GOVERNING BODY FOR ST PAUL’S CEPRIMARY SCHOOL NW7
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD AT THE SCHOOL
ON TUESDAY19JANUARY 2016
1
FOUNDATION GOVERNORSPARENT GOVERNORS
*Mrs Toyin Adjei (LDBS)*Mr Jason Fox Baron
*Mr Robert Cottingham (Deanery)*Mrs Carli Turner
*Mrs Gillian Finney (Deanery)
*Mrs Jenny Crane (PCC)STAFF GOVERNORS
Mr Barrie Martin (LDBS)*Mr Anthony David (Executive HT)
*Mr Mike Roberts (PCC) (Vice Chair)*Miss Jo Smith
*Revd. Jonathan Shaw (Chair)
LA GOVERNOR
1 x vacancy
* denotes member present
IN ATTENDANCE
Mrs C Winston–Clerk (Governor Services)
PART I
Opening Prayer
The Chairopened the meeting in prayer.
16/01WELCOME
The Chair welcomed all to the first Spring Term meeting.
16/02ACCEPTANCE/NON ACCEPTANCE OF APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Consent was recorded to apologies for absence submitted on behalf of Barrie Martin.
Jason Fox Baron apologised in advance as he needed to leave the meeting early.
16/03NOTICE OF ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There weretwo notices of any other business.
16/04DECLARATION OF PECUNIARY INTEREST
None of the Governors present declared a pecuniary interest in the business to be discussed.
16/05PART I MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17NOVEMBER2015
The Part I Minutes of the meeting held on 17November2015 were confirmed, initialled and signed by the Chair, subject to the following corrections:
The first paragraph on page 7 was changed to read ‘The Safeguarding Governor also confirmed that she had now checked the Single Central Record (SCR). This was in the process of being transferred from one system to another to included additional information. The Senior Administrative Office required a half day to complete this task.’
The eighth paragraph on Page 8 in relation to the Health & Safety Link Governor was amended to read ‘It was decided that Mike Roberts would possibly take on this role.’
16/06MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
16/07REVIEW OF ACTION POINTS
-It was agreed to have the GVO system in place by January 2016. This had been completed
-RAISEonline data to be circulated to Governors. This was complete
-Medical Policy to be reviewed by medical staff. This had been circulated
-The Governance audit was to be circulated to all Governors. This had been completed
-A breakdown on pupil attendance by year group was requested in the Executive Headteacher’s report. This had been completed
-Provide copy of the next pupil survey to Governors. This had been completed and would be discussed later in the meeting.
-Find out whether students who were over 16 required DBS checks when they helped in school. This had been completed and would be discussed later in the meeting.
-The format of the Executive Headteacher’s report would continue to be considered. This was in process
-The safeguarding audit document would be circulated to Governors in January 2016. This had been circulated
-All Governors to contact the school office regarding their DBS checks. In process
-Academy conversion to be an agenda item once a term. Confirmed
-Governing Body to be kept updated concerning the school trip. Completed
Breakdown of Pupil Attendance
As mentioned above, the Executive Headteacher had circulated an attendance breakdown report for the period 3 September to 18 December 2015. It was highlighted that overall attendance for this period had been 97.03%.
It was noted that the data was lower in Year 6 with an average of 95.97%. The Executive Headteacher said that there were no great concerns about attendance in Year 6. He gave an example that one day that term, half of the class had been absent taking tests for selective schools.
A brief discussion ensued and in response to a question, the Executive Headteacher confirmed that the School did fine families for unauthorised absences. A Governor expressed his concerns about this system and felt strongly that schools should not be doing this. It was explained that this was a national system that had been implemented. It was requested that attendance fines be placed as an item on the next agenda.
Action: Clerk
Governors discussed the punctuality data included within this report. The Executive Headteacher said that this was an issue for some children.
Pupil Questionnaire January 2016
The Executive Headteacher had circulated the results of this survey. He said that this had been conducted the previous week in Years 1 – 6.
A Governor asked whether the children understood all of the questions and queried how the questionnaire had been administered. The Executive Headteacher explained that from Year 2 – Year 6 the questions were completed individually. In Year 1 the class teacher had recorded the children’s answers in a group.
A discussion ensued on some of the questions.
The Head of School highlighted the question ‘Teachers give me work that challenges me’ where 65 of children had answered ‘In Some Lessons’. She said that when this had been discussed further with the children they had thought that if they had had fun in a lesson then that meant that they had not been challenged.
