ST THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Joanie Barber (Chair), Gerald Joy (Vice Chair), Lesley Brennan, Una Butler,

Catherine Cadogan, Ellen Dawes, Ann Marie Field, Jim Foley, Anne Gannon, Tracy

Hancock, Kate Iredia, Christine Kearns, Lawrence Kearns, Alma Kirsz, Maria

Melville, Friederike Pritty, Caroline Skerrett

Judith Berrington (Minutetaker), Liz James (Head of Year 7), Nuala Jones (Deputy

Headteacher), Sarah Lay (Head of Year 8)

JBA welcomed members and began the meeting with a prayer.

JFO said that at the next induction evening we could provide parents with more detail

about the transition from primary to secondary school. He suggested the presentation

could be in three parts and that members need to decide exactly what those parts

should be. It would be good to have input from pupils, parents and also hear from

staff. JFO then introduced Mrs Liz James (Head of Year 7), Miss Sarah Lay (Head of

Year 8) and Mrs Nuala Jones (Deputy Headteacher) to the Forum and asked for

suggestions/ideas from members. Nuala Hickey (School Nurse) was mentioned at the

last meeting and could be available for the presentation on 30 June if required.

• Ask parents to sign up if they are interested in coming. A list could be given to

each tutor group next week at Induction Evening.

• Hand out leaflets.
• Questions and answer session with a panel, good idea.
• Useful for Mrs Hickey to attend.
• Need to have guidance and focus.
• Need structure.
• Invite children? NJO and EJA said no. Visits to primary schools take place

already the first Wednesday in July in addition they have an induction day so this

is the child's opportunity to ask questions.

• Good idea to have an outline to inform parents of what happens on the Induction

Day.

• Tell parents about practicalities - lunches, health issues i.e. if their child has

eczema who should they tell. Also include music lessons, after school activities.

How to contact the school - reassurance, ok to contact the school at any time.

• Absence - what to do.
• Go through the importance of the planner although EJA said that this is done via

form tutors.

• Be careful of information overload on the night.

Discussion continued regarding the panel and how the evening would be structured.

It was agreed that the panel would consist of parents, pupils and staff. NJO to chair,

SLA, EJA and NHI to be panel members. A representative from special needs was

suggested but members agreed that the school does regular visits so no need to have a

specific representative on the panel.

• Panel - school staff could do the presentation, break for questions, go to case

histories from parents and then stories from pupils.

• How pupils find their way around. Getting lost. They could talk about their fears

and worries and how they found secondary school in September. EJA said that a

Teaching Assistant spends the first week with a new Year 7 class, helping with

registration and travelling from class to class with them. Members agreed this sort

of information would be very reassuring to parents.

• Members could wear badges so they would be easily identified.
• Members already have links to most of the feeder primary schools. A show of

hands confirmed links to 5 of schools.

• Be less formal, have a sense of welcome.
• NJO suggested setting out tables in clusters with the panel at the top. One

member could be on each table. Show of hands to confirm number of members

available for 30 June. There were 11 volunteers in total.

• Good idea to have a few starter questions, pause after two or three questions and

have the opportunity for group discussion. Perhaps the member (facilitator) could

ask the question if other parents did not want to.

• Four children could talk about their experiences. Parents might then want to ask

them questions. SLA said that some questions might need to be fielded but that

some pupils are quite confident and should be fine. Staff could always jump in to

help if a pupil was struggling.

• EJA would choose a selection of children, perhaps one who came to the school

and didn't know anyone but who now has lots of friends. Another who had

problems initially and how they overcame them. Issues to address might be

getting lost, being split up from their friends, having no friends and perhaps

include a child who is new to this county. The child's parents could be invited as

support.

• SLA suggested pupils staying with a member of staff during the evening.
• Timescale - an hour an a half - 7.00 - 8.30 pm.
• Suggested the Year 7 tutor team attend but agreed this would be too much to ask.

JBA said we hope to get new members in September. We had five new members

following the last intake.

Summary from JBA

Children to answer questions and to be available to circulate. Staff to answer

questions. Announce details at the Induction Evening and take names of interested

parents. Children first, break into discussion at tables then collate questions for staff

panel. Facilitators could ask questions if parents don't feel able to. Case histories

from parents will come out in the evening or could be part of the second part of the

presentation. Following next week able to plan numbers and see how many pupils

might be needed.

JFO then invited Maria Melville to speak to members about her work for Big Foot

Arts Education. Mrs Melville said they work with both primary and secondary

children and are currently working in conjunction with Hollie Parrish our Border

Busters Coordinator. Every school will have a transition workshop and Mrs Melville

briefly described the contents of the workshop and the interaction with the children.

