King Edward Vii School

KING EDWARD VII SCHOOL

MINUTES OF FULL GOVERNORS MEETING

Tuesday 27 March 2012: 6pm – 8pm

Upper School

PRESENT:

Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors (CL)
Beverley Jackson, Headteacher (BJ)
Barbara Walsh (BW)
Huw Parker (Deputy Headteacher HP )
Karl Gehring (KG)
John Cornwell (JC)
Rob Whittingham (Deputy Headteacher RJW) / Will Davey (WD)
Matt Naylor (MN)
Michael Williams (MW)
Clare Allison (CA)
Carol James (CJ)
Hilary Mesher (HM)
Caroline Fisher (CF)
Ghasem Norouzi (GM)

IN ATTENDANCE: J Jackson, Clerk to the Governors

No. / ITEM / ACTION / BY
DATE
1. / Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from:
Linda Gooden (Deputy Headteacher LGO), Steve Haake (SH), Amanda Dempsey (AD), Rachel Cornish (RC), Najma Khurshid (NK), Asma Khurshid (AK), Rebecca Kay (RK)
The meeting was quorate.
2. / Declaration of any Pecuniary Interests
Governors were asked to declare any pecuniary interests. There were no interests declared.
3. / Confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting and report on matters arising from the minutes
Air Raid Shelter: BJ has received outline drawings from John Lee, but no costs. BJ met recently with Cary Hadfield of Vinci to discuss the drawings being submitted to the Planning Department. Cary will encourage John Lee to complete the drawings. If planning permission is agreed it would be valid for three years.
City Wide Learning: BJ has had no further meetings with Primary Heads. BJ has attended the City Wide Learning Body Secondary Heads meeting also attended by Sonia Sharp where discussions of collaborative ways of working and formally sharing good practice were discussed. JC asked if all Heads attended these meetings and were they genuinely interested in the matter. BJ thought that since Helen Storey had become Chair of Secondary Heads that the situation was pulling together more positively.
Academy Status: BW said she had read some SASGB correspondence relating to Academies which reported that KES was expressing an interest and why this would be. BJ suggested that there was confusion with KES and King Ecgbert School. CL clarified that she had already raised this matter with SASGB and that they were reporting very old information from the LA at the point at which schools were opting in to the BSF programme. KG suggested writing to SASGAB (Sheffield Association of School Governing Bodies) and Sheffield City Council stating that KES has not expressed an interest in becoming an Academy, but CL said it that the LA and SASGB were clear that KES was not about to consult on Academy status. CL reported that around half the city’s secondary schools are now actively moving toward or have achieved Academy status. Academy Status to be placed on July’s agenda for further discussion and to establish the situation of other schools.
UTC: BJ updated Governors that Nick Crew has been appointed as the Principal, to commence September 2012. / BJ
BJ/CL
4. / Ofsted Framework – presentation by BJ
·  BJ distributed a document detailing the new framework guidance and explanation of grade descriptors.
·  BJ distributed some notes regarding the new Ofsted schedule rising from the recent seminar that BJ, CL & HP had attended, led by Andy Swallow.
·  BJ said staff would receive a full brief on the new framework at the Training Day on Monday 16 April 2012.
·  Leadership Team and Curriculum Leaders will attend a training session at Tapton School later in the year.
·  BJ made Governors aware of an Ofsted report on William Howard School which is a similar size/type of school to KES and showed that under the new framework, double the amount of lessons had been observed compared to the last Ofsted visit in 2009.
·  HP pointed out that Meadowhead’s recent inspection stated that the inspection team felt that leaders at every level did not have a clear idea in knowing their own strengths and weaknesses ie best areas of teaching.
·  BW said she felt concerned about whether she would be able to answer questions from an inspection team with sufficient detail regarding such things as lesson observations. BJ referred to the information LGO collates which is distributed to Governors. CL proposed that a briefing note be put together in September to give relevant information to Governors in preparation for the visit.
·  BJ informed Governors that the Leadership Team’s work on the (new) SEF document shows Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development as a strength of the school.
·  Discussions took place about judgements in the area of Behaviour and Safety. The school would be unlikely to get good achievement if the behaviour is not good.
·  BJ distributed an ASCL (Association of School & College Leaders) article regarding recent inspections, and asked Governors to read.
Ofsted to be placed on July’s agenda for further discussion.
BJ also requested for July’s agenda: SEF strengths and areas for development.
BJ distributed the first section of the new SEF “Our Characteristics” to Governors and asked them to read in preparation for discussion at the next meeting, with any ideas from Governors in the meantime to be emailed to BJ. The document has been seen by curriculum leaders. CL asked if the SEF had been backed up by the student voice. BJ said that it had, confirmed by positive comments received from parents on parent questionnaires. BJ reminded Governors that sections of the previous SEF had been distributed to the student council. CL invited further questions from Governors. / BJ/CL
