Minute of Comann nam Pàrant (Nàiseanta) meeting

Comann nam Pàrant (Nàiseanta) (CnP(N))

Saturday 20th November 2010 at 10:30am in Comunn na Gàidhlig office, 22 Mansfield Street, Glasgow, G11 5QP 

Attending

Dawn Morgan (DM)            Inbhir Nis

Bob McGowan (BM) Dùn Èideann agus Lodainn

Marsaili Dow (MD) Siorrachd Àir

Margaret Ford (MF) Àth-tharacaill

Lyndsay Bradley Àth-tharacaill

Kerry Butler Sruighlea

Isabella Gorska Sruighlea

Magaidh Wentworth (MW) Oifigear Phàrant

1. Apologies

Fiona NicLeòid (FN) Ros an Ear

Fiona Byrne Lochabar

Colin Meek Ulapul

Allan MacDonald Obar Dheathain

2. Minute of Meeting 4th September

The minutes of the meeting on 4th September were accepted.

Proposed: Dawn Morgan

Seconded: Bob McGowan

3. Matters Arising Not On The Agenda

From §3 Matters arising not on agenda

MW replied to letter from Linda Roberts, Scottish Executive and had subsequently attended a meeting with civil servants and BnaG.

From §7 Comann nam Pàrant Area Meetings

DM and MW will arrange meeting in Highland in the New Year and invite Sarah Fraser who is now part time Gaelic education officer.

The online petition on teacher / pupil ratios was sent to Highland Council and acknowledged.

There are a number of meetings arranged in Argyll for the beginning of the year.

From §8 Spending Review

A draft letter was sent to Edinburgh CnP who had originally suggested this letter and we are awaiting their response.

From §10 AOCB

A number of parents had been able to attend the Holyrood Conference on Gaelic medium education with support from CnP and CnP was also given a 15 min. speaking slot in the morning. The Research on Attainment in Gaelic medium education which shows again that children are not disadvantaged in GME, they acquire or develop an additional language without harming their attainment in other areas of the curriculum and in fact do may better in English language than children in EME.

4. Comann nam Pàrant (Nàiseanta) – Contract with Bòrd na Gàidhlig

As discussed at our last meeting although Bòrd na Gàidhlig had written to Comann nam Pàrant following their review of Gaelic organisations earlier in the year putting forward the suggestion that they might directly manage the post of Parental Officer there have been no further details and Comann nam Pàrant will need to apply for funding for next year by the end of December assuming that there will be no changes to our current arrangement with Comunn na Gàidhlig. CnP have been asked to meet with BnaG on 21st December in order to discuss next year’s contract. It was suggested that we include costs of producing a newsletter for parents in our application.

Action: DM and MW to meet with BnaG on 21st December.

5. Parental Advisory Scheme

MW reported that she is continuing to build on the number of parent advisors with training sessions held recently in Islay and Inverness. The training in Inverness was attended by parents from Aberdeen and Stirling as well as Gaelic development officers based in Inverness but unfortunately no Inverness parents. A further session is planned in December for Inverness parents.

Action: MW to progress

6. Resources

Advisors now have ‘Pop up’ banners and we are working on other resources.

An invitation was sent to media organisations to tender for a DVD that will complement the Fios is Freagairt booklet on GME and the tender was awarded to Sealladh Media who are based at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. It is hoped that the DVD will be ready by the end of March.

7. Area Reports

Area reports were given from Stirling, Edinburgh, Acharacle, Kilmarnock, Inverness and Ullapool.

8. Treasurers' Report

MD reported that there the Comann nam Pàrant account was healthy and included the sum of £969.19 being held for the Comann nam Pàrant group in North Uist.

Members suggested that we were in a financial position to once again offer small grants to local Comann nam Pàrant groups or alternatively produce a pilot issue of a newsletter.

Action : MW to investigate producing newsletter 9. AOCB

Members requested that the Report on Attainment in GME be made available on our website and that Antonella’s presentation on the Advantages of Bilingualism be circulated to members.

10. Meetings 2010-11

Meeting dates were set as follows:

Sat. 5th March in Inverness

Friday 20th May AGM in Glasgow

Sat. 21st May in Glasgow