Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 27 May 2009

Attendees: Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran,
Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson

Apologies: Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes, Amanda Arkell, Vicky Carr,
Anne Williamson, Tammy Laird, Scott Ferguson

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

■ Amendment to Minutes of 25 February 2009

A proposal has not been put forward to Grounds for Learning for a wooden play area in the playground. The area with the wooden snake is currently being looked at, at the front of the school, and perhaps the school may access Grounds for Learning funds to help improve the area.

■ Headteacher’s Update/Report

I attach a copy of this for your information. As you can see this also covers some of the outstanding/action points from our last meeting, i.e. Community Council Planning Group donation received by the school, as video presentation done by children on the village of Cowie. Also access to the school from the Community Centre has been restored.

■ P7’s Leavers and Dance-Fit Day

Rachel spoke about the P7 leaver’s party and Dance-Fit Day. She had previously issued an update to all on the Parent Council about these events to keep everyone in the loop.

P7 Leaver’s Party

The children had decided they wanted to go to Megazone and then onto Pizza Hut. Rachel looked into the costings for this which you all have a copy of. We opted for Buzz, which is the new laser/soft play complex recently opened in Falkirk. The date for this party has been set for Thursday 25 June and a communication will be sent by Rachel to the children in P7 so that we can finalise numbers/cost.

Action - Audrey will communicate this event to all staff at the school, as they may wish to attend the meal at Pizza Hut. If any member of the Parent Council is interested in attending, please contact Rachel to let her know.

It was also decided that we wouldn’t go to the expense of purchasing disposable cameras for the P7 leaver’s party. Instead Audrey suggested that we use the school’s digital camera/flip video.

We spoke about buying autograph books as a gift for the P7’s. After looking into this, the cost was £1.79 + V.A.T. per book and a small delivery charge. The group agreed this was a good idea and the children could use the books on their last day to get teachers/friends autographs and messages.

Action – Julie has agreed to order the autograph books and Audrey has agreed to arrange for a photo of the P7’s to be taken to put in the inside cover of the books. Rachel agreed to organise certificates for the P7 children so they can be presented to them along with the autograph books at their last assembly. Bernadette will also liase with Rachel to arrange the certificates.

Dance-Fit Day

Again details of this event, following a previous meeting with members of the fund raising group that attended, have been communicated to you by Rachel. As you know this event is to try and help raise funds for the Parent Council, which will be used towards school resources and to subsidise future trips etc.

A letter and sponsor form has since been issued to every child at the school and nursery, which gives further information. Audrey has kindly agreed to facilitate this danceathon event, with assistance from Active Stirling. As you know, all children who return their sponsor sheet and money will be entered into a free prize draw, to win a school shirt signed by the Scotland Football Team.

Action - Rachel is trying to source bottled water for this event. She will also contact the Eastside News to try and arrange press coverage of this event. Julie will communicate with Airth Primary School, as they have a moveable stage which they have kindly agreed to let us use on the day.

If you can volunteer your help on the day this would be much appreciated.

■ A.O.B.

1. Rachel and Julie spoke about the Parental Involvement Conference, which they attended with Amanda on 23 May 2009. David Cameron hosted this event and spoke about the Curriculum for Excellence, attempts to develop this, why change the way children learn, engaging parents in Curriculum for Excellence, and showcasing Curriculum for Excellence using Riverside Primary School as an example. There was also an opportunity to ask questions and for small group discussions.

Lesley-Anne Livesey, who helped organise this event, has collated the action points and these will be circulated once available.

2. A National Parent Conference: Making Partnership Work, is being held at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Saturday 13 June 2009. I have circulated copies of this event to those on
e-mail to see if interested in attending. If you want paper copies of the information about this event if you are thinking of going, please let Julie know ASAP.

3. Keith spoke about meetings that he and other parents had attended about the transition from P7 to Bannockburn High School. He mentioned to the group how useful he and others found the meetings and it’s a good way to get involved with the transition. He encouraged us to attend these in the future, if we get chance to.

Keith also spoke about the lollipop crossing cover which was secured, following Anne’s husband who recently passed away. We agreed that we would send a card to Anne, from the school and parent council, at this sad time to let her know that we are thinking of her.

