Action Note - Thurso (Ward 2)
Agenda
Meeting held on Tuesday 20th May 2008
Present
Cllr John Rosie (Chair)
Cllr The Lady Thurso
David Sutherland, Caithness Wards Manager
Craig Omand, Depute Rector, Thurso High School
Paul Hagen, Head Teacher, Pennyland Primary School
Katrina Gordon, Mount Pleasant Parent Council
John Firth, Thurso High School Parents Council
Acting Inspector Steve Raeburn, Northern Constabulary
Bill Brown, Caithness West Community Council (Scrabster representative)
Jean Lipa, Thurso Community Council
Bob Earnshaw, Thurso Community Council
Cllr Bill Fernie, Chairman of Education, Culture & Sport (EC&S)
Hugh Fraser, Director of Education, Culture & Sport
Graham Nicholls, EC&S Area Manager, Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
Robbie Mackintosh, Ward Manager’s Team
Alex Macmanus, Ward Manager’s Team
Along with 26 members of the general public including reporter from local paper.
Apologies
Lorna Simpson, Ormlie Community Association
Cllr Donnie Mackay, Thurso Ward
Jane Campbell, Head Teacher, Mount Pleasant
Ann Warren, Head Teacher, Miller Academy
Dr Fiona Grant, Rector Thurso High School
Education
Hugh Fraser – Director of Education, Culture & Sport (EC&S)
Mr Fraser related a general overview of the EC&S Service in the Highlands. He had a passion about education and was always keen to accept invitations to address public gatherings and work with local communities. A set of handouts relating to his talk were distributed and they can be foundhere:
Graham Nichols – Area Manager EC&S, Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
Mr Nichols gave a talk on education issues in Thurso. He reminded the forum that his service also covered Culture and Sports although a large bulk of his budget was tied up in schools. His local staff have an extensive knowledge of the area. They have worked in partnership with the Town Improvements Group and the Community Council
His staff face daily challenges and conceded that at times they may get things wrong but are aware of what input mistakes can have on people.
Budgets are set on population figures and it is noted that school roles are falling. His service can help communities by way of grants through educational trusts. Mr Nichols believes that all local responsibilities can be met by his staff.
Within the area there are Quality Improvement Officers who can raise the awareness of improved performance.
Thurso High School is ‘delivering’ and many Primary Schools are exceeding grades and all three are doing well.
Cllr Bill Fernie – Wick Ward Member & Chairman of EC&S Committee.
Large area to cover and would be lucky to visit all the buildings in the Highland Area. Cllr Fernie would like to thank all the 6,900 staff working in EC&S for all their efforts over the past eight months.
A Sports Working Group are going to look at developing our talented athletes and swimmers to allow them to participate at the highest levels e.g. Commonwealth and Olympic Games which are both being held in UK.
Budgets are tight and with the continued increase in fuel this will have a big impact as we go forward. £0.5m of increased costs was budgeted for. Service has 340 vehicles on the road.
Each school now has an energy champion who monitors carefully the use of various fuels.
He has been Chairman for only 8 months and is still learning. Important that contact be maintained with Councillors as well as the general public who should be encouraged to bring any concerns to his attention?
Biggest issued faced by the Service is ‘needs v budget’. Little has changed in this respect over the past 10/20 years and he can recall his own experiences with his own family as they were growing up.
A new Service Plan is being worked on following the aims of the Programme for Administration as well as a Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) with the Scottish Government. These documents will be very detailed. They will be available on the Councils web site and anyone is invited to read these and to pass on any comments and views to Cllr Fernie or any Member
/yourcouncil/yourservices/educationcultureandsport/
Q – My daughter attends Thurso High School in mornings then educated at home in afternoons. What is the forums view on main stream inclusion as my daughter suffers from autism?
A – Policy of inclusion is now a national one. Principle is right as it is morally wrong to set up a system that excludes however there is no published plan of inclusion and every case requires to be looked at on an individual basis. Effective engagement needs to be entered into with parent/carer and school for plan that best fits. Resources are key as extra staffing is expensive and unlike the NHS waiting lists cannot be maintained. Finances require to be juggled to fit.
Q – Pay scales for teachers are causing a difficulty with recruitment to Caithness with Thurso High School being particularly short of specialists teachers e.g. technical subjects. Orkney Islands Council did operate an ‘island allowance’ scheme to help attract new teachers. What can be done or offered?
A –The Director is well aware of the problems. Island Allowance was set up as a national agreement but unfortunately Thurso did not qualify for this. Pay scales were set by McCrone agreement and local authorities have no discretion with this. 63 probationary secondary teachers will be coming to Highlands in August along with 80 to primary schools.
Working with Headteachers where staffing was a problem.
The retention rate of secondary probationers is higher in the Highlands. Senior Management keeps in regular contact with probationers and many are keen to stay with the Highland Council. Jobs are not now advertised on open market but ring fenced to guard for probationers if they want to remain in post.
The Director acknowledges that there are problems. Highland Council will not work with agencies anymore who had recruited from outside the UK.
Primary probationers are more difficult to ring fence as there are always so many of them but this figure should settle down. The introduction of the air fair discount scheme can help but the Scottish Government must have input to give for far more. We may not be good are marketing ourselves as regards employment and this will be looked at. There is also a national shortage of technical teachers.
Q – Can Highland Council not have houses earmarked for teachers as was in the past?
A – There is now no demand for these properties. Most went for right to buy or teachers were now buying into the property market sooner. There may be cause to work with a housing association for rent or ring fencing property for teachers.
Q - I believe that the promotion of Gaelic is wrong and that a disapportionate amount of funding is directed to them. No one has ever been disadvantaged by not understanding Gaelic. Why is this going ahead?