ALL
ALL
5. / Improving Governance – BW
BW distributed a document which Governors will build on, showing the outcomes from team discussions at the previous Full Governors meeting. Teams of three were formed again and priorities and improvements on governance were discussed, outcomes as follows:
·  Carol James suggested making good use of the skills of the Governing Body through the skills audit. She agreed to circulate a form asking Governors to indicate their area of expertise, ie finance management, PSHE, higher education – a draft document to be sent to BJ.
·  The document produced by S Haake for Curriculum & Performance meeting to be circulated to all Governors and to be combined into one document.
·  WD suggested it would be a good idea for Governors to spend some time with a teacher and that it would be useful for Governors to learn about what jobs other Governors do as not everyone is aware of what jobs their colleagues have.
·  WD suggested sending a document to parents detailing what Governors do, what their jobs are, and some background information, the document could be placed on the MLE for parents to view.
·  CL said she has asked AD to look at the school website to give it a critical update/refresh regarding information on Governors.
·  BW suggested that Governors produce a small paragraph about themselves and send to JJ for collation. BJ has some examples to assist – JJ will distribute.
·  MW’s team suggested that Governors meet with students (school councillors) and that a Governors meeting be held during the school day where students can attend and ask questions.
·  BJ reminded Governors that at the last Ofsted inspection there had been a list of questions that Ofsted may ask students. Governors could put together something similar.
·  Governors were concerned that for those who had sent apologies for any Governor meetings, and where extra papers are distributed on the day, they would miss out on this information. It was suggested that Governors be given log in details to access the MLE where information can be placed for them to access. JJ to ask David Kavanagh to produce the log-ins. JJ will ensure that for anyone not present at future meetings, that they are emailed/posted a full set of the extra papers distributed at the meeting (endeavour to email/post the usual papers out seven days prior to the meeting). Some concerns were raised about placing confidential information on the MLE, further discussion needed on this.
·  Concerns raised about the large amount of papers that are circulated – suggestions of producing an executive summary detailing key issues and an interpretation of them to Governors to sit at the front of longer documents.
·  Suggestions of Governors to attend parents evenings – based around Raising Attainment or another topic. BW & CL to meet to prepare an action plan.
·  BW asked Governors to take a copy of extracts from reports on best practice, available on the desk. / CF/SH
CF/SH
CL/AD
ALL/JJJ
JJ
CL/BW
6. / Governor Enquiry Visits - CL
·  Discussions took place as to whether Governors would like to be linked to specific subjects/departments.
·  Staff to invite a small group of Governors into school.
·  A programme to be drawn up – with feedback to be shared, but firstly agreed by the Head of Department
CL asked Governors how they felt about the above suggestions.
·  MW said he felt that staff would be concerned at how many observations were taking place, the school already has various cycles in place throughout the year.
·  CL clarified that Governor visits would not form part of these lesson observation cycles or performance management so there was no cause for concern from staff.
·  HP advised that some departments would be more than willing so to proceed with those departments as a starting point.
·  The visits do not have to be subject specific but could also be by year group. CL suggested that the first visit be aimed at a one specific year group, the situation to then be reviewed. A programme of visits is to be drafted up. CL asked for Leadership Team and subject leaders to promote the visits. / CL/BJ
7. / Reports from Committees – Curriculum & Performance 14 March 2012
RJW to email his powerpoint presentation from the 14 March meeting, to all Governors. RJW offered to give the presentation again at a future meeting. MN suggested that any important issues raised at C&P meetings should perhaps then go to the Full Governors meeting, ie the recent changes in curriculum. MW asked if those subjects affected by the changes had now been fitted into other suitable slots. RJW confirmed this.
8. / Chairperson’s Correspondence
9. / Any Other Business – City Wide Secondary Chair of Governors
CL said she had attended four meetings with Chairs of Governors from Secondary Schools (including those that were Academies) across the City. CL asked Governors if they were in agreement with her seeking nomination as Chair of this committee, all agreed. CL invited BW to attend the group as Vice Chair. The position of Chair would be on a yearly rotation basis.
Behaviour to be placed on the next Full Governors agenda in July.
10. / Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 15 May 2012. 6pm. Upper School

1

Signed …………………………….. Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors