Tayside OWL Committee Meeting 20/04/21 by Zoom

Present Alison Wilson (Chair), Anne-Marie Mackin (Secretary), Kirsty Adam, Mel McRae, Trisha Carrigan, Penny Martin, Cara Roberts, Lisa Henry, Jillian Ritchie, Sally York ( for Bonnie Maggio)

Alison welcomed everyone and introduced Sally who was representing Bonnie.

Accounts – These were updated with correct heading for POP funding. £7,930.00. £1,908.00 still to spend from the original grant.

We discussed whether we need anymore admin funding as we have quite a good financial cushion currently. Sally gave a bit of background to the current financial distribution system.

We looked at the insurance situation for POP which is £183 for the year. We wondered if that should come from the POP budget as it is healthy.

POP - 15th May has been earmarked for a sorting day for resources. There have been some donations as the group are keen to recycle and reuse. It was noted that a trolley would be useful for moving the resources around the site

Alison had been up and felt there was lots of really positive feedback from parents she spoke to and a great atmosphere

There are currently 40 families on the the register with about 7 - 15 families attending per week. We were reminded that they book using SPOND

There have been 4 sessions with Wee Adventures which had been really empowering. Alison had done a session on Faily Houses and there has been an outdoor music session and a bear hunt. Kate Hookham has led 4 sessions. These ended with a cookout which the children loved and she also delivered 2 zoom webinars for us on Risk Benefit Assessment and Schema.

It was noted that the original grant has helped to formalise the group and funding is now hopefully also been accessed for First Aid from Perth Common Good Fund. It was noted that other parents are now taking on a bigger role with Monday mornings being a suggestion for an additional session especially with the possibility of more parents being First Aid trained

Alison suggested that it might be a good idea to re run the Wee Adventures sessions for a different set of families

Another suggestion for a leader was Dougie McKay storyteller whose workshop Mel had attended and enjoyed at the OWL networking event. Kirsty thought it would be a good idea to do an online session as well as a face to face one

It was agreed that there is enough money left for 2 more sessions and if the insurance can come out of the admin grant that would enable more sessions

It was agreed that parents would be canvassed about the various ideas being suggested and Kirsty is going to check with Robin Lofthouse about Shed access. Kirsty and Mel are working on a new RBA for Fire and Tools. Penny urged caution around appropriateness of risky activities in terms of benefit to the children. This would include fire and she suggested that there if info on the OWL website and that professional input might be useful

Sally noted that the work is hitting strategic targets

We talked about free sessions that could be accessed ie Ranger Service, RSPB and Bumble Bee Conservation Trust

We briefly discussed ideas for the POP summer programme for both Broughty Ferry and Perth and that we would have a meeting specifically to discuss ideas to which the BF organisers would be invited (19th May)

Natures Little Wonders – Lisa told us that they had started with 7 families and now run sessions at Tentsmuir and about to be at Cambo for 2 Earth Day events and all had proved to be very popular. Lisa is looking to open an outdoor nursery, possibly at Cambo and Sally said she would send information that might be useful

AOB – Kirsty to chase up the First Aid funding and we need to find out re The Shed access. Dan Puplett would be the first event. Penny is managing this. We discussed the need for an RBA for Covid measures

Alison had attended the GROWL online book event and thought it was a good idea that we could maybe copy

It was noted that both Alison and POP had been short listed for the Scotland’s finest woods awards with the ceremony taking place on 12th September. We were all delighted for them

DTONM 7pm June 1st

Matters arising

POP

#Summer of Play

Signing up to the National Position Statement on Outdoor Play and Learning

AOB

Zoom 572 859 8151