Category: Parent council

Parent Councils in Scotland are statutory bodies, established by the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. Their job is to represent the views of parents to the school, and to help the school communicate with parents. That’s what we aim to do, so come a long and get involved.

New ASN parents’ support group

Jane Carmichael

Contact Jane Carmichael on asngroup@breadalbaneparents.com.

Dear parents,

My name is Jane Carmichael and I am currently setting up a sub-committee of the parent council, dedicated to providing support and information to parents of children who have additional support needs (ASN).

Children and families with ASN can find themselves without the knowledge and information they need, in situations that are already confusing. The sub-committee would hope to help alleviate this and also to be a link to the school and to Perth and Kinross Council, helping to achieve the best possible outcomes for children through the relevant inclusion policies.

If you would like to be involved in the group or have any queries, please get in touch at the following email address asngroup@breadalbaneparents.com

Best Regards

Jane Carmichael
ASN Support Group
Breadalbane Academy Parent Council

University admissions open evening agenda

 

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What: University admissions open evening
When: 6:30pm, Tuesday 5 May, 2015
Where: Breadalbane Community Campus
Who: Open to parents and pupils

The programme for the university admissions open evening, on Tuesday 5 May, is as follows:

  • A chaired panel discussion, with speakers discussing questions submitted by parents and pupils in advance.
  • An open Q&A, giving parents and pupils the chance to ask questions directly
  • Informal one-to-one questions and discussion over tea and coffee.

Confirmed speakers at the event are:

  • John Devine, Quality Improvement Officer, Perth and Kinross Council.
  • Isabel Millar, CfE Support Manager, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
  • John Lewis, Higher Education Liaison Officer, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
  • Ali Clark, UK/EU Student Recruitment Manager for the University of Dundee
  • Louise Irving, Student Recruitment department of Abertay University
  • Ryan Duncan, Senior Student Recruitment Officer, University of Edinburgh.
  • Gemma Harlow, Senior Education Liaison Officer, University of St Andrews.
  • Jason O’Flynn, Perth and Kinross representative on the National Parent Forum.
  • Stephanie Cameron, Training Manager, Scottish and Southern Energy
  • Yvonne Benning, guidance teacher, Breadalbane Academy.

The event is aimed at pupils who are in the senior phase, or about to go into it, and their parents. It’s open to pupils and parents from both Breadalbane Academy and Pitlochry High School.

For more information, email elizabeth@thinkingtrees.co.uk.

Thanks to Alice for making her photo available under a Creative Commons licence. 

Thrift shop volunteers still wanted

Can you do one of the shifts on this rota? Go on!

Can you do one of the shifts on this rota? Go on!

What: Aberfeldy Thrift Shop
When: Sunday 19th April to Saturday 25th April
Where: Auld Kirk, Chapel Street, Aberfeldy
How to help: volunteer for a shift

We still don’t have enough volunteers to staff the thrift shop. 450 people saw our post asking for helpers, but only three volunteered. We have 18 shifts to fill. It’s getting very close to the knuckle now. We could really do with your help.

Can you help? Go on, I bet you can spare a couple of hours. For your kids? For the school?

Take a look at the rota above and if you see a shift you can cover, email us at fundraising@breadalbaneparents.com.

Urgent! Volunteers needed for thrift-shop

Parents and 6th years — we need thrift-shop volunteers.

Parents and 6th years — we need thrift-shop volunteers.

What: Aberfeldy Thrift Shop
When: Sunday 19th April to Saturday 25th April
Where: Auld Kirk, Chapel Street, Aberfeldy
How to help: volunteer for a shift

The parent council urgently needs volunteers to help staff the thrift shop from Sunday 19th to Saturday 25th April. Money raised will be divided between the parent council’s fund, used to help pay for activities, equipment, and events for the pupils, and the sixth-year prom fund.

So far only one parent has volunteered.We need more helpers, otherwise the kids don’t get a prom and the parent council is less able to fund worthwhile projects and activities. Can you help out for a morning or an afternoon?

If you can help, let us know by emailing fundraising@breadalbaneparents.com.

A letter to John Fyffe, PKC Director of Education

One of the actions arising from the February 26 parent council meeting was for the parent council to write a letter to John Fyffe, PKC Director of Education. Several parents had been in touch with us, to point out that the parent council should have been involved in drawing up the job specification for the headteacher’s position, before that position was advertised.

The parents referred to the following information in the guidance to the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006:

Consultation with Parent Council

4. An education authority must, when preparing–

(a)strategies; and

(b)job or person specifications,

in relation to making a relevant appointment, consult with any Parent Council established for the school to which a relevant appointment is to be made, and must have regard to the views of that Parent Council when preparing any such strategies and specifications.