Each workshop lasts for two hours but she could reduce this to twenty or thirty

minutes depending on what was required and could start the presentation with a taster

of the workshop. Mrs Melville could do her presentation after the pupils section. It

was also confirmed that only four of our feeder primary schools are in the cluster.

Discussion regarding format - presentation from children, Mrs Melville could present

her workshop and then time there would be the opportunity for questions.

JFO said it could be useful to include the workshop as part of the Induction Day

which is on 2 July. Mrs Melville said she would check her availability and added that

many Year 5 and Year 6 children had been involved in the Workshops already.

JBA gave a final summary of the format for the presentation and all members were

happy with it. JBA thanked EJA, SLA and NJO for attending the meeting.

JBA gave a brief overview of the previous minutes. The minutes were agreed as a

true record.

Points raised from the minutes:

Mrs Cadogen missed the last meeting and would like to apply for access. JFO said

anyone who wanted to do so could leave their name with JBE after the meeting.

GJO said he had received 11 electronic copies and 1 hard copy of the completed

questionnaires. However, because of the numbers completed this was not a basis to

make major decisions about the future of the Forum. GJO apologised for not

releasing the details earlier to members. He waited to see if any more responses were

submitted. He suggested that members look at the questionnaire over the summer and

then come back with clear thoughts about the way forward at the next meeting in

September.

GJO highlighted the following points for members to reflect on:

1c. The spiritual life of the school - This has not really been addressed but GJO said

he is not entirely sure of the objective here and if it is appropriate to the Forum.

2. Terms of Reference - The possibility of having meetings where just parents are

present. Perhaps people feel intimidated when staff are here. One member said that

without staff the meetings could just turn into a chat session but another commented

on the fact that parents don't get the opportunity to meet and interact in any other

way. The Forum is a good place to meet, raise concerns and discuss common issues.

GJO said there is a slight tension, some members want less formal meetings, some

want to have terms of reference. The Forum needs to think about what it wants. One

member said that care should be taken not to fall into the committee format, although

it was agreed that the meetings do need structure.

One response indicated that too much time was given to planning presentations but

GJO said he found tonight's session very useful. There is tension again though and a

balance needs to be found.

4. Membership - The older age group of pupils is not well represented. There is also

an absence of fathers. It is difficult to get men involved. Both parents usually attend

the Induction Evening and Parents' Evenings so these events might be good

opportunities to attract men to join the Forum.

Mrs Iredia queried section 4d which was not clear. GJO said the Forum wanted to get

a cross section of parents who had children in different year groups.

5. Improving membership - We need suggestions of ways in which membership can

be improved.

6 - 9 generally good responses. Members wanted more input into the Agenda. GJO

said perhaps it could be emailed to members a week before for any

comments/suggestions.

Discussion then followed regarding the role of JFO and his presence at meetings. If

staff were not present one of the members would have to take the minutes. If that

happened though the member would not be able to join in with the meeting. It was

JFO's idea to initially start the Parents Forum. He said he wanted to establish a group

to focus on children's progress and educational issues. STACS has a very strong

spiritual life, it has FOSTAS for social events but the school was not hearing from the

parents at whole school level. JFO said he is relaxed about his attendance at the

meetings. He is delighted with the group and also the turnout for the presentations.

Members felt it was good to have JFO's presence at meetings. It is a link between

parents and school and it is great to have someone to answer any questions raised.

Presentations. People are generally happy but there were a few suggestions. The

Forum needs to follow up on issues raised for example following the Gifted and

Talented evening. There needs to be a process and we need to show that there has

been some output. GJO said he had tried to get feedback from those parents who

came to the Forum but had then left. He only received one response though which

was not very enlightening. Members agreed not to chase those people who had

stopped attending.

Discussion continued regarding numbers, if membership got too big it might not be so

manageable. Continuity is needed and the Forum needs to have a good cross section

of parents.

One member said that the meetings were quite business like and formal and could

come across as quite scary, especially for people who only attend one meeting.

People really need to attend several meetings to become more involved.

GJO reiterated his request for members to look at the questionnaire over the summer

and that those members who had not filled in the questionnaire could still do so. JFO

suggested putting the questionnaire feedback onto the website.

A general flyer will go into the uniform bags and JFO could also mention the Forum.

It was agreed that members did not need to attend.

Mrs Cadogen (in her role as parent governor) asked for people's thoughts about the

new system. Mrs Iredia thought it was a wonderful idea and was very pleased the

school were introducing it. JFO said that there will be a limit of approximately £4.00

per day for each child but if parents wanted to pay for a longer period in advance they

can send a cheque to the school via the Main Office and their child's account will be

credited. He said that the system had been tried and tested and that STACS were not

the first to trial it. Everyone thought it was a great idea.

Meeting closed.

PARENTS FORUM

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON

9 JUNE 2008

Attendees: