Members Letter - May 2003

To: All member School Boards, Directors of Education, Education Committee Chairpersons, MSPs and other interested parties

Nearly 100 parents attended the 2003 Scottish School Board Association’s Conference and AGM which was held in the Salutation Hotel, Perth on Saturday 22 March. Joe Manattini, SSBA’s Executive Board member for Perth and Kinross, introduced Alan Smith, SSBA President, who welcomed delegates and informed them of the various workshops that would take place during the morning.

Mr George Waddell, Director of Education and Children’s Services, Perth and Kinross Council opened the Conference and spoke about the parental role and the need of those in education to provide more information on the progress and attainment of our young people during their life at school. Many businesses follow up their customers with a call on how they can improve their service. Can we be looking at something similar in education in the not too distant future?

Morag Brown, Policy Manager, Scottish Consumer Council gave the Conference a preview of research findings on "Parental Involvement in School Education". This research was conducted between October and November 2002 using telephone interviews and involved over 1,000 parents of secondary school age children. It looked at current levels of satisfaction and attempted to gauge parental opinion on policy options. Consumers in education were defined as ‘those who have to make decisions about their own or their children’s education’. The Scottish Consumer Council has sought improvement in – access to information/advice for parents and young people to enable informed decisions about education, choice of provision that best meets children’s needs, good communication and complaints systems and parent and pupil representation so services reflect children’s needs.

Key themes in previous education research have shown lack of knowledge in accessing independent advice, difficulties in interacting with schools, concerns about breadth of curriculum and lack of understanding/knowledge of complaints systems. This research looked at parental involvement in school education and found 1 in 10 parents are members of a school body, specific groups are less likely to be involved, 1 in 5 parents want more involvement and parents of S1/S2 children are more likely to want this greater involvement. Representation at local and national level was also assessed and 85% of parents were very satisfied/satisfied with representation at local level while 49% of parents felt views were not adequately reflected at national level. Key issues raised were breadth of curriculum, levels of knowledge - eg complaints handling, inspection process, helping children with subject choices and representation of views at national level. Findings indicate an overall positive view and general satisfaction with education provision.

Delegates then left the main function room for the various training workshops. At the first of these, Ian Findlay introduced the background to School Board legislation and the role it now plays in the five national priorities. The School Board must approve the school's budget, be involved in the appointment of senior staff and be consulted on the school development plan.

Alan Smith conducted the second workshop on running an effective meeting. The chairperson of your Board should consult the Head Teacher about the agenda for every meeting of the School Board. The final say on what is on the agenda rests with the chairperson of the School Board. The chairperson is responsible for running the meeting and all Board members are entitled to speak at the meetings and should be encouraged to do so by the chairperson. It is a legal requirement for the School Board to communicate with parents at least once a year, when the Board are required to issue a report on what they have been doing during the year.

Peter Kormylo organised the third workshop which was about the school development plan which takes account of national priorities, LEA improvement plan, standards and quality report, school aims and consultation with staff, pupils and parents. A good school knows what it is aiming to do. Whether it is meeting its aims successfully, what needs to be maintained or improved, whether changes are working. Finally quality indicators will assess the extent to which school aims are being met. It is up to the School Board to track the progress of the plan through advice given by the Head Teacher and whether it will be achieved within the budget framework.

Following an excellent lunch, the AGM took place. The Annual Report which was presented to the members by Alan Smith, President and the Financial Report and Accounts which were presented by Kathleen Glass, Treasurer, are now available on the SSBA website.

A full list of the new Executive Board members follows. You will notice that there are a few vacancies. If your area is not represented and you are interested in becoming an Executive Board member please let me know.

Local Authority	Name	School
Aberdeenshire	Dr Ian Findlay	Tullynessle Primary School
Argyll and Bute	Stewart Turner	Glassary Primary School
Dumfries and Galloway	Kathleen Glass	Kirkcudbright Academy
Dundee City	Laura Law	Ancrum Road Primary School
East Dunbartonshire	Gino Satti	Lenzie Primary School
East Lothian	Caroline Vass	Cockenzie Primary School
East Renfrewshire	Thomas Hughes	St Mark’s Primary School, Barrhead
Falkirk	Christine Leishman	Wallacestone Primary School
Fife	Dianne McDowall	Queen Anne High School
Highland	Donald MacDonald	Dalwhinnie Primary School
Inverclyde	Bernard Deveney	Notre Dame High School
Midlothian	Jim Brown	Newbattle Community High School
North Ayrshire	Michael Lynch	St Andrew’s Academy, Saltcoats
Perth and Kinross	Joe Manattini	Perth Grammar School
Renfrewshire	Alan Smith	St Andrew’s Academy, Paisley
Shetland Islands	Annette Mitchell	Sandwick Junior High School
Special Educational Needs	Julie Johnson	Newhills School Board, Glasgow

Alan Smith is a member of St Andrew’s Academy School Board in Paisley and was re-elected for a third term as President by the membership at the AGM. Alan is married with a son aged 16 and a daughter aged 19. Alan works as a Regional Account Manager for The Learning Game.

