Falklands : Education Board Meeting (07/02/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 07.02.2006 (Article Archived on 21.02.2006)
Find out what happened during this important committee meeting.
EDUCATION BOARD MEETING (02/07/06)
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Education board took place at 0830hrs on Tuesday, 07 February 2006 at the Education Office in Stanley Cottage. Present were Cllrs. Stevens (Chair) and Robertson, Mr Alan Purvis (Acting Director of Education), Mrs. Natalie Smith and Mrs Chris Simpkins (Minutes). Apologies were received from Dr. Barry Elsby.
After the minutes of the meeting held on 06 December 2005 were confirmed, matters arising from those minutes were discussed. The one matter was that the Shackleton Fund had refused to grant money to the Library for the funding of rare books. As the Community Library is a Government entity, it falls under their remit to insure the books. In order to insure them a valuation has to be carried out but the Librarian that would do the assessment may not be qualified for the task. The valuation, while good for local purposes, would not meet the insurance company’s criteria.
H. E. the Governor Mr. Pearce wrote a letter to the Education Board and formally appointed Cllr. Richard Stevens as Chairman of the Board. He also appointed Cllr. Janet Robertson to the board.
The Director of Education’s Report followed with part of it being contributed by the Former Director of Education, Mrs. Sylvia Cole, who left the Islands on 28 January 2006 after completing her 4 – year contract.
Funding had been approved for the pupil referral unit but a location for the unit has not been found. Chichester College may or may not accept students with 35 points. They have very strict standards as far as science, maths and English are concerned. Students wanting to attend Chichester College should take this into account when applying.
A Speech and Language Specialist has been appointed to replace Mrs. Farrow, who left the Islands after har contract ended. Mr. Alan Purvis has been appointed Acting Director of Education and Mrs Catherine Nelson as Acting Head at the Falkland Islands Community School. Mrs June MacMullan has combined the roles of secretary to Camp Education and the Infant/Junior School. The only difficulty perceived was a cutting of her hours as bookkeeper at the hostel. Katrina Stephenson has been appointed as personal assistant to Mrs. Phyl Rendell at the Department of Mineral Resources.
QCA SATS must be paid for as well as external marking. External marking ensures the fairness and accuracy of marking and it is useful. There are no exact figures for the fees to hand but it is thought they are around £2,000.00. The Inspection Action Plan in force and working properly with measurable success this year.
The Central heating will be turned off during summer break to save money and there will be an inspection of the rock face behind the sports hall. There are no problems with the rock face but it needs to be inspected on a regular basis.
The next meeting is penceled in as 11 April 2006.
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