Minutes of Parents’ Forum
Monday 17th November 2014, 3.40 pm, School
Present
S Moore, E Featherstone, P Jach, K Saunders, N Clarke, S John, K Rowntree, P
Cussins, Metcalfe, Sara Goodwill, J Cussons
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Welcome and Introductions - There were apologies from S Clark, Z Hill and F Adams. Mr Jach
who is covering in KS2 was also welcomed to the meeting.
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Actions from last meeting
There was one outstanding action from the last meeting for K Saunders to email parents about
reminding children to walk to and from the car park. She agreed to draft some text for the next
school newsletter that Miss Featherstone is producing – Action Completed.
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Maintenance of school web-site – over the last few months there have been some issues with
the school web-site. Information has been out of date and the school was also unable to access
the site to update it. Mrs Moore confirmed that the technical issues are now sorted and Nic Clarke
has kindly volunteered to spend one hour per week keeping it up to date. All the statutory
information that must be on a school’s web-site is now up to date. If anyone has any suggestions
for things that they would like to see on the web-site, please send an email to Mick Tyler who will
forward it on to Nic. It may not be possible to put everything on the web-site that parents would
like to see, but, if needed, Nic will discuss requests with Mrs Moore. No immediate items were
identified in the meeting, but P Cussins reminded that there could be a potential issue with putting
children’s named photos on the web-site. School agreed to ensure that they always check the
parental consent for photographs, before posting any on the school web-site. Historically, children
have not been named in photos on the web-site and the school photo gallery can only be
accessed via a parental log in.
Action: Parents to email Mr Tyler if there is anything in particular they would like to see on the
school web-site.
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Sporting Provision - parents were pleased that there was now a sporting programme in place
with other small primary schools in Ryedale, but asked for a calendar of events, so that parents
could attend events if they wanted to, to support the school.
Action: Miss Featherstone to send out the dates for those events that had already been
organised, but parents would need to be aware that the date for some events may change at
short notice, depending on the weather or issues that might arise with the host school for a
particular event.
There was also a brief discussion to find out whether any swimming provision was planned for
KS2 pupils during the summer term. There is a national curriculum requirement that all KS2
pupils should be able to swim 25m and self-rescue and the Amateur Swimming Association
(ASA) has recently launched a Schools Charter encouraging schools to sign up for it and get
children swimming. It is understood that Sports Premium money can be can be used to pay for
the Charter resources, but not for the swimming lessons. Mrs Moore confirmed that they plan to
provide swimming lessons for all KS2 children on a rolling programme. From this summer, all
Year 3 pupils will have lessons as well as any older children who cannot already swim 25 m. It
was suggested that some children who may not swim as well as their friends could feel
stigmatised if they have to have lessons and their peers don’t. But school would handle this
sensitively and parents would be asked if they wanted their child to take part.
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Action: Miss Featherstone will investigate the Schools Charter and the resources that schools
can access to support swimming lessons to KS2 pupils.
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Teaching provision in KS2 - there was a brief discussion about the continued sickness
absence of Ms Kay and Mrs Signorelli and the uncertainty this provides. Mrs Matique did an
excellent job last term and this, and parents are also pleased that Mr Jach is able to cover on a
full-time basis, as well as providing an additional male role model within school. Although parents
are positive about the current arrangements, the main concern is the ongoing uncertainty as, in
the case of Ms Kay’s absence, the school is able to work on a fortnight by fortnight basis. Mrs
Signorelli is signed off until at least January. Mrs Moore acknowledged parents’ concerns and
confirmed that school was using the appropriate policies to deal with both absences. Mrs Moore
has also taken on the SENCO role at the moment.
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Juniors’ residential 2015 – some parents had asked for clarification on which children would be
taking part in the school residential this year and for an early indication of costs, so that they
could plan finances accordingly. Mrs Moore confirmed that there will be a one night residential for
all KS2 children in the summer term. They were still finalising arrangements, but as soon as they
were able to provide an indication of costs, they would do so
Action: School to confirm the date and cost of the KS2 residential early next term.
