Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14
Date:
11th November, 2014
Time:
19:30 – 21:00
Location:
School Hall
Attendees
Initials
Ann Simpson
AS
Vivien Donaldson
VivD
Class Represented
Apologies
Chair
Karen Martin
KM
P1C
Head Teacher
Kathryn O’Sullivan
KO’S
P6
AT
P4
Jacqui Gardner
JG
Principal Teacher
Ann Turner
Kristi Crawford
KC
Treasurer/Nursery AM
Emma O’Conner
Veera Ananda Rao
VA
Nursery PM
Paul Millan
PM
P1M
Helena Huws
HH
P2
Laura Sinclair
LS
P2/3
Claire Berroya
CB
P3
Jo Ogilvy
JO
P4
Kris Aitken
KA
P4/5
David Menzies
DM
Secretary / P5
Cllr Jeremy Balfour
JB
Council
Fay Forsythe
FF
Murrayfield Church
Family Worker
Item
Minute
1.
Appointment of Note Taker: HH
2.
Approval of Last Minutes
Initials
EO’C
Class Represented
PTA Chair
Minor comments received:

Item 7: Children get Ziggy road safety books read to them, rather than copies given.

Item 7: last bullet point, pupils involved in road safety drama activity – no photographic evidence
taken.
Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14

3.
4.
Green Flag – School has submitted for third green flag and is awaiting response.
Actions from Last Meeting 2/9/14

Karen Martin has volunteered to represent P1C, however, sent her apologies for meeting.

20 MPH limit consultation – public consultations now closed.

Wise Pay – latest news is that this is going to be targeted for roll out in the Spring. Please await
further announcement from the school. (See note 4 below)

Series on BBC Radio 4, “The Educators”, in particular a 25 year worldwide research report by Prof
John Hattie (JH) of the University of Melbourne: everyone agreed that this was a positive discussion
point for the group. Noted that AT had circulated this for wider awareness via Parent Mail. Similar
topics could be raised in future.
Payments to School
PP group felt that Wise Pay would be extremely beneficial to all parents and save hassle of multiple small
payments. Whilst this is being set up (roll out anticipated in the Spring) this is school protocol: 
Money to be received on Monday’s as rule – unless there is a very good reason not to, eg. illness.

All moneys to be individual to the child. Do not combine school moneys for siblings – they require
separate payments as accounts are drawn for individual classes.

All moneys should be clearly identified against the activity. Return slips may be put within return
envelopes.

It is easier to return moneys via child to class teacher to save confusion over which box to return to.
ACTION:
5.
1.
Kristi to draft note for Parent Mail to highlight payment requirements to all parents.
2.
School to ensure that it is clear who cheques are made payable to on the letters.
Homework Policy
Concerns raised regarding amount of homework for upper school classes. Some parents feel that the
homework was too minimal (sometimes only amounting to 20mins per week) and that in the upper years
establishing homework as a rigour for secondary school was a good idea. Mixed opinion regarding Class
Challenge homework and motivation measures to encourage reading, for instance the WOW word tasks.
Accountability measures were suggested to encourage children to develop skills – currently at parents
discretion.
VD responded to reassure the group that responses from the homework and local authority surveys were
carefully considered. The surveys sought opinion from all parents. A key concern raised by many parent
responses was the limited time available to families after school for homework tasks. It is school policy to
establish a 30-40min daily homework limit for the upper classes. It was also noted that the Reading Record is
not proving motivational for some children. The school homework reading policy is now focussed on reading
for enjoyment and this has seen positive impact so far. Reading at school is now more focussed than
previous methods of teaching and is taking a much higher approach to comprehension and understanding,
Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14
rather than purely focussing on reading aloud.
Class Dojo is a communication tool between parents/teacher currently being used in P5. This provides a
weekly update of the class activities, feedback on homework tasks, and also provides a forum to announce
Class stars for the week. PP with P5 kids commented that they valued the real-time updates and interaction
with the teacher. Found to be highly effective in motivating children as they all strive to be the class star by
earning Dojo points throughout the week. However, downsides may include emails from parents requiring
responses thereby encouraging dialogue which the teacher does not have time for.
ACTION:
1.
6.
VD to raise parent concerns with wider teacher group, on how to encourage reluctant readers at
home (by making children more accountable for reading to their teachers). VD will consider how
improvements can be made. PP to provide feedback on any changes to homework levels at next PP
Group meeting
Funding/ Budget Cuts
Discussion on recent press articles highlighting forthcoming funding and budget cuts which will affect
Education. No specific details are known as yet on how this will affect the school or teaching staff.
JB highlighted that there is a public survey on public services budget cuts to help establish council priorities.
The survey is live and closes on the 18th December. This will help to determine the priority of funding to be
allocated to Children & Families. Flyer to go out in parent mail imminently which will actively encourage all
Roseburn parents to participate in the survey.
JB further noted that the C&F structure and Education were about to change considerably – it will not
change the day to day management of the school, but it will change the management structure for
Education.
ACTION:
7.
1.
All – watching brief on emerging details on budget cuts announcements.
2.
VD to issue Parent Mail on Budget Cut Survey
3.
JB to report on C&F structural change in due course.
Additional Support for Learning ASL
Stockbridge Primary shared their concerns about ASL support and growing school roll. VD noted that
Roseburn have the access they require to ICT and are adequately supported in this field. After discussion it
was agreed that this item does not require response.
VD clarified Roseburn allocated Audit Hours for assisted learning. Two types of audit types: 2 pupils in the
school are in the low incidence category (high support requirement with dedicated support), and exceptional
needs (lower support requirement). The exceptional needs support is allocated from the total of
approximately 35hours per annum for the school and is apportioned against the pupils that require this
support. VD noted that some parents may be interested in how this time is allocated and what the ASL team
makes decisions on. VD to offer a special meeting for parents on planning for learning and teaching and how
curriculum decisions and ASL allocations are made at the school.
ACTION:
1.
8.
VD to convene special meeting for parents with an interest in the learning and teaching process
including the ASL decision making process.
SPTC (Scottish Parent Teacher Council)
Roseburn membership of SPTC renewed. The Council pays for membership and membership offers a number
Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14
of benefits to the school and parents that are perhaps not widely known or publicised. On website/
newsletter it showcases good examples – eg. Flora Stevenson International Day as part of Stockbridge
Festival which was recognised for innovative engagement. This could inspire activity for Roseburn. There is
also all risks insurance cover up to £7500 for equipment gifted to the school. Parent mail to be circulated
with highlights and weblink (www.sptc.info) and membership login details.
ACTION:
1. PM to draft Parent Mail to highlight membership with weblink for more details.
9.
National Parent Forum of Scotland
Report by the NPFS for parents on Curriculum for Excellence: “Sharing Learning, Sharing Assessment”. It
includes tools to help parents engage and educate their children. VD offered to run a session to help
parents understand the childrens learner journeys, how the school approaches this and what parents can do.
PP noted that this should be an interactive format to encourage parent participation, with parents leaving
with thoughts about what they can proactively do to support their childs education and school experience
Weblink - http://www.parentforumscotland.org/
ACTION:
1.
10.
VD to consider running a session for parents as per item 7.
Better Relationships, Better Learning, Better Behaviour Policy
Opportunity to return comment on policy by December 12th. No comments by PP raised at meeting.
School – VD considers that Roseburn are tackling all the issues raised in the policy, perhaps under different
titles. School has no concerns, but would encourage people to engage.
On Page 9 of policy document there is a comprehensive link to current relevant documents.
ACTION:
1.
11.
12.
KA to draft Parent Mail to highlight report with weblink – as part of Item 9 above.
School Update

