MMA COMMITTEE MEETING
at
St GEORGE’S COLLEGE, WEYBRIDGE
on
MONDAY 20th JANUARY 2014
10.30 Officers, with Operations Manager
11.30 Full Committee meeting
12.00 Tour of school
12.45 Lunch and continuation of full committee meeting, including Sub-Committees:
i. Operations (Andrew Forbes)
ii. Academic Sub-committee and University Liaison (Scott Price)
iii. Professional Development (Sarah Pugh)
(The Conference Sub-Committee will not meet on this occasion, but Conferences will be an agenda item at the committee meeting.)
The President, Sandy Chenery, was in the chair.
Minutes
Those present: Sandy Chenery, Simon Kirk, Scott Price, Andrew Leach, Kate Davies, Andrew Forbes, Tim Johnson, Helena McKillop, Simon Toyne, Sophie Kirk, Keith Ayling and Carol Hawkins
1. Apologies: Simon Brown, Sion Parry, Sarah Pugh and David Terry
2. Minutes and Matters arising
3. President’s Matters
It was with shock and sorrow that we learned the sad news of Jeremy Hibbins’ death. Jeremy, as treasurer, had helped to turn the MMA around and make it what it is today. Thanks to Keith for words in e*bulletin and Ensemble. Andrew Forbes will be writing an article for Ensemble. .
It was suggested that we raise a glass at the Annual Dinner at the Conference and that we name the MMA Competition essay prize in Jeremy’s name.
Action: Andrew Forbes to check with Jeremy’s family re the naming of the Conference Essay prize and to write an article for Ensemble.
Prof Jeremy Dibble, from Durham University, has agreed to judge the Conference Essay and it was suggested that we should invite him to the Conference Dinner.
Action: Carol Hawkins to invite Prof Jeremy Dibble to Conference Dinner.
The closing date is March 31. We need a notice about this on the wesbite and in an e*bulletin. There was a discussion about possible titles, to what extent they should be open-ended and whether coursework could become the basis of an essay. Sandy asked for suggested titles by the end of the committee meeting. It was agreed that the word limit should be changed to 2500 words. Winners will be announced at the Conference and certificates and prizes will be presented via the school. The competition may be slow to get going in the first year, but if there are over 20 entries we will have to filter before judging.
Action: Carol Hawkins to invite Prof Jeremy Dibble to Conference Dinner.
Keith Ayling to publish details and the closing date of the Essay competition on the wesbite and in an e*bulletin.
Seminar in good practice in the awarding of music scholarships at 13 plus: Andrew Forbes and Tim Johnson gave further details, which will appear in an e*bulletin. The seminar will take place on March 10 at City of London of London School and there will be a cost to attend of £20 to cover catering. The morning session will be chaired by Tim Johnson and will take pains not to descend into a slanging match! Smaller groups will then discuss the relevant issues mixed and report back at the end. After lunch there will be an afternoon session, possibly led by Simon Brown and Simon Kirk on communications and expectations from all schools. Attendance will not be restricted to MMA members. HMC are happy put to their name to this ‘Good practice’ for Music Scholarships, but are not really interested in 11+. Tim suggests having some legal advice at the Seminar and will invite the in-house lawyer from Eton. We need a cut off date, and numbers when cost will be applied.
Action: Keith will advertise the Seminar in an e*bulletin and also send out emails to all members, who can forward details to non-members.
Sophie will take replies and make a list of those wishing to attend.
There was a break for a tour of St George’s, Conference venue for May 2014, led by Director of Music Tansy Castledine. This was followed by lunch.
Tansy joined the committee after lunch for a discussion of the Conference programme. Officers will meet on Thursday 15 May at 6.00pm, followed by dinner at 7.30pm. There was general agreement that the draft Conference programme looks superb. The early bird date is now set for Fri 14 March.
Sandy reported that Simon Brown is stepping down as Hon Treasurer at the Conference in May and is also retiring from his post in school at the end of the summer term. We need to advertise this important vacancy soon in an e*bulletin. If voting is necessary, this will be online. The late Jeremy Hibbins had looked into the possibility of electronic voting and he had suggested: www.simplyvoting.com.
Sarah Pugh has become Head of Senior School and is having to step down from the committee. Kate Davies will now chair Professional Development sub-committee.
Action: Andrew Leach to give Keith a revised election notice for an e*bulletin, drawing attention to the vacancy for Hon Treasurer.
Carol to look into online voting, using www.simplyvoting.com
4. Media (Keith Ayling)
Domain and hosting issues are now sorted, but Keith will need to use his own credit card for this. INSET is due to take place at Headington. It is hoped that future events may he hosted in the North, such as at St Peter’s York. The next issue of Ensemble will be out by half term and the issue after that just will include pre Conference matters. Music EXPO – all is set and we are having the same size space for our display as last year and sponsoring the award for the Best Music Department. Last year there were two competitions, which gave a good reason to chat to people. This year Keith planned to edit a slide show and show Conference video clips.
New website – the existing Bluehost website dates from 2009, but every three years it is good to renew the website in order to help prevent hacking. Corporate logos will run on front page and there will be a listing of schools in the Music Directory. The website needs to be responsive to new phones and Ipads.
5. Secretary’s matters
Andrew Leach is retiring this summer and also finishes his term of office as Hon Secretary in May. He is looking for a successor to organise Area 9 meetings.
Action: Sophie to look through the database for members in Area 9 (East of England), who might take on this role.
5. Treasurer’s matters
Simon Brown was unable to be at the meeting, but sent this report:
“The MMA Finances continue to be in a healthy state, particularly after the injection of funds from the annual subscriptions at the new year. We have just over £40,000 on deposit; our share of the 2013 Conference profits (around £7000) will be added shortly. The costs of our participation in EXPO 2014 have been paid in full.”
6. Administrator’s matters
There are 71 Corporate Members. The Tutor Pages and the English Philharmonia (Graham and Anna Wili) were put forward to the Committee following applications for Corporate Membership – both approved. Others in the pipeline – Andrew Jenkins – Prep School Orchestra courses, Regent Records, Worldwind Music and Alexander Street Press mentioned to the Committee in advance of completed forms. Annual subs for 2013 to be chased before Sophie takes on all the invoicing for the MMA.
7. Membership Secretary’s matters
At present there are a total of 585 members – EXPO, APF, & INSET – bring in more people. The MMA is the largest and oldest established teachers’ association. The ISM is designing a joint membership leaflet. So far, several members have taken advantage of joint MMA/ISM membership.
Currently, 28 schools still have to pay for their entry in the Music Directory.
8. Reports from Sub-Committees
i. Operations (Andrew Forbes) – everything is running smoothly at present. Sophie now does all the invoicing for MMA, which is easier for Tony Rowlands, Hon Accountant. E*bulletins are running well. The Yearbook and Conference booking form will go out this week. Work on the next Directory is underway. Music Expo is ready to go. Progress is being made with the new website.
ii. Academic Sub-committee and University Liaison (Scott Price) -
Action: Scott Price is contacting ISM regarding GCSE/A level to offer any help if they need any.
iii. Professional Development (Kate Davies)
Recent events have included a workshop by Mark Armstrong with NYJO at Bradfield, followed by an evening concert. INSET at Edgeborough was successful and well attended. Possible dates and venues for future INSETs were discussed. One suggestion made was for a day exploring mechanisms for coping with stress. There was a discussion about suitable speakers for this.
Future INSET includes:
Feb 6 - Area Meeting at Norwich on Feb 6, when speakers will include Paul Harris and Ann Bryant.
March - Admin day.
Kate mentioned the idea of a questionnaire for ideas/suggestions for future INSET. It was suggested that a sheet could be put into the delegate bag.
Action: Carol to organise questionnaire to be online and also to be included in delegate bag at Conference.
9. Conferences (Sandy Chenery, Simon Kirk)
Possible venues for next year’s Conference were discussed.
10. A.O.B
Keith is releasing an album and playing in London on 7th March at the Voce8 centre.
Simon wondered if it would be useful/helpful to have a Patron?
It was noted that the forthcoming ISM Conference (Wed 16th and Thurs 17th April) has no options and is more expensive.
11. Date and time of next full meeting:
9.30am Friday 16th May St George’s Weybridge
Andrew Leach
Honorary Secretary