Parent Council for Fox Covert Primary School (Non-Denominational) Annual General Meeting for 2014/15 9th September 2015

Fox Covert Parent Council Welcome... Introductions Lorraine Budge- Head Teacher Julie Fairhurst - Chair Vacancy - Vice-chair Carolanne Nichol- Treasurer Jacqueline Cocker- Secretary Admin Fire alarm and evacuation - hopefully not! Refreshments 2

Fox Covert Parent Council Agenda 1. Welcome Julie 2. Parent Council Overview Julie 3. Chair's ReportJulie 4. Head Teacher’s ReportLorraine 5. Treasurer’s ReportCarolanne 6. Confirmation of MembersJacqueline 7. AOBJulie Copies are available of the Chair's report and the Treasurer's report - please make sure you take one before you leave. 3

Fox Covert Parent Council Welcome cont… Background - Why do we have a Parent Council? Parents, carers and family members are by far the most important influences on children’s lives Between the ages of children spend only 15% of their time in school Research shows when parents are involved in their child’s learning, children do better at school and throughout life Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 was passed to encourage and support parents involvement in their child’s education This Act defines the Parent Forum as being all parents of pupils of the school and states that the Parent Forum may be represented by a Parent Council. The Parent Council is the formal body (made up of parents) that represent all parents of children at the school 4

Fox Covert Parent Council Welcome cont… Parent Council Objectives - What are we trying to do? These aims have remained the same since we began running a Parent Council in its current format back in August 2011/12. 1.Work in partnership with the School in raising the standard and quality of education and develop to their fullest potential the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the pupils of the School. 2.Promote the positive and regular engagement of Parents in their children’s education and in the life of the School. 3.To identify, represent and report to the School and/or Education Authority, the views of the Parents on the standards and quality of education and arrangements at the School for promoting the involvement of parents in the education of their children. Education Sub Group 4.Encourage engagement between the School, Parents, pupils, community and other relevant bodies in bettering the children’s education and well being. 5.Raise funds or resources to support the School and Parent Council in delivering these objectives. Fund Raising Sub Group 6.Report back to the Parents Forum as to the Parent Council’s activities to execute its objectives. Communications Sub Group 5

Fox Covert Parent Council Welcome cont… Annual General Meeting PC is all about representing the parent forum Engagement and communication is key to this AGM is the annual report back to the Parent Forum from the PC and includes setting out our goals for next year 6

Fox Covert Parent Council Welcome address cont… Organisation Our Constitution states we can operate with between parent members - we currently stand at 16 Our office bearer posts are the Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary and Treasurer We have Year group representatives (from P1 – P7) and other members We can engage the help of co-opted members - two currently. Meetings Meet at least 5 times per year during term time - meetings are advertised in advance by parent mail Typically alternate between Tuesday / Wednesday from pm at the school Meetings are open to any parent (and the public) Head Teacher attends the PC meetings to provide updates and advice Minutes of all our meetings are sent via parent mail once approved by the Head and Chair. 7

Fox Covert Parent Council And Finally... Who 8 Julie Fairhurst (Chair) (P4&5)Melissa Hall Vacancy (Vice-chair)Sam Henry (P2 & P7) Carolanne Nichol (Treasurer) (P6)Jill Jones (P1) Jacqueline Cocker (Secretary)Maria Kandasamy Mikilia BruceShona Kelt (P3) Audrey CairnsMichael Kellett Emma Clark (P2/3)Deborah Taylor Mark DiffleyJulie Trevisan Hunter Paul Graham How to contact us PC hotmail account - Chair: Through your Rep in person Getting involved… Help fund raising Raise ideas or key points and work them through with us Get involved in sub-groups Become a member