P1 Registration – school has issued well over 40 registration forms to date. It is possible that there
may be two P1 intake classes next year. This might mean use of the General Purpose room as a
class teaching space. Non-catchment children are not guaranteed a place. All parents need to
apply to their catchment school.

Nursery – school currently recruiting for an additional early years practitioner to support additional
pupils from January.

Ghana Art Exhibition has raised over £4,100 to date – well done to all involved.

Staff ceilidh event raised over £900 for Ghana project

School planning to celebrate 120 years at the end November – watch out for future notices.
Term Dates 2015/16/17
The Council had sought feedback for extending summer holidays in 2015 to 7 weeks and cutting Christmas
holidays to less than 2 weeks. JO had sent in comments/objections on proposed term date adjustment by
Council on behalf of parents – no response as yet. Jeremy noted that a committee decision was coming up
and he will notify in due course.
ACTION:
Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14
1.
13.
JB to report on Term Dates decision in due course.
School Streets Pilot Scheme/ Road Safety
School has been unsuccessful in application. VD has received formal rejection letter thanking us for the
application. Sciennes has been selected along with 10 other schools. The pilot schemes will be evaluated for
possible future roll out. Watching brief.
Crossing Assistant reported increased amount of double parking and has recently been very distressed by
high incidences and heightened risk of safe crossing for children at school gates. PP again noted its
disappointment with parents who continuously double park at the side of the gates, obstructing traffic and
increasing risk of an accident for Roseburn school children.
ACTION:
1.
14.
Group to discuss positive measures to tackle double parking at next meeting
Forthcoming Events

VD noted that the notification for the Cheese and Wine event did not go out as planned due to a
Junk Mail issue. Now resolved.

It was suggested that the earlier the PTA can give parents of events the better to allow for diary
planning, which may improve turn out and participation.

Christmas Craft Fair Friday 5th December in afternoon 1-2pm.
ACTION:
15.
1.
Claire to request PTA circulate dates of PTA events as soon as practicable.
2.
Whilst school key event dates are on Website, this requires parents to pro-actively look at Website
and we recognised that not all parents will do this. School Newsletters which includes dates are
not frequent enough for parents to have an active heads up on what needs to be diarised. Parents
have raised concerns over not getting enough notice of school events and PPG noted and agreed
that this point needs to be addressed. We will rediscuss with school at next PPG on how PPG and
the school work together to better communicate with families on dates of forthcoming events. .
Promotion of Parent Partnership Group and PTA
Discussion on promotion of PP and PTA to encourage wider participation. Communication is key to
encouraging more people to participate proactively.
It was noted that whilst newsletters, posters, facebook pages, etc were good ideas these require energy and
time and ongoing upkeep that is not readily available.
PP agreed to target regular communication via parent mail to highlight most interesting discussion and
actions undertaken/ successes achieved.
Posting the agenda in advance of PP meetings might encourage people to come along.
Jeremy noted that in his experience people tend to engage when there are problems – so to put a positive
spin on lack of parent participation, silence is a very comforting sign for the school.
ACTION:
1.
KA to draft parent mail attaching minutes and flag up more interesting topics discussed to
encourage parents to find out more
Roseburn School Parent Partnership Minutes – 11/11/14
16.
AOB
Please refer to Post Meeting Notes below.
17.
18.
Post Meeting Note: Actions Carried Forward from Last Meeting/ Outstanding Agenda Items
1.
Primary 6 Class Representative – Appointment of Kathryn O’Sullivan to be formalised
2.
Primary 7 Class Representative – Post Available
3.
School Dinners – nutritional value
4.
Roseburn Park – flood prevention works and playpark
5.
School Uniform – to be raised as Agenda item for PP Meeting in May
Next Meeting Dates

3/2/15

10/3/15

26/5/15