Kinlochbervie High School Board
Minutes of Meeting on 18th February 2004
1. Present
Gwash Campbell, Ronnie Lansley, Mary Mackay, Marion McFadyen, Françoise Mitchell, Natalia Mitchell, Tricia Mowat, Ian Smith
Apologies
Fiona Belbin, Francis Keith
2. Minutes of Last Meeting
These
were approved with the following clarification. The purpose of the Local
Learning Network Steering Group is to coordinate existing materials from
partners involved in the Community Learning Plan. The aim is not to produce
learning opportunities, but to assist with existing provision. It serves the
catchment area of the High School. Some
information will be sent out to parents through the schools.
3.
Matters Arising
Mary
Mackay was welcomed as a co-opted member of the Board.
4. Correspondence
The following have been received:
‘Safer Routes to Schools’ leaflet
McCrone Newsletter
SSBA December Newsletter
The School Board Handbook
A
letter stating that next year the in-service days will follow the same pattern
as this year
A
SEED reply to the Board’s letter to Peter Peacock, MSP
Emails
from Fan- High School and the SSBA
Email
from Lisa Graham of Safer Routes to Schools
5.
Staffing
The third round of advertising for an English teacher closes on Friday. Application forms have been coming in. There is a supply teacher in place. There is also a supply teacher of PE working 3 days per week, though this is not quite enough, as a Standard Grade class do not have a specialist teacher for 2 periods a week. Applications have come in for this job, and there will be an interview next week. The new technical teacher began work on 26th January. The immediate local problem is now hopefully near a solution. The bigger picture is that all small schools have a greater problem than larger schools when a teacher leaves.
Extracts from the Scottish Executive Education Department’s letter were read out. The Board felt that the part-time distance learning course run by Aberdeen University in conjunction with Highland Council did not address the issue of the contingency for small High Schools, as it only applied to primary student teachers. The preference waiver payment for probationer teachers, whereby they can be allocated to local authorities that have more difficulty in attracting teachers, was considered more relevant. The letter stated that it was basically a problem for the local authority to solve.
The email from Farr High School said that they too have difficulty finding staff. The email from the Scottish School Boards’ Association, suggested that the issue needing to be looked at is that of basic core budgets being squeezed tight while other money from the SEED is for special initiatives.
The Board was informed that Jamie Stone, MSP had inquired about the school’s progress in finding new staff. It was decided that the Board would ask him to raise the issue of all small schools having difficulty when a teacher leaves, as he had offered to do, by tabling a question in the Scottish Parliament for the Education Minister.
Ian Smith informed the Board that funding for a school is based on the pupil numbers, so no more money is available to pay for extra teachers in some subjects. Many teachers are over 55, so we know there is a greater problem to come. Most teachers retire at 60, but they don’t have to, so it is not possible to make advance plans. It is necessary to wait until they hand in their notice. The biggest proportion of the school’s budget is on staffing. An extra 2 teachers would require approximately a 10% increase in the budget. There are however only four schools in Highland Region with only one teacher of English and one teacher of Maths.
An alternative solution to having extra teachers based in one school would be to have a pool of teachers available to several schools. However it may then be necessary to provide transport or accommodation, and the job may not be a very attractive one. Another option would be to insist that teachers coming to small schools should be able to teach more than one subject, but this would reduce the number of applicants for jobs.
It
was thought that the best course of action would be to contact the other small
schools in Highland Region, and organise a meeting to discuss the issue with
them, so that all the small schools would then act as a group. It would also be
good to meet with John Thurso MP and Jamie Stone MSP.
6.
Safer Routes to Schools
The
email from Lisa Graham was to inform schools that money is available for
approved road safety projects. There is a small grant of £1500 for individual
schools. A bus shelter has been erected in Scourie at the village shop, so the
money does not need to go towards that. However there are other pick-up points,
so perhaps the need for more shelters should be investigated.
7. School 10th Anniversary
This is
forthcoming on August 18th
2005. The matter of what the School Board should do to mark the
occasion was discussed. The Board could either support what the school is doing
(ideas are needed from within the school as to what this might be), or it could
hold a separate event e.g. a former pupils’ evening with invitations extended
to those who fought hard to have the school opened. This will be put on the
agenda for the next meeting.
8.
School News
School
Closures
It was agreed that the school should be closed when school transport is
cancelled due to bad weather.
McCrone
Issues - Job
Sizing
The local authority has taken the opportunity to restructure jobs in
Highland, as elsewhere. A new formula has been given to determine
the number of promoted posts — formerly 8, now 5. KLB High now has 5,
ahead of the new structures coming into place in August. The school hopes
there will be more management time for people in promoted posts. This year not
everything is being done that should be done because the school does not have
the capacity to cope. These (non-urgent) matters will have to be left until next
year. The fact that there have been a lot of supply teachers in the school has
been an added strain.
Projected
rolls
A table of the projected roll up to the year 2014-2015 was distributed.
The school roll needs to be 94 to fund the staffing that the school has now.
Hopefully the Area Education Manager will support short fall funding for next
year (about £20,000), as although the number of pupils is expected to go down
to 85, the number of classes is unchanged.
9. AOCB
Gwash Campbell informed the Board that a bid is to be put in for adult literacy/numeracy materials, to be housed in the North West Training Centre. Also a national road safety initiative for new drivers, called Pass Plus, is to be delivered to the 56+ age group.
The
Drop Zone has become multi-disciplinary, involving not only the school nurse but
also Dr Craig Stangroom, a mental health worker, a social worker, community
learning, Children First and Careers Scotland.
It appears to be very successful as pupils are using the service. They
can speak to people confidentially.
10.
Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 28th April at 4.1 5pm
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