A – It is Highland Council Policy to go ahead with the Gaelic nursery. There will be one dedicated teacher to 10 pupils. As a country we are bad at learning other languages this may be as good a time as any to start.
Q – Mr Fraser talked about close proximity schools. I have to travel with my child 2 hours a day to the Caithness Early Years Autism Centre (CEYAC) unit at the Academy School in Wick. Why has this unit been established at Wick?
A – This was initially down to resources. We are now a victim of our own success in so much as we are now looking at splitting this unit between Thurso and Wick. We have limited resources but we will look at the best plan to take this forward and tackle any problems that may arise.
Q – What is Council Policy now on pre-school nurseries as are you are closing the Ormlie Nursery and down sizing the Barrock one?
A – From August 2008, The Highland Council will not be commissioning pre school education at Ormlie Pre-School Centre as there is insufficient local demand for it. Ormlie Pre-School Centre has been running since 2001. The pre school education element at the centre is funded by The Highland Council and is fully managed the Care and Learning Alliance (CALA).
Parents who enrolled during enrolment week from the catchment area also enrolled their children elsewhere. All centres now offer combined 3 and 4 year old early education provision and most parents have chosen to put their 3 and 4 year olds to other centres. The decision not to commission pre school education from CALA for Ormlie Pre-School Centre was taken by Senior Officers within the Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Service after enrolment in April, and parents who enrolled were contacted and offered places elsewhere.
Staffing matters are for the Care & Learning Alliance, and the Highland Council cannot comment. The building will continue to be used by the Council’s Housing and Social Work Services and Ormlie Community association also use the building for various community uses.
Q – What will happen if Gaelic nursery goes the same way as Ormlie?
A – This will off course very much depend on demand. They will be working to the same curriculum.
Q – There are many fine and talented young athletes in the County who are being held back due to the lack of a modern 400m running track. What plans are there for the sporting facilities in the County to be improved?
A – A full review of the Community, Cultural, Leisure and Sports Facilities in Caithness was carried out in November 2007 by an independent company for the Highland Council. This will be used by the Council as we go forward.
Q – Following the decision to cut the two posts and the resources budget, which together provide the core quality development service for school libraries plus resources to support teachers' CPD, how does Highland Council intend to provide specialist professional leadership, quality development and resource support to 21 School Librarians and the 191 schools which do not have a School Librarian, without a negative impact on front line library services?
A- The Council’s decision on this matter was to close the small school libraries resource centre in Dingwall and amalgamate its stock and resources into the larger public libraries stock, to be based in local libraries or the Library Support Unit as appropriate. The saving also deletes the posts of senior schools librarian and that of resource centre assistant.
The standard requests for books and materials can be handled by the integrated support service. A working group has been established to ensure the maximising of benefit of the integration of support for school and public library services and to consider what alternatives there are for supplying the more specialist services.
The working group meets for the first time later this month and consists of school and public library staff, head teachers and the chief executive of the Scottish Libraries and Information Council [SLIC]. It is hoped that the working group will have a short life of no more than 3 months.
Q – Sports Clubs in the County are spending thousands of pounds on transport costs to make use of facilities further south. The nearest suitable running track is most probably in Kirkwall. Can the EC&S not work together with these clubs to maximise existing transport and cut down on carbon footprint?
A – We agree. Stagecoach is presently taking over Rapsons so now is a good time to enter into dialogue with them. HIE are not now contributing to costs which makes resources even tighter.
Q – I know of several teachers who are unable to speak freely on issues affecting their work. Effectively what they are saying is that they are gagged. Is this true?
A – I have never issued any instructions to any of our employees ‘gagging’ them. They all have a code of conduct to work too which tells them what they can and cannot do and this code is readily available. Teachers know that they can consult with their Head Teacher at any time.
Community Safety – Acting Inspector Steve Raeburn, Northern Constabulary
New Chief Inspector for Caithness Sutherland & Easter Ross, Andy Brown, had issued a lengthy statement of his intent through the John O’Groats journal a few days ago.
He has identified a new proactive team who will be intelligence led and comprise of 4 or 5 officers but if circumstances dictate numbers can be boosted.
He believes in high visibility policing in the right balance but also will be using plain clothes officers through out the County. Hot spots will be identified and targeted
Inspector Liz Goskirk is in charge of operational policing and she will be contact for Wards and Community Councils. A new Inspector, Grant Fraser, would be responsible for public protection e.g. Child protection, sex offenders, etc.
Q – I have been troubled for over three years by a certain individual and when I go to report this I’m told that because it is a mental health issue the police’s hands are tied. Why?
A – I cannot discuss this case in public due to confidentiality issues but I will speak privately to you after the forum.
Q – I am very concerned over the amount of vandalism that has appeared at the old mart site. What is being done to stop this?
A – The area has now been secured and we are in touch with the Company who now own this site. The incidents are under investigation and we have carried out several interviews of suspects and are confident that charges will be brought shortly.
Ward Discretionary Budget
Since start of April £6,300 has been agreed to projects costing £12,300. Would be looking this year at getting as much as possible levered in to local projects to give at least a 3 to 1 stake. Current uncommitted budget figure is £53,359.
Date of next meeting
Monday 15th September 2008 – 7.00pm to 9.00pm – venue to be advised nearer to time
AOB
None
Questions & Answers
Q – How many responses have you had to the proposed realignment of Community Council boundaries?
A – Two have responded to date and have until next Association of Community Council meeting which is due on 3rd June 2008.
Q – What is happening with the issue over the anomaly of reduced Community Councillors in some areas?
A – This issue has been delegated down to the local Corporate Manager and will be looked at nearer to the next election of Community Councillors.