Governors’ attention was then drawn to the question ‘How much of a problem is bullying at your school? The Executive Headteacher highlighted that 58 of the children had answered ‘It happens and teachers are really good at resolving it’. He said that this was a surprising figure as a high percentage of children had said that they felt safe at school. It was felt that the perception of what bullying was had resulted in this figure. The Executive Headteacher said that work would be done in this area as bullying had not recently been discussed in depth at school as behaviour was exemplary.
The Executive Headteacher highlighted the high figure of 125 strongly agreeing with the question ‘Do you enjoy the variety of topics within the IPC?’. A discussion ensued about reducing the number of topics and the English Speaking Board test. The Executive Headteacher reminded Governors that the School regularly achieved the highest percentage of distinctions of any of the schools taking part in this test.
Governors were pleased to note the high number of children who strongly agreed with the question ‘My school encourages me to respect people from other backgrounds and to treat everyone equally.’
The Executive Headteacher drew Governors’ attention to the question ‘I would recommend this school to a friend moving to the area’. There had been a response of 58 children who had answered maybe. Further discussion with the children about this question had highlighted that they had answered in this way as they were concerned that classes would get too big.
The Executive Headteacher said that Parent and Staff Surveys would be carried out soon.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for 16 year old student Volunteers
The Executive Headteacher reported that he had investigated this issue and had been informed that, unless the students were doing regulated work, then DBS checks were not essential but a school decision.
A brief discussion ensued and Governors heard that the current student programme running with Mill Hill School would come to an end in March. It was decided that Mill Hill School would be asked to provide and fund these checks the following year for the new group of students. A Governor said that List 99 checks were an alternative option.
A Governor reported that in the recent London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS) Bulletin it had said that from April 2016 all new Governors should have DBS checks. It also said that from September 2016 all remaining Governors should then have these checks. This matter was already in hand for the Governing Body.
Safeguarding Report
The Head of School updated Governors:
-The safeguarding audit had been completed and circulated
-There was currently one child protection case in School
-There were no children looked after (CLA)
-Four external agencies aware working with the School
-There were no cases of children missing from education
-One case conference was underway
-The Single Central Record (SCR) had been reviewed on 14 October 2015. Its next check would be 2 March 2016. It was being updated to the LDBS Academy Trust model which was a time-intensive task.
-Three members of staff had full paediatric first aid training, four members of staff had the three day first aid training and all staff had had the one day first aid training.
-Work had been undertaken on the Medical Conditions Policy
-There had been no reported accidents from children or adults
-12 members of staff had had Team Teach Training
-The Online Safety Policy had been circulated and adopted, the Medical Conditions Policy had been drafted, the Child Protection Policy had been updated and circulated.
-The Pupil Questionnaire contained questions relating to safeguarding
-PreventDuty training had been undertaken by all members of teaching staff on 11 January 2016. The Teaching Assistants and Mealtime Supervisors would be undertaking this training on 1 February 2016.
-On Thursday 31 March 2016 the Executive Headteacher would be delivering a training session on Prevent Duty for the Governors at Millbrook Park School. The Governing Body were invited to attend this session.
-Governor DBS checks were in process for those who did not yet have them.
School Trip – New Arrangements
The Executive Headteacher reported that, following discussion at the last meeting, the School trip to France had been cancelled. The pupils would now be going on a trip to Devon. This had been well received by parents.
16/08REPORT OF THEEXECUTIVE HEADTEACHER
The Executive Headteacher tabled a report derived from the content of the School Development Plan (SDP). He explained that text in red was an action and black text were key areas. He then highlighted various sections:
a) IPC The information relating to meeting the criteria for the first stage of accreditation of the IPC was highlighted. The Executive Headteacher said that the deadline of Summer 2016 might be put back in the SDP as it had been so time consuming embedding the new assessment system without Levels. He said that this would therefore become an action in the next SDP.
A Governor queried how staff were feeling about the use of Target Tracker. The Executive Headteacher gave a brief overview of a recent moderation exercise with staff between two schools, which he said had been heated. He said that Target Tracker was not the issue, but the new ways staff were expected to assess was taking time. He stressed the importance of the new marking policy.
Governors heard the Executive Headteacher’s personal views on the new way of working. He said that he had also discussed this in depth with the Learning Network Inspector.
