Quality & Standards Committee
Monday 2nd March 2015
Minutes
Present: / 1. / Governance
2. / Minutes
3. / Matters Arising
4. / Self-Assessment Report
5. / In-Year Student Progress
6. / Progress of TLCs
7. / Risk Management
8. / AOB
9. / Dates of Next Meetings
Governors: / Lynn Blades
Ben Charles (Chair)
Jacquie Grice
Helen Pettifor
Gloria Wells
In Attendance: / Ian Hooper
John Rubinstein
Anne-Marie Robinson
Peter Thompson
Beth Yap
1. / Governance
1.1 / Apologies for Absence
Cindy Berman, Annabelle Bhurton, Yousif Alawoad
1.2 / Declaration of Interest
None.
2. / Minutes of the Previous Meeting
2.1 / The minutes of the meeting of 1st December 2014 were approved and signed as a true and accurate record.
2.2 / As no minute was deemed to be confidential, the minutes would published on the College website in their entirety. / BY to upload to web
3. / Matters Arising
10.0 / The item on ‘Equality and Diversity: the impacts on teaching & learning’ was deferred to the next meeting. / IH to prepare for next meeting.
4. / Self-Assessment Report
Ian Hooper presented the Committee with the Self-Assessment Report, which shows the College as good in all areas; leadership & management, assessment and teaching & learning.
The Committee noted;
  • The College has the third highest A Level results nationally.
  • Retention and achievement rates arewell above the national average, with only 12 fails out of 1700 exam entries.
  • Value added is above the national average for both AS and A Levels.
  • Progression to higher education is around 90%.

However the Senior Leadership Team explained that there is further work to do for the College to deem itself as outstanding;
  • Despite an increase from last year, the College is aiming for one in ten, rather than one in twelve, A*s.
  • Increase the number of A*-Bs, particularly in females within the College.
  • Increase passes in STEM subjects.

The Committee reviewed the Quality Improvement Plan and questioned what actions would be taken to achieve its targets. The Senior Leadership Team informed that the College is;
  • monitoring students more closely, and working with those who require additional support to achieve their expected grades.
  • ensuring consistency across the College, in terms of the quality of teaching, assessment and marking.
  • focusing less on ability and more on effort of students.
  • strategizing with students when providing feedback and setting clear expectations.
  • making a better use of data across the College.

The Committee questioned whether the College has investigated any trends in students who were failing. Ian confirmed that there are no patterns in terms of subjects or staff. The Resilience Teaching Learning Community has also held focus groups with students to understand what work can be done to improve resilience in the College.
Governors requested an increased focus on employability within the College. Anne-Marie explained that next week sees an employability week, with guest speakers including ex-students and local businesses.
The Committee questioned whether there was a validation process for the SAR. John explained that the Curriculum Quality Managers and then the Senior Leadership Team review the SAR. John also explained that previously the Challenge Partners moderated the SAR, which was an external perspective, however there is little value in doing this for a third year.
The Committee agreed the SAR Quality Improvement Plan and requested regular updates at Q&S meetings. / IH to provide updates.
5. / In-Year Student Progress
John Rubinstein informed the Committee that the College is monitoring student progress more closely and have doubled the number of report points during the year. The College are also comparing the targets to that of last year to more accurately predict the end of the year results.
The Committee noted that the results for the year look strong for both AS and A2 with higher ‘current working grades’, 83% of which are A*-C grades.
5. / Progress of Teaching Learning Communities.
The Teaching Learning Communities continue to be successful with 46 members of staff taking part in 7 TLCs, which is not compulsory. Each TLC meets on a monthly basis for an hour and all members are cross-curriculum, which has also improved relationships and allowed for sharing best practice within the College.
Governors questioned how the success of TLCs would be measured, understanding that there are many intangibles. Peter explained that ultimately this would be by measuring student benefits with some TLCs already holding focus groups with students discussing the changes in lessons.
The Committee asked what the next steps are for TLCs within the next academic year. John confirmed that a big focus is students from homes where English is an additional language, which creates barriers in learning.
The Committee thanked the leaders of each TLC for their comprehensive reports.
6. / Risk Management
The Committee reviewed the areas of risk for which it had responsibility and was satisfied with the explanations given.
7. / AOB
None.
8. / Dates of Next Meetings
23rd March 2015 / BOARD
1st June 2015 / Quality & Standards Committee
6th July 2015 / BOARD

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