Meeting commenced at 5.05pm
Present: Sally Birkbeck (Chair), Sally Joy (Headteacher), Barbara White (BW)
In Attendance: Ann-Marie Cullen (AMC) School Business Manager;Robert Cameron (RC),Associate Member; Julia Bateson, Clerk
Welcome
SB welcomed everyone to the meeting / Actions
F 20/14 Apologies for absence & their acceptance
Apologies had been received from Jean Kellett (JK) and Peter Sumpter (PS), and these were accepted by the meeting.
F 21/14 Declarations of interest for items on this agenda
None.
F 22/14 Any Other Business and requests for agenda order variations
Notice was given of six matters of other business to be considered later in the meeting.
F 23/14 Minutes of the last meeting, 20 October
The minutes of the last meeting on 20 October had been circulated prior to the meeting; they were proposed as a true record by SB, seconded by BW and agreed by the meeting. The Chair signed the minutes.
It was agreed that AMC should receive a copy of the minutes of the meetings of this committee. / Clerk
F 24/14 Matters arising not elsewhere on the agenda
  • Universal school meals
Has there be any further take up?
No, but only two or three children/families have not taken it up.
What will be the use made of any profit?
This is to be reported to the next meeting.
  • Occupational health referrals
Carried forward to January meeting.
  • CCTV
The enhanced CCTV is up and running.
  • Fencing
The fencing has been repaired/replaced as described at the last meeting.
  • Update of terms of reference
The terms of reference for the Committee have been updated and are to be referred to the FGB later in the evening. / AMC
agenda
AMC/SJ
agenda
Finance Matters
F 25/14 Budget monitoring/ School Business Manager’s report
Budget monitoring
Information had been circulated prior to the meeting. AMC reported about several matters relating to the budget:
£30,000 for the soft play development has been budgeted for, the funds being found by shaving some off other ‘pots’ of money in the budget.
£4,000 has been spent on the road safety markings outside. This was done at such a moderate price because the company doing it is using the school as an exemplar of their work.
Outside equipment purchase has been signed off, and a demonstration is awaited when trikes and trailers will be considered for their suitability.
What about storage of equipment?
Some storage has already been created and further storage will be considered once the equipment has been agreed and ordered.
I07, this appears to have risen by £10,000?
This is lottery funding.
E05 – this includes pay protection, is it right that pay protection ceases next year
Yes.
E09 appears to be reducing?
Some reduction is due to having completed courses, some reduction is due to the ‘balancing' element of budget predictions.
E14 cleaning and caretaking appears to rise next year?
Car park attendance may be one element and it may in part due to the ‘inflation’ formula built into the spreadsheet. The utility/energy costs are the same. AMC agreed to investigate the fact that the increase is much larger in 2015-16 than in subsequent years.
E19 Shows a drop in learning reserves?
This too is part of balancing and also better planning by the teaching staff.
So is the school better resourced now?
Yes.
Have we finalised single status payments?
Any recent claims will be addressed in February. AMC will investigate whether a provision should be made in the budget.
AMC advised regarding funds that may yet come in (as stated on the circulated figures). It is proposed to use these to ensure the carry forward is appropriate at the year end. It is believed the budget may reduce next year by up to 1.5%.This reduction has already been taken into account in the budget forecast and the meeting were reminded that an indicative budget is due in February.
Governors agreedthe 2 projects proposed (soft play and outside road safety markings) together with the OCT spend as required, proposed SB, seconded BW and agreed by the meeting.
Finance report
Governors discussed the three soft-play quotations; AMC noted that wooneof the four of firms approached have not offered a quotation. Middle leaders within the school are working on this project and will give a steerfor best value. It was noted that 90mm padding would probably be unnecessary. The final proposal is to be brought to the meeting in January by the lead Middle leader in January. / AMC
AMC
agenda
The extension of the soft play room, at a cost of less than £4,000, was considered good value, and it was proposed that this should go forward as soon as AMC could arrange it. Governors discussed a new hoist system, windows and air conditioning which are to be fitted once the building works are completed. It was agreed that the possibility of utilising the existing hoist elsewhere in school should be investigated, with due regard to health and safety considerations. The initial building work was proposed by SB, seconded by BW and agreed by the meeting.
Mobile Phones
It is proposed that the senior leaders and a limited number of other staffshould be supplied with mobile phones as they are finding they are increasingly needing to use their own phones for school business. Governors discussed personal use and also considered Bradford Council Recommendations.
It is proposed that there should be school phones for the SLT (senior leadership team), caretaker and some specified individuals.
Following discussion it was agreed that there should be an Agreement signed by each Staff member whomay choose to use the phone as their own and be billed for 50%of the contract price, or just use the phone for school business retaining their own for personal use at no charge. A policy is to be written regarding usage, and a regular periodic random examination of usage will take place. Working of the policy is to be reviewed after 9 months.
Proposed by SB, seconded by SJ and agreed by the meeting.
