Parent Council
Information on the school's parent council.
Minute of meeting of Linlithgow Bridge Primary School parent Council
18/03/25
In attendance:
Aimee Hunt (chair)
Mrs Webster
Mrs Peters
Gillian Jardine
Lisa Taylor
Martin Kerr
Suzi Cowe
Clare Stokes
Shona (sorry, unsure of surname)
Agenda
1 - Head Teacher Update
1.1 Mrs Webster reported that the school had received a very positive VSE report. The school had also had another quality assurance visit on the day of the parent council meeting (18 March 2025) which focused on Health and Wellbeing. The school had graded themselves very good and the evaluation came back to agree with this rating.
1.2 Digital Award - The school has a working group focusing on this and it is hoped the award could be achieved this session.
1.3 Mrs Webster reported that an authority wide upgrade to Windows11 will take place during the Easter Holidays. This will mean that some of the older machines in the school will not be able to be used any more. The authority hopes to be able to assist with replacing out of commission machines.
1.4 Sports day is scheduled early, as in previous years, to give extra time to reschedule if bad weather means it cannot go ahead. The theme for sports day this year will be Highland Games.
1.5 Galaday prep has started within the school with a theme for this year of Books of the Musicals e.g. Matilda. Action - Clare Stokes agreed that she can send a form out to gauge interest for walking with the school at the Galaday. Mrs Webster asked that she remember to include that this is not a supervised event. Clare added that she cannot attend on the day and Gillian Jardine agreed that she can look after the refreshments for after the kids have walked in the parade.
1.6 Mrs Webster moved on to the P7 Leavers events and said we usually give a voucher to the piper to say thank you. Action - Mrs Webster to confirm to Martin whether she needs £10 or £20 for this voucher.
1.7 Aimee Hunt confirmed that Clare Stokes has taken over the fundraising role as Kerry's children will shortly be leaving the school.
2 Finance
2.1 Martin Kerr explained that the money from the Christmas Hamper Raffle was still to come in to the bank but that he and Clare Stokes are working to resolve this. The amount expected for this is £1400.
2.2 In November 2024 the bank balance was £3825.
2.3 At March 2025 the bank balance s £2284, not including the money for the Christmas Hamper raffle.
2.4 Other than the hamper money, no more money is due in or out at the moment.
2.5 We like to keep £800 for classes, £1000 as a float and £400 for P7 hoodies. If we do this and no more fundraising takes place we would still have just over £100 in the bank.
2.6 £527 was spent on whiteboards and the feedback from the class teachers is very positive.
2.7 Before Martin steps down from the role of Treasurer he will upload all documents he has to Dropbox - Action - Martin Kerr.
2.8 Aimee asked about signatories for the bank account since both of the current signatories, Martin and Gillian, are stepping down. Martin confirmed that this is still proving difficult and that Mark Sweeney is still named as the main signatory on the account when paper statements are sent. Martin hopes cancelling paper statements might help. It was agreed that Aimee Hunt and the incoming treasurer, Kim Langlands should be added as the main signatories. From there, Kim can authorise anyone else who is needed.
2.9 Mrs Webster confirmed she has some class trips booked for next term with bus expenses. Action - Mrs Webster to send bus costs to Martin.
3 - Fundraising
3.1 Clare confirmed that 130 tickets have been sold for Bunny Bingo on the 26th March so far.
3.2 Clare asked Mrs Webster if it would be possible for the janitors to help set up the tables and chairs. Mrs webster confirmed that Clare should speak to the office directly about what she needs. Action - Clare Stokes
3.3 Entry from 4.30 for set up was confirmed.
3.4 Clare confirmed that she has seven helpers so far for the Bunny Bingo and Mrs Webster confirmed that a good collection of eggs have been handed in to the office.
3.5 Mrs W confirmed that Asda had confirmed a donation of £89.
3.6 Clare confirmed that she is looking into creating a rota system for the teas and coffees at the class assemblies as she is really struggling to get help. Action - Clare Stokes to write something that Mrs Webster can share to call for additional helpers. Clare confirmed there are 43 members of the Linlithgow Bridge Helpers' WhatsApp group yet not that many actually help.
3.7 The Summer Show was confirmed for 19th, 20th and 21st of May with the community performance of the 19th, the afternoon performance on the 20th and the evening performance on the 21st. The evening performance was confirmed for 5.45 to 7pm and Clare confirmed she would get a licence for this show.
3.8 The Summer Fete was discussed but after discussion it was agreed not to go ahead. The idea of doing a second book swap at the end of the year so that kids have a new book for the holidays was discussed. Suzi Cowe suggested that the kids could gift down a year, i.e. P5 gives to P4, P4 gives to P3 and so on. P7 would just gift to each other.
3.9 Clare confirmed we would also do the 'Guess the number of sweets in the jar' again and possible the ice lollies.
TREASURER UPDATE - 18/03/2025 Page 1 of 2 1 SCO35946 - LINLITHGOW BRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL SCO35946 Linlithgow Bridge Primary School Parent Council Update on financial position:
£3,825.48 Previous bank balance 26/11/24.
