Dirleton School
Partnership
Approved Minutes
Date:
29th August 2013
Present:
Adalene Lammie (Chair)
Val Nimmo
Miryam Fergusson
Becky Wilkins
Carol Middleton
Jane Hogg
Miranda Mayes
Sam Hutchinson
Alison Clark
Nat Spring
Kelly Burns
Pam Smith
Johanna Irvine
In attendance: Catriona McKinnon – Head Teacher
Giovanna Hodges – Clerk
Jim Goodfellow (Councillor)
__________________________________________________________________________
1.Welcome and Apologies
Adalene welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Tim Day, Sasha Spring, Elspeth Lamb
and Sonia Bruce.
The group introduced themselves as this was the first meeting of the school
year.
2. Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the meeting held on 19th May 2013 were approved, no
matters arising.
3. Head Teacher’s Report
Catriona began by saying that Dirleton was a lovely school and that she had
received a warm welcome. She was delighted to be asked to lead the school
and that she was impressed by the strong and committed parent body.
~1~
Catriona reported that she had met with Sarah for the handover and that
there had been a smooth transition. The new staff were settling in well and
they had been in before school opened to get everything ready.
The building works were on track to complete by the end of October.
Cupboard spaces should be made available by the end of September, so that
the contents of the containers will be able to be brought back into school.
The GP room was looking good, with its folding doors.
The school finance was on track. Savings being made from sharing a Head
Teacher would be put back into the school.
An overview of the Development Plan could be made available and emailed
out. This will give an idea of what the school is working on briefly:
Assessment and moderation (3yr plan). The tracking of pupil progress will
continue. Target setting which will be shared with parents.
Maths and Language would commence this week, with plans being made
for individual learners. There will be 5 lessons in Maths 2 of which will be
with the class teacher with the other 3 in the group settings. The writing
classes will be kept as a whole group. Catriona will be looking at the best
way to use learning support and the classroom assistant within the school.
Additional money will be spent here. All resources will be looked at.
The work in the orchard will continue.
Everyone is looking forward to the opening of the new hall and the disco to
celebrate this.
Health and wellbeing – Pam has some new ideas on how to develop this,
with the pupils taking more ownership of the tuck shop.
Pier mediation will continue, with the P7’s ready to train the P6’s.
PE has started again on the green with Mrs Patterson. The North Berwick
sports centre will be used for the next 4 weeks, however there was still a
need to find somewhere for the remaining two weeks of term to have PE.
Suggestions were put forward to contact Blackadder Church to use its hall,
Dirleton’s bowling green for small sessions of bowling, even for pupils to be
bussed to Athelstaneford school. Transport was being provided and paid for
by East Lothian Council. Catriona to look at all the options.
A story telling pilot was being run in conjunction with the Scottish flag
Trust. This could take place in the orchard.
Two classes from each school will be going to Haddington to see the
workings of an archaeological dig.
Assemblies will be on Monday afternoons as usual but there would still not
be room for parents to attend yet.
Catriona will split her time between both schools but making herself
available as and when the need arises to each.
~2~
The Friday morning coffee group will continue, all parents are welcome to
attend. There is a long list of tasks for parents to do already.
4. Treasurer’s Report
The community council matched funds already raised by the DSP which
was £1200.00 for the new library.
After all income and expenditure and money set aside, the current balance
stands at £2818.34.
The accounts have been audited and approved. Copies were made available.
Recommendations were made by the auditor as follows:
1) A date should be fixed by which the accounts are audited each year.
It was agreed that this should be September of each year.
2) It would be good practice to appoint a new auditor every now and
then.
A new auditor would be found in time for the next audit.
Colin and Miryam Fergusson will now take on the treasures role.
5. Parent Representative On Education Committee
Emails were recently sent out about having a parent body on the Education
Committee for the local authority, to represent the views of parents with
school children. The example of how it worked was for Aberdeen City
Council. Questions were raised as to whether they would have any real
voting rights. They would also have to make a commitment for two years. If
anyone is interested in being considered or would like more information,
then please get in touch with Adalene.
6. Playground
The playground post building works was discussed. The parent body asked
if they could contribute in some way to its reinstatement as a playground.
Ideas were needed. Catriona to ask the pupils in assembly. New markings
would be needed for football and Bikeability. The gardening club could have
some raised beds. Could the builders help with moving things while they are
here? Miss Hunter’s class were keen to have a mud kitchen and a sand
pitch.
~3~
7. After School Bowling / P7 Trip Feedback
The After School Bowling trip to Dirleton Bowling Club for P5/6/7s took
place on Monday 10th June and went really well. Five children took part
and had a great time, the Bowling Club have offered to do another couple of
session when the schools get back in August/Sept. The children have sent
the bowling club a thank you card. Thanks to Karen Robertson for helping
out. I am not able to do the bowling activity this term but if anyone is able
to do this I am happy to give them the contact information.
