Venue: Room LB41, Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

Date: Thursday 30th April

Time: 9:30am – 12:10pm

Venue: Room LB41, Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

Attendees from Schools: Fiona Mackenzie, Jill Weedop, Lucy Cogdon, Caroline Love, John Wilson, Elaine Ward, Carolyn Marshall, Melanie Holton, Pauline Bartram, Karen Foster, Jeanette Buzza, Wendy Barron, Carol Attewell, Sarah Griffiths, Dawn Turner, Caron Pownall, Pam Coward, Alison Davison, Teresa Shelton-Bourke, Rachel Flynn, Lynette Randall, Sarah Stark, Susan Bosworth, Stephanie Chadwick, Paula Gallagher, Cheryl Hill, Angela Meads, Michelle Lockwood, Vicky Humpston, Richard Dejewski

Presenters: Stephanie Coleman (ESPO representative), Kirsty Spencer, Matt Draycott, Maggie Shirran, Deborah Korn, Ken France, Catherine Smith, Kathryn Stevenson, Mandy Bryce, Frances Rowland, Michelle Gabbitas, Mick Evans, Emma Sutton, Emma Gibson Minutes taken by Jonathan Steele

Item No / Item / Presented By
1 / Introduction
Mick Evans – Pupils & Schools Service Manager welcomed all to the meeting
Contact details: email: phone: 8765022 / Mick Evans
2 / HR advisory
Kirsty wanted to say thanks for buying back again this year. Welcome letters have recently been sent out, with personal HR contacts supplied.
There has been a policy update regarding shared parental leave. The changes have already gone live from 1st April. The policy will be circulated for the governing body meetings in the summer. There is guidance for the policy available as well. Any questions about it, consult your case work advisor.
There was a reminder about the safer recruitment policy in with the summer term report. Revised Teaching Assistance guidance regarding hours was also circulated by email.
http://nottinghamcity.learningpool.com/course/category.php?id=93&perpage=20&adminedit=0
Kirsty talked about making teachers aware that the NASUWT have strike action regarding marking and assessment – the NUT will likely follow suit. There was a briefing sent out yesterday to head teachers so please make a note. It will most likely affect secondary schools more than primary schools.
Kirsty reminded everyone that Learning & Development still have openings on courses. These are available for soft skills such as time management, customer care, managing conflict etc. courses can be book courses through the Learning Zone. If anyone has any feedback on the newsletter sent out, please contact me.
Contact details: phone: 8765697 / Kirsty Spencer
3 / Information and Data updates
Although census day is Thursday the 21st May, the census needs to be returned by Friday 22nd May. Please email Mark Keane for further assistance. The reason for such a short turnaround is due to the placing of the half term holiday this year.
If anyone is having trouble with getting the census in on time, please get in touch. It is preferred to submit a census on time with errors than to submit a late one. Corrected censuses can always be resubmitted after the deadline.
A booklet on data checking assessment will be circulated through email concerning charges for this year.
Matters arising:
Q: Does this Census cover the Early Years?
A: It’s not being collected this census. It won’t get picked up until January next year.
Q: Are the data checking charges on top of the buy in charge?
A: The buy in charge refers to data checking for the census, so is completely separate.
Contact details: email: phone: 8764838 / Deborah Korn
4 / SIMS Spring Upgrade New Features
SIMS upgrades are progressing well. Any schools in the A-C or D-N on the alphabetised list should be upgraded by now. Further upgrades are due tonight. Upgrades on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. There will be an email on the morning of upgrade to state what happens.
Included is the new programme of study regarding assessment without levels. There will be awareness/training courses in June to get people up to speed. Dates haven’t been published yet but will be very shortly so keep a lookout for that.
Maggie demonstrated the SIMS program and some of the features such as statutory and the vulnerability and school reports which are especially useful for Ofsted inspections. Information about this will be inserted into the newsletter. Please get in touch if there are any problems.
Instructions about how to deal with SATs will be released within the next couple of weeks. There are some places left on SATs courses for 6th May. If it’s full please put yourselves on waiting list. If there are enough on the waiting list, then an extra course will be scheduled.
Update on the 15 hours telephone support: this is now scrapped and phone support is unlimited on the proviso of fair usage.
Contact details: email: phone: 8750900 / Maggie Shirron
5 / Technical Update
Matthew gave an update on Remote backup and the costs incurred. Remote backup will be available from September for schools who are not yet part of the service.
Update on Microsoft licencing - schools are given 5 activation copies per schools email account, so there is no need to worry about personal use. The process will appear within the next couple of weeks.
Broadband renewals expire 1st November. The best course of action is to budget same the same amount as last year plus £1000 as a contingency as some schools may incur an installation cost. Other providers are currently marketing to schools, so please be aware of the services reliant that are on approved connections.
The App Catalog is available to the vast majority of schools. The admin software is free for all schools, and there are additional free apps for those who are curriculum supported.
Centrastage is being replaced by System Centre Config Manager (SCCM). It offers the same service; the only difference is that there is a different icon in the system tray.
Matters arising:
Q: What do we do if we have already received an invoice from Capital Bytes (filtering provider)?
A: Ignore it.
Q: When will we know the exact cost of broadband renewal?
A: We’re trying to push them down further after their “final” cost. The cost will be finalised within the next 4-6 weeks and will include options and incentives.
Contact details: phone: 8750900 / Matthew Draycott
6 / Schools Finance
Mandy highlighted that schools may still get contacted by Schools Finance for evidence of accruals for audit purposes.
An email explaining that accounts have been closed and the report will be shown tomorrow should have been sent out.
Submissions for the Budget are due by May 1st.
Mandy explained how the cash would be distributed throughout year, with a further payment in June to ease cash flow issues for the first half of the financial year. Only the timing and number of payments will be different and not the overall amount being paid.
For schools using external payroll, the pay/non-pay is on 12 monthly instalments. For a change of method of payment, there needs to be 3 month’s notice.
Termly finance training is available; the next session is on Thursday 7th May. FMS training (held at Top Valley training centre) is also available Friday 8th May.
Matters arising:
Q: There have been charges regarding Planned Maintenance given out to schools with no details about what they are for. Can this be rectified?
A: This issue is being taken up with Planned Maintenance in a meeting on Friday 1st May. We recognise that you do need to receive communications earlier in the year to help sort this out.
Contact details: phone: 8764214 / Mandy Bryce
7 / Early Years Funding Allocation
Early Years funding is classed as funding for children aged 2-4 years old. There is no change in this year’s budget for funding to 3 and 4 year olds.
Funding for eligible rising 3’s
Catherine stated that schools don’t get funding for children until the term after their 3rd birthday, however funding may be possible for eligible “rising 3s” (children due to turn 3 years old in the present term). There was a leaflet previously circulated regarding eligibility. Families only appear on the list if parents have checked their eligibility.
See top download for leaflet: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/earlyyears/index.aspx?articleid=20722
Early Years Pupil Premium
A new universal form to fill in is on there for all main school pupils. It is to go out to the whole school, but as the time frame is relatively short, apply it as necessary.
See Early Years Pupil Premium attachment for additional information:
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/nottinghamschools/index.aspx?articleid=20482
Contact details:
Kathryn Stevenson: phone: 01158763731

