JUNE 2010

With the weather getting better and summer fast approaching, the grass needs cutting, the garden needs weeding and this is article number 3.  As usual it is my aim to provide you all with an update of what the parent council is doing, what the school are doing and how the community can get involved with the school as well as providing you with some school related dates for your diary.

Firstly a bit of an appeal: The parent council AGM was held on Monday 26th April to appoint the new class representatives and council members for the next school year.  After three years on the council a few of our original members decided that they had served their time and resigned, thanks again to them for their commitment and help.  According to our constitution the parent council needs at least one member per class in the school to operate successfully so the current members who are carrying on, were quite disappointed to see only one new face at the AGM despite two fliers asking for new members, before and after the Easter holidays.  As you are no doubt aware, the parent council is the parents voice to the head teacher, the school and the PKC education department and will be heavily involved in the proposed school extension over the next few years which will affect every child in the school.  With this in mind I am blatantly using this opportunity to try and get some additional members as we are looking for some fresh ideas and input.  If you are interested please feel free to contact me, my contact details are below.

  In a previous article I mentioned that the school are trying to gain Green Flag Status and we are now very close.  Part of the final stage for this is for the children to inform the community about what the school is doing to promote environmental awareness.

Abernethy Primary School have started the process to become a Rights Respecting School, this process has been started by registering with UNICEFs Rights Respecting Schools.  The school assembly was presented by PKCs Citizenship coordinator, Jan Caldwell on 19th February who provided details on the requirements of the process.  On 19th May a UNICEF representative is due to visit the school and engage with pupils, staff, parents and, hopefully, wider community members to evaluate the school using set questions.  At a future date the representative will make a return visit to the school to provide feedback.  The results of this evaluation will set a benchmark for the school and provide information needed and a route to follow for the school to achieve the first level (there are 2 levels) of Rights Respecting School status. This will feature in the school's next Action Plan.As mentioned previously, the parent council is currently involved in the plans for extending the school.  We understand that the current situation is that the proposal has now been approved by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at PKC and we are just waiting for the first date for the working group meeting to be communicated.  The working group will contain representatives from the parent and community council who will be involved in the development of the proposals through planning to construction.  I will try to keep the community up to speed via this regular column on how things are progressing.

As mentioned previously, I feel it is imperative that the parents and community have a voice and are aware of events and issues at the local school so please feel free to get in touch if you have any issues, questions or comments.

Some school dates for your diary

2010

11th May - 4 teams (P6s & P7s) competing in P & K Orienteering Championships at Scone Palace

18th May - P7s attending Transition Day at Bell's

28th May - School Sports Day, weather permitting, 1.30p.m. prompt start  (alternative dates - June 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd , 25th,30th - same time)

2nd June - Whole school outing to Blair Atholl

4th June - Visit to Abernethy, by founder of 'Empower the Children' charity - building on international link with school India

29th June - Leavers' Service - all parents welcome