4. Audrey asked if the Parent Council would like to organise and produce a calendar, which would be issued to all parents at the start of the new school term and would include dates of all planned events taking place at the school throughout the year.

Action – Audrey will pass the dates to the Parent Council by the start of the summer holidays and Rachel agreed to get an example of this calendar from Bannockburn Primary, as they do something similar.

Audrey has also asked that we think about disco dates for 2009/2010, avoiding certain school dates. Any future fund-raising events will need to be considered and slotted into the calendar once it’s available.

■ Dates of Next Meetings

The dates of the next meetings are as follows;

2 September 2009 – AGM (Annual General Meeting)
18 November 2009
3 February 2010
21 April 2010
2 June 2010

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 February 2009

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 February 2009

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson, Michelle McArthur, Tammy Laird

Apologies: Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes, Amanda Arkell, Vicky Carr, Anne Williamson

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

■ Points from the last meeting discussed/carried forward/outstanding

- Keith confirmed that the action points from the Area Parent Council Network meeting he attended will be circulated once available.

- Stuart Hislop from Cowie Community Planning Group has not been in touch with Mrs Ross since attending our last meeting. Fiona agreed to speak to Stuart and has since asked him to get in contact with Mrs Ross with his proposals as previously discussed.

- The fenced grassed area in the school playground will be used by the children when it’s not wet and mucky. Mrs Ross passed a leaflet about artificial grass to the Parent Council as this would allow children to use this area all year round, if sufficient funds were available. It’s always something to bear in mind for the future.

- Mrs Ross has contacted Colin Whiting about the entrance to the school playground at the Community Centre access point, and is waiting for him to get back in touch.

- Tammy mentioned the broken glass in the playground which is still a problem. Mrs Ross confirmed that a sweep of the playground is done before children arrive prior to 9.00am, and a further inspection is carried out after this. Tackling this problem is proving difficult. The vandalism, broken glass and rubbish is a community issue and it was mentioned is happening in other villages. Mrs Ross has since e-mailed the local community policeman, Malcolm O’May, about this problem and to pass on our concerns.

- A proposal has been put forward to Grounds for Learning for a wooden play area in the playground. It was also discussed a mural may be painted on the school playground wall by Stirling Council youth workers, which would also involve participation from children in the village.

■ Headteacher’s Update/Report

For those on e-mail, I’ll get a copy of this file from Mrs Ross and e-mail to you separately. I attach a papercopy of this for those not on e-mail.

■ Budget Update

Bernadette confirmed the amount raised from the Valentine Disco was £184.00, plus £890.59 raised from previous events = £1,074.59. There is also £330.00 which was allocated to the Parent Council by Stiring Council and is being held in the Devolved Budget.

■ A.O.B

1. Rachel spoke about the Pamper Night which is being organised by the nursery at the school. Rachel wondered if they had set up their own Parent Council/Group and if we could have helped with this event in anyway. Parents/carers who have children at the nursery were invited to buy a ticket for this event, and these invites may have also been extended to Primary 1 parents/carers. Flyers have also been put up to advertise this.

Action – Mrs Ross has since spoken to Mrs Love in the nursery about this event. Mrs Love has confirmed that this is not a fund raiser and is being used to develop a sense of community in the nursery. Mrs Ross spoke about providing an opportunity for the Parent Council to meet with new Primary 1 parents, with a view to getting them more involved in future.

2. Fiona spoke about the last fund raiser, being the Valentine Disco. For future events she thought it was a good idea to appoint a person to drive/steer the fund raising group. This would involve delegating and looking for volunteers to take on various tasks who are in the group, and want to be involved. Also pulling these tasks together before the event takes place. Fiona suggested Rachel to take on this role as part of the fund raising group. We agreed that Rachel would do the leadership role for the next fund raiser to see how things go.

3. Ideas were discussed for the next Parent Council fund raiser. We spoke about a ‘Danceathon’ on the same day as the school Fun Day, which is planned for the end of May.

Action - The fund raising group will consider this further and will liaise with Mrs Ross if this is going to take place.

4. The Parent Council normally organise the Primary 7 leavers party. Last year the Primary 7 class was asked what they would like to do to celebrate their time at the school. They decided to go to the Megazone in Falkirk and a meal at Pizzahut. This will need to be organised in advance if they decide this year, for example, to have a dance/disco.

