GOVERNING BODY OF SOUTHFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL

Southfield School key priorities

Review the school’s Vision and Values with the school community including ensuring consistent agreed behaviour management systems

Extend high attainers across the whole school by increasing the amount of children achieving the performance descriptor exceeding in their Year group

Provide more opportunities in EYFS for developing reading, writing and number in the classroom and outside the classroom

Improve phonic knowledge in Years 1, 2 and 3 including the application of phonics in English lessons

Further develop a broad and balanced curriculum by further linking learning skills with lessons and adding an international dimension to the curriculum

Ensure the new performance descriptors are embedded and data is accurate

MINUTES OF GOVERNING BODY MEETING

Date / Wednesday, 4th May 2016
Time / 7.00 pm
Location / Southfield Primary School
Present / Richard Sturdy, Simon Prebble, Janet Barton, Catherine Barlen, Joanne Cato, Robert Huxford, Angela McHale, John Tanter, Georgina Gilbey, Ngozi Fasan, Leong MacSweeney
In attendance / Sheila McCabe, Pav Bal, Marianna Loizia
/ Apologies
Apologies were received from Anthony Korn andCarol Douglas / Action
/ Authorised/Unauthorised Absence
Governors authorised the above named absences.
/ Governing Body Membership and Declaration of Business Interests
There were no declarations of interest for this meeting or changes to circumstances since the last meeting.
/ Budget Ratification 2016 – 2017
Mr Prebble said the budget had not been sent out to governors prior to the meeting to allow for the most up to date information to be available. Of note, the school will be losing a bulge class this year, and the financial implications of this are still not clear, but it is expected the money will be taken back. Ms McCabe is still awaiting a response about this. There will be an impact on balancing the budget without substantial savings and cuts.
Ms Fasan has reviewed the budget with Ms McCabe looking at the 2015 – 16 budget compared to actual and 2016-17 budget compared to last year’s variance.There was nothing unexpected or that Ms Fasan had not been notified of previously. Variances above £500 or 10% are reported. The universal school meal budget is a big variance because money is not accounted for at the beginning of the year, but comes in and goes straight out to the catering consortium.
SM tabled the following documents:
  • Overview of budgetary spend 2015 – 2016 (to end Period 12) and variations with proposed budget 2016 – 17
  • Analysis of 2015 – 16 and 2016 – 17
  • Analysis of variances over 10% or £500
Governors reviewed the documents.
The East Acton Primary School consultancy has now finished and governors asked if these services could be offered to another school;Mr Prebble confirmed he has expressed an interest in continuing that work with other schools, but this is currently arranged by the local authority.
Governors asked if Mr Prebble had any concerns about the budget. He advised that decisions have had to be made, but there have not been any major decisions.The anticipated clawback for the bulge class has been put into the budget. The surplus is still not known, but best prediction is £12,000. Theunderspend has not been used to balance this year’s budget.
Governors asked about the main ongoing challenges for the school in terms of funding. The Head advised there are only a very small number of budgets where you can reduce, eg education equipment and repairs and maintenance, maximising income, and ultimately looking at staffing from the point of view of what can be rationalised.
SEN funding to support children on educational health plans– governors asked because of gap in funding if the school would anticipate pushing for assessments earlier and were advised the school does not have power to push for earlier assessments. It still has to the provide support for the child, mainly through teaching assistants. The SENCo hours have also been increased to five days a week, which is having an impact on getting the paperwork through. Going forward the SENCo may need to spend more time working directly with children. The school has to pay for educational psychologist support. Historically the school has gone into deficit to meet the challenges of supporting children with educational needs without funding, and this may happen again if necessary. The £6,000 within the budget to support children with SEND is not sufficient to meet the needs of the child.
Governors asked if the SEN requirements impact the budget to support the non-SEN children to enable them to reach their potential. Additional budget may be required for more TA support, which the school may do, but there is no funding. The Head also advised that challenging behavior is not the only challenge. The number of children achieving higher levels is increasing. Although SATs have not been done yet, there has been year on year progress including high attainers.
There will be a reduction in Fit for Sport due to loss of a bulge class and having one less class to cover for PE. Lunch time activity will be paid for from the Sports Premium. The school council is also doing lunch time activities.
Governors thanked Sheila McCabe and Ngozi Fasan for their hard work on the budget and said the spreadsheet with the variances was very useful.
Governors ratified the budget for 2016 – 2017.
/ Any Other Business
Feedback regarding Statutory Requirements -
Statutory responsibility of attendance of every governor for website
ML and SP to check on requirement to publish attendance list.
Safeguarding
Following advice sought from Ealing, it was felt sufficient for governors to read the summary and the recommended pages 14 – 18 from Keeping Children Safe in Education. It was noted that the revised Safeguarding and Child Protection policies were ratified by governors by email on 21 March 2016.
Link Governor Visit Proforma
The Head tabled a link governor visit proforma adapted from the Key which he will also send to governors by email for their review.
DBS
Governors were reminded to bring documents to the office.
Self-Evaluation, Vision and Values
Governors asked who will be ensuring that the self-evaluation and sharing of the vision and values will be implemented. Mr Prebble advised that the teachers and TA had drafted an action plan at a staff meeting. / ML/SP
SP
6 / Date and Time of Next Meetings
The following dates were agreed:
Resources Committee - Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at 6.30 pm
Teaching Learning Committee – Wednesday, 25 May 2016 at 9.00 am
Governing Body Meetings - Monday, 20 June 2016 at 7.00 pm

The meeting finished at8.00pm.

Richard Sturdy
Chair of Governors / Southfield Primary School
Southfield Road
London, W4 1DB
Marianna Loizia
Clerk to the Governors

- 1–

Southfield - Minutes - 4 May 2016 (2)