LITTLE GADDESDEN CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL
MINUTES OF GOVERNORS’ MEETING
Tuesday 4th October 2016 at 7.30 p.m.
Present: Nick Crispin (Chairman), Charis Geoghegan (Headteacher), Sarah Brattle, Anne Consedine, Rev. John Russell, Phil Heaphy, Martyn Pearce,
Briony Sutcliffe,Paul Woods, Claire Owen& Lynne Moore (Clerk).
Apologies:Alison Cotton and Anne Heard
1 Prayers
Rev. John Russell opened the meeting with a prayer.
2 Conflicts of interest
None declared.
3 Consider and consent to absence
Apologies were received and accepted forAlison Cotton and Anne Heard.
4 Governing Body Membership
Laura Gill is now an Associate Member and Claire Owen was welcomed as a Parent
Governor.
5Terms of Office for Chairman and Vice-Chairman
It was agreed that these will continue to run annually.
6 Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman
Nick Crispin was elected Chairman, and Briony Sutcliffe Vice Chair – both
unopposed.
7 Register of governors’ business and pecuniary interest.
All governors present have signed and dated the relevant declaration forms. LM to ensure completed forms arereceived from Alison C and AH. Action LM
8 Minutes of Meeting on 5th July 2016
The minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting and were signed accordingly.
9 Matters Arising from these Minutes • The incorrect spelling of our grounds maintenance contractors was noted and
should read John O’Conner.
• AC confirmed that she has met with Louise Farrow to confirm the website
updates and met with Nerys Steeds on Wednesday 5th October, to discuss literacy
monitoring.
- BS item 6 (not completed). Governor Visits: Governors agreed that the Governor Visit model policy should be checked to ensure that theLittle Gaddesden policy is fully compliant. Action BS
- BS item 7 (completed) . Curriculum – BS reported that the Curriculum Committee had updated four policies and that they had met on 7thJuly to review the size, composition and structure of the governing body and develop options for discussion, before reporting back to the full Governing Body.
- The replacement of light bulbshas been undertaken. Quotes have been received for the five year fixed wiring check and LF will arrange for this to be done. Action LF
10 Academy Update
CG outlined where we are and the options that we have, but stressed that these were her personal views.
What is a MAT? Multi –Academy Trust
-Often local groups of schools that, to a greater or lesser extent, pool resources and work together.
-There seems to be no overall plan but people feel that schools will be encouraged to join together in MATs, when the Local Education Authority loses their funding.
-There are no set rules about how MATs work, there can be many or few trustees etc.
-All schools staff will be employed by the MAT.
-These are overseen by the Regional Schools Director – Martin Post
-HFL Ltd Services will provide some services, but we will need others which will include payroll, preparation of statutory accounts, property management, legal advisory services, external audit.
-The Academy Chain will typically “top slice” 3-5% of our total budget.
-HFL – we would get an additional 12% from HFL which is what they currently top slice for their services.
We have two options:-
a)Link up with Tring School – Tring are keen to have us (they currently have a massive budget deficit). As part of the bargaining of those schools in the MAT, priority may be given to children at secondary transfer stage. The MAT is already set up – there will no setting up costs or worries etc. Disadvantage is that Tring School’s main focus is the secondary sector and the trust is set up that way.
b)Link with Berkhamsted Schools and other schools based at Thomas Coram Junior School. Like minded Heads and all from the primary sector, Children transfer to Ashlyns. Disadvantages –no clear plans, financial expectations of individual primaries and understanding of the timescale – Victoria School is eager to move quickly.
It was stated that Tring was a “ghost” academy and already set up as a sole academy but able to take others. Concern was expressed over who appoints the Trustees? It was felt that in order for us to have a say on the Trustees and to steer the constitution, we would need to be in at the beginning. No more than one third of employees can be trustees of the MAT. CG confirmed that there are a lot of meetings and it is taking up a lot of time.
11 Review of committees & terms of reference
BS had previously emailed to all governors information.
It was agreed at the end of last term that we would have a Learning Committee, an Academies Sub-Group and a Resources Committee, with agreed rules of engagement. It was stressed that everyone needs to be an active governor with regular attendance at one or more of the Committees, as well as the Governing Body.
12 Schedule of Financial Delegation
These were approved on 26th January and will be reviewed at the Resources
Meeting in January 2017.
13 School Development Plan 2016-2017
Three main points:
-To ensure governors explore all possible options regarding the academisation agenda
-To further improve the sporting experience of pupils, demonstrate the positive impact of the sports premium funding and for the school to obtain the Sports Quality Mark. (We are already doing this but need to make people more aware of it.)
-To ensure that resources are effectively deployed to support those children with significant and special educational needs.
The Resources Committee will cover Finance, Premises and HR whilst the Learning Committee will encompass Curriculum Development, SEND provision, Safeguarding and pupil welfare, HIP reports, attendance, behaviour, equality, inclusion and Pupil Premium/School Sport Premium.
Membership of each committee is listed below, although it was stressed that everyone is welcome to attend all meetings. Claire Owen will initially go to both meetings until she has a clearer picture of which committee would be more appropriate.