Action – Mrs Ross agreed to speak to the Primary 7 class when they are at Dulguise, to ask them to have a think about what they would like to do this year. Fund raising group to link in with Mrs Ross to see what was discussed and to take this forward.

5. Keith asked what the group thought about using some of our funds for the Primary 7 class, as pocket money when they go to Dulguise (the trip has already cost them approx £110.00 each). As the Primary 7 sometimes get a leavers gift, we decided that we would consider this instead, i.e. autograph book.

Action – Fund raising group to consider Primary 7 leavers gift.

6. Keith spoke about the new hospital and the transport links to this. He expressed his concerns about the volume of traffic that would be diverted through the village and past the school, if the main road from Bannockburn Hospital to Plean was closed, i.e. due to an accident. He just wanted to make us aware of this for the future.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting has been set for Wednesday 27 May 2009 at 7pm in the School. Prior to this date, the fund raising and curricular groups may meet up and discuss issues they can then share at this meeting.

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 19 November 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 19 November 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson, Michelle McArthur, Vicky Carr, Anne Williamson

Apologies: Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes, Amanda Arkell

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

■ Headteacher’s Update/Report

This is attached for your information, which Mrs Ross discussed at the meeting.

■ Behaviour Policy

A copy of the Positive Behaviour Policy was given to the group at the meeting. I attach copies for those who didn’t attend the meeting.

Action: If you have any comments or concerns regarding this, can you contact Mrs Ross direct.

■ Area Parent Council Networks

Keith spoke about the meeting he recently attended at Raploch Community Campus. This was to gauge where Parent Councils are and where they are going. Eight Primary Schools and one Secondary School were represented at this meeting. The attendees were split into groups to brainstorm the good/bad points and their wish list (which was to try and get more parental involvement). Keith said it was a very intense meeting and everyone was enthusiastic and passionate about the topics being discussed. The action points have been collated and will be circulated shortly.

Keith spoke about the Primary 7 transition to Bannockburn High School and the open evening that parents had attended. A copy of the Bannockburn High School newsletter was shown to the group for their information.

Our Parent Council Insurance Policy has been paid for, for another year.

Keith mentioned the survey that is being done of views on a national parent’s body. This survey has been circulated to all Parent Councils, to be completed by the end of the year. I have already e-mailed and gave copies of this to you.

Action: Please can I have your comments/feedback on this survey as soon as possible, for those who have not yet replied.

■ Stuart Hislop from Cowie Community Planning Group (CCPG)

Stuart came to speak to the group about how the CCPG want to engage with the schools in the village to promote Cowie and make it a better place to live. The CCPG wish the children to express through ‘art work’ their aspirations for the village. It is hoped that from their expressions the CCPG can incorporate this into their future planning. This is likely to be a brochure of some type and may allow the CCPG to feature some of the children’s work. As a means of providing some support to the school the CCPG intend to give the school £250.00. This money can be used towards acquiring ‘art’ materials for the project.

Action: Stuart is happy to liase with Mrs Ross direct regarding this project, which is to take place before springtime 2009.

■ A.O.B

1. Keith made a suggestion about taking pictures and making calendars of our lovely village. We agreed this was a good idea and may consider this in future.

2. Bernadette had raised an issue on behalf of a couple of people that had approached her, as there was a perception about prize fixing at the Bingo Tea raffle. Rachel mentioned that there was an order to the raffle prizes, along with extra prizes that were not needed for the Bingo and any additional ones that were handed in on the night.

Action: Mrs Ross made a suggestion that in future the raffle prize is announced/shown before the ticket is drawn. It may also be an idea to break up the raffle during an event like this and have this at the beginning/middle and/or end.

3. Bernadette confirmed that there was approximately £800.00 in the Parent Council Account. This was from the Bingo Tea and the Halloween Disco, which were both a huge success, less the funds used for the buses for the Christmas Pantomime. The devolved budget has a total of £380.00, which has been allocated to the Parent Council this year.

