Renfrew High  School

Minutes of Parent Council Meeting – Wednesday 2nd March 2016

 

Present – B Burke (Head Teacher), L Jack (Chair),  C Calderwood,  L O’Neil,  A Howat,             F James,  M Timlin,  J Aitken,  J Kennedy, C Stewart,  M Hunter, J Shaw.

Susan Bell, John Trainor, Louise McCRory, guests from Renfrewshire Council Children’s Services.

Apologies – W Arbuckle, A Lay,  C Thomas,  J. Hogg

 

Minutes of previous meeting

These were seen as a true reflection by the group. Proposed by J. Aitken and seconded by M Hunter.

 

Matters Arising

Further discussion re introduction of Blazer and Ties swap etc. Suggestion to promote this as an eco- friendly initiative to recycle and reduce waste.

Will require to be communicated with parents possibly via text message or eco newsletter.

 

Rights Respecting School update

BB circulated document developed by the Rights Respecting School pupil steering group, led and supported by Mr Conway. Parent council asked to review document (attached) and feedback any comments at the next meeting.

 

Proposed ASN Base at Renfrew High School

The majority of the meeting was centred on discussions re the proposal to establish an ASN base at Renfrew High.

Senior staff from Renfrewshire Children’s Services attended the meeting and information was given to the PC regarding the role of ASN bases throughout Renfrewshire.

  • ASN bases provide appropriate educational support to children with additional learning needs. There are established bases currently operating at 5 of the 11 secondary schools within Renfrewshire.
  • The proposed base, for S1 – S3 pupils, would operate independently from the school and have a designated entrance.
  • Pupils would be allocated according to need from across the Renfrewshire area but may accommodate Renfrew High pupils if deemed appropriate. Currently there are Renfrew High pupils attending ASN bases in other Renfrewshire schools.
  • Class sizes are a maximum of 6 and there would most likely be a maximum of 10-12 pupils within the base at any one time. Most pupils would attend on a part-time basis whilst also attending their own mainstream school.
  • There would be no integration with pupils in the mainstream school. There was discussion that this would only occur at events deemed appropriate and if felt to be beneficial to both ASN pupils and Renfrew High pupils. This would be overseen by the head teacher.
  • Renfrew High School has been identified as a suitable location in terms of space as the school role is currently well under capacity.
  • RHS will not lose any teaching or staff resources and may benefit from some upgraded facilities.

It was felt that further consultation with representatives from parent councils where bases already exist would be helpful in giving further information and reassurances on the impact of an ASN base on the host school. This will be facilitated by the representatives from Children’s Services and information will follow to the parent council.

Further consultation will also take place between the wider staff group within the school and the wider parent and pupil community.

 Head Teacher update

Staffing – Mr Burke is now assessing staffing needs going forward into the next session and will discuss this at the next meeting.

Twitter – All pupil activities can now be followed on the RHS Twitter feed. Permission is obtained from pupils to use any photos and pupils are not named unless agreed. This is being used to enhance communication and not to replace other formats.

 

Date of next meeting : Wednesday 27th April 2016 at 6pm