Resources Committee:-
Phil Heaphy (Chair of Committee)John Russell
Nick CrispinMartyn Pearce
Charis GeogheganClaire Owen
Paul Woods
Bryony Sutcliffe
Learning Committee
Briony Sutcliffe (Chair of Committee)Anne Heard
Nick CrispinAlison Cotton
Charis GeogheganClaire Owen
Sarah BrattlePhil Heaphy
Anne ConsedineLaura Gill
Academy Sub-Committee
Charis GeogheganNick Crispin
Phil HeaphyBriony Sutcliffe
At the first meeting of the above committees, terms of reference will be drawn up and roles will be divided up and clearly assigned. If necessary, Vice-Chairs will be voted in.
All Governors have a responsibility to read the minutes from all meetings and it was confirmed that the Chairman of each committee should not take the minutes but delegate to another member.
The date of the first Learning Committee meeting to be confirmed.
Action - BS
CG pointed out one change to the vision which reflects the diversity of the school in the context of being an academy and what we value and also SEND. These points would be talked about in the Learning Committee Meeting and acted on .
Action - BS
14 SEND
We are currently spending a significant amount of money on SEN children in this school, as there is no money is the school system for children with significant needs. We are fortunate to have the staff that are willing to take on these roles but currently have 15 hours given to us in the budget, which is not enough.
15 Headteachers Performance Management
BS & PH were approved as governors for the Headteachers Performance
Management. (Our previous SIP, Helen Jones, had recommended that NC, as
Chairman of Governors, should no longer be involved.)Action – BS/PH
16 Ofsted & SIAMS
Nothing to minute other than we are not due Ofsted for a long time.
17 DfE & LEA Matters
There is a chance that NAHT are going to ballot Headteachers, on whether we continue with SATs next year. CG confirmed that she would vote not to.
18 Playground Access
NC outlined the current position concerning the back gate and the pathway linked to the Bridgewater Arms, as it has become apparent that the school path has been used as an access point for horses. The Parish Council are aware of this and currently there are no horses in the field. It was agreed that we would look at this further if horses reappear in the field.
19 Wager Bell Fund
This fund is very healthy – we have received over £4,600 in the 8 months to date from
Beth Taylor with £32,489 on deposit. All pupils continue to benefit from this fund and it has recently provided tickets for Matilda the Musical for KS2, Beauty and the Beast for KS1, Science Boffins and a Samba Workshop for our RE week.
Concern was expressed concerning this fund if we are to become a MAT and we need to find a way to legally protect it, so that it is used only for the children of Little Gaddesden School. Action – PH
20 Committee Reports
Finance - there was nothing to add to the minutes already distributed following the
Committee Meeting last Friday.
Premises– nothing to add following the meeting on 5th July.
21 Headteachers Report – September 2016
This report has been circulated to all Governors.
Class 2
32 Children, 3 full time members of staff and a number of SEN children. This is working well, the children are very happy and we have no concerns about that class. Jess Jell comes in two mornings a week to take individual children out.
Nerys Steeds
Has once again been awarded “Leading Teacher” status which we were not expecting, as
the programme for leading teachers is likely to close, with the expectation that schools
will be in a MAT which would support their school’s needs.
Exceptional Needs Funding
Lorraine Patterson has applied for 30 hours and has been told that we will probably get
ten. Moving onto the next stage, we are hoping that we will get some money.
Currently costing the school £16,000 per year; this does not include covering lunchtime as
currently the child goes home at 12.30.
22 SAT’s(papers circulated to Governors prior to meeting)
-We have very able EYFS children
-KS1 and KS2 had new and different tests which are not comparable.
-Results are good; it might look like we have an issue with boys but they are making good progress when you look back at their EYFS results. We also lost a few of the more able boys.
-Next year there will be greater emphasis on children who score over 110.
-All of the new children have settled in well.
-Two recent exclusions made an enormous positive difference.
-Raise Online Data due out after half term – CG will send out to BS for the Learning Committee Meeting. Action - CG
All results nationally go onto Raise Online so that you can compare your school against others. Due to an administrative error, our correct results will not appear until December.
23 Linked Governors
These will be decided at the first Learning Committee Meeting.
24 Website & Prospectus
Parent Survey - This went out in July and only 20 people replied. Three people were
concerned about bullying but one of these refers to a child that left
over three years ago and who had not spoken to the teacher or Headteacher concerning this. Despite this, they were happy with leadership and learning. It was felt that the poor response was due to the fact that most parents only complete the survey when they are unhappy.
There were some overwhelmingly positive comments from other parents and some quotes that we might like to pick out for the website. Action – Anne C
We need to look at this and write a report which reflects the outcome and actions.
Action –BS/PW
25 Governor Training & Feedback
A number of Governors attended the “Safeguarding Children” training course at Little Gaddesden recently and the Governor excel spreadsheet has now been updated to reflect this. Action - LM
Dates and Times of Future Meetings
Tuesday 24thJanuary 2017Governors’ meeting 7.30 p.m.
Tuesday 4July 2017Governors’ meeting 7.30 p.m.
Tuesday3rd October 2017Governors’ meeting 7.30 p.m.
The meeting closed at 9.40p.m