Summerhill Infant School Governing Body Meeting

Transcription

1 Summerhill Infant School Governing Body Meeting Present Minutes of meeting 1 st October 2015 Susan Foster - Chair Vicky Batlle Simon Fraser Millie Colwey Fiona Baker Declan Fitzgerald Sue Steele William Pritchard Amanda Lane - Clerk 1 Welcome and Apologies Ira De N Yeurt, Joy Hunt, Tim Smith and David Langham had sent their apologies. Nicola Radford was absent. The clerk circulated the attendance sheet, register of pecuniary interests and record of training courses. She also asked Governors to check their details on the new register of interests drawn up for display on the school s website. 2 Election of Vice Chair The clerk reported that she had received a nomination for Tim Smith. Governors elected him for a two year term of office as Vice Chair. There were no nominations for the second Vice Chair so Governors agreed to reconsider the post later in the year. Agenda 3 Meetings Charter and Code of Practice for Governors Governors agreed to adopt the 2015 version of the NGA s Code of Conduct for School Governing Boards and they each signed an individual undertaking. They also re-adopted the Meetings Charter. 4 teacher s Report A written report had been circulated in advance together with a RWI Monitoring Report Term 1, a SEND Report, a paper entitled Annual School Improvement Priorities 2015/2016 and a year planner. In the absence of the Teacher, Vicky presented the reports and answered Governors questions. Governors commented that there was a discrepancy in the data used to illustrate the gender imbalance in Reception. They also queried why there were vacancies. Vicky explained that some pupils allocated to the school had not taken up their places. Governors noted that the EAL statistics were based on information provided by parent/carers. Vicky said that the school would be working with parent/carers to address issues arising from the immature Personal, Social and Emotional development of a significant number of Reception pupils. Governors discussed the new Parental Engagement Courses for PPG parent/carers and noted there had been a 70% take up. They praised this initiative and said they would like to invite Mr Walton to give a presentation later in the year. Agenda

2 Governors considered the Phonics Screening Test target for Y1 and noted that the pass rate in had not been as high as anticipated. Vicky commented that the RWI programme had not introduced pupils to all the required sounds in time for the test and outlined changes that had been put in place for this year. Governors observed that 80% of the pupils who had retaken the test in Y2 had been successful. They suggested that phonics and some of the teaching resources should be included in the programme for the next Governor Day. Vicky said that the school was introducing PM Benchmarking, a reading analytically assessment tool for levelling reading. Vicky reported that lesson observations had taken place in Years 1 and 2. She also gave details of staff training. Governors noted the report s comment that parents in some classes are not unreservedly positive about both behaviour and safety and requested further information. Governors asked for copies of the EYFS and whole school SEFs so they could read them as recommended in the report. Governors asked for a key to be provided for the initials used in the SEND report. Agenda 5 Core Visit Report Governors considered the report on the quality of leadership in and management of the school. Susan said that Governors should let her know if they would like to participate in a future core visit. Govs 6 Governing Body Issues Meeting dates Governors agreed the list of dates suggested by Susan with one amendment to move the first SP&C meeting to Monday 9 th November. The clerk said she would put the dates on the GovernorHub calendar. Named Governors. Governors agreed to keep the same Named Governors as in but noted that changes might be necessary later in the year as some Governors were likely to leave the FGB. Child Protection/ Safeguarding. Declan Fitzgerald (supported by Susan Foster) SEND. Fiona Baker Children in Care. William Pritchard Health and Safety. David Langham (supported by Tim Smith) Pupil Premium. Sue Steele Spiritual, Moral Social and Cultural development. (SMSC) Fiona Baker Governors requested that the school should supply the named Governors with the school addresses of relevant members of staff so they could liaise over meetings and reports. Clerk Link Governors. Millie Colwey volunteered to become a link Governor for EYFS and Sue Steele said she would continue with Governor Training. Governors agreed that Tim Smith would work with William Pritchard as Parent/Carer Link Governors. GovernorHub Healthcheck Susan presented a compilation of Governor answers. She said the

