MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CORPORATION

OF SIR JOHN DEANE’S COLLEGE,

HELD AT THE COLLEGE ON WEDNESDAY 8th JULY, 2015 AT 2.30 PM

Present Mr T Rawling Miss K Kirkwood

Mr P Allanach Mr I Oulton

Mrs L Allen Mrs S Powell

Mrs T Dover Mr A Redley

Miss E Gnyp Mr D Sandbach

Mrs J Hough Dr J Staley

Also in Attendance Mr A Boden – Deputy Principal - Curriculum

Mr A Sumner – Deputy Principal - Finance Resources

Mrs S Armstrong – Clerk
Prior to the meeting, Mr Phil Parry gave a presentation on the Governance section of the College’s VLE and the Website. The new governor section on the VLE would give easy access to policies and documents that governors might require and Mr Parry demonstrated how to log-in and access those documents. A full review of the governance section of the Website had also been held with several governors and Clerk and Mr Parry showed suggested amendments that had been discussed. It was agreed that there should be photos of each governor on the website and that they would all provide a short statement about themselves to accompany the photo.

Mr Parry also gave an overview of Parent Portal to governors, demonstrating what information parents were able to access about their child.

1. Welcome and Apologies

The Chair welcomed Lyn Eaton, Chair of Birkenhead Sixth Form College, and Reg Haslam, Chair of Priestley College, who were attending the meeting as observers and as part of a Chairs’ peer review group that had been developed between the three colleges.
Apologies had been received from Miss J Brandreth, Mr J Fifield, Mr A Lowe and Mrs J Tickridge. Mrs Thomas was currently on leave of absence from the Board.

2. Declarations of Interest
Mrs Allen stated that she was the Vice Chair of the SFCA and Chair of the SFCA Governance Committee.

3. Minutes of meeting held on 13th May, 2015
Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 13th May, 2015 be approved.

4. Matters Arising
None.

5. Governance Items

a. To receive a report from the Chair to include any training issues
The Chair’s report had been distributed with the papers for the meeting and there was nothing further to report.
Mrs Allen advised that she had attended the social evening which had been held for new members of staff starting in September and she had very much enjoyed the event.

b. To receive a report from any governor having attended a meeting of a College Committee
Mr Sandbach had attended the recent Health and Safety committee meeting. He said that they had reviewed the accidents, near misses and risk assessments and there was nothing outstanding to raise with the Board. A reference to Ofsted’s approach to inspecting Health and Safety had been made in the last SLT Control minutes.
Mrs Hough had met with Mrs Lemmy in her capacity as link governor for Safeguarding. There had only been a couple of cases to review in addition to those she had reviewed the previous term. They had also discussed Prevent and the policy on Prevent would be discussed later in the meeting. Mrs Hough said that she had been very impressed with Mrs Lemmy who deals with everything in a supportive and timely way.
Mr Redley had been due to attend an Equality and Diversity meeting on 1st July but it had had to be cancelled. He said that a meeting would be held at the start of the next academic year to decide how to take Equality and Diversity forward.

c. To receive an update on the Quality Improvement Plan for Governance and Performance Targets for 2014/15
The Chair reviewed the progress which had been made on the four items on the governance quality improvement plan and updated the Board on each item.
The work on the Governors’ section of the VLE was on track. Each governor now had access to the VLE and a training session had been held at the beginning of the meeting to demonstrate how to access it and what information was available to governors via the VLE.
Work on the revisions to the Governors’ page on the website was ongoing. Mr Parry had shown the governors the drafts of the pages he had drawn up at the beginning of the meeting and governors had agreed that they should be used to replace those already there. Governors had been asked to supply a short write-up about themselves to go on the website and the Clerk would continue to work with Mr Parry on the development of the new pages.
The Chair said that the governors’ work to contribute to the development of relationships with local employers would be an excellent objective if a lot of students were moving on from College to work locally. However, it was difficult for governors to involve themselves directly in this given the small numbers who went on to employment. 9% of students had not applied to university this year and they were all tracked by the College and also offered advice on apprenticeships, CV writing etc. The Chair suggested that management should take ownership of this objective and that they should keep governors advised of what is happening and ask for their involvement when needed. The Principal said that Mrs Powell would be part of a team who will talk to students who had dropped a grade next term and she said that to have something similar where governors shadow and coach students who were not planning to go to university would be valuable.
Mrs Hough said that part of the College’s strategic plan was to improve contacts with local employers. She said that a suggestion had been made that she and Mr Fifield work with the SLT on this and she would be happy to do that. The Principal said that, whilst the College would not ignore building relations with local employers, she did not think that they would have the resources to further this over the next year. She said that she would welcome any introductions from Mrs Hough and Mr Fifield.
The Chair said that good progress had been made on Item 4 on the QIP, with the exception of local employers. Governors had held focus groups with both students and parents prior the governors’ strategic planning day and key points from those discussions had been included in the College’s strategic planning. Mrs Staley said that she had been one of the parents who had attended the focus groups and that it would be useful, in future, for the parents who had been involved to receive feedback.

d. To approve the Terms of Reference for the Audit, Policy & Resources and Curriculum & Quality Committees
Each committee had reviewed its terms of reference. P&R had amended theirs to include Prevent and C&Q had made two minor amendments. No amendments were necessary for the Audit committee.
Resolved that the terms of reference for Audit, Policy & Resources and Curriculum & Quality be approved.

e. To approve the self-assessments of the Audit, Policy & Resources and Curriculum & Quality Committees
Self-assessments had been carried out by each committee and discussed in detail at their last meetings. The summaries of those self-assessments were included in the papers for the meeting and these showed that each committee had assessed itself as outstanding. The corporation’s self-assessment will be carried out in September.
Resolved that the self-assessments for the Audit, Policy & Resources and Curriculum & Quality committees be approved.

