ONE AND ALL WELCOME
Scott Douglas, new head of PE and Outdoor Education at Breadalbane Academy, will share his vision for our children and how we, as parents and carers, can support them and the department
????????????How can our children further their education through the schools incredible sports facilities and the wonderful outdoor playground that is Perthshire??????????????
Tuesday 29th, 6.30pm , at the campus…..
VOLUNTEER and be part of DRESSING OUR SPORTS TEAMS FOR SUCCESS…….
ALL raised funds will go towards Outdoor Education and new PE uniforms/kit.
VOLUNTEER bag packers WANTED
at the Co-op on
Saturday 10th December 10-3pm.
Any time you can spare is so appreciated…
Do get in touch with Libby Hughes – ianlibhughes@hotmail.com
‘Space Education Quality Mark’ at bronze level.
Wonderful acknowledgement of the hard work by teachers and students in Primary and Senior and clubs including the High Altitude Balloon Club and Science Club.
As Physics teacher Mr Blair said it is the “start of a journey towards excellence in this area.”
‘Helping our school be the best that it can be for pupils, staff and parents’
September 2016
Breadalbane Academy Parent Council is there to support our school to be the best that it can be for pupils, staff and parents/ caresr. We all have an important role in supporting the schools, staff and pupils; but also challenging the school if necessary.
Parent Council Meetings
The Parent Council has a monthly meeting to which anyone is welcome to come along to. Each month we will have a different topic to learn about and to discuss and voice our opinions. Do come along or contact the Chair, Andrew Rae on chairperson@breadalbaneparents.com. Dates of meetings for this year are (focus topics may change but dates won’t).
Tuesday 30th August
Wednesday 28th September: Review of Exam Results
Thursday 27th October: Primary Playground
Tuesday 29th November: Outdoor Education in Primary and Secondary
Wednesday 25th January: Facultisation and effects of budget cuts
Thursday 23 February: PE and Music in the Primary
Tuesday 28th March: theme to be confirmed
Wednesday 26th April: theme to be confirmed
Thursday 25th May (AGM): theme to be confirmed
Parent Council sub groups
The Parent Council also runs a number of sub-groups who work to support the school and its pupils and staff . All are welcome to join any of these groups. Current sub groups are:
Fundarising and Opportunities Group (FOG)
FOG aims to raise and distribute funds to support clubs, events and trips for the pupils of Breadalbane Academy. We run events, activities and apply for grants. We are currently looking for people we can call on to help with running stalls, baking or maybe helping with events or in whatever way you can. Events for this year include a Ceilidh or cheese and wine; Bag packing; Thrift shop; pub quiz; bake sales; perhaps a sponsored event and our end of year celebration.
Please email fundraising@breadalbaneparents.com if you can help .
Thanks
Parent Council and FOG
You can download a copy of this letter. You can also download a copy of the Fundraising and Opportunity Group’s letter to school staff.
BREADALBANE ACADEMY PARENT COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday 30th August 2016
Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy
6.30pm – 8.30pm
| ITEM | ACTION | PAPER | |
| 1. | WELCOME | ||
| 1.1 | Apologies | Note | Verbal |
| 2. | MINUTE OF LAST MEETING | ||
| 2.1 | Accuracy | Approve | BAPC 15-01 |
| 2.2 | Matters Arising and Actions | Discuss | BAPC 15-02 |
| 3. | FUTURE MEETINGS | ||
| 3.1 | A proposal for the protocol of future meetings | Approve | BAPC 16-01 |
| 3.2 | Definition of the list of Parent Council Sub-Groups | Approve | Verbal |
| 3.3 | Election of Sub-Groups Chairs and Vice-Chairs | Approve | Verbal |
| 3.4 | Pupil involvement in Parent Council | Discuss | Verbal |
| 3.5 | Alternative locations for future meetings | Discuss | Verbal |
| 3.6 | Topics for future meetings | Discuss | Verbal |
| 4. | PARENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS | ||
| 4.1 | Election of Chairperson | Approve | Verbal |
| 4.2 | Election of Vice-Chairperson | Approve | Verbal |
| 5. | MEMBERS’ REPORTS | ||
| 5.1 | Headteacher | Note | Verbal |
| 5.2 | Additional Support Needs | Note | Verbal |
| 5.3 | Comann nam Pàrant | Note | Verbal |
| 5.4 | Fundraising and Opportunities Group | Note | Verbal |
| 5.5 | Parent Council Communications | Note | Verbal |
| 5.6 | Primary Playground | Note | Verbal |
| 5.7 | School Communications | Note | Verbal |
| 6. | DATE OF NEXT MEETING | ||
| 6.1 | Wednesday 28th September, 6:30pm, Breadalbane Community Campus | ||
| 7. | AOCB | ||
|
For dates and time of future meetings, and other important information, see http://www.breadalbaneparents.com/aboutus/
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What: ‘Named Person’ meeting
When: 7pm, Thursday 12 May
Where: Breadalbane Community Campus
Who: All parents and carers
This coming Thursday, 12 May 2016, the school and parent council will hold a parent council meeting specifically to discuss the Scottish Government’s ‘Named Person’ policy.