The P7 leaving outing to Ten Pin bowling took place on Monday 17th June
and was great fun. Can't possibly tell you who won the games - suffice to
say Alison and I are very competitive bowlers!! Thanks to Alison for driving
into Edinburgh. Sonia
8.ELAPCM
The dates for the ELAPCM meetings were arranged for the year. If anyone
was interested in attending, please get in touch. At present Sonia, Nat and
Adalene have attended these meetings. Volunteers were needed as it would
be good to have 2 people attending each meeting.
9.Head Teacher
A revised Head Teacher timetable had been sent out to everyone. The
questions being used for the first interview had now been revised.
Parent training dates for those wishing to be involved with the interview
process were available. Adalene will arrange an extraordinary meeting to
deal with the questions for the new candidates.
Alison Clark had written to and received a response from Darrin Nightingale
regarding teaching time, Catriona had answered to these concerns in the
HT report and no other issues were raised.
Due to savings having been made on sharing a Head Teacher, additional
funds were available and would be spent on additional classroom time. Mrs
Broadfoot would be coming into school for 1 day a week to release time for
the teachers and Mrs Robertson would be working a full day on Thursdays.
Catriona explained that she looks each Friday at both schools and splits her
time not as a 50 50 split, but where she needs to be. This is dependent on
~4~
what needs to be done, and has currently been getting to both schools each
day.
The parents felt that everything was going extremely well and that the pupils
were very settled. Catriona to pass this onto staff.
10.AGM Arrangements
Adalene will set out the agenda for the AGM and send out invites along with
all information, which will also cover the voting of new members and what
the AGM is all about.
A copy of the constitution has been emailed out to everyone on the parent
body.
11.Future Meeting Date
The next meeting has been arranged for the 26th September 2013 at the
school, 7.30pm. This will be the AGM.
12. AOB
Carol was interested in restarting the walking bus (on good weather days
only). She would be willing to start this at 8.30am and travel a certain route
around the village to pick up children. Extra helpers would be needed, at
least 2 people each day. Carol would make up a timetable/route. This would
help to ease the traffic congestion at the school end.
Sam will bring PVG forms to the AGM to sign up any new parents who
would like to help in school.
Valerie has decided that she would like to retire from her position as a
Community Representative. A letter of resignation had already been received
from Philippa.
Nat expressed his concern that the ground under the containers, at the
front of the school could sink under the weight. The ground was recently
repaired.
Jane was pleased that she had secured funding from Gullane Community
Council for the new school library. Gratitude was expressed from the DSP
for this money. It was agreed to put something up to say who had made this
generous donation, when the library is finished.
~5~
Maureen from the Dirleton Fete and Games has generously offered some
funding for the library. Maureen will be invited to one of the meetings
shortly. An actual figure for the cost of furniture and books would be
needed. Some books had already been purchased by the school. A list of
suitable books for the library is available (Elaine Campbell has this).
The Art Club would be continuing split into 3 groups:
P1/2
P3/4
P5/6/7
There has been a good response with 18 children in each class. Funding was
agreed for this.
The French Club would be continuing with 2 classes:
Beginners
Intermediate
It was agreed to PVG check Jose the French tutor, so that a parent would
not always need to be present. The DSP will pay for this.
Miryam will look for funding for the Spanish classes, currently being offered
to:
P1/2, P2/3 and P4/5.
The Spanish classes are proving to be popular with a waiting list. Some of
the parents commented that they would like the classes to include the
P6/7’s. If Miryam is able to secure funding then she will be able to devote
more of her time to this. Jane has a list of fund providers which she will
pass to Miryam.
Thanks were made to Sarah for coming into school during the holidays.
The pathway leading up to the school still has not been repaired. Jim
Goodfellow and Tim Day are working on this but feel that a letter from the
DSP would assist their efforts to get this resolved. Adalene to action.
Jim Goodfellow asked if anyone would be interested in a school crossing job
particularly in Gullane to get in touch, as there is a shortage of people
applying for the positions.
A reminder to all to use Edupayment when purchasing online to boost
school funds. Please keep collecting Nestle book tokens. This information
will added to the school’s newsletter and added on the blog. Catriona to
action.
~6~
Volunteers were needed to be parent representatives, one for each class.
They would pass information on to parents who cannot always attend the
DSP meetings.
P1/2 Kelly Burns
P2/3
-to be filledP4/5
-to be filledP5/6/7
-to be filledPlease contact Adalene if interested.
~7~