Broomhill Primary Parent Council ANNUAL REPORT 2011/12 Introduction Our Parent Council has an important role in improving

links between all parents and the school. It provides the opportunity for parents and carers to contribute to school life and the well-being of our children, as well as increasing their understanding of school matters. We work closely and positively with the school supporting them in their provision of the best possible care to our children. This annual report summarises the work that the Parent Council has undertaken or been involved in during the 2011/12 academic year. What is the Parent Council? In Broomhill Primary School, our Parent Council has around 12 parent members. It meets at least 4 times during the school year and agenda items have included Headteacher updates, developing and improving the school environment, issues relating to school numbers and class sizes, and developing the school's visions and values as well as fundraising matters and improving our communication with parents. The Headteacher attends our meetings along with at least one representative of the school staff and they provide advice and information on school matters. Our Parent Council has a Fundraising and Events Team (FET) as its fundraising body which currently has 4 members. They plan and organise a range of social and fundraising events for the pupils, parents and families throughout the year. There are also several other subgroups such as the Communications subgroup and Broomhill Environmental Support Team (BEST). An Annual General Meeting took place in September 2011 where the Parent Council reported back to parents on their work over the last year, discussed possible work for the coming year and recruited new members. Fundraising for outdoor learning resources Towards the end of the 2010/11 year the Parent Council and senior management team at the school agreed that it would be useful to have a specific focus for fundraising. After discussion at the Parent Council AGM in September 2011, it was agreed that the focus in 2011/12 should be improvements to the outdoor space to improve opportunities for learning, physical activity and play. Funds raised for this would be in addition to the funds raised and used for the activities normally funded by the Parent Council/FET. Discussions took place with the Pupil Council on this proposal and they were entirely supportive. Appropriate grants applications completed and submitted where relevant, always in partnership with the school. A number of parents volunteered to organise events to contribute to this fundraising (second hand book and dvd sale, Mothers day flower service (Bloomin Broomhill), bag packing in a local supermarket, sponsorship raised by parents running womens and mens 10k races, evening Zumba classes for parents, and contributions from local businesses). Funds raised from these events along with a grant from the Woodland Trust and the sponsored danceathon run by the school, meant that enough was raised to make improvements to the Broomchill garden and plant
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fruit trees in the main building grounds. In the Annex grounds a wild garden is in development with a willow tunnel, sandpit and bird boxes, and raised beds have been installed for each of the annex classes along with soil and seeds for pupils. The money raised will also pay for an outdoor classroom on each of the sites which is likely to be installed during Autumn 2012. School buildings An ongoing issue relates to concerns in the fabric of the school buildings. These issues are regularly discussed in the Parent Council, particularly regarding the annual primary 1 intake and the overall capacity of the school. Discussions took place with Council officials again in 2011/12 regarding the size of the primary 1 intake for 2012/13 and the potential impact of a large intake on the rest of the school. In 2011/12, like 2010/11, the Parent Council worked with the Council to secure a limit to the size of the intake which allowed the library/ICT suite to remain for the coming year (rather than be used as a classroom). Longer term plans for the School During campaigning for the local elections in May 2012 there were many commitments regarding the school being made by candidates. To help understand more about these pledges, the Parent Council organised a hustings event in the school which was open to all parents. All parties standing in the constituency were represented. It was a successful event which has resulted in some genuinely useful communication between the Parent Council and those councillors who were subsequently elected. We hope that this will continue in the forthcoming year. Vision and values The school has been undertaking a process over the last year to develop and agree its vision and values with teachers, parents, pupils and with the local community. This has been supported by members of the Parent Council with expertise in facilitation. The Parent Council undertook a visioning session as part of this process which will be used to support the further development of the school vision and values. Other Parent Council Business Parents are always welcome to attend our Parent Council meetings, or to raise issues for consideration by the Parent Council (the dates of our meetings will be posted on our website). Over the last year such issues have included concerns about the toilets, which was subsequently taken on by school senior management and successfully addressed in partnership with pupils, and concerns about temperatures in classrooms, which is now being monitored with remedial action plans in place should temperatures rise beyond acceptable limits. There have also been concerns raised about the Parent Councils communication with parents. This was addressed in the short term through improved newsletters, but also by establishing a communication subgroup which has been exploring improvements to our website and other communication channels. A refreshed website was established early in the 2012/13 session and a survey of parents is underway to learn more about what parents would like to see addressed by the Parent Council in the future. Communication subgroup The communication subgroup undertook a survey of parents to better understand the best ways of communicating with parents. In response to this they have spent the summer developing a new website for the Parent Council as well as a longer term communications plan that includes increased use of social media as well as traditional forms of