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Fundraising
a. Feedback from the concert on 14th November – several of the parents had attended
the concert and thought it was fantastic. It was too early at this meeting, to give an
indication of how much money had been raised, but a massive thank you to Sue, Aleks
and the rest of the team involved on the night who made it such an enjoyable evening.
b. Proposal to release FOTS funding - there is currently about £2000 in the Friends of
Terrington School Account. It was agreed that we should release some of this money to
buy something for the school. Mr Jach mentioned that the resources for Guided Reading
could do with renewing and agreed to look into the cost of a new pack, which may be c.
£1300. Everyone agreed that this would be a good use of the money, as it would be
good to see the money used for something tangible, but that it was worth asking for
additional ideas from the children and other parents. There was also a brief discussion
about the proposed outdoor play equipment for the meadow. Some of the Sports
Premium funding could be used to pay for this and Miss Featherstone is the lead
contact.
Action: Mr Jach to investigate the costs of a new Guided Reading resource.
Action: School to ask the School Council to discuss ideas for new resources.
Action: K Saunders to include a note in the covering email to these minutes to ask
parents for additional ideas/views on the Guided Reading proposal.
c. Future events – there are no other major fundraising events planned at the moment,
but it was agreed that a Christmas Party for the children in the village hall, similar to last
year’s event would be a good idea. This will be on Friday December 12th from 5-7pm.
Action: Sue John to book the village hall – Done.
Action: K Saunders to send an email to parents asking for help on the night.
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AOB
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a) Car Parking – this term has seen an increase in the number of cars using the car
park and there was concern that it was not always easy to park. All staff have been
asked to park on the left hand side as you enter the car park, so that parents can
double park along that side of the car park. This will help keep the entrance to the
car park clear for cars to enter and leave the car park more easily.
b) School Panto – Mrs Moore confirmed that there will not be a school pantomime this
year. Instead school will do the same as last year. There will be a nativity performed
by the Infants, with a Christmas concert in the village church and then, there will be a
summer production, by KS2 in the summer term. J Cussons mentioned that you can
bring people in for a day who will work with the children during the course of the day
and then put on a production that evening, so it’s all done in a single day. Parents
thought this sounded like a good idea, and all agreed that the children get a huge
amount from learning to perform something.
Action: J Cussons agreed to provide contact details to school
c) Teaching assistants covering class – There has been some confusion recently
over the extent to which Teaching Assistants can be left to take a class. Mrs Moore
explained the current arrangements whereby occasionally Miss Thompson takes the
KS1 classes. This is done at the Head Teacher’s discretion and Miss Thompson
would be delivering a class that Miss Featherstone had planned for her to deliver.
Mrs Moore thought that on the rare occasion this arrangement was used, it was
preferable to getting in a supply teacher who did not know the children and for whom
there would be an additional cost. Parents agreed with this.
d) School Council fundraising - P Cussins mentioned that instead of using all the
funds raised in the Christmas raffle to buy new toys for the proposed play area in the
church, perhaps some of the toys could be donated by families who had ones in
excellent condition that they would be happy to pass on. Parents thought this was a
good idea, but Mrs Allon is leading the event, with the children, so it would need to
be discussed with her. K Rowntree also mentioned that there are other churches in
the area, linked to Terrington and perhaps the money could be split between them,
as not all children who attend Terrington CE VA Primary live in the parish.
Action: P Cussins to discuss idea of using some donated toys with Mrs Allon.
Action: S Moore to discuss the proposal of sharing between churches with Taff Morgan.
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Date of Next Meeting - the next meeting will be in the second half term of the spring
term. There is a rumour that the pub may be reopening, so the plan is to have a brief
evening meeting/social in the village pub, starting at 7pm.
Please send agenda items to Karen Saunders, saunderskl@sky.com
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