Kinlochbervie High School Board
Minutes of Meeting on 28 April 2004
1. Present
Fiona
Belbin, Francis Keith, Ronnie Lansley, Mary Mackay, Marion McFadyen, Françoise
Mitchell, Tricia Mowat, Ian Smith
Apologies
Gwash Campbell, Natalia
Mitchell
2. Minutes of Last Meeting
These were approved.
3.
Matters Arising
With reference to February’s AOCB, the bid for adult education materials is for literacy materials only.
4. Correspondence
The following have been received:
End of Year Returns (which require to be completed)
Feedback
from Area Education Forum Workshops
Latest
SSBA Newsletter
Letter
from Portree High School Board concerning school budgets
Email from Kinlochleven High School about staffing
Letter from Annette Sharland, Area
Education Manager, about staffing
Letter
from Portree High School
This letter was discussed and the Board shared the concerns that were
outlined. It was agreed that
although the money allocated to the school is increasing, often a significant
proportion is ring-fenced with the result that there is not enough in the basic
budget. Schools are not able to put
the money to the best possible use. However
things are beginning to loosen up a bit and so the situation is improving.
The Board would be happy to get together with other school boards to take
the matter further.
5.
School Staffing
The
letter from Annette Sharland was thought to be positive as she is looking into
the matter of special arrangements for small schools. Ian Smith said the biggest issue is the gap in specialist
teacher provision. It is usually
possible to get a supply teacher, but
not necessarily a specialist supply teacher. In
English, from the October break to the exams, there has not been a permanent
member of staff in post. The P.E.
teacher left in January, but the replacement teacher does not start until in
August, with cover being partly specialist and partly non-specialist.
There is an increased length of time needed to find a replacement teacher
for each post. A lot of effort has
been expended in accommodating the supply teachers so that they have as good an
experience as possible. An extra supply teacher in the Primary sector (as mentioned
in the letter) seems to work well, but it is hard to see this working in the
Secondary sector. It was felt that
part-time jobs must put people off from applying, but it is the school
management’s choice to have part-time posts in order to cover more subjects. Small schools ought to be able to offer a wide curriculum
without being disadvantaged in finding staff.
Small schools have to be treated differently from larger schools (they
already receive about double the money per pupil) - but more needs to be done.
There was a concern that a limited subject choice could put people off
moving into the area.
It
was agreed that the next step should be to arrange a special meeting to discuss
these issues with Annette Sharland and Jamie Stone, MSP.
6.
Safer Routes to Schools
Bus
Shelters A bus shelter for school pupils in Durness would be
helpful, but it is difficult to know what would be the best location for it.
A moveable bus shelter would be the most useful option.
Lisa Graham must be contacted to see how much a bus shelter costs and how
to apply for one. It would be
necessary to liaise with the feeder Primary schools.
Scourie
Bus The Scourie bus broke down on Friday 23rd
April on the way home from Kinlochbervie on the ‘big brae’. A combination of parents’ cars and the school minibus was
used to get the children home. No
mechanic was available to fix the bus at the time.
It has been said that the bus being used at present is very noisy, with
the emergency door being held together with a piece of string.
Ian Smith however had not heard of any problems other than the Friday
breakdown, and this is the only incident of a breakdown in the past year.
No one is actually employed to check on the buses that are supplied by a
contractor. Françoise Mitchell
will contact Alistair MacLeod who can then speak to Rapsons to clarify the
situation.
7. School 10th Anniversary
The
school is still considering a trip to France. A letter is to go out to parents with an outline of the plan
and possible costs, to find out if there is sufficient support for the venture.
There could be up to 115 people involved, including staff and 7 years of
pupils. Fundraising would be
required. If many parents say no,
then the trip will not go ahead as too many staff would be required to cater for
the pupils who stayed behind. There
are packages available from educational tour companies, and the one chosen would
most likely involve travelling by bus with a ferry crossing from Hull.
If the trip does not go ahead there is still time to find an alternative.
The School Board might be involved in a social gathering for pupils, past pupils, teaching staff and others associated with the school. There was a suggestion to invite Prince Charles back to the school for the occasion, and it was decided to get feedback from the community about this. In the evening, there could be a ceilidh and disco. Tricia Mowat will check out the costs of marquees and bands. Ronnie Lansley will get quotes from caterers and do some overall organisation. There would need to be soup and sweets and sales of work to fundraise throughout the year. There is the possibility of a little money from Highland Council and the Community Councils to help with this.
8. School News
Staffing Mr Rik Parke will officially begin as the permanent full-time teacher of English on 10th May. He is already doing some supply work. Miss Heather MacNeil starts as the new permanent teacher of P.E. in August. As a result the school has a full complement of staff until Dr Samir Georgeoura retires at the end of the summer holidays. The school can now look for a teacher of physics to start at the beginning of next term. Constraints in funding require that this is a part-time post, which is all that is necessary at present due to the school roll continuing on a slow decline. Highland Council has increased the allocation of support staff. This was originally intended for ICT only, but will now in fact lead to all office/ICT staff having their hours increased.
Finance There are no definite figures available yet, but the school seems to have made significant inroads into the deficit (a £14,000 overspend). With judicious savings in some budgets, and especially the long-term sickness budget, the school may break even again. There is a new initiative from the Scottish Executive, called ‘Determined to Succeed’, about entrepreneurial learning. Some of the money allocated for this has come to Kinlochbervie High School (only one of two schools to receive it). The result is that the school will be able to employ someone for half a day per week to help run a course for S3. The XL Club from the Prince’s Trust is an initiative that will benefit the new S3 in self-esteem and entrepreneurial skills.
Web
Site Work
has been done on the school website by Margaret Meek. The School Board has a page and the minutes are already
published on it. It was decided
that other information should be added such as the names and contact details of
Board Members, agendas for meetings, ideas for fundraising, and feedback.
9. End of Year Newsletter
In the past, summarised minutes in the form of a newsletter have been sent out to parents. It was agreed that this should continue. The Clerk was asked to produce a newsletter to go out before the end of the school year. The welcome letter has never been finalised. This will require to be done so that it can be distributed to parents at the beginning of the school year.
10.
AOCB
Profile
of the School Board It was thought by some that parents do not know very
much about the School Board, and that it would be good if the Board had an
involvement in Parents’ Evenings to answer questions and talk about issues of
concern. Others felt that parents
are not very interested in the work of the Board, but that they do know who to
contact when there is a problem. It
was decided that 2 Board Members should attend Parents’ Evenings, particularly
that for S1 in November. The
Board’s profile could also be raised by getting involved in the Community
Development Programme and putting some news into the Northern Times.
Perhaps dates of meetings could be more widely publicised through school
news letters. A question was raised
about the Board’s relationship with the PTA - the PTA only comes into
operation when there is something for it to do.
New
Co-opted Member A new member will have to be co-opted to replace the
present Chairperson until her term is completed.
Training
Day
Marion McFadyen
attended a SSBA Training Day, and found it very helpful.
Training
folders were issued to some other Board Members.
11.
Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next ordinary meeting will be held on Wednesday 29th September at 5.00pm.
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