Regulation 4, The Parental Involvement in Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher Appointments (Scotland) Regulations 2007

See also appendices one and two of PKC’s own response to the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006: in particular the first box in the flow-chart on page 4 and the recommended changes in the top-right box of the table on page 2 of 5.

We asked Councillor Ian Campbell to take this matter up on our behalf. He brought the guidance quoted above to the attention of John Fyffe, Director of Education and Children’s Services. Councillor Campbell assures us that Mr Fyffe is now in the process of changing selection procedures for senior school appointments, in response to our query.

However, many parents felt strongly that the parent council should ask for a formal reassurance that this will be happening and for more information on when it will happen. The parent council agreed to send a letter to John Fyffe on this topic. This letter was sent on Wednesday, March 18.

Anyone who is interested can download and read a copy of the letter.

Does the parent council favour Aberfeldy?

Highland Perthshire map

The school’s catchment area is approximately 1000 square miles. See page 4 of the school handbook.

Do you have kids at the school but live outside Aberfeldy? The school catchment area covers roughly 1000 square miles. As a parent council, we want to make sure we serve all parents — not just the ones who live close to the school.

Do we need to make more effort to include parents from outside Aberfeldy? There are a number of things we could do. For example:

  • Better publicise meetings so that parents who live further away have time to make any arrangements necessary for them to attend.
  • Look at using technology — for instance video conferencing — to make the parent council more accessible.
  • Have reps or sub-groups in Dunkeld and Pitlochry, who report their parents’ concerns and priorities to the parent council.
  • Take the parent council on the road and have some meetings in other parts of the catchment area.

What do you think? Let us know either by leaving a comment below or emailing us on contact@breadalbaneparents.com.

Do parents want a university-admissions open event?

A parent has asked if the parent council and school could work together to organise an open event on the subject of university admissions. What do other parents think?

The hope is that we could arrange an event which would give parents and senior pupils the opportunity to chat to school careers advisors and external specialists about things such as:

  • The Curriculum for Excellence and its impact on university admissions procedures.
  • Funding options.
  • Gap years and their impact on study plans.
  • Qualifications and entry requirements.

The school is willing to work with us on this. We’ve been in touch with several university admissions departments and all have said they’d be willing to send a representative.

Is that something you’d find useful? Would you come along? Before we organise an event like this, we need to know there’s sufficient demand among parents to justify it.

Please let us know either by leaving a comment below or sending an email to chairperson@breadalbaneparents.com

Updated agenda for meeting on 26 February

Parents have been in touch to ask that we put the following items on the agenda for 26 February:

  • The PKC funding cuts to instrumental music lessons and their impact on Breadalbane Pupils.
  • The possibility of Breadalbane Academy running an after-school club for the children of working parents.

We’ve added both items to the agenda. You can download an updated agenda from this link.

Next meeting — Thursday 26 February, 6:30pm

The next meeting of Breadalbane Academy Parent Council is on Thursday 26 February at 6:30pm, at the Breadalbane Community Campus. If you ask at the main reception, they’ll tell you which room the meeting is in. The meeting is scheduled to last for two hours.

The draft agenda is as follows:

1. Introductions and apologies
2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
3. Update on the selection process for a new headteacher. Includes a Q&A with Peter McAvoy, Head of Education Services (Secondary) at PKC.
4. Promoting science and technology in schools. A short presentation by Professor Andrew Rae on promoting science and technology subjects and careers in school—and the crucial role played by headteachers.
5. Fundraising sub-committee – brief presentation from Emma Burtles and call for ideas and volunteers.
6. A communications strategy for the parent council. Dr Ashcroft will present the parent council’s communication plan and seek parent feedback.
7. An open evening on university admissions, for senior-years parents. Do parents want one?
8. AOCB
9. Date and time of next meeting

Something else you think should go on the agenda? Please get in touch and let us know. Email chairperson@breadalbaneparents.com.

You can also download the draft agenda as a PDF.

When should we meet next?

If we stick to the planned schedule, we’ll have two meetings in February. This has happened because the meeting originally scheduled for 26 January had to be postponed until 4 February, due to heavy snow. Should we meet as planned on the 26 of February or should wait until the next date, March 31?

Two meetings in a single month is more of a demand than we would normally presume to make on people’s busy schedules. But it would give everyone a chance to meet again before the interviews for the new headteacher. So if you have strong feelings on how the replacement should be chosen, a meeting on February 26 would be the time to tell us.

Let us know what you think.