Caroline Vass is a member of Cockenzie Primary School Board in East Lothian and is married with a daughter aged 11 and a son aged 13. Caroline also works in the education world for Barrington Stoke, publishers of books for reluctant readers, as Sales and Marketing Manager.

Kathleen Glass is a member of Kirkcudbright Academy School Board in Dumfries and Galloway. Kathleen is married with two children aged 17 and 20 and works as an Admin Assistant for Finance and Quality at Fire Brigade Headquarters in Dumfries.

Gino Satti is a member of Lenzie Primary School Board in East Dunbartonshire. Gino is married with three children aged 10, 7 and 5 and has a milk franchise with Wiseman Dairies in Glasgow. Gino is also a Children’s Panel member of 10 years and a Lay member Inspector of the HMI.

Stewart Turner is a member of Glassary Primary School Board which is located in the village of Kilmichael Glassary near Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute. He is married with two children aged 12 and 9. Stewart is a civil engineer and works for Argyll and Bute Council. He is also a member of the Children’s Panel. For his sins Stewart is a life-long Hamilton Accies supporter!

"Given the potential changes which lie ahead for School Boards and the debates around future parental involvement, Ann Hill, Chief Executive of the SSBA has decided that now would be an appropriate time for her to leave the organisation and to pursue other interests.

SSBA gratefully acknowledges the energy, effort and enthusiasm shown by Ann in her various roles during the past 12 years as founder, President and latterly, as Chief Executive of SSBA and wishes her well in whichever future career she pursues".

The office in Dumfries is operated by Jennifer Gallacher who deals with all enquiries from School Boards, parents and Education Authorities.

Sustrans – it stands for sustainable transport – is a charity that works on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport in order to reduce motor traffic and its adverse effects. They are holding 2 FREE School Travel Training Sessions in Edinburgh as follows –

For Parents, Teachers, School Board members, interested individuals, older school pupils (aged 15 and above)

Further information is available on our Website and also direct from Sustrans –

Sustrans are offering grants to cover travel and child care costs. Please contact Sustrans direct for a registration form to confirm a place at either of these events.

Our former President, John Tierney, has been involved in the Assessment for Learning Programme over the past year. LTS are arranging to hold three meetings to obtain the views of parents on the quality of reporting to parents and how it can be improved. It will also give parents the opportunity to obtain more information about the assessment programme and how it is progressing. Advance notice of the dates of these meetings for your diaries – 30^th August, 6^th September and 13^th September in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Further details of venues etc will appear on our website as soon as we get them. More information is also available on the LTS website – www.LTScotland.com/assess.

The European Parents’ Association invites nominations for the 2003 Alcuin Award, now in its 13^th year, which will celebrate the best innovations in Europe in the field of parents and schools. Criteria of selection –

An example of award winner in the past – 1999 - Storysacks project – group of parents at Westlea Primary School, Swindon worked with Head Teacher to develop sacks to encourage parents and children to enjoy reading books and discussing the stories.

Unfortunately the deadline for entry is 1 June 2003 so if anyone is interested please phone the SSBA office for further information and forms etc. urgently.

8. Meetings with SEED, ADES and SPTC on the future role of Parental Involvement

Alan Smith and Caroline Vass have attended an initial meeting with Education Minister Cathy Jamieson and Deputy Minister Nicol Stephen. Other participants at this meeting included representatives of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and the Scottish Parent Teacher Council.

A further meeting to discuss the way forward for parental involvement is scheduled to be held in June.

All training provision will be reviewed/revised during the summer holidays so that the courses are ready for delivery following the School Board elections in the Autumn. As the election period is 1 September - 30 November it is likely that the majority of the courses will be run in the new year. Jennifer will be contacting all the Directors of Education shortly to see what their training requirements will be and getting dates and venues arranged. If you have a specific training need or would like more information about the training we provide, please contact Jennifer at the office. An up to date list of courses arranged will appear on the website.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education have recently issued the first publications in a new series of guides to self-evaluation designed to promote improvement in Scottish Education. These have been sent to local authorities for distribution to Head Teachers of all schools, so if you are interested, please see your Head Teacher.

The introduction to the series, Planning for Improvement, and its toolkit of individual guides to evaluation together provide a package of support which, with How good is our school?, offers schools a manageable approach to improving the quality of experience and provision for pupils. The guides look at a range of topics or issues which cut across curricular areas or aspects of management. The first of the guides focuses on International Education.

All the publications in the series will also be published on a regularly updated interactive CD-ROM, the first of which will be sent to authorities before the summer.

Our Publications List is attached in case you wish to order any publications. Make sure you have enough copies of the School Board Handbook "Getting the Best out of a School Board – A Practical Guide" for your new School Board members following the elections later in the year.