Scottish Parent Teacher Council

Backchat Newsletter - Issue 96 - April 2007

In this issue

PTAs and Parent Councils: the way to go
School discos – adult protection!
The Great Packed Lunch Challenge
Events for you
Your Questions Answered

<PTAs and Parent Councils: the way to go

As we explained in the last Backchat, PTAs can, if they wish, continue as voluntary, independent groups, working alongside Parent Councils. There is nothing in the legislation that affects PTAs; it is only school boards that will cease to exist in the summer.

However, parents in some schools may decide that they want to combine all their activities under the umbrella of the Parent Council. This would involve first disbanding the current PTA and then setting up a subcommittee under the Parent Council to carry out previous PTA activities. If this is what is decided at your school, then the following steps need to be taken.

Disbanding the PTA

You have to inform all the parents that it is proposed to disband the PTA and invite them to an Extraordinary General Meeting (or your AGM if this is timed for the summer) when this decision should be taken on a majority vote.
At the same meeting it will be important to decide what to do with any remaining funds and you should check your constitution to see what it has to say on the matter. Money spent before the demise of the PTA does not count as “remaining funds”, so you may have some options. For example, should the PTA have a “thank you” celebration for everyone who has worked so hard and contributed time and money? Should the PTA buy treats for the children? Should the PTA buy something big for the whole school or should the funds be handed on - in part or in entirety - to the new Parent Council.

Setting up a Subcommittee

Once the PTA ceases to exist, it will be for the Parent Council to decide how it will manage those matters previously run by the PTA.

It may simply decide to run these activities itself along with school board-type activities.
It may decide to set up a subcommittee.

Subcommittee Membership and Remit

It is for the Parent Council to decide the number of people who should be involved in it and what its remit will be. For example it may decide that the subcommittee is only for fundraising purposes or it may say it is for fundraising and social activities.

Decisions on Spending Money

Most crucially, it would be for the Parent Council to decide whether the subcommittee could decide how to spend the money it had raised or whether these decisions would be taken by the Parent Council itself.

Links to the Parent Council

Once established, the subcommittee could operate fairly independently but it would have to comply with any general policies decided by the Parent Council. For example, if the Parent Council had a rule on sponsorship, the subcommittee would have to observe this.

The subcommittee would also have to submit reports of its activities and accounts when requested to do so by the Parent Council, and certainly once a year for the AGM.

Insurance and Parent Councils

Parent Councils will need public liability insurance to run fundraising events and hold public meetings in the same way that PTAs currently do. Many local authorities have said that they will organise and pay for this, but as yet there is nothing in place. We have heard of one policy that would impose serious restrictions on what you would be able to do (e.g. bouncy castles are treated as “extreme sport”) so check what you are allowed to do and that you have proper cover. As we have said before, it will be possible simply to transfer the insurance cover that you have through SPTC membership to the Parent Council should you decide to combine activities in the single body.

Finally, whatever decisions are taken about the PTA, it is important to follow proper procedures and keep proper records so that no one can challenge the legitimacy of the decisions in the future.

CHILD PROTECTION – running a safe disco

A recent query gave an interesting new slant to the question of “child protection”. This time the concern was “adult protection” against false accusations by a child at events like school discos. As the phone call came in just after we had heard of an actual case, it made a lot of sense. Good planning should provide protection to both children and adults and the following is good practice.

The starting point is to have enough helpers. This will depend on the age of the children, but you should always have enough so that no one feels under pressure and you can spare a helper to deal with a child on a one-to-one basis, if necessary.
Helpers should be consciously aware of each other and operate a system of mutual supervision. (This is similar to the advice that we give for counting money where having two people not only ensures accuracy; it also protects against false charges of fraud.)
There should be an incident log book and any incident etc. should be noted at the time, dated and signed by two helpers.
It is important to anticipate situations that might leave an adult alone in charge of a child and have agreed procedures. For example, if a parent helper needs to deal with a child with a nose bleed, they should inform another adult what they are about to do and why, and then report back to that same adult when they and the child return. The incident should be recorded in the log book.
If a child approaches an adult and makes a complaint about another adult, the child should be listened to, the incident recorded in the log book and followed up as appropriate.
It’s important to work out what will happen at the end of the event. This will depend on the age of the youngsters. If you decide that all children should be collected, it is important to make sure that parents are aware of this from the start. If a parent feels that their child can go home alone or with a friend, you should ask the parents to give written notification -providing a tear-off slip might be useful.
If you have an “adult must collect” policy, work out what you will do if a child gets left behind - another situation that should be logged in the incident report book.

Finally, most discos go off absolutely fine, so don’t worry and do enjoy it. The worst that is likely to happen is that you will suffer noise fatigue!

The Great Packed Lunch Challenge!

Eleanor Coner writes with memories of making thousands of packed lunches.

You can’t have failed to notice recent headlines about the “rubbish” parents are packing into their children’s school lunchboxes. The Scottish Executive responded by asking a panel of experts to put together some healthier suggestions. They came up with ideas like a pitta bread filled with tinned salmon, or a chicken and yoghurt sandwich - not my idea of tasty lunch. Imagine the smell of the fish after a morning in a plastic box!

