Oxgangs Parent Council © 2017.

13th October 2017

Raking over the Coles

I’m grateful to the parent council for letting me post the following on a Parent Council site (I am no longer PC Chair).


Over the last couple of days the Sunday Post has been contacting parents to seek opinion on the level of concern parents have with the fire safety around the school.  I’m guessing, but this story is likely inspired from a finding of the Cole report into Edinburgh School’s closures, and maybe even the tragedy at Grenfell.

In February this year, Prof. Cole noted “it is surprising that ESP had not take a more proactive approach at an earlier stage to establish the condition of fire-stopping in the PPP1 schools”.  By earlier, he means when the school was built.

Fire-stopping can take on many forms but essentially involves incorporating a fire-proof barrier to prevent fire-spread between floors and along the inside of cavity walls. Engineers design buildings assuming any fire would be in a specific place, and fire-stops are there to contain the fire within that space for between 30 mins and 1 hour, to provide time to evacuate the building.  Prof. Cole went on to find that ESP and Amey could have found these breaches earlier, but failed to do so.

As it happens, one of the reasons engineers think the fire spread so quickly at Grenfell tower was due to a failure of the external fire-stops between floors.  Not sure if the Sunday Post will try to add a sensational twist by linking the stories by the fire-stop issues, but they are unrelated - both in terms of the type of building type and the type of fire-stop.

I spoke - and I’m sure other parents may have also spoken, or been asked to speak - to the Sunday Post reporter, Connor Andrew. He asked me if parents were concerned.  I said I thought once a wall falls of the side of your kid’s school you were bound to have some concerns, but, emphasised that the fire-stop issue was old news and that we have been assured all remedial works have been carried out at Oxgangs and that the building is now safe.  He asked how happy I was sending my kids to the building.  After a bit of thought, I indicated that I was 90% - 95% confident of the buildings safety (which I am).

I went on to say that I thought the Cole report was a good examination of the issues, but that an outstanding issue of Oxgangs’ parents had not been satisfactorily addressed, i.e., that our children were returned to, what was subsequently shown to be, an unsafe building without any proper initial post-failure safety assessment.  I went on to describe how the ramifications of the wall failure affected parents at the time - that we were naturally angry and concerned, that it caused great upset, and that it had also affected parent’s work and child care arrangements.  Also, that it had adversely affected the clubs that that use the school outside of school hours.

What I wasn’t asked about, and what I regret not adding, is how, once we realised where the problems lay, it actually brought parents and teachers together and how it’s spurned us on to try and establish a greater sense of community amongst parents.

There should be nothing new here.  What is curious is the timing of the Sunday Post’s article - the Cole report is now many months old, the issues with the fire-stops in all schools were well documented and were rectified as part of the building repairs last year. To the best of my knowledge, they have also been examined by an external fire-safety expert.  Again, I pointed all of this out to Mr Andrew.  What may be the case, and what may be his angle, is that not all Scottish authorities have been as pro-active in checking their PFI estates, or perhaps that repairs to all Edinburgh PPP1 schools have not been finalised.

Though I’m no longer PC Chair (I pointed this out to him as well), it haunts me that I was never able to get for parents an acknowledgement from ESP that our kids were sent back too soon on the basis of an inadequate survey, nor from either Prof. Cole or the Council that there should be emergency planning protocols which mandate thorough surveys of public buildings (esp. PFI buildings) after, at least, a partial collapse of the building.  My concern now is that, in my eagerness to highlight this, my comments will be somehow sensationalised or taken out of context - so I thought it important and right to forewarn you such an article may come out and give you some background.

Crerar Christie  

3rd October 2017


Change to a Parent Community

The last Parent Forum AGM was held on the 12th of September.  At this meeting, parents voted to rename parent body as the “Oxgangs Parent Community”.  To do this, we had to make a few changes to the constitution, and these changes were what was agreed at the AGM.  The new constitution can be found here.

This move should be seen as evolution, not revolution.  It will take a bit of time for the changes work through the paperwork and for people to get used to the new names. However, these changes were felt necessary to help break down some perceived barriers and to promote engagement with the one ambition we all share, namely, an excellent education for our children in a safe and stimulating environment.

Changes to Parent Council

In the new constitution the “Parent Council” is now the “Parent Community Council” or PCC for short.  The PCC maintains its function as the organising and representative face of the Community.  By virtue of the 2006 Education Act (Scotland), Parent Councils are the bodies officially recognised (e.g., by schools, government authorities, banks, etc.) to represent the interests of ALL parents.  Every parent is very welcome to come along to any PCC meeting and to get involved in whatever minor or major way.

Some parents stood down from the PCC this year after many years of service - and, on behalf of the Community, we thank them for their contributions.  We also welcome the new blood that joined the PCC this year and we look forward to their contribution. The full list of new council members can be found on the About Us page.

Myself, Sue Bellis and Nicole Johnstone have all stood down from committee Chair, Deputy Chair and Communications group leader posts respectively.  Richard Imlach has stepped forward to be the new chairperson and, similarly, Tracy Brown is the new Deputy Chairperson.  The communications post is temporarily vacant and may change depending upon committee discussions as to the best approach to communicate within the Oxgangs Parent Community and outwards to the wider community beyond.

PTA

The “PTA”, or “Parents Teachers Association”, is now “Community Fundraising and Events” (CFE) - which more accurately represents the activities of the PTA, now CFE. “Fundraising and Events” is one of the most important parent led activities for the school - without it, there would be no trips, no shows, no funding for other activities that support the children’s broader education.  At the last PTA there was the same handful of supporters. To do more things, they need more parent help - please ask if you can help: even if you can only help a little, it’s better than no help at all.

Website

This website has changed slightly to reflect our move towards a parent community, however, this too will regenerate to better reflect the move to a Parent Community.  If you’ve any suggestions, please hand/ email/ post them in via the school/ email/ address given on the “About Us” page.

And Finally, on a personal note…

As well as especially thanking Mrs Walshe, I’d like to thank Ms Mercer, Ms Buckle, ex Cllr Elaine Aitken, Cllr’s Corbett and Rust, and all the parents who were part of the Parent Council, PTA and the other various PC sub-groups in my time.

I’d also like to sincerely thank ALL Oxgangs’ parents for their support. Some of the most effective contributions have come from parents with earnest concerns, and that sincerity has been both humbling and encouraging.  Time and again over the last four years it’s been apparent to me that, despite our difficulties and differences, we do all share the same ambition for the children attending Oxgangs Primary.

Despite walls falling off, all manner of parent concerns and frustrations, school inspections and everything else in between - the one thing that remained, and remains, constant is just how great the children are and what potential there is for their future.  I wish all parent led activities the best in supporting the school to help realise it.

Thank you.

Crerar Christie