4. Rachel spoke about the Waterstone’s Big Book Project which took place on Friday 24^th October in the school. The children in Primary 4-7 were asked to donate a book they had enjoyed reading at home and bring it into School for others to read too. They were asked to write a brief review of the book in class. Rachel asked was there any reason this project was not open to the whole School. Mrs Ross suggested that the rules for this were stipulated by Waterstone’s and she would double check on this.

5. Julie mentioned the school’s website and asked if this could be made more interesting and exciting, i.e. by adding class pictures and also work that the children had done. This may entice more people to look at the website and leave messages/comments.

Action: Scott and Mrs Ross agreed to get together to look at this. Check out some of the pictures which have already been added, since our meeting took place!!

6. Vicky asked for her name to be put forward for the Fund Raising Group as she wants to be more involved with this. It was discussed that the committees/groups for Fund Raising and Curricular Issues had not been set up for this year, although the groups are ‘open’ and anyone can join and become involved at anytime.

The new groups set up are as follows. If you didn’t make the meeting on 19 November and want to become involved with any of these groups then you can join at any time. Just let the others in the group know you are interested.

Fund Raising Curricular Issues

Vicky Audrey
Rachel Scott
Bernadette Julie
Michelle Fiona
Fiona

7. Fiona asked what was happening with the fenced grassed area within the School playground. Mrs Ross confirmed this is being used for sports and there is a proposal next year for Grounds for Learning. Fiona also mentioned the entrance to the School at the Community Centre access point, as this is very uneven and a few people have already tripped and injured themselves.

Action: Mrs Ross will speak to Colin Whiting about this entrance to the School. Keith agreed to do a letter also.

The issue with litter and broken glass bottles found in the playground was discussed at the meeting. This is the responsibility of the School Janitor, who should inspect and clear the playground before children arrive in the morning.

Action: Mrs Ross agreed to take this issue on board to try and resolve.

8. Mrs Ross spoke about the forthcoming events leading up to Christmas, the Pantomime and Christmas Fun Afternoon (both have now passed), the Candlelit Procession to church on 10 December at 6.00pm, the Christmas Parties (various dates as detailed in the School Newsletter) and Church Service on 19 December at 11am.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting has been set for Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 7pm in the School. Prior to this date, the Fund Raising and Curricular groups may meet up and discuss issues they can then share at this meeting, i.e. the Fund Raising group will need to meet up and discuss/organise plans for the Valentines Disco in February, prior to the date of our next meeting.

BINGO TEA

It was a full house at Cowie Miners Welfare on Thursday 2 October. Cowie Primary Parent Council hosted a Bingo Tea, to help raise funds for the children at Cowie Primary School. A massive £800.00 was raised which will go towards the purchase of an interactive whiteboard, an education tool used in the classroom that helps make learning interesting and fun, and to subsidise future school trips.

We would like to thank everyone who helped organise and run this hughly successful event, for their kind donations and the local community for their support.

The star prize, a t-shirt signed by Olympic Cycling Champion Chris Hoy, was framed, raffled and won by Alastair Knox in Primary 5. We were also lucky enough to receive tickets for a museum and stadium tour of Hampden, Scotland's National Stadium. Thank you to Mr John Smith, former president of the SFL, for organising this prize. This was won by Mr & Mrs Byrne who kindly donated this to the school.

Other prizes included a MP3 player, ice rink tickets, meal voucher for King Robert Hotel, Roundabout Executive Travel mini-bus voucher (which was again kindly donated to the school), family cinema ticket, voucher for Pizza Hut, £20.00 Woolworths voucher, Cava, Harrods Chocolate, a bouquet of flowers, food hamper, various children's toys and much much more!!!

Minutes of AGM Meeting on 3 September 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 3 September 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran, Bernadette Wheatley, Fiona Ferguson

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes,
Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell, Michelle McArthur

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the AGM (Annual General Meeting) and the first meeting of the new school year.

■ Income & Expenditure for 2007 -08

A copy of the Income & Expenditure report was presented to the group. This shows that our balance is in credit by £27.69. Keith commented that a credit balance is what we are aiming for each year. The budget allocation we get from Stirling Council is still unknown, but we are hoping this will again be in the region of £380.00.

