Minutes of Meeting of PSA on 12th June 2015

Parents School Alliance
Minutes of Meeting
Dance room, Deens Academy
Date: 12^th June 2015

Attendance- Reena Verma, Dhanya Pradeep , Shreeja Shibin, Seema, Dahlia Joseph, Athira, Susheela, Manasi, Sasi Taneja, Vineeta Agarwal, Orpita Basu, Shanti Shalini, Kavita Srivastava, Komala Vamsi, Bonita Narayan, Ketan Jain, Manisha Ajmera

Meeting location-Conference room, Deens Academy

Meeting started: at 9.30am

Agenda & Discussion Points

Communication Channels: The recurrent problem of phones not working was discussed. The website also is facing hacking issues. School will share all the available phone numbers again via email. Also, suggestion to use alternate providers to be looked into.

Uniform: Multiple issues with uniforms were discussed including quality difference across batches and pricing differences.

Currently, following can be done by parents – returning of items (especially belts n ties) to be exchanged to be sent across with labels of child name etc. to either office or to class teacher for lower grades.
To address this, in the long run school is looking for alternate vendors. School has no objection to parents procuring the non-school branded uniform items from outside and not from the school vendor itself.
Clarification on what to wear – ties will be worn only on Mondays and Wednesday will be shorts or track pants mandatorily. Shanti mam will share this in her communication.

Transport :

The following was brought to the school’s notice – ventilation and cleanliness issues (this may be in some specific buses), overcrowding – sometimes 4 kids in a row.
Overall issue with children reaching late.
While the school time is now changed to 3.05pm instead of earlier 3.00pm the delay in reaching seems to be much more.
Also, discussed if preponing school timing will be useful – this needs to be canvassed to seek parent’s views
Clarification from transport – bus seats are designed as 3 small kids per seat and for some are 4 small kids per seat

Action:

A separate meeting to be set up to address transport specific issues along with the transport team at a later date.
Specific route number issues as and when noticed, we will bring it to Shanti mam’s notice
Teachers travelling in the bus need to be also responsible for the safety of the children in the bus.

Facility:

Stink in toilets – school has checked and found it to be an issue with plumbing and not with the cleaning; will work with plumber to address it.
5 E classroom facing lot of noise and rain– structure is being extended there to address this issue by following week
4^th fan in class A to be looked at.
Latches in toilets need to be checked.

Action: PSA parents to start conducting facility audit from following week.

Walky parents:

We have discussed the need for shade for waiting parents, guardians. There is a challenge with space and the basketball court cannot be a covered area. School will explore option of awning or temporary shade in this regard.
Bus movement during exit time needs to be adjusted to avoid congestion in the front road.
There continues to be a problem with parents disembarking in front of the gate and repeated requests from security is not adhered to.

Action: PSA parent volunteers PSA parents will help and seek other volunteers to monitor and help implement this.

Class size :

There was some concern raised around class size.
Clarification to this is all Kindergarten classes will have maximum 25 and Grade 1 onwards 30 as maximum size. Where this exceeds it is usually the case where the student has taken a break/ out of city for the year and the seat is blocked.

Security Device:

The PSA team has shared the concerns regarding the option of providing this device. The school has noted our points and also post the first orientation has not discussed more on this topic.

Co-Scholastics :

Resonart – this has been a marquee event for the school. Last year the splitting up by class for Resonart was done to help with parking issues. However, this format did not get good response.

Also, clarification provided the selection ensures that this event will provide a platform for students who are otherwise not too forthcoming to present themselves.

Club Activities – this year in order for us to know what the students are achieving out of the club events; a showcase day has been included where the clubs will be required to put forth their accomplishments for the year.

On a point of discussion for students pursuing excellence in sports, arts, etc., even outside school; mam has clarified the school is happy to support in terms of time adjustments.

Swimming in school is being kept optional only.

Scholastic :

ILP or individual learning plan. Shanti mam explained that this is strictly for one on one with teaches and student in specific areas of improvement as and when a student is assessed in need of it.

For KG classes this is done in extra time after school hours and for higher grades this is done during non-core subject periods. This could be interventions for 2 weeks or in some cases through the year.

This year certain new areas/ periods have been introduced- SP- spellings , Creative writing , Theatre ( to aid learning) , Golden period which will have different items like Sudoku, puzzles, finding differences, etc., Comprehension

Other points discussed:

In a very positive move, the school has removed the indemnity section from the dairy.

The introduction of half hourly period is currently being experimented and it will be reviewed and adjusted if not found suitable. So the current timetable is a soft one and is open to be revised.

Good Friday – as per current calendar, exam is scheduled on this day. We have requested this to be changed.

School Calendar – this is available on the website and Smartwork but some confusion exists in marking of exact dates of holidays/ festivals. Shanti mam will get this looked into and circulate the correct ones.

Next Meeting proposed for 1^st August , 2015.