ST MICHAEL’S PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 25^th November 2008

Present:

Mr Richard de Figueiredo (Headmaster)

Mr Howard Gibson (Chairman)

Mrs Sue Christie (Secretary)

Members of the Committee

Other members of the Association

(as per attached attendance sheet)

Apologies

Apologies were received from Mrs Catherine Mawby and Mrs Jane Crosby.

Minutes of the AGM held on 13^th November 2007.

Adoption of the minutes was proposed by Mr Simon Vivian and seconded by Mrs Sue Beaumont. The adoption of the minutes was carried unanimously by the members at the meeting.

Matters arising.

It was noted that reference had been made to a Summer Ball being held in 2009 to mark the celebration of the School’s sixtieth anniversary, however it should be the year 2009/10 and the Ball would actually take place in 2010 before the end of that school year.

Chairman’s Report

The Chairman addressed the meeting with his report for the year. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes.

Headmaster’s Report

The Headmaster reported on the events of the preceding year and specifically updated the meeting on:-

• the building and maintenance work which had taken place over the past year and plans for work to be carried out in the near future; including the playground, which is still to have more equipment installed, main entrance hall and stairway, extra parking in the adjacent field with new exit on to lane and the ongoing work on Courthouse, the new facilities by the swimming pool area.

· the publication of the school magazine with thanks to Claire Taylor for its production.

• the release of the School Choir’s CD.

• fund raising :

thanking the parents for their continuing assistance with the Christmas sale.

advising that various events will be organised throughout the school year 2009/10 to celebrate the school’s sixtieth anniversary.

· progress of communication with parents by email. It was noted that some items are required to be sent by post and although some information is available via the website the progress to electronic mail has not been embraced by the majority of parents. It was also noted by the Headmaster that where parents have queries they are often best addressed by face to face communication with either the office staff, the appropriate teacher or himself.

· Summary of events, both at school and outside the school, that children have taken part in especially the successes of those that entered the Eisteddford.

The Headmaster then finished by thanking those parents at the meeting for turning up and taking an active interest in the Association.

Presentation on effective searching of the internet

Charlotte Seymour, the school’s librarian, gave an interesting and informative presentation on how to search the internet effectively and efficiently.

MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Retirement and Appointment of Committee Members

It was noted that Howard Gibson, Tracy Miller, Renata Whelan and Susannah Swan had retired from the committee and that Simon Vivian, Sue Ward, Jenny Juchniewicz and Barb Spurling were proposed as new members.

None of the positions were contested and the appointment/re-election of all new and existing members was carried unanimously by those present at the meeting.

The New Committee was elected as follows:-

Chairman: Simon Vivian

Secretary: Sue Christie

Form 6: Jane Bolle-Jones

Form 5: Barb Spurling

Form 4: Sue Beaumont

Form 3: Jane Crosby

Form 2: Jenny Juchniewicz

Form 1: Suzy Vivian

PPC: Fiona Naef Fritschi

PPB: Jalpa Lai

PPA: Catherine Mawby

Nursery: Sue Ward

2. Any other business

Facebook

The Headmaster was asked whether or not he had come across any problems in school with regard to children using facebook and also if anyone knew of legal age requirements for using it. The Headmaster advised that he had not come across any problems in the school arising from children using facebook and stressed that students are not able to have access to facebook on the school computers. It was felt that there is no legal age requirement (this would be impossible to enforce) however there was a generally recommended age of over 13 to use it.

At this point the meeting was shown short clips from a DVD produced by Orange on ‘staying safe using the internet’ which is to be shown to the senior school students.

School Photographs

The members in attendance were asked for their feedback concerning the preference for school photographs to include siblings that attended the school. The majority of parents agreed that they would rather have a photograph with siblings rather than individual ones. The Headmaster noted this and agreed to look into the possibility of this for next year as well as using a local photographer rather than one from the UK.

Date of next AGM: Tuesday 20^th October 2009 at 8.00pm

Date of next Committee meeting: Tuesday 27^th January 2009 at 8.00pm

The meeting closed at 9.45pm

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Chairman

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Date