Keith said that we should have a target in mind for this year’s fund raising and suggested an amount of £2,000.00. Anything in excess of this is a bonus and we aim to make as much money as possible for the benefit of the children at the school.

■ Office Bearers for the new school year

The new office bearers appointed are as follows:

Keith MacAskill - Chair
Rachel Byrne - Vice-Chair
Julie Moran - Secretary
Bernadette Wheatley - Treasurer

■ Headteacher’s Comments/Report

Mrs Ross spoke briefly about the last school year and her priorities for this year, which is handwriting/presentation, consistency of teaching and development of listening/talking. She also mentioned the school is looking at literacy circles, highlighted by the HMIe report. The eco-committee is working towards their green flag. Diversity and Literacy weeks have been planned for later in the year.

The school is still looking at targeting more communications by e-mail, as the cost of photocopying is expensive and the budget is very tight. Please supply your details to Mrs Ross if you would like future communications to be e-mailed to you.

The school has a huge wish list, like most schools, and is looking for help to purchase more interactive whiteboards, which cost approximately £3,000 each, as they are a tremendous learning resource. The ICT equipment is also in need of being updated.

The Primary 7 trip to Dulguise has been booked for next year, at a cost of approximately £110.00 per child. The school is looking to do a fundraiser to help raise funds for this trip.

Keith thanked Mrs Ross for her commitment over the last year and we all agreed she has done a great job and has worked very hard.

■ A.O.B.

1. The Annual Parent Conference at Viewforth, Council Chambers, will be held shortly. Details of the exact date will follow soon, for anyone who is interested in attending.

2. A Parent Forum is to be held on Saturday 20 September at the Raploch Campus, from 9.00am – 1.30pm. Supervised play services and lunch will be provided. If you are interested in attending please let Julie Moran know and your details will be passed on to Elaine Murray.

3. Parent Council logos were shown to the group and Scott Ferguson agreed to update this so it is displayed on joint communications being sent by the School and Parent Council.

4. The Eco-group will be doing the mobile phone re-cycling again this year. If you have any old mobile phones, don’t dispose of them in the meantime!

5. Keith had received information and a DVD for the Curriculum for Excellence. This was passed to the school and will be explained to parents/carers at the Curriculum evening on Wednesday 17 September 2008.

6. Rachel spoke about the Bingo Tea fundraiser which has been organised by the Fund Raising Group, for 2 October 2008 in Cowie Miners Welfare. Rachel confirmed that letters will be issued to all parents/carers about this event and tickets will be on sale in the school, (costing £1.50 for adults and £1.00 for children, for entrance and refreshments). All staff at the school will be invited. A letter has also been issued to local businesses asking for donations for prizes, to be handed direct into the school.

Rachel had asked Mrs Ross what the school would like to purchase with the monies raised. The priority for the school is interactive whiteboards and ICT equipment.

Details of this fundraiser will be posted in the Eastside News, Stirling Observer and shops in the village.

Rachel mentioned that we need helpers to sell the tickets. We will also be asking for helpers on the night to collect entrance tickets, sell bingo tickets, hand out prizes and serve refreshments.

We spoke about a raffle at the Bingo Tea and Rachel said that the Fund Raising Group will consider this further before the event.

7. Rachel spoke about the Community Council as she had heard they have funds amounting to £10,000.00 to spend on the local community. Keith will follow this up and try to attend their next meeting.

8. Rachel has made up Certificates for the children that helped out at the Community Litter Picks in July. Mrs Ross agreed that these will be handed out at an assembly by the Chair of the CCPG (Cowie Community Parent Group).

9. Fraser at Active Stirling has confirmed to Mrs Ross that there is no resource at present to carry out the Cycling Proficiency training.

10. Agreed date for the Halloween disco is Thursday 30 October 2008. Further arrangements and details about this are to follow.

■ Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting to be held in the school at 7pm is on Wednesday 19 November 2008.

Of course the sub-groups previously set up for fundraising and education issues can meet up as and when required. Details should then be fed back to the main group at the next available meeting.

Parent Council Annual General Meeting

Please note the Annual General Meeting of The Cowie Primary School Parent Council will take place on Wednesday 3rd September 2008 at the school, starting 7pm.

All Parents, Carers, Teachers and everyone with an interest in the future of the School are invited to attend.

