Noadswood School Governing Body
Full Governing Body Committee Meeting
16th May 20161, at 7pm
MINUTES
Governors Present:
Alex Bernard Headteacher AB
Chris Blake CB
Jakc Eiles JE
Carolyn Millar CM
Alison Munden AM
Tammy Newey TN
Kevin O’Brien KO
PJ Putt PP
Jackie Rapson (Chair) JR
Di Smith DS
Jim Watt JW
Mark Wooster MW
In Attendance:
Sally Callander SC
The meeting opened at 7.01pm
Agenda Item / Action1 / Apologies for Absence
· Apologies were received from those listed above.
2 / Declaration of Pecuniary Interests
· None declared.
3 / Approval of FGB Minutes from 30th November 2015
File Names : FGB Mins 01-02-16; FGB Extra-ordinary Meeting Mins 10-2-16
· Minutes from meeting on 1-2-16 were approved by Governors and signed by JR.
· There was a question on the Minutes from extra-ordinary meeting on 10-2-16 regarding JR contacting Chair of Governors at Westgate school to discuss an agreed time to inform staff/parents of new appointment. SC to review notes from that meeting, amend the Minutes if necessary and send a copy to JR for approval.
7.06pm PJP arrived. / SC
4 / Matters Arising from the Minutes
· One item in Minutes of extra-ordinary meeting on 10-2-16, detailed above.
5 / Headteachers report
File Names : Noadswood Self-Evaluation October 2015;
Spr Term Data – March 16
· Self-Evaluation Form
AB talked through this form, which had been circulated, to Governors prior to the meeting. When Ofsted next for an inspection, it will be for one day only and they will examine this document for an overview of the school. This document is a work in progress and will give an up-to-date reflection of the school. JW asked if the fact that the Governance section was empty would present a problem, AB said no and Ofsted can still refer to the Governors Report and Financial Statement. CB to write a paragraph (along with JE) to put into the Governance Section of this document to make it complete. AB to remove the October 15 date as this is misleading.
· Scorecard
This document was made available to Governors via FROG. AB mentioned numbers on role – the scorecard shows figures for last day of Autumn Term to last day of Spring Term and doesn’t show turbulence within that time. To date, 21 pupils have left us and 31 new pupils have joined. Of the 21 that left, only 4 went to other local schools, the others moved out of area.
There have been 9 ‘managed move’ pupils into Noadswood and 1 out, all of which have failed.
Pupil attendance is up by 0.77%. Thanks are due to the Attendance Officer, House Leaders (Guidance) and Tutors.
Persistent Absentees – Government moved the goal posts from 85% to 95%, which is why the figures vary from last year.
Exclusions – there have been a number of exclusions recently and one of these has been lengthy. These figures will feature in the next Scorecard.
DS asked about Year 11. AB confirmed that he is not excluding Year 11 as there is little point however, there have been meetings with parents and there are now 3 Year 11 pupils on Study Leave.
7.30pm MW arrived.
CM stated that it would appear that pupils are ‘in school’ more and AB agreed. AM stated that HL(G) and Vertical Tutoring have been embedded for a long time now which can only help the attendance figures.
Figures show that we are on target for 68% 5 x A* to C.
Staffing – AB confirmed that Jack Eiles had been appointed Lead Practitioner at Swanmore School but would not be replaced at Noadswood due to extra English staff already employed.
AB encouraged Governors to look at Noadswood Hangouts, which started in Science and is a live revision session in the evenings through FROG. There have been a lot of hits on this and not only from Noadswood. AB confirmed he is talking to the IT department to see how this system can be spread across other subjects. TN asked if revenue can be made from this, AB confirmed that Sarah Staley is currently looking into this although it is difficult as the system is ‘YouTube’ based. JW asked that the live-feeds all start by making it clear that the material is from Noadswood School. CM suggested that the school advertise this facility in the local area.
AB talked about 2 pupils who had the opportunity to ‘debate’ in the House of Commons recently. Chris Martin who was an ex-pupil was director General at No 10 (sadly he died). His parents contacted AB and told him about No. 10 sponsoring a debating competition in memory of Chris and would Noadswood be interested. Ten schools got into the final, Noadswood being one of them with two of our pupils representing the school. One of the pupils getting into one of the top two teams. A great experience for all involved. / CB/JE
AB
6 / Governor Visits
· None
7 / Policy Reviews
File Names : Sex and Relationships Policy; Behaviour Policy; LGPS Employer Discretions Policy
· Sex and Relationships Policy
No change. Governors agreed to this policy for another year.
SC to amend review dates and put onto FROG
JW raised a concern about the wording ‘in certain circumstances he teacher could be liable to criminal charges and therefore the Headteachers’ instructions are not to give any advice’. AB explained the meaning of the paragraph and confirmed that this Policy was a standard one and was reluctant to make any changes to the wording.
· Behaviour Policy
No change. Governors agreed to this policy for another two years.
SC to amend review dates and put onto FROG
· LGPS – Employer Discretions Policy
No change. Governors agreed to this policy for another two years.
SC to amend review dates and put onto FROG / SC
SC
SC
8 / Reports from Committees
File Names : GP Mins 3-5-16; SIC Mins 5-5-16
· GP – CB talked through the Minutes that had been made available to Governors prior to the meeting via FROG.
· SIC – AM talked through the Minutes that had been made available to Governors prior to the meeting via FROG.
9 / Academy Business
File Names : Term Dates (Incl INSET) 2016-17
· Term dates
These had been made available to Governors via Frog prior to the meeting. AB stated that staff had agreed to start the next term a day earlier (which would be an INSET day) on Friday 2nd September and the pupils will start on Monday 5th. This enables 24th July 2017 to be a disaggregated INSET day. Governors agreed to the Term Dates
· Staff INSET Days
These had been made available to Governors via Frog prior to the meeting. Governors agreed to the Staff INSET days.
10 / Governing Body Business
· Governor Meeting Dates 2016/17
This item to be moved to the next meeting on 11-7-16
· Membership and Administration
None / SC Agenda
11 / Review Annual Governors Report and Financial Statements
· Move to November meeting. / SC Agenda
12 / Being Part of the Governing Body
· This item to be moved to the next meeting. / SC Agenda
13 / Being a New Governor
· This item to be moved to the next meeting / SC Agenda
14 / Correspondence
· None
15 / Any Other Notified Business
· SC reminded Governors to let her know which of the dates they would prefer for the Governor Walkabout – 9th or 16th August at 8.30am. PJ asked the objective of the meeting and CB explained it was a ‘safety’ walk around school. Governors were reminded that the Health and Safety policy is on FROG.
· KO asked about STEM week. AB confirmed the details of the week and told Governors it was well worth a visit and they were welcome on any of the days.
· DS asked when the new Head will be in school. AB confirmed there were visits to be planned and that Kathryn would be meeting staff before the end of this term.
16 / Future Agenda Items
· As detailed in these Minutes
21 / Date of next Meeting
· Monday 11th July 2016 at 7pm
Meeting ended at 8.07pm
Minutes Approved by……………………………………………
Position……………………………………………………………
Signature………………………………………………………….
Date………………………………………………………………..