Prestonpans Infant School Parent Council Meeting
23rd February 2011
Present – Nicola McMaster (Chair), Leanne Ward (Vice Chair), Claire Scott, Gail Yuill, Jacqui Davie,
Kevin Davanna, Dawn Yorkston, Charlotte Hamilton, Heather McBirnie, Debbie Finnigan, Derek
Brown, Paul McMaster, Julie Barlas, Natalie Stirling, Barbara McKenzie, Elaine Foran, Alison Kettell,
Lorna MacLeod (Head Teacher), Cllr Margaret Libberton, Cllr Willie Innes, Carrie-Ann Scougall (Clerk)
1.
Approval of Minutes/Matters Arising
Kevin, Charlotte and Claire have now made up the travel plan and are to email to Lorna for
distribution. This is an ongoing plan with the walk to school initiative. The Kirk Street gate is
being used as a means of entry and exit, and gates are to be put up after a Health and Safety
inspection and will be opened/closed at opposite times to the East Loan Gate.
Rights Respecting Schools will hopefully be up and running by the end of next Tuesday. A
speaker from UNICEF is to come and speak to the children at assembly, date to be confirmed.
2.
Head Teacher’s Report
Judith Warnock has stepped down as Treasurer, and Gail Yuill was elected new treasurer until
the next AGM. As it is not in the constitution that an EGM needs to be held to elect a new office
bearer, the parent council was able to elect Gail at this meeting. Val is happy to come and speak
to the parent council regarding members’ roles. She is going to come to the school on 23rd
March (the next meeting). This meeting will replace the scheduled meeting on 6th April.
A survey on school meals was carried out by a student at Queen Margaret University. Positive
results were obtained and it was clear that children are aware of healthy eating and nutrition.
Parents are to be invited to the school as the researcher is to come and speak about his findings.
Two further researchers are to come down focusing on Omega 3 essential fatty acids and
appropriate nutrients. The study will be carried out in the nursery.
The kitchen has now been put in the community room, with separate child and adult level
worktops and will encourage cooking and healthy eating in the school. This was paid for by the
Health and Wellbeing Fund and it is hoped that some “real chefs” and hospitality pupils from
Preston Lodge will come down and cook with the children. Barbara from Roots and Fruits has
been working in the garden and has been growing seasonal vegetables that will be used in the
kitchen and is to speak with Charlotte regarding funding for the garden.
The school has sponsored two children from Compassion UK, this is part of the development
plan for the children to see how others live and a guest speaker came in and spoke to the
children about those living in the developing world. The school has sponsored one boy from
India and a girl from El Salvador, the school writes to them and they write back. The sponsorship
money helps pay for the children’s education, clothes and food for their families.
The school is to host Swedish visitors to the school.
Four groups of P3’s are to go for an overnight stay at the Innerwick Outdoor Educational Centre,
where they will undertake a programme of activities in April. There will be an information
evening shortly about the trip. All children are encouraged to go and it is thought that there will
be a cost of around £10 per child. The parent council has offered to fund the cost of the trip.
It was suggested that a ‘50/50’ Club could be started. This is where £1 would be paid per month
to enter a competition and the parent would win half of the takings and the other half would go
to the parent council. Any child of a winning parent would also win a small prize. Gail is to look
into this further.
Action – Gail
The children are to attend a football festival on Friday.
CCTV Update – Derek Borthwick has suggested a rethink on where the CCTV should be situated.
Instead of looking at the playground from the building, it is thought that it should be situated in
the playground and look to the building. Costs are still being identified. Cllr Innes said that the
school should receive the same standards as other schools have and is still pursuing the matter.
3. Playground Committee Update
The school is waiting to receive a quotation for the resurfacing of the playground. Charlotte
passed round plans showing the area to be resurfaced. Cllr Innes has raised the issue about
when the rest of the playground will be resurfaced.
Questionnaires went out to the whole school asking for opinions about the playground, 61
replies were received and are available from the school blog. Tranent Primary School has agreed
to donate their old equipment which was recently replaced, free of charge, to the school.
Charlotte passed around pictures of the equipment, which will hopefully be installed soon.
Earth Calling, an environmental group are to visit the school on 23rd March to speak to the
children.
The Community Council has donated £200 to the school for the garden.
4. Dog Fouling Issues
A meeting was held with Jimmy Wilson, dog warden, regarding the issue of dog fouling around
Prestonpans. Claire took a walk around the area with Mr. Wilson to highlight the serious issue.
New signs have now been put up warning dog owners of the penalties of not picking up after
their dogs. He is to come and hold an assembly with the children and they are to all make flags
for the dog warden to mark the fouling with to highlight the problem. It is hoped that the local
newspaper will attend and feature the article. The issue has been raised with the Community
Council and other parent councils also.
5. PL Cluster Meeting
The cluster meeting for the Prestonpans area is to take place on 16th March. Nicola is to attend.
6. Fundraising Update
Thanks went to Heather, staff and parent helpers for their help with the Christmas Shopping
evening held in November. It was a very successful night, with £3,082.91 raised on the evening,
leaving a profit of £2,785.86 after expenses had been deducted. Paul has an exact breakdown of
what was taken on each stall if anyone would like to see it.
The Christmas Movie Night took place in December, which raised £150.06 but its overall aim was
enjoyment for the children. It is hoped another evening will take place soon, but entry shall not
be charged this time. The evening was a success with 69 out of 100 tickets being sold.
The Valentine’s disco was due to take place on 12.02.11 at the Community Centre but
unfortunately, the Community Centre cancelled just days before the event and it had to be
moved to 13.02.11 at the Town Hall. Thanks to everyone that helped and a very small profit of
£26 was made.
Future events – there will be an April Fools Quiz on 1st April at The Legion, for adults only.
Tickets will be £5 each, and the price will include a finger buffet. There will be an Easter disco on
8th April.
The summer fayre will take place on 14th May and funding has been applied to ELC for the
marquee, generators etc, although there is no guarantee that this will be successful. It was
decided that there will be a carnival theme again this year and pitch fees will remain the same,
with any fairground attractions also being charged pitch fees this year.
There will be a sponsored walk with Preston Lodge on 27th May, which will be a whole
community event and the school will do a portion of the walk.
There is currently a balance of around £3,642 in the bank, from which the cost of camping and
outdoor equipment for the nursery are to be deducted, as this was promised sometime ago to
the nursery. This has not been costed yet, but Alison is to consider what she would like and get
back to the group.
Action - Alison
The next meeting of the parent council will take place on 23rd March.
All parents are welcome!