This means that there may be issues in the future when staff leave but the school is all right for the time being.

3.         Rector’s Report

i)          SQA Report

The SQA results were good.  In S5/S6 a high proportion of the pupils passed.  In the past only Highers were available to senior pupils; now there are more opportunities for pupils to do modules and individual units.

The results were quite good in S4.

This is the first year that S3 pupils have sat exams.  The results were excellent with most pupils getting 2 or 3 As.  The school has discussed the idea that while S3 pupils sit the Int1 exams, they may be able to start doing Int2 work during their S3 year.

ii)         June Activities Week

In June, the school held a program of activities for all year groups.  However, some activities were felt to be more rewarding than others.  Last year the activities were organised according to year groups.  Next year they will be organised by activity.  Teachers have already been asked to consider what they will offer. 

iii)        Excursions

There have been several field trips since the last Parent Council meeting.  Murdo MacPherson took two senior pupils to an international Geopark conference in Germany,  There have been various trips to shinty and football games and a music trip to see Evita in Glasgow.

iv)        School Improvement Planning

This was formerly known as the School Development Plan.  This is a work in progress.

v)         A Curriculum for Excellence (ACE)

This will start with next year’s S1 class.  The school will experiment a bit this year by working with primary schools on the Highland Literacy Project.  This works on four aspects of reading:  reading, writer’s craft, reading for information and reading for enjoyment.  The program emphasises pupils collaborating with each other and is most apt for S1-S3.

vi)        The Vision Thing

Dr Smith handed out a first draft of a revised Vision for the School.

“I want a school where pupils and staff are happy and healthy; an inclusive place, where the individual needs of everyone are taken into account as much as possible.

I want to prepare pupils (and staff) for when they leave this school, to give them the skills, experiences and qualifications that will give them choices in life.”

It was suggested that the draft vision statement could be put on a poster for display at Parents’ Evenings; parents can then use sticky notes to comment. 

Dr Smith noted that qualifications are not enough.  Young people need to be able to cope with the outside world.  Pupils now get more experiences than when the school first opened.  They are getting away much more.  We also have youth workers, support workers and a children’s services worker; none of these positions existed 13 years ago.

vii)       Support Workers

John Wood has been appointed as Pupil Support Worker; this post has been vacant for over 2 years.  He will be covering Farr and Kinlochbervie High Schools plus several primary schools.  He will be working with pupils with problems before these problems are so serious that they are referred to specialist services.

There will also be a Children’s Service Worker.  John is schools-based while the new position will be more linked to Social Services. 

Heather McNeil is now teaching P.E. in the primary schools one day a week.

4.         Correspondence

None

5.         A.O.C.B.

None

6.         Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on 12 November 2008 at 7:30 pm at Kinlochbervie High School.

Subsequent meetings have been scheduled for 21 January 2009 and 29 April 2009.