Mr White goes through members attending. Apologies for not assisting have been received from Tiffany and Cristina.
Mr White goes on to make reference to the minutes of the previous meeting. There will be an ammendment made to the minutes and will be re-sent to include new representatives.
Tammy presents the reps from the three area groups formed to deal with comments received from parents in the school. These are:
Secondary Speaker, Karen Anderson
Primary Speaker, Francesc Capdevila
Early Years Speaker, Monica Seguy
1.Karen sets out the following points made by Secondary parents:
Education
Y7 Y9 Y10 The International Baccalaureate should be considered as an option. Many schools in the UK are offering it now and the universities are very keen.
Y7 Y9 Y10 Parent’s evening needs reorganisation and I personally think the children would benefit from being there. (Mrs Hughes is open to this).
Y10 Can the school provide a wider choice of A level subjects eg. Economics?
Y7 Y10 Special needs
Y10 could the parents be used as class help in any way e.g. reading assistance, pencil sharpening! Book tidying.
Y7 Can the school offer English Proficiency Examination
Y7 Class size is there a limit, is there a level of English required
Y7 Y9 T10 More team sports
Y10 Language exchange can we start a program with our UK, French contacts, also weekend exchange with local Spanish and English from school.
Y10 Could we start a book club for the children. This would be run on a similar basis as the usual adult version. IE Run by a volunteer parent a book is chosen for the children to read and then meet once a month to discuss what they thought about this book.
Leisure/Trips/Activities
Y9 Y10 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award should be introduced now that we have the Bronze one.
Y9 Y10 Cheaper excursions and trips
Y9 The cost of the extra-curricular activities makes them inaccessible for many. I would be very interested to know what the up-take has been this year. Also 2hrs is just too long for many kids at the end of a school day, even the early years sports club is 2 hrs long!
Fund Raising
Y9 Y10Fund raising for music and books some of which may be given to charity
Resources still need improvement. The library should surely be a priority?
Y10 The art department is in need of bits and pieces which can be used creatively eg material, could we ask parents to donate caste offs rather than throw them away can we set up a system for donations of this type?
Y10 Could we start a fund raising fund to purchase a mini bus. This could be used for one class at a time short excursions.
Y10 Book donation/exchange
Catering/Uniform
Y9 The catering still needs to be addressed. Some other companies should be approached and give quotes. What was the result of the sandwich menu consultation?
Y10 Uniform exchange
Y7, Y9, Y10 Better quality easier to purchase Uniform.
At this point a parent from Year 10 asks to speak about an issue affecting her child’s class. The issue is regarding mathematics in Year 10.
Mr White begins to respond to the points and issues brought up. However, given shortage of time, Mr White says he will respond in writing. Once I have received his response, I will forward to the Forum.
2. Francesc sets out issues and concerns for Y3-Y6 as below:
Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Uniform-price/quality
Y3 Y5 Late notification of school activities (afterschool activites/school calendar,etc)
Y3 Y5 Y6 lack of sports-create sports agreement with sports club next door?
Y3 New Poly creates problems with children not being allowed on it-shoes
Y3 Y5 Y6 Need more patio/recess surveilance and more monitoring of behavior
Y3 Y4 Y5 Great to have uniform exchange
Y3 Need more help or time for costume for Christmas show
Y3 Y5 Project Levels /Differentiation-many parents are not sure how this works
Y3 Y5 Lack of school excursions and cost of events very high
Y3 Y5 Teaching level high but Tuition is high for the installations, activities provided by school
Y3 Y5 Book exchange or Book Drive to increase number library books
Y5 Is there an Emergency plan for the school?
Y4 Y5 Y6 School Lunch-price /quality
Y5 Academic Status
Y5 Irritation over dramatic increase of “extras”: activities, excursions, school lunch, bus
Y5 What is the goal of the Spanish program? catalan? Why are there not enough teachers for separate levels?
Y5 Class size too large only 1 teacher with no assistants
Y5 Y6 2/3 students per computer is too many, need 1/1 ratio
Y6 Life insurance policy for school tuition
Y3 Y6 Communication from school from website or emails
Y6 Use only English while at school
Y5 Y6 Much larger classes in Primary than Secondary, will secondary infrastructure be able to cope and still provide same level of education?
Y4 Y6 School drop off very chaotic, better way to organize? perhaps stagger start times of school?
Y5 Library lacks books
Y5 School should use tuition paid to provide school equipment, not raffles or auctions.
Y4 School Bus entrance/exit very chaotic. hard for children without monitor to make way to the bus.
Y4 Nits- Always letters going out, but many do not really know what to look for
3. Monica puts forward the issues and concerns from Nursery-Y2 as below:
Protocol for swine flu: prevention measures are being taken? the need to communicate future cases
What are the new admissions protocols (Do we know how new students are chosen)
Students lunch: surveillance, healthy food, healthier alternatives, mandatory use or parents to act as monitors in lunch hour.
Patio: surveillance, security, the prevention of accidents or possible bullying
Service of psychology in school
External Security cameras
Library: collection of books, borrowing by children
Management uniform standard: too strict with regard shoes and anorak?
Too few field trips and excursions. Can these be increased?
Extracurricular activities, workshops to be offered by qualified parents voluntarily.
Extracurricular activities: receive information much earlier with complete descriptions of what they involve.
Competion in class: is it the best system for all students: anxiety, stress, ability to adapt to new challenges
Human values
What is the BSB Protocol when parents decide to leave the school? Does school know why? Is the reason always economic?
Is there any legislation or a system of scholarships to receive funds from the BSB and the Government Jointly for students? * (BECAS)
Festivals: is there any chance that a professional can tape the show and then videos be sent to parents as Christmas photos are done?
Can we ask for a class schedule/timetable of activities done each day by our children
Can the school website inform parents already in school of topics covered in class
Are students informed of possible dangers on the Web (Internet) by specialists, are there external visits by police to give a talk to the children?
Mr White mentions that the parents portal should be functioning at the latest by the end of January. Progress is being made.
Mr White ends the meeting at 4 p.m. saying he would have liked to have been able not only to see the concerns and comments from the three areas before the meeting but also to have answered them especially as some have simple answers.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday 22nd February at 3 p.m.
Thank you to Mauricio for his help in translating during the meeting.
