Minutes of the meeting of the Governors of ST GILES SCHOOL held on Wednesday 2nd December 2015 at 6.00 p.m.
Part A Minutes
Present:
Mr. Callton Young – Chairman Mr. Michael Swadling – Vice Chairman
Mrs. Ivanka Brown Katrina Leith
Mrs. Virginia Marshall Mr. Neal Fraser
Mrs. Jane Humphries Mr. Ken Morcombe
Caroline Horgan Mrs. Sue Appleton
Also Present:
Mr. Colin Milsom – Clerk to the Governors
Absent:
Mr. Paul Hopwood Mr. Shiva Iyer
1. Apologies and Welcome
Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Mr. Paul Hopwood. This would have been his last meeting.
2. Term of office for chair and vice chair and election of Chair
Term of Office - The governors agreed that the term of office for both the chair and vice chair should be 1 year.
Election of Chair – The clerk sought nominations for the post of chair and Mr. Callton Young agreed to stand as chair. This was formally approved by the governors.
The head teacher, on behalf of all the governors, thanked Ken Morcombe for his work as chair for many years. Mr. Morcombe stated that he would be continuing as a governor and would be available to assist the new chair when asked.
3. Election of Vice Chair
Mr. Michael Swadling agreed to continue in his role as vice chair and he was formally elected.
4. Declaration of Pecuniary and Business Interest
Governors had completed the annual declaration at the inaugural meeting of the new governing body for the next academic year. There were no declarations for any of the agenda items for the meeting.
5. Membership
Staff Governor - Hazel Earl had ended her term of office as a staff governor on the 31st August 2015 and Katrina Leith had been elected to fill the post however she has been successful in gaining a post at St. Nicholas school and will be leaving St Giles on the 4th December. The post was being re-advertised.
Parent Governors - Paul Hopwood has ended his term as a parent governor on the 31st October 2015 and Valentine Shambira has resigned from the governing body. The head teacher advertised the two vacancies and there had been two nominations by the closing day. Both applicants would be automatically appointed. They are Noora Machgharani and Paul Thirkettle. The head teacher would contact them to advise them of their appointment and the clerk was requested to deal with their registration.
6. Minutes – 8th July 2015
The minutes of the meetings held on the 8th July 2015 were both agreed as a correct record of the meeting subject to two changes, and were signed by the chair.
7. Matters arising from the Minutes
New School Web Site – This was now in operation and Jane Humphries was monitoring the content. Other monitoring had been completed and reports submitted. These were recorded in the individual committee reports.
SMSC had been discussed at Assessment and Standards, the policy updated and the values published for staff to look at. A final decision would be made by the head teacher and the values would then be displayed in the main school corridor.
The data reports had been issued to all governors.
P Level Review – The school was leading on the review of the P levels in Croydon linked to the national standards. There was a separate project which was now being undertaken called the Rochford Project which was also reviewing P levels. At the present time there were no plans to change the national levels.
Q. Why is a review necessary?
A. The P levels do not match the new government curriculum.
Pupil Assessment – The school continued to work on new assessment criteria for the curriculum post P8.
Q. Will the school follow any LA assessment?
A. Yes. Croydon has set assessment for English and Maths and this is being used at the school but there are no set standards for any other subject areas so the school has to set up its own.
Q. At the last meeting there was mention of another special school that was using completely different criteria.
A. This was the Bridge School which had mainly SLD pupils and they had decided to follow a life skills curriculum. At St Giles the pupils followed as far as possible the standard National Curriculum which was subject based although the school also incorporated life skills and for some pupils this would be the main area.
There were no other matters arising or referred item that were not included on the agenda.
8. Correspondence and Chairs Action
Ken Morcombe had nothing to report on this item.
9. Head Teacher's Report
The report had been circulated to the governors in advance of the meeting.
There was one data correction on the report. 19% of pupils in KS1 to 4 had made outstanding progress, not 21%.
The term had started well and pupil assessment was being undertaken. This would be reported to meeting next term.
The School Boccia Club was developing well and would have to move to a sports centre once it was well established as the school hall was not appropriate for practice or matches.
There had been a wide range of staff training run in the school with staff meetings and workshops and a key focus was work on Speaking and Listening
A Sex and Relationships Policy was being developed for the school as the standard policy was not necessarily appropriate for all of the school’s pupils. At the present time the school was assessing what would be appropriate. The policy would have to be approved by the governors as well as any material used in the course and these would also be shared with parents. This would be presented to governors next term.
The head teacher would be meeting with the Link Adviser on the 3rd December.
The Child Protection and Safeguarding audit had been completed by the head teacher and Sue Appleton. This year it was significantly different from earlier reviews as there was a much wider remit.
There were no child protection issues at the school although staff were working with Social Services for some pupils and families.
There had been two health and safety issues which were covered in detail in the Health and Safety Committee report which had been sent to all governors. One related to damage to suspended ceiling support struts and the second to an incident concerning food intolerance. There had been a full review of the latter and the school had produced a Food Policy which had been sent to governors and would be submitted for approval later in the meeting.
