To All Parents
Minute of the Bucksburn Parent Council Meeting 16th March 2009 – 19:00
In Attendance: Mrs Clark(Head), Billy Fagan, Ronnie Wright, Gillian Duncan, Anne Stewart, PC Dan Ruane.

Apologies: Clair Burbridge, Mrs Deacon, Lynn Fisk, Nick Simpson

1.In-Service Days and Holiday 2010-2015 Informal Consultation. The data was passed out for all in attendance to familiarise themselves with the task at hand. Collectively the choices of 1A and 2C were selected. Nobody expressed a preference so we took on board Mrs Clark’s operational preferences and this was carried. It was decided to leave the 2010-2015 structure choices until the first meeting in the new term.

2.PSA Cuts. Gillian Duncan, a parent of a child receiving Pupil Support Assistant support within our ASN base expressed deep concerns with the recent move by Aberdeen City Council to restructure the PSA model. Bucksburn is facing a cut of almost 90 hours a week in PSA support places. The ASN base has children with very particular support needs. The PSA support in the ASN base was therefore very targeted towards these particular needs. There are no options for alternative measures to be taken in the wake of these cuts. Management at the school are having to re-jig the hours of the remaining PSAs from their work in mainstream class general support roles, which in turn means that teachers are having to spend more time taking up the roles played by the PSAs themselves. This knock-on effect on teachers will certainly be felt, negatively so. It was discussed that although PSAs have no formal training requirement, other than a First Aid course, many do take on specific training in relation to their actual job requirements. For example if a PSA was working closely with a child who has a specific support need they often took courses in this particular condition. This ensured they had the adequate tools and knowledge necessary to carry out the support role effectively. The loss of such targeted assistance is particularly difficult for the children who were working with these PSAs. These children form attachments to “their” workers. Voluntary commitment from parents would help to alleviate some of these problems, especially the knock-on effect into the general PSA classroom support as this is where the cuts will be made, in order to provide the ASN adequate coverage. This voluntary commitment of x hours per week per parent could not be relied upon for adequate planning. The PC will be contacting the authority to express their concerns over the allocation.

3.Amalgamation. The council have voted in favour of amalgamating Newhills and Bucksburn schools. The PC are concerned over the lack of information anyone has at this point. It was suggested that ACC have ‘beefed up’ their team working on this which only adds to this concern. The PC are going to contact Sue Bruce and continue to canvas councillors to ensure the views of parents are heard and acted on, specifically in regards to the proposed feasibility studies and their remit which we believe to be the next stage in this amalgamation.

4.Recruitment of new PC members. The PC will be requiring new members after the summer. Lynn Fiske our chair will be stepping down as she will no longer have children at the school. Ideally the PC will be formed from at least one parent from each class to best give the views of the whole school. A committee would be formed from this pool of parents. A letter to go out to parents will be prepared for this task.

5.Any Other Business. The paperwork for the PC funds is missing. When Katrina left the role for employment reasons the folder was left in school as far as anyone can recall. It’s since gone amiss. Anne will ask for statements from the bank should this folder remain missing. The CCTV camera is continuing to be chased up by Cllr McDonald on our behalf and Billy is being kept in the conversation about it. The parking problems on Howes road have reappeared. Dan Ruane mentioned that the double yellows are unenforceable by the police as they were decriminalised and put in the hands of the council who now deal with ticketing on those. On the suggestion of zig-zag lines he intimated that those are indeed enforceable by the police. With the police station sharing the entrance at Howes with the parents this was an idea worth chasing up. Billy will enquire as to the furtherance of this idea with councillors.

6.Date and Time of next meeting. No fixed date as yet although it will take place soon after the Easter break. Details will appear on the website and be sent out to the mailing list.