Catherine Smith: phone: 01158764548
/ Catherine Smith/Kathryn Stevenson
8 / Facilities Management
Ken thanked those who signed and returned the FM Agreement and reminded others to chase this up.
Contact details: email: phone: 8765886 / Ken France
9 / Health & Safety
David announced that emails about statutory inspections planned for your school during the year have been circulated.
Anything not up to standard please put through to property safety. Any work required outside of inspections is to be paid by the school.
A list of the aspects covered by the inspection was sent out to most admins and also business managers and headteachers.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Matters arising:
Q: There have been instances of staff leaving before contractors arrive. Can contractors ring before they come in?
A: This will be brought up in the meeting for better coordination.
Contact details: phone: 8764608 / David Thompson
10 / Payroll update
Emma distributed leaflets explaining the communication and responsibilities towards with Nottingham Schools and Academies.
There will be a pay at point option in the DBS Portal rather than invoice and cross checking, easier. It should be full functional by September.
New e-forms will be ready just after half term. The link will stay same and just direct you to the new form. They are looking for volunteers to test out the new eform so get in touch if willing. It should be up and running by half term.
A handout was made available explaining AnyComms and their role in data transfer.
The termly payroll report is up, and can be requested by email.
Contact for more information.
Contact details:
EMSS phone number 03003030222
Emma Sutton – email:
Emma Gibson - email: / Emma Sutton and Emma Gibson
11 / ESN Update
The “add to basket” on the orders has not changed yet, but the format will be changed so it fits the plans.
Feedback on the new ordering system is generally positive so far. Prices may change from the initial submitted orders – they will be checked with payroll to ensure they are correct.
Free advice from FM is available for issues such as boundary issues.
30 minute feedback meetings conducted by Frances and Michelle are available and they are willing to travel out to schools.
Michelle Gabbitas email: phone: 8764598
Frances Rowland email: phone: 8764601 / Michelle Gabbitas and Frances Rowland
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