3 outcome had been encouraging. Governors noted that engagement with stakeholders and vision, ethos and strategic direction were areas where some more work was needed. Chair Skills Audit Susan presented an analysis of the skills audit and thanked those Governors who had participated. She said collectively the FGB had the expertise to fulfil all its responsibilities. FGB Terms of Reference The Clerk said auditors considered it good practice for FGB s to adopt standing orders and supplied a draft for Governors to consider. They agreed to adopt the draft with the addition of a statement defining the quorum. Air Balloon Hill Primary School. Susan reminded Governors that the school was seeking volunteers for a panel. She and William offered their services. Governor Bulletin. The Clerk said she had not yet received the Term 1 Bulletin. 7 Committee Structure, Membership and Terms of Reference Governors agreed to keep the same committee structure, terms of reference and membership as last year except for Vicky moving from F&P to SP&C. Finance and Premises. Susan Foster, Tim Smith, Simon Fraser, Joy Hunt, Nicola Radford, David Langham, Ira De N Yeurt. Staffing, Pupil and Curriculum. Sue Steele, Fiona Baker, Millie Colwey, William Pritchard, Declan Fitzgerald, Ira De N Yeurt, Vicky Batlle. 8 Preparation for Ofsted Susan said that an article from the magazine teacher Update outlined the new inspection framework. She said the school would soon be due for an inspection as the last one had taken place in January She suggested Governors should do some preparatory work and recommended a GDS course being held on 13 th October. Governors asked if there could be brief discussions on relevant topics at FGB meetings. They also considered opening up Named Governor meetings with staff members to other interested Governors. Susan Govs 9 Governor Visits to School Susan said that Rachael Stephens was going to give a presentation on phonics at the next FGB meeting. Governors agreed that their Term 1 visit would focus on Pupil Premium and that the school s provision for more able pupils would be considered in Term 2.

4 10 Training Governors confirmed that they had all received the GDS training programme for Susan said she had booked on to a course on the performance management of staff. The clerk said she would investigate how GovernorHub could be used to record the training courses attended by Governors. Susan reminded Governors of the courses provided by ModernGovernor. Clerk 11 Teacher Performance Management Susan reported that she, Sue and Declan had carried out the teacher s annual review with support from Trish Dodds and said they had set targets for the coming year. 12 Consideration of Performance Indicators Governors suggested that an outside advisor should be invited to assist Governors in formulating a shared vision and long term strategy for the school. Chair 13 Parent/Carer Communication William suggested that the next newsletter and parent/carer questionnaire should focus on communication. He said the questionnaire should be sent home in book bags then followed up at the parent/carer conferences. Governors agreed and William volunteered to draw up the rota for attendance at the conferences taking place on 3 rd -6 th November. He also reminded Governors that brief biographies and photographs were needed for the school website. Vicky confirmed that Miss Essex had the task of uploading material on to the website. Governors noted that Joy and Nicola were due to finish their terms of office in 2016 and that two other Governors were possibly going to leave. They suggested that the newsletter could contain information about becoming a Governor and that the school office should have some copies of a leaflet on what it means to be a Governor. Govs 14 Teachers Pay Susan presented a report on Teachers Pay Increments Governors approved the new pay rates and agreed to amend the Pay policy. 15 Policy Review and Adoption Collective Worship. Re-adopted with an amendment stating that the school holds weekly acts of collective worship. Fiona volunteered to check that this did not contravene official guidelines. Governors noted that the policy includes the right of withdrawal and Vicky explained what this means in practice. Parental Complaints. Re-adopted. Fiona 16 Minutes of the Meeting held on 2 nd July Agreed.

5 17 Matters Arising The Clerk said she had arranged for a link to the school website to be displayed on GovernorHub. Governors suggested that the school might use QR codes to encourage more parent/carers to visit the school website. 18 Correspondence Susan reported that she had received three letters of resignation from staff. She said cover had been put in place for the teacher and TA who had already left and that their posts were being advertised.

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