The Parent Council for Port Charlotte Primary School

Under the requirements of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006, School Boards were replaced by Parent Councils. Parent Councils replaced School Boards on the 1^st of August 2007.

Like many schools, interested parents at Port Charlotte Primary School have nominated themselves for membership of the Parent Council, to represent the ideas and opinions of the parent body, called the Parent Forum.

At present, the Parent Council for our school are:

Chairperson: Mrs. J. Clark.

Vice-chairperson / Treasurer: Mr. C. Archibald.

Secretary: Mrs. M. Reynier.

Treasurer: Mrs. S. Clyne

Other Members: Mrs A. Rennie, Sally Harper, Fiona Carmichael, Fiona MacTaggart

Staff Members: Mrs M McLellan, Mrs. K. MacLellan and Mr. N. Trussler.

Please click below to download minutes of Parent Council meetings...

Click here to explore the Scottish Parent Teacher Council website...

                        Chairperson: Mrs. J. Clark                                                             Vice-chairperson: Mr. C. Archibald                                                                Secretary: Mrs. A. Rennie

AGM     Thursday 2nd October 2008

CHAIRPERSONS REPORT

ALL CHANGE!

Port Charlotte Parent Council was born last October after the changes in legislation led to the death of school boards, in an attempt to be more inclusive in the involvement of parents running the schools.  At Port Charlotte the school board was replaced with three committees, the parent council, the school fund committee and the PTA.  All three committees were set up with separate constitutions, with different roles and memberships.  The Parent Council oversees matters to do with the running of the school, the school fund committee monitors the school bank account and the PTA fund raise and get families involved in the life of the school. 

We first had to come up with a constitution for the parent council and we consulted widely with the parent forum before reaching a decision that was satisfactory to all.  Events have since overtaken us and we are looking already tonight to make changes to the constitution in order to allow us to receive money from the council.   However we have since held several meetings dealing with a wide range of issues, from the problems with a leaky front door to consultations on school closures.  Attendance by members of the council and parent forum has not always been what I would wish, and I would like top hear suggestions as to how we can improve parental involvement  in the school.

One of the big issues we dealt with this year was also successful in encouraging the largest attendance I have yet seen, that of the pathways project around Port Charlotte.  Initiated in school by the JRSO’s, the development of a school travel plan had highlighted problems of safety at the school entrance.  We looked into the possibility of funding for paths around Port Charlotte that would allow children to walk to school safely without crossing roads, with Julie Young from the council attending our last meeting.  Unfortunately Nick was unable to attend as he was otherwise engaged!  Unfortunately it was impossible to work out a viable path structure we could all agree on, and it was decided that we would encourage the use of the existing paths first.   After much discussion it was decided that a path down the side of the school drive would be looked into, with another entrance at the side of school being put in place.  This would mean children would not have to walk down a driveway shared by vehicles.  We are still looking to find ways of increasing parking for nursery parents.  Further developments in these areas will be our priority for the coming year.

I would like to thank on staff of the school behalf of the parent forum for their continued hard work and dedication in the care and education of our children.  The children have taken part in a number of amazing projects over the year and are getting so much more out of school than just reading, writing and arithmetic.  However it is also excellent to note the attainment figures are looking good too!

Jo Clark ~ Chairperson