Falklands : Education Board Meeting (05/02/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 03.05.2006 (Article Archived on 17.05.2006)
Find out what happened during this important boardmeeting.
EDUCATION BOARD MEETING (05/02/06)
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Education Board took place at Stanley Cottage at 0830hrs on Tuesday, 02 May 2006. Present were Cllr Stevens (Chairman), Cllr. Robertson, Mrs Barbara Booth, Director of Education, Mrs. Natalie Smith, Dr. Barry Elsby, and Mrs. Denise Simpkins (Minutes).
A point of urgency about the Football Pitch was then put on the agenda.
After confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 07 February 2006 was signed, matters arising from the minutes were discussed. This was followed by a lengthy discussion on how well the amalgamation of the Camp Education Secretary and the Infant Junior School Secretary was doing. This will be looked at again as a part time person is needed to help the secretary. The part timer works for 10 hours a week but it is thought that 15 hours would be needed. Finally in this section the control of central heating was discussed. There were some technical problems to be rectified before the central heating is right.
The assistant Librarian has written a paper about the Falkland Islands Community School “Reserve Collection” focusing on rare books, their value and care. A list of books in the Reserve Collection was included in the report. Values on some of the rare books were as high as £5,000.00. A discussion about whether to purchase an entire collection of 1982 books took place with a question about whether there is enough in the budget to cover this. There was another thought by Natalie Smith that the community could help to find books suitable for the collection. People with skills in book restoration should be sought locally in order to cut costs and time. There was also a suggestion that cotton gloves should be worn while handling rare books.
Mr. Alan Purvis gave his final report as Acting Director of Education. The proposed referral unit was put on hold and needs advice from the Attorney General. Meanwhile, a room has been identified to deal with unruly students. No students under the age of 16 would be housed at Chichester College. Peter Symonds would not have the same rules as it is classified differently.
Mrs. Barbara Booth was welcomed ad Director of Education. Mr. Purvis will resume his role of Head Teacher at the Community School. Mrs Katherine Nelson will resume her duties as Senior Teacher. Interviews will be conducted for two primary teachers, one secondary teacher, for Math and PE, and one Secondary English Teacher. The interview panel will include Mrs. Sylvia Cole. Mr. Hicks has resigned as History Teacher and has taken a post in Brunei. Interviews for his position will take place in May. Mrs Maggie Battersby has resigned from her post as Vocational Training Co-ordinator in the Training Unit in short term. The Unit will be reviewed to ensure that there is an effective staff structure.
Mr. Purvis reported that Year 11 is now on Study Leave for their GCSE Exams, which take place during May and June. Mrs. Taylor has developed a curriculum so that there will be structure for 6 to 7 weeks after year 11s take their exams. Though SATS must be paid for they will still be taken because they are beneficial to students and they help teachers assess them as well.
Finally, the Acting Director reported on his own activities, which include the Education Department Budget Proposals, review of student progress for higher education, reviewing proposals for the student referral unit, attend EFQM Assessor Training and preparation for replacement staff interviews.
The final item was a report by Steve Dent on the proposed pricing structure for the leisure centre exercise room. It was proposed that club memberships should reflect what areas a particular member or family would be entitled to. Access to everything would bea gold membership, pool access would be silver membership and machine and gym access would be bronze. Mr. Dent would work on a pricing structure along those lines.
There was an agreement that the football pitch would be upgraded and repaired. New top soil would be laid and grass would be planted. There would be many months of waiting for the turf to be right.
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