It was noted that progress charts that were currently displayed on classroom walls would also be affixed to children’s books, particularly in Maths and Science. A Governor queried whether these were ticked and dated and the Head of School said that some staff had not been doing this but everybody would be doing so going forward.
b)Professional Development The Executive Headteacher tabled a document entitled ‘Leadership and Professional Development Spring 2016’. He highlighted the strategic use of the two schools.
Governors noted that the senior leadership team (SLT) had attended the Borough session on the Prevent Duty. All staff had then had Prevent Duty training and had sat an online certified test. The Executive Headteacher said that he had also requested that all members of staff read Government Guidance on PreventDuty, which was now in its sixth version.
Governors would be receiving Prevent Duty training.
c) Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) It was noted that Gillian Thompsett, RE Specialist, had been working with the LDBS to develop the new curriculum which was now being rolled out to all LDBS schools and was being trialled at St Paul’s. The Executive Headteacher added that two weeks previously, she had presented to all LDBS RE Co-ordinators which had been a positive experience for her. She would present this information to Governors in due course.
d)Budget The Executive Headteacher said that the School would be moving their budget document to a new system which would enable him to be able to circulate it by email. He tabled the Year End Forecast 2015-2016 and highlighted various points:
-Pension contributions had increased which had not been predicted
-Ambitious capital works had been carried out that year
-The following year there would be a clearer breakdown of the curriculum budget
-Total revenue resources less expenditure had been £23,147. Since then the School had recouped £4,000 through their insurance for a member of staff’s long term sick and had received £1,000 from the School Association. The Executive Headteacher said that they therefore had an approximate Carry Forward figure of £25,000.
-Many schools in the Borough had reported already being in a deficit budget
-Mike McGowan, School Finance Officer, would be producing a five -year budget plan, including salary changes.
-Governors were to consider changing the way that teaching assistant (TA) contracts were set to enable better visibility of the budget.
-In 2017 the budget formula would be changing. There were concerns that in London Boroughs the budgets would be reduced.
-The School’s budget was secure for the next two years but beyond that there was uncertainty.
Following a Governor’s comment about teachers’ salaries a discussion ensued about how the School managed career progression. The Executive Headteacher said that this was closely monitored with consideration to the budget.
e) Staffing The new arrangements for the staffing of sports were noted. A Governor raised he concerns about the change in the success of the sports teams. The Executive Headteacher outlined the changes in these cohorts that had had an impact on the teams’ success.
A Governor expressed his dissatisfaction that he had learnt about the new sports staff from his child. He felt that this was something that the Governing Body should have been more closely involved with. He also voiced concerns about the recruitment process for these staff. The Executive Headteacher apologised and gave a full overview of how these temporary posts had been filled. He also explained how the permanent positions would be advertised and recruited to.
Governors heard that the Year 3 class teacher had submitted their resignation. This teacher also held the position of English Co-ordinator. An advertisement for the class teacher position had been placed in the TES the previous day.
Jason Fox Baron left the meeting at this point.
f)Achievement Review and Target Setting Report 2015 This document had been circulated to all Governors and was received and noted.
A Governor queried why the data had only been compared nationally in this report and not with Barnet data. In reply, the Executive Headteacher explained that this wasbecause the Barnet data had not yet been available at the time the report had been written.
A Governor queried the wording in the report concerning the member of staff who had left the School in January 2015. She said that this had been due to family circumstances.Shesaid that she had not been aware thatcapability procedures had been underway. The Executive Headteacher said that there had been informal capability procedures but that it had been the staff member concerned choice to leave.
A Governor queried how the School’s demographicmakeup had changed, as mentioned in this report. The Executive Headteacher said that an example of this would be the significant increase in children for whom English was an additional language (EAL). He said that he expected these changes to continue. A Governor said that it was important that these factors informed decisions made by the Governing Body.
The Executive Headteacher was thanked for his report.
16/09LEARNING
This had already been dealt with under item 16/08 Report of the Executive Headteacher.
16/10PREMISES
This had already been dealt with under item 16/08 Report of the Executive Headteacher.
16/11 STAFFING
MOTION OF CONFIDENTIALITY
It was resolved that, because of its nature, the business to be discussed be treated as confidential and not for publication.
(Part I resumed)
16/12FINANCE
This had been covered under item 16/08 Report of the Executive Headteacher.
The Treasurer said she would produce the Governance Fund accounts.
Action: Treasurer
16/13SAFEGUARDING REVIEW
This had already been covered under item 16/07 Review of Action Points.
16/14REVIEW OF POLICIES
The following policies had been circulated to all Governors by email for consideration and feedback: