Noadswood School
Full Governing Body Meeting
2nd December 2013, 7.00pm
MINUTES
Governors Present:Beverley Audoire BA
Alex Bernard (Headteacher) AB
Val Cacchi VC
David Crowley DC
Steve Davies SD
Bruce Downie BD
Alan McElevey AMc
Carolyn Millar CM
Alison Munden AM
Jackie Rapson (Chair of Governors) JR
Mike Roberts MR
Diane Smith DS
Paul Uglow PU
Jim Watt JW
In Attendance:
Sally Callander (Clerk) SC
Paul-James Putt (known as PJ) potential Governor
The meeting opened at 7.03pm. / Apologies:
Chris Blake
Tracy Gates
Alan McElevey
Agenda Item / Action
1 / Apologies for Absence
Apologies were accepted from those listed above.
2 / Declarations of Interest
None
3 / Approval of last FGB Minutes of 30th September 2013
A copy of the Minutes had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting
JR read through the Minutes.
4 / Matters Arising
· SC declared that MR had been missed off the list of ‘Governors Present’ on the front page of the Minutes and will correct this.
· AB confirmed that he had not yet approached the Head of Orchard Junior School to invite him to a Governor meeting as he felt the timing was not yet right to do so.
· JW to arrange a date with AB to discuss the marketing of the school.
· Governor Visits – AM confirmed that she and CM had been unable to visit the House Leaders (Guidance) as yet and AM had also been unable to visit the English department. Both these items will be on the next FGB Agenda.
The Minutes were approved by the Governors and signed by JR. / SC
JW
JW/AB
AM/CM/SC
5 / Introduction of Paul-James Putt (potential Governor)
PJ introduced himself to the Governors, informing them of both his work background as well as his governing experiences. His term of office has just ended at Manor Infants where he was both a temporary Chair and TL,he was also part of the appointment of a new Headteacher there. He is looking to move as his child is joining Noadswood in September. The Governors then introduced themselves to him. PJ is interested in both the SIC and GPC.
6 / Headteachers Written Report to include Pupil Premium analysis; Annual Safeguarding Report (including LAC Report); Update of School Development Priorities
A copy of the Report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting
· Pupil Premium – Steven Pike was invited to join this meeting to talk through this but was unable to make it. AB spoke briefly on developments within school where PP money was being used including the on-going difficulties in recruiting an HLTA for English. One of the English teachers who retired in the summer has agreed to come and cover this post until possibly Summer 2014. Steven will be invited to the next FGB on 3rd February 2014.
· Annual Safeguarding Report (a copy of the report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting) – JR talked through this document – AM referred to 9’c’ on page 5 – this item should be ticked as the information is shared via Agendas or Minutes. JR agreed to update this.
CM asked if the designated teacher for LAC should report to Governors at some point. It was agreed that the designated teacher, Linda Compton, be invited to the SIC meeting on 12th March 2014.
· School Development Priorities (a copy of the report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting) – AB talked about the changes announced by Michael Gove in school progress (Progress 8) and briefly described Progress 8 to Governors. Maths and English GCSE’s will change in 2015 with all other GCSE subjects to follow in 2016. Matt Hewitt will discuss this in more detail at the next SIC meeting on 22nd January 2014.
AB mentioned that the school is fully staffed at present.
AB invited Governors to come and look around the school to see the changes being made.
JR asked Governors if they had any questions – there were none. / SC/JR Agenda
JR
SC/AM
7 / Annual Governors Report
· Annual governors Report (a copy of the report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting) - MR briefly talked through the report and discussed the changes made although it is much the same as it was before. There was one extra item added to the report – Staff Governor salaries (in bands), the accountants will put this information into the report. SD explained that the salary information is required because the Staff Governors are ‘directors’ of the Academy.
MR asked if Governors approved this report – they did and the decision was unanimous.
· Academy Charging (a copy of the email had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting) – CM talked through this report and had calculated that the school had spent £2488 on all the training that had been committed to this year. If we had paid for this as ‘pay as you go’ we would have paid £800 more. JR asked if Governors were happy to continue using Governor Services, they were and the decision was unanimous.
