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Parent Council meeting 1st September
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Related imageSmithycroft Secondary Parent Council Meeting

 

Minute of Meeting held on Monday 1st September 2025

 

In Attendance:  Salma Ahmed (Pupil Rep), James How (Teacher Rep), Chris Kolisz (Pupil Rep),

Elaine MacLeod, Amanda Madden, Mark McClintock (Treasurer), Rhona McDonald (Co-opted Member), Patrick Oberg (Head Teacher), Libby Young, Neil Young (Chair) and Julie Thompson (Clerk)

 

Apologies: Lynn Bryce and Sam Gillies

 

  1. Welcome

Welcome was extended to those who have returned after the summer break and to our new members, Amanada Madden (parent), Chris Kolisz (pupil) and Salma Ahmed (pupil).

 

  1. Previous Minute

Previous minute was accepted.

 

  1. Head Teacher Report

PO gave a staff update:

  • Matt Hodgman, DHT, has reduced to 3 days.  Lois Matheson has been appointed DHT which means we now have 4.6 DHTs.
  • Our new PT Modern Languages, Pascale Wilkes, has joined us and our new FH Creative & Aesthetic Arts, Sophie Lamont, will join us after the October holiday.
  • We have appointed new teachers in Maths and HFT.
  • This year we have 2 probationer teachers in Social Subjects.

 

PO gave a brief presentation of our SQA results which shows an improving picture. We are now beginning to identify areas of improvement for this year.

 

With the help of Heather Usher, our Family Support worker, funded by grants secured by our Parent Council, this year sees only 5 non-attending young people in S4 leave with no qualifications.  Although this is an improvement on last year, it is the hope to have no young people leaving without qualifications.

 

NY reported a group of parents are interested in knowing more about are strengths in terms of subjects.  AM has noticed on Twitter that some of our departments are very good at celebrating their results and successes. If there was a consistent approach this would give a good snapshot of department strengths.  EMacL believes our website is the way forward in sharing all of this type of information.  PO is happy to share, but would like a clearer picture on exactly what parents want to see.  NY wondered at the possibility of a Parent Forum to share this information rather than everything being posted on the website.

 

We are currently looking at our 2026 / 2027 Curriculum.  Our DHT, Adrian Hood, has been gathering pupil voice to ascertain what they would like to see in a revamped curriculum.  He will also survey other stakeholders.

 

This year our School Improvement Plan has 2 focuses:

  • What are young people’s experiences in classroom
  • How well are young people attaining

 

  1. AGM

Our AGM takes place on Monday 27 October.  JT will arrange a Group Call to let our parent body know.

 

  1. Bank Account

MMcC and NY have been working with the bank to try to unlock our account.  They need to redo all of the paperwork previously submitted removing previous signatories.  Going forward the plan will be to have 3 signatories rather than 2 as it currently is.

 

  1. Parent Council Role

The Parent Council is the interface between school and the parent body.  It is understood that in primary schools their main focus appears to be fundraising, but that is not the case here although the Parent Council have applied for grants on our behalf.

 

Conversation ensued regarding the best way to include the parent body and how to gather parent voice.  It was agreed NY along with help from Salma Ahmed, would create a very short video to be shared with parents explaining the role of the Parent Council.  We will also consider an App.

 

  1. Capacity, Intake and Future Plans

This is mostly speculation at the minute as we haven’t been given a clear plan, but we do know we are bucking the trend in that school rolls are about to decline, but in the next 5yrs we are predicted to increase to 1150 pupils (our current capacity is 950).  PO was in discussions with the authority last week regarding what increase to accommodation we would require.

 

  1. AOCB

Vision, Values & Aims

After consultation our Vision Statements will remain the same:

  1. We Belong
  2. We Learn
  3. We Achieve

 

We now have new values:

  1. Resilience
  2. Ambition
  3. Respect
  4. Self-believe

 

These values are forming the basis of our year group assemblies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting started at 6.00pm

Meeting finished at 7.00pm

 

Schedule of Meetings:

Monday 1st September 2025

Monday 27th October 2025 AGM

Monday 17th November 2025

Monday 12th January 2026

Monday 16th March 2026

Monday 11th May 2026