Kinlochbervie High School Board

 Minutes of Meeting on 27 March 2006

1.  Present

Fiona Belbin, Francis Keith, Marion McFadyen, Tricia Mowat, Ian Smith

Apologies  Mary Mackay

2.  Minutes of Last Meeting

These were approved.

 3.  Matters Arising  

Date of Meeting.  

There was a request that dates and times of meeting should not be changed at a late stage as this causes inconvenience to those planning to attend.

School Transport.  

Highland Country Coaches in Thurso are looking after the buses and they are doing a good job.  This is the last 9 months of a 5 year contract.  There is still difficulty in ensuring that the pupils wear their seatbelts throughout the entire journey.  Highland council spends roughly double the money they are given for school transport - so there is no funding available for monitors to be on all the buses all the time.  It may be possible to influence what goes in the tender to make things as safe as possible.

4.       Correspondence

Advanced Higher Availability.  A letter was received stating that the Scottish Executive did not give Highland Council enough funding to cover the change to teachers' class-contact hours, leading to some schools cutting back on the teaching of Advanced Higher courses because of the low uptake by pupils.  Schools are left to sort out what is best for their school..

5.  School News and Rector's Report

Staffing

Tricia Mowat is to retire at the end of April.  Interviews are taking place for the promoted post this Friday.  It may also be necessary to advertise for a Support for Learning teacher. Rik Parke, teacher of English, has handed in his resignation and will leave in the summer.  The hope is that a good sized advert will go out nationally after late April.  Marlene Shaw, Support for Learning Auxiliary, is leaving at the end of March.  Interviews for the vacancy will be on Thursday.  Another such post will be required for next year.

Concern was expressed that nationally the inclusion process was not working very well, and this area has a high percentage of children needing support for learning.  Highland Council finds there is a strain on its resources - the Special Educational Needs budget has been overspent for many years.  The budget is controlled at area rather than at school level.  There does not appear to be enough money to provide for inclusion.  There was also concern expressed that there is a lack of continuity of provision between Primary and Secondary schools.  Appropriate training will be required before August for the new Auxiliary post.  Francis Keith requested a copy of the information Ian Smith has sent to the Area Manager about the school's requirements stating that, under the Freedom of Information Act, information can be requested if no response is received.

 School Newsletter    

The last newsletter mentioned the issue of internet chat sites/social networking.  The school is easing its grip on this without encouraging pupils to take part.  The school will educate pupils about how to use such sites safely.  It is best if pupils access sites that the school knows about and can keep track of, because in the past pupils would from time to time get past the school monitoring system.  Two part-time school technicians are able to monitor computer use in school, but of course many pupils will use the internet at home.  The only way that the school can guarantee that no pupil will be able to access an internet forum in school is if pupils are denied all internet access.  However, some courses require pupils to access the internet.  The school has to make risk assessments of many issues (including the use of the internet and the use of seat-belts).  Highland Council does not have a policy on chat rooms.  

Finance

The school is coming to the end of the financial year.  The school should break even in its budget largely due to very low levels of absence through staff illness.  There is one electricity meter for the High School and the Primary School.  This has caused problems and installing a separate meter would sort this out, but it has not yet been done.  Energy costs are going up, but the control system does not allow the school to save on heating.  There is an effort to switch off computers and other electrical appliances at night, but heating is the greatest cost.

Purple Cards

Pupils will be presented with these on Wednesday.

Parent Forum

The Board continues for just now.  There is still a need to recruit more parents.  A parent from Scourie has expressed interest and they will be added to the Board - but it will be necessary to have evening meetings from now on.

Dentist

There is no school dentist now.  It is hoped a locum will be found.

Music Tuition

The music teacher will do what he can for tutoring all music pupils.  There is no more provision available.  Any concerned parent should write to the school.   

 6.  School Transport

Last year there was concern about school closures when there was only a little snow.  It was felt winter tyres were needed on school buses.  This year one of the buses skidded when there was almost no snow and the school was closed when there should not have been a problem.  It would have been safe for the buses to run if they had been fitted with winter tyres.  It has been agreed with Rapsons that winter tyres will go on the buses very soon but this has been held up by a breakdown.  There was no problem mentioned concerning the clearing of the roads.  A

 7.  Standards and quality Report 2005

There were no comments made concerning this report.

8.  AOCB

There was a presentation to Tricia Mowat as this was her last meeting as School Board Teacher Member.  She was thanked for her work for the Board over the years.

9.  Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting is planned for Wednesday 7th June 2006 at 7:30 pm in the High School.

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