There had also been a Fire Audit and areas identified were being worked on by the caretaker. These included auto closures on the half doors and more finger guards. He was trying a range of closure methods to find the most appropriate one.
The roof space had also been identified as an area that should be assessed at some time given the heating and cabling that ran through it.
The open morning had been very successful with pupils showing visitors around the school. It had been a very good experience for them and gave them a chance to interact with people other than the staff.
The governors were given a report on the Looked After Children prepared by Troy Joseph.
Q. What is the funding arrangement?
A. Funding is very child support specific and there are detailed reports prepared for each child which have to be submitted and approved before funding is provided by the LA.
Q. The report only lists 5 cases. Are there 5 or 6?
A. There should be 6 and the report will be updated and recirculated.
The Health and Safety Committee had revised the Moving and Handling Policy and governors were asked for comments however none of the technical elements could be amended. The draft would be sent to them and any comments should be sent to the head teacher.
The head teacher was thanked for her report.
10. Committee Reports
The following committees had met and the minutes of all of the meetings had been sent to all governors.
· Strategy – 30th September
· Personnel – 7th October
· Finance & Estates – 22nd October
· Assessment and Standards – 11th November
There were no questions on any of the above reports.
The governors agreed to review the role of the Strategy Committee with a focus on one or two key areas.
Sue Appleton was thanked for her work on a range of issues.
Learning without Levels – Update – The school was now working with St Nicholas School on data and moderation of pupils work. As a result of the changes the Data Officer from Croydon had been invited to visit the school to review the report structure that was available in the Sims data pack to see if this could be successfully adapted to meet some of the school’s assessment and reporting requirements,
The school was also looking at pupils’ P8 levels to determine what type and level of accreditation might be achieved and then to set flexible milestones to achieve this. Governors agreed that no matter which system was finally agreed it needed to be robust and the targets that were set challenging.
Q. Does the school have the resources to allow for this development work across all subjects and assessment systems?
A. There is a financial impact in undertaking this work and the school has invested in supply cover for at least 2 terms in order to allow some staff release time to undertake this work.
Q. Does this apply at all levels?
A. Yes. There is a standard base line assessment process that the government introduced but as many of the pupils admitted to the school have a much lower starting point than that of pupils on admission to Reception in mainstream schools St Giles is using a different and more appropriate system which needs to be matched to the standard curriculum requirements.
Governor Monitoring
The current programme covers several years and the 2015/2016 section was circulated to governors. Committee chairs were requested to feed responses back to Michael Swadling so that the programme could be updated.
Q. Does the monitoring undertaken reflect best practice and is there any gold-plating?
A. This plan was developed by the governors some years ago to ensure that there was regular monitoring and oversight of a range of areas and activities in the school. Many are linked to the WSDP but other relate to projects or areas of the curriculum which may be changing. A set programme ensures a level of governor engagement with the school, its staff and pupils, which does not always happen at other schools, or where there is not a programme of visits.
It was agreed that this level of governor engagement was helpful and should not be lost. However, priorities for the future monitoring programme should be reviewed by the Strategy Committee either at the Summer term meeting or the Autumn term meeting.
11. Items for Approval
Q2 - Income and expenditure statements - These had been presented to the Finance & Estates Committee and copies sent to all governors. This was noted. The school was running a small in year surplus which was being held in case any new admission required support. The school had been advised that as the school only had 98 pupils not the budgeted 100 the funding from September would be reduced by 2 pupils. At the present time there were no details of the amount or how the clawback would be calculated.
Q. Is it likely to be based on specific banding or an average pupil value?
A. This has not been specified but once the details are known then the school will assess the calculation and if higher than justifiable will challenge it.
Q. What will happen if the school admits pupils to the 2 spaces during the rest of the financial year?
A. The LA will have to put funding back into the school’s budget at the correct band for those children.
Q. How does the funding formula work?
A. There is a flat rate place value and then there is an individual pupil top up based on the level of need which is banded funding. Most of the pupils at the school now fall into the top band of the funding.
The Q2 financial reports were formally approved.
Staffing Structure 2015/2016 – This had been sent to governors and reviewed in committee. The structure agreed with staff had reflected the fact that there would be some changes if there was staff movement and as a result there had been alterations to the allocated TLR posts which was reflected in the new structure. The staffing structure for 2015/2016 was formally approved.
There had been some slight changes to staff grades as a result of changes in the level of responsibility and some readjustment of duties. Hazel Earl no longer undertook any TA work in class as her one-to-one work as a Family Support officer took up all of her time.
Q. What are the line management and cover arrangements given the one-to-one nature of her work?
A. If Hazel were to be absent then another TA3 with similar skills would have to provide some of the cover although there would be quite a lot to learn, and some aspects would be picked up by the pupil’s class teacher. There is regular feedback and updates to the head teacher every fortnight and written reports.
The governors agreed that there needed to be a formal contingency plan for Hazel Earl’s work, given its nature, and that there needed to be a formal supervision structure.
Residential Journey Accounts and Sleep Over funding sheet
These were circulated to governors.
There were no questions on the Arethusa accounts which were agreed.