From August this year, every child in Scotland will have a Named Person, usually a teacher for school kids or health visitor for younger kids. According to the government, this person is simply a single point of contact.
Critics of the policy say that the Named Person has far greater powers to intervene in family life than any teacher did before — for instance, that they can access your family’s medical records, even if your child isn’t classed as being ‘at risk’.
The meeting this Thursday is our chance to find out what Named Person really means for us and how it will work at Breadalbane Academy. Attending we will have:
If you have questions about Named Person, or you’ve never heard of it and this is all a bit of a surprise, then this is your chance to find out what’s what.
We hope to see you there: 7pm, next Thursday (12 May), Breadalbane Community Campus.
What: Pathways to Work careers event
When: 6:30 – 8:30, Thursday 21 April 2016 (tomorrow night)
Where: Breadalbane Academy Community Campus
For whom: Secondary pupils and their parents
Come and hear about paths to training and employment from representatives of the school, local employers and Scotland’s national skills agency: Skills Development Scotland.
Find out what skills employers are really looking for in applicants for apprenticeships and training schemes. And get inside tips on how you can get your child on the right track for the career they want.
For more information, download the flyer below. Otherwise, see you at 6:30 tomorrow!
Download the flyerThe Pathways to Work event is an open evening organised in partnership with the school, with the support of local businesses and training organisations.
New! Football training sessions for children with additional support needs! Kids of all ages, and with all types of additional support need, welcome. Starting 9 March, 5pm, Breadalbane Community Campus.
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.
In May 2015 the school and parent council decided to work together, to ask parents what they thought of school communications: what was working, what wasn’t, and how they’d like the school to communicate with them in the future.
We ran the survey during the first two weeks in October. 17% of parents took part; enough for us to be confident that the survey properly represents parents’ views. This is what you told us.
A mixed experience
The survey asked parents to rate various aspects of school communications — for instance, whether the school kept them up to date on their child’s learning, whether the parents felt well informed about school events, and so on — on a scale of 1 to 6, in which 1 was good and 6 was bad.
Almost all of the answers clustered around the midway mark, indication of an experience that was neither particularly good nor particularly bad. However, when asked if they were satisfied with school communications, 70% of respondents said they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
What parents want
In the survey, we asked parents how they would like the school to communicate with them in future, asking them to choose what they thought were the three best means of communication for the school.
Nearly 80% of respondents chose Group-call texts, over 70% wanted the school to use email more, and just under 50% said the school website was an important means of communication. Bucking the digital trend, around 65% of parents wanted the school to carry on using letters and forms sent home with their children. Almost no one liked Twitter, with fewer than 5% of respondents saying they thought it would be useful in future communications.
What next?
Under the new management, the school has started work to improve communications, producing a regular newsletter. The parent council has formed a communications subgroup; composed of the team who ran the survey and representatives from nursery, primary, secondary, Gaelic Medium and parents of children with additional support needs.
This group is working with the school management team and will help the school with the drafting of a communications strategy. When the strategy is ready, it will be made available for parents to read and comment upon. We’ll post further news on the communications strategy to this website.
Thank you
Running this survey and collating the results has taken over half a year. During this time, the school’s senior management team has been commendably open minded in taking on board criticism and new ideas and has dedicated a lot of time and resources to working with the parent council. We thank them.
Thank you, too, to you — the parents who’ve taken the time to complete the survey, to contribute to meetings or to give us your input and ideas in other ways. Keep it coming!
You can download the full communications report from our website. If you want to provide input to the communications group, as it draws up the strategy, email contact@breadalbaneparents.com.