MINUTES OF THE MEADOWBROOK PREPARATORY SCHOOL
PTA MEETING
HELD ON TUESDAY MARCH
15, 2016
Present:
There were thirty six (36) persons present. The signed register has been placed on file.
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7.52 a.m.
by the PTA President, Mrs Michelle Isaacs.
Prayer:
The prayer was offered by the Chairman of the School Board, Mr Kez
Harrison.
Welcome: The
PTA President welcomed everyone to the second meeting for 2016 and special
welcome was extended to parents who were attending a PTA meeting for the first
time. Special welcome was also extended
to Dr Tanya Perry, Dental Surgeon and her assistant Samantha Rhule, as well as
the Board Chairman and the Principal.
She indicated that Dr Perry would be making a presentation on the care
of the teeth.
SPECIAL
PRESENTATION
Dr Tanya Perry, Dental Surgeon who operates
from The Smile Centre gave a power point presentation entitled ‘How
to Care Your Pearly Whites’.
Following the presentation, a prize was offered to a parent who answered
two questions correctly and a prize was presented to the parent who arrived
first for the PTA meeting.
The Meadowbrook Preparatory School family expressed
their gratitude to Dr Perry and her assistant for the presentation.
Confirmation
of Minutes: Subject to the following amendments, the
Minutes of the Meeting of November 17, 2015 were confirmed on a motion by Mr
Michael Stewart and seconded by Mrs Sharon Morgan Grindley.
Page 3,
paragraph 1, line 1 delete ‘student’
and insert ‘Board Member’
paragraph 2, change ‘Miss Daley’ to ‘Mrs Daley’
Page 4, paragraph 4, change ‘GISA’ to ‘JISA’
MATTERS ARISING
Closed Circuit
Television: Mr Shane Sterling,
offered his assistance with the
adjustment that is required for the CCTV.
Bathroom
Repairs: The Principal reported that the project will
be undertaken during the Eater break.
Heritage
Breakfast: The President informed the meeting that
twenty four thousand dollars ($24,000.00) was contributed from the money raised
from the 2015 Heritage Breakfast towards the purchase of the water cooler.
Christmas
Concert 2015: It was reported that the event was a
success. A total of one hundred and twenty
two thousand dollars ($122,000.00) was collected and money is still
outstanding. Congratulations were
extended to the teachers and the students for an excellent event. Special mention was made of the performance
by Karen Smith who is a past student of the Meadowbrook Preparatory School.
Evening
of Excellence: The Committee which was established to make
plans to host an Evening of Excellence to showcase the talents in the
performing arts of the students at both the prep school and high school was reminded
that a meeting should be scheduled to commence the planning activities. The proposed date of April 2016 would not be
met and the Planning Committee is to make recommendations for a new date. Mrs Braham was asked to head the committee.
PTA
Blog: The President advised that the minutes
of the PTA meeting will be placed on the Meadowbrook Prep School Blog prior to
the next meeting. The address is meadowbrookprepptajamaicablogspot.com.
Parking Area: The President expressed her gratitude to the
parents who assisted in spreading the dirt in the parking area. She pointed out that there was a challenge
when using the area as there were a number of large stones in the dirt. She proposed that a project be undertaken to
remove the stones and level the dirt, this may require the use of a grader.
NEW
BUSINESS
PTA Executive: The President introduced the members of the
PTA Executive which was elected at the Annual General Meeting in January
2016. The members are:
Mrs
Michelle Isaacs President
Mrs
Sharon Morgan Grindley Vice President
Mr
Michael Stewart Treasurer
Mrs
Hopal Brady Asst.
Treasurer
Mrs
Teena Miller Secretary
Mrs
Karen Swannack Asst. Secretary
Miss
Tavianna Campbell Teacher
Representative
Mrs
Norena Braham Teacher
Representative
Mr
Basil Davidson Co-opted
Member
Mr
Ron Francis Co-opted
Member
Mrs
Raquel Duncan Co-opted
Member
Miss
Shakira Campbell Co-opted
Member
Mr.
Wayne Burnside Co-opted
member
Miss
Gloria Francis Principal
PTA Lyme: A suggestion was made for a social event to
be arranged for an evening of relaxation and fun ‘to build a vibe’ among the teachers and parents. It was suggested that the event be scheduled
for a Friday evening to accommodate as many persons as possible. The matter is to be further discussed by the
PTA Executive.