Gifts and staff refreshments
The school does not supply refreshments to Staff, but on occasion do giveflowers when staffleave. Following discussion it was agreedthat these types of gifts would not be made from publicfunds but staff collections made.
It was acknowledged that lunches/refreshments on training days are part of training costs. / AMC
agenda
F 26/14 ICT Update
A written report had been circulated prior to the meeting, no further questions were asked.
F 27/14 Review of Statutory requirements for information available on the school website
A list of required information had been received from the Local Authority. This has been checked and the web-site updated as necessary.
F 28/14 Pupil Premium – discounted uniform
A further letter has been sent out to parents/families, but there have been no further requests for uniform.
Premises and Health & Safety Matters
F 32/14 Buildings and H&S report
The boundary fence and CCTV had already been reported under 24/14 above
Flu vaccination for staff
The meeting were informed that the children are entitled to vaccination; as are primary carers (parentsetc.) but Stall are not entitled to a free vaccination. The school have agreed that staff vaccinations are important. In the circumstancesGovernors agreed that a cost effective way / agenda
of getting all Staff vaccinated is to be explored
Hire
An organisation which currently hires the school pool wishes to extend its use to occasional Sundays. It has previously been agreed that there should be no Sunday letting as the caretaker needs at least one day off each week. However, he has agreed on occasion he would be available for Sunday working. Following discussion, Governors agreed this was only allowable if he had a day off in lieu of Sunday working, which would currently be difficult to arrange. . It was agreed that the Sunday lettings should not proceed for the time being, but that cover for the caretaker should be explored, possibly by training up another individual. The user of the pool would be informed that although not possible immediately, Sunday lettings might be possible in due course. / agenda
Staffing Matters
F 29/14 Staffing Update
  • The commencement date of a maternity leave was advised to the meeting. Governors were advised that the recruitment round for this and another maternity cover had been unsuccessful due to the small number of applicants. A further round will take place in the Easter term.
  • The resignation of a SNTA (special needs teaching assistant) was advised to the meeting.
  • A report regarding the health/wellbeing of staff is to be made to the next meeting.
/ agenda
F 30/14 Compassionate leave protocol - Funerals
SB reported that the matter had been raised at the meeting of Chairs of Governors of schools in the DAP (district achievement partnership) and that in their opinion this was a Headteacher’s decision. Following discussion it was agreed that a formal request for compassionate leave should be completed by the member of Staff, which would then be considered sympathetically, operational needs permitting, on the basis of a grant of leave without pay.
F 31/14 Staff Correspondence
None.
Other Matters
F 33/14 Policy/Document Review
  • Pay Policy incl. Delius Career Progression Standards and Staffing Structure
The draft policy had been circulated prior to the meeting. It was noted that on page 3 reference to the pay committee should be a reference to the Finance and General Purposes Committee.
Subject to this amendment, adoption of the policy was proposed by BW, seconded by SB and agreed by the meeting.
The Staffing structure and career progression guidance is included as part of policy.
  • Accessibility Plan
A copy of the Accessibility and Environmental plan had been circulated prior to the meeting. SJ explained the plan had been RAGed (red, amber, green) and once the next budget had been agreed, the priorities and costings will be reviewed.
Adoption of the plan was proposed by SJ, seconded by BW and agreed by the meeting.
F 34/14 Any Other Business
Support Staff Pay
The National Joint Council has proposed a 2.2% rise for support staff from 1 January 2015. This rise has not been built into the budget software, and is expected to cost the school about £5,000 for the rest of this financial year. And about £25,000 for next year.
Also, a non-consolidated payment has been agreed (which applies to about 60 staff) whose total cost will be about £6,000-£7,000 including on-costs.
AMC will put this into the budget forecasts for the January meeting. / AMC
Financial Categorisation.
The school’s category has been changed to Bii because of the outcome of the quarter 3/2013 budget prediction which was not ‘close enough’ to actual outcome. .
Training
SB confirmed that she had attended Effective Financial Governance training
Winter Fair
The event had been most successful and a profit of about £1,300 had been made.
Friends of Delius
A balance sheet for Friends of Delius is to be brought to the next meeting.
Sickness in school
There has been a virus in school since 26 November, causing a cold/flu/headache/sickness and diarrhoea.Public Health Englandwere contacted, and the school closed while a deep clean was undertaken. (The closure was agreed as a Chair’s special action.) The cause was a common virus called RSV.
Today 3 staff have started with a new strain of virus and new tests are to be carried out.
Self review
A Governing Body self-review had been completed and was submitted to the LA on time. The self review can inform a Governors’ improvement plan and SB will undertake further work and bering this to the next Full Governing Body meeting in January. / AMC
agenda
SB
agenda
F 35/14 Confirmation of Date and Time of next meeting
19 January 2015

There being no further business, the meetingconcluded at 6.30pm

Signed by the Chair as a true record: ______Date:______

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