20 October, 2009
Meeting opened by Chair at 19:34.
Present:
Chris Sleight, Rob Goodier, John Gray, Jennie McCutcheon, Wendy Hamilton, Gun Orgun, Lisha Orgun, Jamie Orgun (representing the pupil council), Traci Leven, Cathie Moir, Sandy Kennedy, Patsy Fischbacher, Lynne Kelly, Vivienne Mackay, Charlie Haggerty, Linda Barclay, Berndt Schwan, Derek Fabel
Apologies:
Linda Britain, Mandy Malcomson, Sandra Logan, Katie Goodier, Christine Baume, Debbie Bolton, Val McCorquodale
Welcome:
Sandy Kennedy (Chair) outlined the purpose of the meeting:
a. Urgent decision required on how to use the £15k Stirling Council (SC) Grant
b. What should the “School” Funds be applied towards
c. What contribution can the PC make to the playpark
d. PC contribution to short term projects and long term projects?
e. Action plan for the PC meeting on 17th Nov, 2009.
Sandy provided a brief update about the 15k SC Grant stating that a decision on how this money was to be used had to be made by 20/10/09, and that it had to be spent by March 2010. Three options were put forward on how to spend the funds:
1. Continue with MUGA
2. Spend it on draining the school field
3. Put it towards Green Heart Phase 1 of the playpark
Urgent decision required on how to use the £15k Stirling Council (SC) Grant
Sport Scotland has not approved the MUGA. In a meeting held on 19/10/09 with regard to the MUGA, Sport Scotland indicated that numerous funding opportunities existed to raise more money and that Stirling Council should be putting up more money. The actual funding opportunities where not specified, but it was clear that to make a stronger case for funding from Stirling Council, more money had to be raised through alternative funding sources such as the Hugh Fraser Foundation.
Pursuing the MUGA option was considered to be too risky, given that the 15k currently available could be lost in the application process.
Stirling Council provided an engineers report on the potential for draining the school playing field. The report was quite vague, stating that the cost of draining the field could be £30 – £50k and that there would be no guarantee that it would work. The report was based on a site inspection but no test excavations were made, so we do not actually know what underlies the field.
Given the cost and uncertainty about successful draining of the field it was considered an inappropriate use of the £15k.
The final option discussed was using the £15k for Phase 1 of the Green Heart Plan constituting a climbing frame/slide construction to be located in the vicinity of the current playground. Discussions revolved around the security, maintenance, and location. The latter has been discussed with the managing director of Play Practice.
Although the discussions were informative, the main issue for the PC meeting was to decide on how the £15k was to be spent. A show of hands indicated unanimous agreement to put the money towards Phase 1 of the Green Heart Plan.
What should the £4-£5k “School” Funds be applied towards
The funds were raised to improve sport and physical recreation facilities at the school. The sports working group of the PC and the pupil council suggested spending the money on improving existing facilities and creating more opportunities for after school recreation and competitive sports activities. Suggestions brought forward were line markings on the gym floor, school sports strips and specific sporting equipment.
It was agreed that the Parent’s Council would pay up to £250 to have court lines painted in the hall.
Repainting the traffic education lines on the playground was proposed.
There was some discussion about the exclusiveness of funding sports and physical recreation. This was acknowledged and future fund raising could be focused towards the needs highlighted by other PC working groups (e.g. after school arts or science activities or games).
Discussion then moved on potentially using the £4-£5k towards Phase 2 of the Green Heart Plan involving the construction of an outdoor class room and a flying fox. There are some one-off funding opportunities with deadlines in November, and the case was made that applications to funding bodies have a much higher chance of success if it can be demonstrated that the community has already raised money towards the items being applied for. During the discussions it became clear that the PC should be primarily concerned with matters directly related to the school. However it was also agreed that other funding opportunities open to Green Heart could significantly benefit from an indication of funding support from the PC during the application process. It was decided that the PC would support Green Heart make their imminent applications but would not formally commit any funds until other sources of funds had been raised and it was clear what the benefit would be to the school.
Prior to closing the meeting Sandy urged those present to help the PC develop the Action Plan which will be presented on the 17th November.
The meeting closed at 20:50