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communication. The new website can be found at www.broomhillpc.com and all parents are invited to take a look and provide comments and feedback. There is also a central email address for all parent council related queries (broomhillpc@gmail.com). The subgroup will continue to meet in the coming year to refine and improve our communication approaches. Broomhill Environmental Support Team (BEST) This parent council subgroup was set up around 3 years ago to support the school with work to help improve the school environment. BEST is a virtual network of parents who are willing to offer a little time, when required, to assist in a range of tasks from general maintenance to gardening. Over the last year BEST has brought together parents to assist the school in developing the wild playground in the annex grounds (including building a willow den) and has also worked with the council to get improved and widened pedestrian access to the annex site. Fundraising and Events Team (FET) The FET exists to organise a range of events or activities for pupils, parents, families and the whole school community to come together a raise funds for the school as well as to have fun. They organised the ever-popular pupil discos in November 2011 and June 2012, and supported a fabulous family ceilidh (with superb music provided by a ceilidh band made up of parents brought together especially for the event). When Angela Mackie took on the FET Chair role in April 2012, she immediately went about ensuring that a successful summer disco took place for pupils and a fabulous Summer Fair which was thoroughly enjoyed by parents, pupils and teachers alike. Over the last year the Fundraising and Events Team has continued to support the annexe's free lending library, Broombooks, which takes place on Mondays immediately after school in the annexe. Gail Matheson has expanded the range of books which are available free to all pupils and its popularity has grown substantially. It is run and staffed by a small group of parent volunteers and new volunteers are always welcome. The FET has also continued to organise periodic uniform sales through the year. None of these events would have been possible without the generous support of parent volunteers and we are very grateful to all those parents who gave their valuable time to help, and, of course, to those who came and supported them. Funds raised and spent Thanks to the impressive efforts of parents in response to the fundraising drive for the outdoor learning fund, in addition to the FETs work, the following were made possible in 2011/12: contribution towards the P7 end of year outing and yearbook; funds to the school for Christmas crafts and stationery; upgrading the Broomchill garden; seeds and soil for each class; and homework bags for new pupils. Despite this spending, the current balance is over 12000 which gives adequate funds to purchase the two outdoor classrooms agreed in 2011/12. We will also consider funding other outdoor learning equipment after discussion with the school and Pupil Council. Funds from this will also be used to purchase science packs to support the priority that the school is placing on science education in this academic year (for more information see the school improvement plan).
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Changes to Office bearers and membership 2011/12 was a year of transition for our Parent Council. After many years at the helm, Stuart Walker stood down as Chair of the Fundraising and Events Team (FET) at Christmas 2011. The Parent Council are very grateful for his enormous contribution. He was ably replaced by Angela Mackie in April. Other changes that took place include Jill Johnston stepping in as Chair of the PC and Lorna Corfield as secretary. Debbie Glen remained as treasurer of the PC and secretary of the FET, and Alison Morton as treasurer of the FET. Future plans Plans for the coming academic year will be largely determined by the responses to the parent survey being conducted in September 2012. The results of this will be posted on our new website in October. Current plans include: Continuing the work we started in 2011/12 to support the school in developing the outdoor space on both sites to improve learning and play opportunities. Continuing to improve our communication with parents and revise our constitution in order to help parents better understand and contribute to the work we do. Supporting greater involvement of parents in the school. Parents of Broomhill Primary school pupils have a great range of skills and abilities and we would like to be able utilise these to enhance our childrens education and experience at school. We will work to support parents to be involved in whatever way they feel able. One route will be through the science events planned for Spring 2012 which we hope that parents with a scientific background will contribute to. Getting involved There are many ways that parents can get involved in the Parent Council and its subgroups and help support our work: Attend the Parent Council meetings or ask for an item to be added to our agenda. Any parent or carer of a child at Broomhill Primary is welcome. Meeting dates will be publicised on our website. Become a member of the Parent Council. This involves attending a meeting about once each term and engaging in email communication between meetings Become a member of the Fundraising and Events Team (FET). This involves participating in short meetings to organise social and fundraising events and activities. As 2 members have stepped down this year, more members are needed to ensure that planned events run as smoothly as ever. Volunteer at the social and fundraising events that the FET organise. An email network of volunteers is held by the FET and an email circulated when volunteers are needed. Join the Broomhill Environmental Support Team (BEST) electronic network of parents who are contacted occasionally to assist with maintenance, gardening or environmental work around the school grounds. The Parent Council also periodically need support from lawyers, accountants and other professionals and is looking for parents who could offer advice when required.

Any parents interested in getting involved in any way should contact the Parent Council at broomhillparentcouncil@gmail.com or speak to one of the Parent Council members.