CM asked if Governors wanted to spend £60 to be part of the Hampshire Governors Forum. Governors agreed that this was not needed and CM explained that if there were anything significant that the Governors needed to be aware of, she would let them know.
8 / Policy Review (a copy of the Policies had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting)
· SEN Policy – BD is to meet with Katrina Spence to discuss this policy and discuss the outcome at the next FGB on 3rd February 2014.
· Sex and Relationships Policy – AB confirmed that no changes were necessary. JW requested that ‘date reviewed’ and ‘date of next review’ be added as a footer to this policy. Governors were asked to approve this Policy – the decision was unanimous. SC to add dates and pass to the Policy to Anna Bendell.
8.15pm DS left the meeting
· Child Protection Policy – AB explained that there are no changes to be made to this Policy. Governors were asked to approve this Policy – the decision was unanimous. MR asked that the ‘format’ to all policies be the same. AB agreed that Anna Bendell would format all the Policies. SC to add dates and pass the Policy to Anna Bendell.
8.19pm DS returned to the meeting. / BD
SC
SC
9 / Reports from Committees (a copy of the Reports/Minutes had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting)
· General Purposes Committee – MR talked through the Minutes of the meeting of 18th November 2013. MR asked if there were any questions from Governors – there were none.
· School Improvement Committee –AM talked through the Minutes of the meeting of 20th November 2013. AM asked of there were any questions from Governors – there were none.
· Responsible Officers Report – JW explained his role within Governors to PJ. JW then talked through his report. JW asked if there were any questions form Governors – there were none.
· Pay Committee – BA talked through the Minutes of the meeting of 18th November 2013. BA asked of there were any questions from Governors, there were none.
10 / Governing Body Business
Paul-James Putt expressed is interest in becoming a Governor and thanked Governors for allowing him to visit this evening. He left the meeting at 8.43pm.
· Membership and Administration – JR explained that there was one Parent Governor vacancy and one Community Governor vacancy. AB said he would send a letter out to all parents second week in January 2014 asking if any parents would like to become a Parent Governor, a parent election would then be run. CM said she could let AB have a copy of the Governor Application Form.
JR asked Governors for their views on PJ becoming a Community Governor – the feedback was positive. JR explained that she would take his application on to the next step and asked for Governors approval – the decision was unanimous.
· Whole Governing Body Training – CM reminded Governors that the training had to be completed by the end of March 2014. CM felt the school could do training based around the new curriculum; AB felt this was a good idea. CM to investigate this further. CM asked Governors to let her have any other ideas. / AB
CM
JR
CM
11 / Governor Visits
MR mentioned that he was visiting Hounsdown School on 3rd December 2013 for a health and safety training session.
12 / Link Governor Updates
There were no updates.
13 / Governor use of Social Media
JW talked about an article he had read on the thoughtless use of social media. AB confirmed that there was Staff Guidance Procedures in place and JW explained that Governors had no such guidelines in place and maybe there should be. CM suggested that it be placed in the Governor Induction package. JR suggested that the ‘Code of Conduct’ be looked at again at a later date. CM has seen a ‘Social Media Policy for Governors’ and will send it to JR. / JR
CM
14 / Correspondence - (a copy of the report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting)
No further correspondence from Governors.
15 / Any Other Notified Business
· SD apologised for not attending the last GP meeting where Sarah Staley discussed the depositing of monies. He raised concerns about the £800,000 being deposited on just one place. As the bank rate is at 0.5% to 1%, is it worth taking the risk is putting the money all in one place? SD felt it would be better to spread that money between more than one bank to lessen the risk. It was agreed that MR would talk to Sarah Staley again to discuss this issue. / MR
16 / Future Agenda Items
There were no future Agenda items
17 / Date of Next Meeting
3rd February 2014 at 7pm
The meeting closed at 9.07pm.
Minutes Approved by……………………………………………
Position……………………………………………………………
Signature………………………………………………………….
Date………………………………………………………………..