Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that you all had a restful and relaxing break over Christmas and that you enjoyed some family time. January has disappeared and we are now firmly in 2020 and I can’t believe I am here writing my January update.
There school inspection took place earlier this month and I know many of you participated in the discussion sessions and completed the online survey. I have not heard of the findings of the inspection as yet – all inspections have to go through a mediation process before they are released – however as soon I have any insights, I will share them with you. I am sure that school capacity and rising rolls will come up.
Our next Parent Council meeting will take place this Wednesday (5th February in the dining hall) and the agenda has been circulated to you. There are a couple of chunky items to discuss primarily with regard to finances and clubs.
We have tentatively agreed to make a number of standing commitments to the school following on from the discussion at the last meeting to provide a set amount for playground maintenance. These will allow for better planning by the school and allow us to have a clearer visibility of the balance we have available for good causes in the school. In the past the P7 year group have asked for funding for their yearbook towards the end of the year – by committing to this ahead of a panic will allow the P7 team to look for alternative suppliers and formats for the yearbook. In addition we will make a standing commitment of £1,500 to the Primrose Fund. This Fund exists to support activities and trips for children that might not otherwise be able to participate in.
The second chunky item is our move away from the Wild Apricot system for club registration and payments. This system was brought in six or so years ago and really transformed our club system from paper and cheque based to an automated system allowing better data management and easier to manage finances. However, it isn’t ideal for our purposes. The Clubs team have identified a Glasgow based supplier – Class 4 Kids – who have a club registration system which will make the ‘back room’ technical and administrative jobs much easier. Our plan is to move to this system for the April – June clubs bookings. You will be asked to register for this new system in due course and we ask for your patience and understanding in this migration. We have trialled the registration and payments for the new Creative Writing club and it did not throw up any issues so fingers crossed for a smooth transition across to this new platform.
Although we are still in January (just) you will shortly be hearing a call for volunteers for the summer fair and the ceilidh. We need to have these organisers in place by mid-February to allow for adequate planning and reduced panicking ! Have a think and if you would like to get involved, watch out for the call for help after half term.
As part of our continued succession planning, if you are considering getting involved, now is the time to do so – you can shadow current office bearers and gradually learn the ropes before committing. Ideally as we go through this year we would like to see someone join us as Vice-Chair and also Events Treasurer. If you would like more information about these specific opportunities, drop me an email and I can chat them through with you.
My two final thoughts – firstly, I know that there are some new families in the school to whom we extend a warm welcome. Please pass this newsletter on to them and make sure that they are registered on clubs.bruntsfield.org for updates. And finally – remember the school closes for half term on Friday 7th February and reopens on Monday 17th February.
I look forward to seeing many of you on Wednesday and hope you all have a lovely half term break.
Best wishes
Karen Galloway
Chair
Bruntsfield Parent Council
