Stockbridge School Board
- Parents' Room Online
ANNUAL REPORT
1999-2000
THE BOARD
Stockbridge School Board comprises 4 parent members, a staff member, and two community members. Members are elected for a four year term of office:
Graham Bodenham (Chair), Parent member until November 2001
Fiona Fraser (Vice Chair), Parent member until November 2001
Kate Jones (Treasurer), Parent member until November 2003
John Burton, Parent member until November 2003
Helen Cox, Staff member until November 2001
2 vacancies, Community members until November 2003
We are currently in the process of co-opting two community members. We also have two invited members - Gregor Henderson and Maggie Darling - who contribute informally to the Board. Pat Langridge-Smith, Alison Blamire and Rev Anne Logan's terms of office ended in November 1999 when Kate Jones and John Burton were elected on to the Board. Elizabeth Duncan was the Clerk to the Board until May 2000 when she stood down after many years of service, to be replaced by Emilia Knight. The Board also has several Sub Groups which deal with specific issues and these can include additional members invited from the PTA, community and interested parties.
OBJECTIVES
The Board meets seven times per year and deals with a variety of issues relevant to the education of our children. The Board's main remit, laid down by the Scottish Office, includes taking part in the selection of the Head Teacher and other staff, approval of the Head Teacher's spending plans and Annual Report, promoting relations between the school, parents and the community and discussion of any other relevant matters which arise.
Each year the Board decides on it's main objectives for the coming year. Our objectives for this academic year were:
1. Continue to be actively involved in the School's Development Plan.
2. Take an active stance in campaigning for more resources for Education.
3. Continue to develop its general strategy for effective operation and communication between parents, teachers, the Board and the PTA:
· Further develop the parents' room as a resource for parents (with the PTA).
· Review and develop the Board's profile within the school community and improve communications.
· Form links/share ideas with other School Boards.
· Draft and agree standing orders for Sub Groups. There are currently five Sub Groups and they each report their progress to the Board twice a year and have specific aims as follows:
Links Sub Group:
· Continue to develop links via environmental studies topics.
· Continue to build on cultural links with organisations/parents/internet to support foreign language teaching.
· Develop links to supplement expressive arts area of curriculum - art/drama/PE/music.
School Meals Sub Group:
· Seek representation at future meetings of the proposed Permanent Working Group on School Meals to be established by the Education Dept.
· Campaign for healthy eating in general: look at ways of achieving a healthier food intake at lunch and breaktimes, eg establish a Fruit Tuck Shop.
· Develop procedure for reviewing feedback on school meals from pupils, parents and staff on a regular basis.
Communications Sub Group:
· Investigate means of providing greater access to After School Care.
· Develop a means of informing parents about assessment procedures and reporting levels of attainment and target setting.
· Look at ways of gathering information and evaluating policy other than by questionnaire.
· Review the mechanisms for gathering information and its dissemination into the School community.
Resources Sub Group:
· Assist the School by helping to provide additional funding and services.
· Assist the School and improve links with the local community by encouraging appropriate business sponsorship and donations in kind.
· Identify parental skills useful to the School, PTA and the Board.
· Operate under the auspices of the Friends of Stockbridge School, a Trust with charitable status, thereby creating a tax efficient vehicle for fundraising in the business sector. The Trust will also open up the possibility of approaching Trust Funds and donors to whom the School/Board would not otherwise be eligible.
Environment Sub Group:
· Co-ordinate the campaign for the installation of a Pelican Crossing outside the School main gate.
· Investigate mechanisms for providing greater access to sports facilities
· Complete planned proposals for improving the playground.
· Monitor strategy for garden maintenance involving parents and pupils.
MATTERS ARISING
As well as helping and supporting the School, the Board also represents parents' views on Local Authority and National issues. Some other issues raised during the course of this year included:
1. Setting up a steering group to organise and co-ordinate after school care in response to questionnaire returns which highlighted care needs which were not being met by current provision.
2. Communicating Attainment results to parents.
3. Re-establishing a regular School Board Newsletter to inform parents and gather feedback.
4. The Section 2A debate; The Board sent out a fact sheet and questionnaire to give parents a chance to have their say on this issue. The results were incorporated into a national survey.
5. Sending a submission in support of our teachers' views to the McCrone Committee enquiry into teachers' pay and conditions.
6. As the Council's proposed transport management plans will have a knock on effect for Hamilton Place and Henderson Row, the Pelican Crossing campaign has expanded to include campaigning on the wider pollution and road safety implications for the School.
7. A review of the School's Care and Welfare Policy to incorporate the latest guidelines from the Council's Anti-bullying Network.
8. Stockbridge School's first recorded HMI School Inspection took place in March and involved consultation with parents, staff, the Chair of the Board and pupils.
9. Investigation into the possibility of setting up a multi-media IT suite within the School for curricular and after school activities.
10. Improved contact with the PTA has meant that Board members have helped out with PTA events such as the Ceilidh and Summer Fair and PTA members contribute to the Board's Sub Groups, as well as representatives attending each others meetings.
Graham
Bodenham (Chair) June 2000
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