Anyway, once I’d got over my anger that they could make healthy food so boring and unappetizing, I started to think of my own ideas and the other things you have to consider when you’re making up lunches.

My three boys are now past the age where they want packed lunches but I can still remember the rush in the mornings to get them out of bed, check they’d brushed their teeth, didn’t have too many stains on their sweatshirt and still come up with something vaguely interesting for their lunchboxes. I suppose I was quite lucky in that my lads weren’t fussy eaters, so I had lots to choose from. But even they wouldn’t have been impressed if I had given them egg and couscous salad, (another Executive suggestion!).

One of the things that I always had to remember for my middle son was not to give him anything that took too long to eat as he needed to get outside quickly to play with his pals. He also didn’t like “embarrassing food” – e.g. smelly things like egg sandwiches. As he’d often got bored with sandwiches by Tuesday, I used to pack up “nibbles”. These consisted of chunks of cheese, cooked sausages, rolled up slices of meat and crackers followed by grapes, raisins and chunks of flapjack with a yogurt for afters.

In contrast, my eldest liked to enjoy a leisurely lunch and to linger over his food. It was impossible to fill him up and he almost needed a separate backpack for his lunch. I used to cook extra for dinner the night before and, if we had pasta with a sauce, he was quite happy to have any leftovers cold the next day. In the summer, I would make potato salad with leftover tatties and add chunks of cheese, tomatoes and anything else I could find in the fridge. Popcorn was also a great filler – I’d give him a bag of plain popcorn and a bunch of grapes which he could mix together.

By the time my youngest went to primary, the supermarkets had started selling those lunch packs with bits of processed meat, crackers and a cheesy dip. I couldn’t really afford them (I would have needed about three to fill him up) and so I made my own – a box filled with crackers, breadsticks and plain tortilla chips, carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes, (if they were on special offer!), and some cream cheese in a pot. He also used to love making up his own snacks with digestive biscuits, cream cheese and different toppings like slices of cucumber and bits of cooked meat.

All three hated to open their lunchbox to find things had gone soggy or smelly. And I would never inflict homemade soup on my boys following a traumatic incident at my own primary school when my mum had packed a thermos full of her special vegetable soup. When I tried to pour it out at lunchtime, it fell into my cup in one glutinous mass and I was the laughing stock of the playground for days after!

We would love to hear about your ideas for packed lunches. Please get in touch (phone, letter or email) and we’ll start a special section on the website. Who knows, we might even be able to produce a leaflet from our own expert panel.

One of the parents in our school has offered to bring her pony to our Summer Fayre and allow the children to have a short ride around the playing field. Are we insured for this through our SPTC membership?
If you were hiring in a pony and supervisor from a local stables, then they would have to have their own public liability insurance and you would have to check that they did. However this is not necessary in your case where the pony is being provided by a parent, free of charge. This is covered by your normal insurance and you can still charge a fee for each ride. However, you obviously do not want any accidents, so we advise you to take sensible precautions. For example:-

riders must wear an appropriate safety helmet.
make sure that the pony is away from any noisy activities and/or traffic.
make sure that the ride takes place on a reasonably even patch of ground and, if possible, cordon off the area so that no one can walk/run near the pony.
make sure that there is adequate supervision, e.g. one person to take money and keep an eye on the queue and another person to walk with the pony.

We would like to have a barbecue at our summer event. Do we need health and safety certificates?
No, this is not a stipulation of your SPTC membership/insurance. I’m sure you’ll be taking some sensible precautions to avoid possible incidents, and here are some more handy tips.

Make sure that raw meat is kept cold until it is used.
Always make sure that food is properly cooked.
Keep raw and cooked meats in separate containers.
Have a bucket of sand in case of fire.
If you are using a charcoal barby then keep a shallow metal tray in the coals to catch any fat.
Have a table set up away from the barbecue for sauces, etc and then you won’t get lots of people crowding around the heat.
Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and have fun!

EVENTS FOR YOU

Mobile Adventure Course (MAC)

MAC is an obstacle course with 12 different challenges which can be set up either indoors or outdoors and could be adjusted for all ages - even adults! The course can be used as a treat for pupils or as an alternative for sports day. Come on … have a go at the rope swings and scramble nets. Contact details: Tel: 01555 759291 or email: mobileadventure@aol.com

Junior Geo Rock Shop

Fed up with the same old stalls at your events? Then why not try a Rock Shop Stall? Junior Geo offers schools the opportunity to buy discounted fossils and minerals to be sold at any fundraising event. This is supplied on a sale or return basis and you will receive a full refund on any returns.
You’ll get a selection of 50 fossils and minerals; instruction sheet, banner, pricing list and labels; pouches for each item; and even a donation for your raffle!
Tel: 01305 751669 www.juniorgeo.co.uk

For more details on these events and other ideas go to the Info Shop on the SPTC website: www.sptc.info

Printed & Published by:- Scottish Parent Teacher Council, 53 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2HT Tel 0131-226 1917 or Tel/fax 0131-226 4378
Email: sptc@sptc.info Web site: www.sptc.info

Article 419 - published on 23 Apr 2007

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