Good Afternoon Everyone!
First, let me thank you for attending today's meeting. We had over 35 parents at the Headteacher's Meeting. That is absolutely great! Please tell all your Avonmore friends to join you for the next meeting.
Kudos to you for making the time to share your thoughts and concerns about the existing programmes and the future of Avonmore Primary School.
I am going to list the highlights of the meeting in this email and on our blog, if you have a question about this note, please email me or talk to me at school. It is always great to meet and talk with parents.
I am going to start with the conclusion of the meeting, which I know is unusual, but I think has the greatest value:
1. We have questions of Mr Hale and we prefer to ask those questions in a group setting that allows us to communicate collectively.
A. At the end of the second hour, three parents, in addition to me, informed Mr Hale of our preference to finish our questions in another meeting.
B. Why? For example, I asked only 1 of my 7 questions—because so many new topics came up after Frances' presentation regarding Extended Services.
2. The budget for Extended Services, for our children's afterschool programmes is being cut this month.
A. We were not told what programmes will be offered next term.
B. We do not know how much these programmes will cost.
C. We do not know who will be making the decisions about the future of our afterschool programmes.
3. The first item Mr Hale shared with us was the update to the changes of the Upper Lot Play Area.
A. Maps were provided for about 1/3 of the parents—ask Ms Collis if you would like your own copy.
B. The improvements should take place over the Summer Break.
C. There appeared to be no deviation from the plans provided to us at the December 2010 Headteacher's Meeting.
4. Extended Services Update presented by Frances
A. AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMMES: We currently have 8 clubs at school with 129 students registered. Overall, attendance is very good, at 65-100%. The courses include cooking, homework, French, football, dance and jewellery making.
B. BUDGET/FUNDING MATTERS: Right now, students pay £10 per term and the school pays the other £10 for each student to attend a class. Effective this month, the school funding will no longer exist—the school will not be receiving those funds to pass on to us.
C. FAMILY LEARNING PROGRAMMES: This term two classes were offered, based on feedback from a survey conducted last spring. The First Aid course, while receiving very good feedback, had only 3 parents complete the course—effectively a money loser. The Arts & Crafts course has one more session, so the feedback is not yet available—but it did sell out, with 10 parents registered and 8 attending the classes—a much better financial result.
D. INFORMATION TO FAMILIES: Regular Monday Morning classes have been made available, including parenting workshops. There is also an Extended Services Newsletter which provides a great deal of information about programmes available over the half-term and during the term classes/events.
E. FUTURE OF EXTENDED SERVICES: The funding ends on 31 March 2011 and Frances' contract ends on August 2011.
F. COLLABORATION: Both Frances and Mr Hale said there were some great benefits to collaborating with the "cluster schools" in creating the programming, and it seems likely that some sort of collaboration would continue—but how that would be shaped was not provided to us.
G. AFTERSCHOOL CARE—PRIVATE WALKING BUS: Even though only 1 child enrolled in this programme, Avonmore is still offering it. There is a free walking bus for children to attend afterschool care at Addison School.
5. New School Initiative Entitled, "Community Cohesion" was presented by Mr Hale
A. The two new goals are: 1. UK Culture 2. Migration to the UK
(Mr Hale stated that these two topics were picked based on some dialogue between the staff)
B. A Hand-out was provided with suggestions of this new initiative and what the staff can do to engage the students about these two topics.
6. UNIFORMS
A. At the mention of "community cohesion" many parents shared their views about the school uniform. These views ranged from, we should abolish school uniforms altogether (stated after 11am), to, we should have a much stricter uniform policy.
B. In the end, Mr Hale said he would put a reminder in the next newsletter reminding parents of the existing school uniform policy.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARENTS:
A. A need for better ventilation of school Hall. Mr Hale's response was to make better use of the existing windows.
B. A need for more bicycle parking space to be included with the new upper lot improvements, Mr Hale's response was, "No."
C. Multiple requests to have another meeting. Mr Hale said we could meet with him one-on-one.
D. A question about why the Reception Class had not had one single school outing. Mr Hale did not specifically answer this question, he did say, "Visitors to the school, like the Twinkle-Twonkle Play count as a school outing."
E. Questions about the school's swimming programme brought a great discussion about the effectiveness of the existing programme. Mr Hale stated that the existing programme offers one term of swim lessons at Fulham Pools for Years 3, 4 and 5.
He also confirmed that the goal of the programme was for each child to learn to swim—but he didn't have, on hand, the stats on how many students actually pass the swim test at the end of their term.
Both parents and staff agreed that because of the distance to travel to the pools that the time and expense are factors.
The meeting ended shortly thereafter.
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