Category: Perth & Kinross Council

Perth & Kinross Council appoints our teachers and other senior staff, decide’s the school’s budget and is responsible assessing and maintaining quality and standards. Keep up with PKC education news here.

Perth & Kinross Council

Do you value the IMS? Tell your councillor

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The Perth and Kinross Instrumental Music Service is one of the best in Scotland.

On March 9 the council votes on the future shape and budget of the Perth and Kinross Instrumental Music Service (IMS). The IMS provides travelling music teachers, giving kids the chance to learn a far greater range of musical instruments than any single school’s music department could offer. Without the IMS, kids at rural schools such as Breadalbane Academy, just wouldn’t have the chance to learn as many instruments.

There is no suggestion that the IMS is going to suffer cuts or be changed in some way that might undermine the good work it does in Breadalbane. But there’s also no guarantee that that won’t happen. So if you feel strongly that you want our children to carry on having the opportunity to develop a love of and talent for instrumental music, then now’s the time to write to your councillors — before March 9.

Let your representatives in Perth and Kinross know that, whatever the future holds for the IMS, it’s important to you that it continues to be able to offer children in rural schools access to as wide a range and high a quality of instrumental music lessons as possible.

Here are the names and email addresses of your elected representatives:

Ward 4 – Highland

Ward 5 – Strathtay

You’ll find further details, including postal addresses and phone numbers, on the council website.

Thanks to Rok1966 for making the photo used above available under a Creative Commons licence. 

Parent council, Perth & Kinross Council

A letter to John Fyffe, PKC Director of Education

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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.

Child Welfare, Perth & Kinross Council

Free, expert, face-to-face advice on child safety

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Child safety seminars for parents and carers

When: Thursday 6th March 2014
Where: Perth Playhouse Cinema
What time: choose from seminars starting at 9:30am, 1pm and 5:30pm

Presentations from experts in their field will include:

  • Application danger: how your kids are at risk from some apps.
  • Online bullying: its impact and what you can do about it.
  • Bullying, sexting, domestic abuse: it’s all about relationships.
  • Online risks: current online risks to children and young people.

Each seminar lasts for two hours. Places will be limited, so please contact Catriona Laing on 01738 477861, or email claing@pkc.gov.uk, to reserve your place or for further information.

Don’t miss out, book your place today!

Download the flier here.

 

 

Child Welfare, Perth & Kinross Council

PKC Evidence2Success survey: what do you think?

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Jason O’Flynn, the Perth & Kinross representative at the Scottish National Parent Forum has asked every Parent Council in the region to find out what you, the parents, think of the Evidence2Success survey recently carried out by Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside.

In February, all children in Perth and Kinross from primary 5 upwards took part in the Council’s Evidence2Success survey. PKC describes this as “engaging communities to increase the involvement local people have in decision making and other actions”.

However, some parents have expressed reservations about the survey. Their concerns include:

  • Not enough effort was made to gain the parent’s consent: some parents say they didn’t receive the letter the council sent out. And the survey was opt-out, rather than opt-in.
  • That consent wasn’t informed: had they seen the kind of questions in advance, some parents say they would not have given consent for the children to take part.
  • Questions were inappropriate to the children’s age: with 9-year-olds being asked if they took specific, named drugs; if they or their friends carried knives to school and so on.
  • Some questions were intrusive: with children asked to comment on who lives in their home with them; their relationship with their parents; their weight; their sex lives and so on.
  • The data can be linked back to each child: parents were told the survey was confidential, but each child was asked to enter their date of birth and their Scottish Candidate Number.

Some parents have even complained to the Scottish Information Commissioner; claiming that the survey breaches the Data Protection Act 1998.

Perth and Kinross strongly refutes this claim and stands by the survey. A PKC spokesperson said:

“The aim of the project is to help us work with communities to significantly improve the health and wellbeing of children, young people and their families in Perth and Kinross. The approach involves members of the Community Planning Partnership … working with the social research unit at Dartington to refine existing and develop new approaches to service provision. “

See the full quote in The Courier.

What do you think about the survey?

  • Do you support Evidence2Success?
  • Do you have any concerns or questions?
  • Would you have liked greater consultation before hand?

Tell us what you think! Either post on this item or mail us at contact@breadalbaneparents.com

If you haven’t seen the surveys yet, you can see them here:

Perth & Kinross Council, School news

Council wants your feedback on Breadalbane Academy

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The school is being inspected this month, in what’s called an Extended Learning and Achievement. As part of the preparations for this visit, the council has posted an online survey which it wants parents to fill in.

http://pkc.community-campus-extended-learning-and-achievement-visits.sgizmo.com/s3/

It only takes a few minutes to fill in and will help make the inspection a success.