f. To approve any residential visits
The Chair reported that he had approved a PE and Travel and Tourism trip to New York under Chair’s actions. The trip was planned for the February half term and would be for 35 students. Full risk assessments had been carried out for the trip.
Mr Boden gave details of other trips for which approval had been requested as follows
- Psychology and Sociolgy trip to London on 11/12 March, 2016. This would be for 40 students at a cost of £185 per student.
- Geography trip to Iceland on 12-15 February, 2016. The trip would be for 40 students at a cost of £815 each.
Both these trips had been fully risk assessed. Mr Boden said that the College encouraged as much enrichment as possible to be arranged without interfering with teaching time. The trip to London would take place on a Friday/Saturday and the Iceland trip was planned for the February half term break. The Principal said that the increase in big trips and the willingness of staff to give of their own time generously for these trips was an indication of the high level of moral amongst staff at the College.
Resolved that the Psychology and Sociology trip to London on the 11/12 March, 2016 and the Geography trip to Iceland on 12-15 February, 2016 be approved.

6 Report from Chair of Curriculum and Quality Committee
The Chair’s written summary of the meeting had been enclosed with the papers for the meeting.

a. To note the draft minutes of the meeting held on 24th June, 2015 and to receive a report from the Chair of the Curriculum and quality Committee
Resolved that the draft minutes of the Curriculum and Quality meeting held on 24th June, 2015 be received.

b. To receive a report on Timetable changes for 2015/16
The report on Timetable changes for 2015/16 was thoroughly discussed by the Committee. It was felt to be very innovative and an excellent proposition for both students and staff.

c. To receive an update on Lesson Observations
The update on Lesson Observations was received. A new system will be introduced in the Autumn and would be trialled with Mr Allanach prior to the end of the summer term. The new system would be a natural development of what the Principal and Mr Boden were trying to achieve and it would also be more in line with the new Ofsted regime.

d. To receive an update on Summer 2015 CPD
The Summer CPD programme had been discussed. This included four different training courses for teachers as well as the planning for the introduction in September 2015 of the three new Extended Diploma courses: Applied Science, Health & Social Care, and Business.

e. To receive a report on attendance and retention
There had been an improved Upper Sixth retention rate of 98.1% during the year compared with 96.4% the previous year. The Lower Sixth retention rate was 96.3% which was slightly lower than the previous year’s rate of 96.9%. 31 Lower Sixth students had left during the year compared with 25 the previous year. Five of those students had left to take up apprenticeships.
Overall attendance was similar to the previous year at 94.5% compared with 94.7% in 2013/14. Whilst it was disappointing that attendance had declined slightly, the overall picture of attendance remained extremely positive and close to the 95% target.

f. To receive a report on the June final grade predictions
The report on June final grade predictions had been reviewed in detail and Mr Boden had said that he thought that staff were being more realistic this year. Mr Oulton said that the report would give governors a useful benchmark to challenge.

7. Report from the Chair of the Audit Committee

a. To note the draft minutes of the meeting held on 1st June, 2015 and to receive a report from the Chair of the Audit Committee
Resolved that the draft minutes of the Audit meeting held on 1st June, 2015 be received.

b. To note the Internal Audit progress report
All Internal Audit work had been completed by Baker Tilly in line with the agreed plan and a positive (green) level of assurance had been given for each area audited. There were no high or medium level recommendations and nothing of concern to bring to the Board’s attention.

c. To approve the Internal Audit reports on:
(i) Financial Planning, Budget Setting, Monitoring and Forecasting
The report on Financial Planning, Budget Setting, Monitoring and Forecasting was reviewed by the Committee. A green (substantial) level of assurance had been given and no recommendations were made. Baker Tilly had said that the College processes were examples of good practice.
Resolved that the report on Financial Planning, Budget Setting, Monitoring and Forecasting be approved.
(ii) Learner Number systems – Study Programmes
A green (substantial) level of assurance had been given on the report on Learner Number Systems – Study Programmes. Two low level recommendations had been made to deal with some inconsistencies in the hours recorded.
Resolved that the report on Learner Number Systems – Study Programmes be approved.

d. To approve the Internal Audit needs assessment and annual plan for 2015/16
The committee had discussed in detail the Internal Audit needs assessment and Annual Plan for 2015/16. This was linked to the College’s risk register and the four main areas identified for review were Data Protection, IT Infrastructure Security, Human Resources and Payroll. The Committee had noted that Baker Tilly would be able to give an overall opinion based on the planned work.
Resolved that the Internal Audit needs assessment and annual plan for 2015/16 be approved.

e. To receive an update on progress made against recommendations made in earlier internal audit reports
All recommendations from previous years had been implemented and work was underway to deal with recommendations from the current year. There were no issues that required Board attention.

f. To approve the latest termly update of the College Risk Register
The College’s Risk Register had been reviewed by the Committee. There were no amendments to bring to the Board’s attention.
Resolved that the latest termly update of the Risk Register be approved.

g. To consider the input from other Committees regarding the Board Assurance document
Mr Redley reported that, following discussion at the March meeting of the Board, the Board Assurance Framework had been reviewed by both the Policy & Resources committee and the Curriculum & Quality Committee. The overall view from both those Committees had been that the document gave sufficient assurance. The Committees had discussed whether an additional column should be added to the report to rate process and outcome separately. It had been suggested that including a comment that Governors receive the information they need to allow them to challenge where necessary would obviate the need for a column to be added for a separate rating for outcome.
Mr Redley said that the level of assurance could be further enhanced by reflecting in Section 3 the benefit of an outside view through retaining an Internal Audit Service, the best examples received through this process and the added level of assurance that was gained from the Audit committee’s annual meeting with both External and Internal Auditors without management present.