PARENTS' FORUM

Role: The Parents' Forum is an opportunity for all parents of students at the Academy to hold the Academy and LST accountable. Parents can use the forum to tell us what we are doing right and to raise concerns. The Academy will use it to keep parents informed about developments .

Chair and Vice Chair

The chair and Vice Chair of the Parent's forum organise the meetings and represent parents on the full Academy Council. Thy are elected for a two year term.

The chair can be contacted on: parentsforum@twickenhamacademy.org.uk

Role	Name	Unitl
Chair	Trevor Clarke	Autumn 2012
Vice Chair	Vacancy

Parents´ Council - Meeting 8th November 2011

Light refreshments were kindly laid on in the learning space area by Nick Jones and Phil Davies prior to the meeting commencing, which started at 7.10pm and finished 8.45pm.
17 parents attended, 2 students, 2 guest speakers, and Nick Jones, Principal, and Phil Davies. Associate Principal.

Everything Connects, U-Explore, careers advice and guidance, Tim Shehu

NJ said that central government funding for Connexions has ceased, as has the service, and that the Learning Schools Trust has chosen to invest for all three academies in what they consider to be a very important service.

Tim gave an overview of the work that he does. Previously an advisor with Connexions and for Twickenham Academy (TwAc). Now self employed under contract to U-Explore and two days at TwAc and two days at Hampton Academy each week. Tim is available to answer any questions or speak with students on these days and at any time through the U-Explore portal. All questions submitted go directly to him. In addition to U-Explore and giving advice, Tim has been inviting employers to come in and give presentations and answer questions, and will continue to do so.

Hampton Academy are working closely with BP. NJ said that he has had discussions with British Airways for Twickenham Academy and asked that if any parent worked for a large corporate that was locally based and would recommend, to please let him know, with a contact name to get in touch with.

While the focus has been on year´s 10 and 11, the plan is include all year groups to encourage consideration from an earlier age the career direction students may want to follow and what will be required.

Tim gave a guided tour, showing examples and options. Contains a vast range of information in varied formats including short videos and 360 virtual tours. Provides a lot more detail behind a general career options, including skills and qualifications required. Engineering and media/fashion/arts were shown as two examples.
Tim will be showing form tutors the portal and making them aware of how students can contact him.

http://www.u-xplore.com Click on Launch U-Explore tab top left of screen. Click on register arrow. Complete basic information. Parents to enter Twickenham in the code box , (students will have their own) and Greater London as the county, which will lead to Twickenham Academy as the school. Then enter chosen user name and password to use for future log-in.
A question was asked if guidance could also be given on college courses to select and advise on the substantial increase of difficulty and challenge with some subjects when moving from GCSE to A level. Biology was given as an example. Tim responded that colleges would do this, which was disagreed with based on experience. It will be considered.

GCSE learning portal, Natalie Walcott, Assistant Director of Learning

NW teaches history. Explained the development work, over 18 months, and purpose. Parents then logged on for a brief guided tour. NW showed some history examples and how students can plan and take control of their learning. Also showed the step learning. It is being updated all the time. Text heavy now but looking to add dynamic and interactive content. Nick in negotiations for mobile learning applications. It is expensive. Depends on cost negotiation. Parents can monitor progress through their son or daughter´s log-in details. Years 7, 8 and 10 parents have had an evening to look at this. Year 9 will follow soon.

New Academy Building and post 16 education update, Nick Jones
New building is on schedule. Has been noisy at times but there has no complaints and when exams have been taking place, the work has stopped after being asked to by PD. Good working relationship between Leadbitter, the project managers, Richmond Local Authority and the school. A viewing platform is being built for students to view progress.

All parents had been informed of the small radiator fire in the temporary accommodation caused by paper. NJ said that openness was important. This heating system is not ideal but all radiators now have grill coverings. Plan A and B has been reviewed for evacuation. Decided to only use Plan B from now on, which is over the footbridge to the sports field.
IT funding and contract. NJ said that the government would still be awarding in full the final third of the £1m allocated which will support IT purchasing and allow the carryover of money from the previous year. The LST Board will be investing £2.5m in a new IT contract of which half will be for Twickenham Academy.

Parent Council representation, Trevor Clarke

Sue Allingham has stood down as Vice Chair. TC said that a parent representative is needed to take her place, and to sit on the Academy Council. An explanation was given of how the two link in with each other, that the LST Board makes the strategic decisions and ratify any decisions made by the Academy Councils.

TC asked for views of the preferred process to follow. A comment was made that transparency was very important. Agreed by all to use the previous system under the community school governing body, which is to seek volunteers for the role through Twickenham Talk, who will provide a 100 word summary of why they would like to take on the role and an open vote by all parents if more than one should apply. NJ acknowledged that he was fine with this. A two year term was agreed.

NJ talked about the student representation on the AC and their useful contribution, of which TC agreed. Their views are sought at the meetings and taken note of. They have a genuine influence on the evolvement of the Academy, the new building facilities, and the outside areas for recreation periods.

TC explained his role as chair of the Parent Council and as a Parent Chair of the Academy Council. This is a two year term to the end of this academic year and will then follow the same open election process. It was asked if TC has the option to seek re-election. In theory, yes, but

TC indicated that he would prefer and welcome a parent to take on the role at the end of the current term. Five parents at the meeting were from years 7 and 8 and two from year 9. TC said that we need to encourage more parents from the lower years to attend the meetings and consider taking on a more active role for the future.

Open Question & Answer session

School catering was raised. Quality. Price. Value for money. What is brought in to school or purchased on the way. Pre-Pay card usage and monitoring was discussed. It can be topped up online or with cash at the machine. NJ said it is difficult to compete with the likes of Subway for the very different economies of scale that they have. In Sweden, lunch is free for students and he would ideally like that to be the case here but the budget may not allow for it. In the new building, there will be a kitchen for fresh food preparation, which will be adjacent to the food tech room, enabling dual use.

NJ talked about the recreational areas, many indoors as well as the sports field as the solution to reduced outdoor space. Working well for both teaching staff and students.
There are 520 computers for 730 students and getting closer to the aspiration of one per student.

There is a trial presently of tablets at Twickenham Academy, I-Pads at Hampton and e-notebooks at Ipswich Academies. This will help with decisions on future IT purchasing. With three academies it helps with procurement and economies of scale. TC said it was a useful benefit, being part of a three academies group, for the reasons mentioned and for sharing best practice. (U-Explore is another example).

TC asked for views of the format of the meeting. There was general agreement that it was informative and a good format to follow. It was also commented that the expectation would have been a higher attendance. A discussion followed of how to encourage this or publicise it differently. Word of mouth, particularly in year´s 7 and 8 would be helpful. More notice with the invitations that were sent out. Not everyone reads Twickenham Talk or receives it by email. Printed copies are available for the students to take home. Any other suggestions are welcome.

The next meeting will be notified well in advance which will be around mid to late February. The timing is usually to link in with the Academy Council meetings, which then link in with the LST Board meetings.

TC said that parents can email parentsforum@twickenhamacademy.org.uk at any time on any matter, e.g. suggested agenda item for the next meeting, which will be forwarded on to him to note or to respond.

Trevor Clarke
Chair