Paid in:
£042.10 Nov 24
£341.59 Dec 24
£154.06 Jan 25
£047.79 Feb 25
£306.95 Mar 25
Paid out:
-£375.00 Nov 24
-£1476.81 Dec 24
-£010.00 Jan 25
-£0.00 Feb 25
-£527.88 Mar 25
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£2,284.78 Current bank balance 18/03/25.
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Awaiting Pay-in: £0.00 Raffal ticket sales?
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£2,328.28 After awaiting pay-in.
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Awaiting Pay-out: -£0.00
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£2,328.28 After awaiting pay-out.
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Spending commitment from Aug 2025 to July 2025:
£800.00 P1-P7 + Nursery. (Eight or Nine classes) From Aug 2025.
£1000.00 Float (recommended).
£400'ish P7 Hoodies.
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£128.28 With no further fundraising.
Information received regarding Gift Aid. To be reviewed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kim and Vanessa to be added to the bank account. Further names added as necessary.
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Record keeping:
Please complete a separate receipt duplicate book page for each event where money is collected.
Add event date.
Record total takings.
Record any receipts submitted which can be paid out if there are sufficient takings available.
Deduct receipts paid out.
Then record the amount remaining to be paid in.
Please have two volunteers sign the duplicate book page.
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All Trustee names on the bank account who no longer have children attending LBPS have been removed.
The following documents are always available on request:
The Annual Accounts. The LBPS Parent Council Constitution.
The LBPS Parent Council Treasurer Golden Rules - Rev5.
OSCR v10_guidance-and-good-practice-for-charity-trustees.
4 Nursery Closure
4.1 Neil Brady-Campbell joined the meeting to discuss the closure of the Linlithgow Bridge Primary School Nursery that had just been confirmed by the council. Neil hoped to submit a letter to the government appeal from the Parent Council as he had been advised that the appeal will hold more weight if coming from the Parent Council. Neil and other parents are working with the Parent Councils at at Ladywell, St Josephs, St Anthony's and St Johns and all plan to submit their appeal before the deadline on Monday 17 March.
4.2 Neil explained that the main argument would be pre consultation and the inaccurate costings. He also explained a little about Sally Patel's (Liberal Democrats MSP) involvement having previously shared with Parent Council a letter of support that she had produced.
4.3 Aimee thanked Neil for all of his hard work in pushing this forward and all parents present at the meeting agreed that they were happy for the letter of appeal to go from the Parent Council. Action - Martin Kerr to send Parent Council email to Neil so that he can copy it in when submitting the letter.
5 Other Business
5.1 Suzi Cowe explained to Mrs Webster that there had been a mix up when the Parents Evening booking email was sent out and people had been able to access one of the dates ahead of when they should have but not the other date. It was confirmed that all bookings made ahead of the proper 'go live' date were still in place and Mrs Webster apologised for any confusion. Action - Mrs Webster to send email to all parents to confirm the system is now live.
5.2 Role to be filled - Treasurer - this role will be filled by Kim Langlands. Auditor - this role will be filled by Nicola (check surname), a P4 mum. Action - Martin to send Catriona the mobile number for the current Auditor Gemma Ellis and he will put her in touch with Nicola. Action - Catriona. We are also still without a chair for Parent Council and it was agreed the information should be shared with al parents to explain the role of the Chair person. Action - Gillian to send info to Mrs Webster to share with the parents.
5.3 Until we have a Chair it was agreed that everyone without a specific role would take a turn of chairing and Aimee asked that anyone who does not feel comfortable with chairing a meeting to let her know - Action All.
6 Class Updates
6.1 Primary 1 - Suzi highlighted that some children had attempted to leave the school grounds before the morning bell. Action - Mrs Webster said she would be sending round a reminder email to all parents about supervision, drop off times and to ask that they remind their children not to leave the school gates.
6.2 Primary 2 - the rep for P2 was not on the call but Neil spoke to a note that said someone had asked about communication from the school, specifically relating to the writing workshop that had just taken place. It appeared that many parents were unsure of the format of the event and whether it was for parents or pupils. Mrs Webster took note of this and agreed to send more of an explanation for future events when she could.
6.3 Primary 3 - nothing
6.4 Primary 4 - Nothing
6.5 Primary 5 - Shona said that one of the P5 parents had asked about an earlier discussion around a cover for the bike rails. After discussion it was confirmed that the school would have had to seek permission from the private company that manages the building but that maintenance would fall with the school and that this is a cost they cannot afford.
6.6 Primary 6 - Nothing
6.7 Primary 7 - Catriona asked that it was noted that they kids had a fantastic time on P7 camp and passed thanks on to the teachers that helped with it.
7 AOB
7.1 Mrs Peters reported to the committee that the school had won the West Lothian heat of the P6 Euro quiz and that the team will now represent West Lothian at the next round at Parliament on the 9th of June.
7.2 Date of next meeting - 10 June at 8pm
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