Board Chairman: The Board Chairman, Mr Kez Harrison was
invited to address the meeting. He
offered congratulations to the PTA Executive on their appointment and the fact
that there would be a representative on the Board to put forward
recommendations and suggestions from the school body. He pointed out that in his research he found
that prep schools with an active PTA body were more successful than those
without one. He stated that the school
can accommodate four hundred and forty (440) students and currently there was
an average of one hundred and sixty students(160) enrolled. He appealed to the parents to assist in
growing the school population by inviting other parents to enrol their children
in order to improve the school programme.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Sports Day 2016: One parent expressed his concern with the
recently concluded Sports Day. He stated
that some students did not get an opportunity to participate and this could
demotivate the children. He urged the
Principal to ensure that in the future there was a better level of
participation and communication.
Another parent indicated that some students did
not run in their correct classes and noted that the level of organization
required improvement. Further, the
individual who did the announcements was a parent whose children had left MPS
over five years ago and no current parent was asked whether they were available
for those duties. It was his opinion that
parental involvement was lacking.
In responding, the Principal explained
that she had received the report in
relation to the student who did not participate and pointed out that the child
was listed for participation; however when the race was being announced, the
child could not be found. With regard to
the announcement on Sports Day, the Director Mrs Reid was invited to make the
announcements, but she invited Mrs Murphy, the past parent to assist. She indicated that in the future assistance
will be sought from current parents prior to looking outside. Miss Francis advised the meeting that all
concerns in relation to Sports will be discussed and addressed. She asked that parents with concerns submit
them to the Parent Representative for the class.
The Principal stated that for Sports Day 2017
the following will be in place:
Ø
Early
planning
Ø
Parent
involvement
Ø
Students
involvement
Ø
Increased
communication
The Chairman stated that he also had some
concerns and indicated that he will make some recommendations on how Sports Day
can be improved.
Parent
Concerns: The following concerns were raised:
Ø
No
Art & Craft Teacher
Ø
No
Library Sessions
Ø
Students
required to pay twenty dollars ($20.00) to make a telephone call from the
office
Ø
Parents
not notified when there was no Club on Fridays
In her response, the Principal stated that all
class teachers have been asked to conduct the Art Class until a teacher is
identified. She indicated that she would
carry out an investigation to confirm whether the clubs were being held on
Fridays.
GSAT 2016: The Principal informed the meeting that
seventeen (17) students will be sitting the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT)
on Thursday March 17, 2016 and Friday March 18, 2016. She noted that she was satisfied with the
progress that the children had made and that they were going into the GSAT with
an average grade of 90%. It was her
expectation that the students would do well.
The following areas were covered in preparation for the GSAT:
Ø
Mental
preparation
Ø
Extra
lessons after school
Ø
Saturday
classes (inclusive of marathons)
Ø
Meeting
with Principal twice weekly
Ø
Involvement
of Parents
Mr Sterling commended MPS on the support
provided for the GSAT students and indicated that he would be willing to
provide assistance in whatever way he could.
Mrs Brady used the opportunity to ‘BIG UP’ Miss
Jennifer Sutherland on the awesome job that she was doing with the Grade Six
students to get them ready for the exam.
She noted that Miss Sutherland was at school very early in the mornings
and left late in the evenings to ensure that the lessons were imparted.
The Principal issued an invitation to the Grade
Six parents to attend devotion on Wednesday March 16, 2016 where a special
service will be held for them.
School
Closure: Miss Francis informed the meeting that there
will be no school for students in Reception to Grade Five on Thursday March 17,
2016 and Friday March 18, 2016. However,
students, with the exception of Grade Six, must report to school on Monday
March 21, 2016 and school will close for the Easter break on Tuesday March 22,
2016.
Fundraising
2016: The President informed the meeting that the
bank account was extremely low and asked for suggestions for fund raisers. The following suggestions for fundraising
were put forward:
·
Cake
Sale
·
Wacky
Hat Day
·
Breakfast
on the Go (fruits, cereal bar, juice)
Lapathon:
The
Principal advised the meeting that the annual lapathon is scheduled for
Saturday April 9, 2016 at Emancipation Park.
The event will start at 6.00 a.m. and will end at 8.00 a.m. Sponsorship sheets have been given to the
students to seek donation for the event.
Parents were encouraged to support the event.
Meadowbrook
Games 2016: Meadowbrook Games 2016
will take place on Saturday April 30, 2016 at Jamaica College. Information will be communicated to parents
leading up to the event.
PTA
Meetings: The President asked the parents whether they
were satisfied with the meeting being held in the morning or if it would be
better to convene the meetings in the evenings.
Some parents suggested that it be moved to the evening in an effort to
increase the attendance. It was the view
of other parents that the same individuals that attend the morning meetings
would be the same ones attending the evening meetings. It was proposed that a note be sent home with
the students to determine whether the meeting should be convened in the
mornings or in the evenings.
Prior to the end of the meeting, the teachers
in attendance were presented with a token from the PTA President.
Adjournment: There being no further matters for
discussion, the meeting was terminated at 9.16 a.m.
END