Fox Covert Parent Council Parent Council Chair's Report Full details of the summary below can be found in the Chair's report which you hopefully picked up on your way in. Key Events: Nursery - now open and fully operational under the watchful eye of Mrs Jones. We are very pleased that our own HT Mrs Budge is responsible for overseeing the running of this new centre. We are continuing to liaise with the City of Edinburgh Council with regard the construction of an all weather pitch. The completion deadline for this is August We are also continuing to discuss the use of the space where the original nursery stood and how best to transform this into a new and positive outdoor learning experience for our children. Grounds for learning - the children have been enjoying some new play areas since returning to school: scrambling through tunnels and over tyres in the shared playground area. We hope to continue more of our work with the grounds for learning team now that the field has been fully restored to us and is builder free! Term date consultation - after a long and thorough consultation we have secured the protection of the 2 week Christmas holiday. This had been under threat. Although many parents wished to see an earlier finish than we have in December this has not been agreed; however we still see the protection of the two weeks as a victory! Rising Roll - A team from the PC is currently sitting on a working group to discuss the possibility of new classrooms to be built if the school roll continues to rise. Figures will not be available until January but there is a possibility we will be looking to build 4 new classrooms on site ready for occupation in August We will keep parents up to date as soon as we know more details. 9

Parent Council Report After last year’s AGM there were some changes to our office bearers. I replaced Stewart Dobbie as chair; when Alison Bean replaced me as vice chair and this led to a vacancy for the role of secretary. I am pleased to announce that this was filled by a new parent member, Jacqueline Cocker. Carolanne Nichol remains as our treasurer. We have said goodbye to some valued members this year and take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work: Sharon Clark, Lorraine Kelley, Angela Matthison and Maria McKenzie. Most recently our vice chair for the last year, Alison Bean, decided not to stand for re-election tonight. We would like to thank Alison for her all her dedicated efforts since joining the PC in 2011; standing as secretary from 2012, and vice chair from Once again we have ensured each school year – including the composite class - has a Parent Council representative, with a child in that specific year; providing a familiar face for parents to liaise with should they wish to raise anything with the Parent Council. Earlier in the year we amended our constitution very slightly in order to allow for new members to join. We now have the option of having 18 parents serving on the parent council. As a result of this we have been delighted to welcome Paul Graham and Deborah Taylor to the Council last term and Emma Clark and Mark Diffley at our last PC meeting.

Fox Covert Parent Council Parent Council Report cont… Parent Council Organisation: Fund raising - The purpose of the fund raising group is to support the Parent Council in raising funds for the benefit of all pupils at Fox Covert Primary. For this academic year we will be focusing efforts on our usual annual events like the Halloween Disco; Christmas and Easter activities. We will also be concentrating on more targeted fund raising activities, for example: specific year groups raising money for items that they require in their class. More targeted fundraising will hopefully result in improved engagement from both parents and pupils, as the results of their efforts will be very visible. The school has shared with us a 'wish list' of items that they would appreciate our help in raising funds for and we'll look to help out with these as much as possible this year. If any parents have any ideas for fund raising activities, or would like to be involved, please contact Melissa Wilson. Comms - We plan to seek out the best way forward of engaging with parents. Look into improving our social media and possibly developing a website. Education - The Parent Council's Education Subgroup will aim to support Mrs Budge and her team this year wherever we can; however we propose that our main area of contribution this year will be in assisting with the work to revise the homework policy, looking to prepare some kind of guidance to parents on the aims of homework and what parents should expect as their child progresses through the school. In this we will seek views from the parent forum where appropriate. If anyone is interested in joining the Education Subgroup (for which you don't need to be a member of the PC) please get in touch with Julie Trevisan Hunter or Deborah Taylor. 11

Fox Covert Parent Council Reports Head Teacher’s Report Treasurer’s Report 12

Fox Covert Parent Council Confirmation of Members Office Bearers Chair, Vice-chair - currently vacant, Treasurer, Secretary Proposed, seconded and voted for by Parent Council Serve for at least one year (and can be re-elected after 2 years) Confirmed by Parent Council at AGM with Parent Forum Other Parent Members Volunteers (following process in constitution) Serve for at least one year (and can be re-elected after 2 years term) Confirmed by Parent Council at PC meeting then at AGM with Parent Forum 13 Mikilia BruceMelissa Hall Michael Kellett Audrey CairnsSam Henry Deborah Taylor Emma ClarkJill Jones Julie Trevisan Hunter Mark DiffleyMaria Kandasamy Paul GrahamShona Kelt Julie Fairhurst (Chair)Carolanne Nichol (Treasurer) Vacancy (Vice-chair)Jacqueline Cocker (Secretary)

Alison Bean... Parent member from Septemebr 2011 Secretary from 2012 Vice chair from 2014 A very special Thank you...

Fox Covert Parent Council Other Business Any Other Business We will do our very best to answer any questions you may have... Thank you for coming! 15