Business will include the nomination of Office Bearers and planning the Parent Council duties and plans for the forthcoming school year.

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 June 2008

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting on 25 June 2008

Attendees: Scott Ferguson, Keith MacAskill, Audrey Ross, Rachel Byrne, Julie Moran,

Apologies: Vicky Carr, Avrix Knox, Christine Fairbairn, Debbie Innes,

Bernadette Wheatley, Anne Williamson, Amanda Arkell, Michelle McArthur

■ Introduction/Welcome

Keith welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to the final Parent Council meeting this session. It was an opportunity to discuss our success over the last school year and to decide if any action points from previous minutes needed to be carried forward to the new school year.

Keith confirmed that the AGM (Annual General Meeting) would take place as our first meeting in the new school year. We will look at electing various roles at this meeting.

■ Our Successes

The newly formed Parent Council was set up in 2007 and considering this was our first year, we all agreed we have done very well.

- Everyone agreed the findings of the HMIe report were very encouraging and show that the school is definitely moving in the right direction.

- The set up of the school web-site is an excellent way of communicating what is happening at the school and hopefully this will continue to evolve through time, with the involvement of the children at the school. Your suggestions on how to improve or develop this are welcome!

- The Halloween and Valentine discos were a great way for the children to get together and enjoy themselves. It also helped raise funds for the Parent Council.

- It was good to see that the School and the Parent Council can be a team and work closely together, i.e. at Parent Consultations, the Christmas Concert and the Fun Days.

- We shown that we can network with others. We helped the Communities Team distribute questionnaires to every household in Cowie. We raised concerns with the Police and local Councilors over pedestrian safety. We spoke to the Community Council and Focus Group about ideas for a Community Clean-up in the village.

- The trip to Dulguise for P7’s was very rewarding and a good memory for them to take away from their time at Cowie Primary School.

- The P7’s decided on their own Graduation Party this year and they thoroughly enjoyed it. They even wrote letters to the Parent Council to thank us for organising this for them.

From the total funds raised over the last year, together with the amount we received from Stirling Council and the monies passed to us from the previous Parents Association, we used this to subsidise the summer school trips by £5.00 per child and pay for the P7’s Graduation Party. With the small amount of money left over, we are looking to purchase water bottles for all the children at the school.

■ Minutes from the last meeting being carried forward

We will continue to pursue the £10,000 grant with Grounds for Learning, to improve the school playground.

Slogon for Parent Council communications still to be discussed and ideas put forward.

■ A.O.B

1. We agreed that we need to be more organised for fundraising events next session. The Fund Raising Group plan to do a bingo tea, shortly after the start of the new term. The school discos will more than likely be as before, Halloween and Valentine, along with a further fundraiser after Christmas time. A copy of the forward plan will be available from Mrs Ross, so that fundraising can be organised in advance.

2. A communication was given to parents/carers of the new P1’s to welcome them to the Parent Council and to give them further information about the group.

3. The school’s newsletters will continue to jointly communicate the activities of the School and the Parent Council. The school will continue to look at other ways of communicating this information to parents/carers, i.e. via e-mail.

4. The school plan to have a ‘meet the teacher’ event shortly after the children return in August. A ‘Literacy Week’ has also been planned for later in the school year.

5. The temporary classrooms were removed in July and the area was fenced and turfed.

6. The monies raised by the sponsored skip, more than £2,000 in 2007 to improve the school playground, has now been spent. This was used to pay for the football, basketball, noughts & crosses and draughts markings, as well as other playground equipment. This will also be used to pay for the school staged area, which should be ready for the new term.

7. The ‘Eastside News’ is a new newspaper being distributed to local villages. The school is aware of this publication and it can be used as another way of publicising the achievements and celebrating the success of the school.

■ Date of Next Meetings

AGM - Wednesday 3 September 2008 at 7pm in the school. We hope to see you all there.

The next meetings to follow this are in the school at 7pm on:

19/11/2008

25/02/2009

27/05/2009

Of course the sub-groups previously set up for fundraising and education issues can meet up as and when required. Details should then be fed back to the main group at the next available meeting.

Mrs Ross, can you organise the lets for these meetings.