Hunnyhill Primary School Minutes of the Meeting of the Full Governing Body of Hunnyhill Primary School on Governors Present Mrs C King (CK) Chair of Governors Mrs L Evans (LE) Headteacher Mrs M Booth (MB) Mrs J Dix (JD) Mr H Kirby (HK) Mrs M Morris (MM) Parent Miss M Thompson (MT) Staff Apologies Mr D Cooke Absent None Non- Governors in Attendance Miss C Bailey (CB) Clerk to Governing Body Vacancies 1 Local Authority Governor, 2 Governors, 1 Parent Governor Quorum The meeting achieved the minimum number to be considered quorate (4) and remained above this number for all the meeting. Start & Finish Times Meeting convened at 5.30pm and finished at 7.50pm having considered all the items on the agenda. Key: Red: Action Points, Amber: Challenge, Green: Support, Purple: Ring-fenced funding. 1. Elect Chair of Governors CB asked governors to consider the length of term of office for the position of Chair. Remaining with the period stated in the Standing Orders of one year was unanimously agreed. This runs to the first FGB of the next academic year. CB asked for nominations for the position of Chair of the Governing Board. MM nominated CK. There were no other nominations. CK withdrew from the meeting at 5.37pm. Governors discussed the nomination. MM proposed CK as Chair of Governors, MB seconded and the governing board agreed unanimously. CK returned to the meeting at 5.45pm and agreed to accept the position of Chair. 2. Elect Vice Chair of Governors CK asked for nominations for the position of Vice Chair. There were no nominations. Governors discussed the recruitment process that is in progress for co-opted and parent governors. It was agreed to move the election of a vice chair to the meeting on 11 th October 2016 to allow governors time to consider standing. 3. Welcome & Apologies CK welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the new academic year. Apologies were received and accepted from DC. FGB Minutes 13 th September 2016 Page 1
4. Order of Business No other items have been received, and the agenda order stands as listed. 5. Declaration of Interests CB asked governors to declare any business interests other than those on the current form (previously distributed). No further interests were declared. No interests were declared for this meeting. 6. Governing Board Documents: Review Standing Orders: Governors discussed the document and the two suggested amendments: And Meetings: item 16 Governors will report to their committees rather than the FGB Meetings: item 20 to make exception on timing for the submission of questions for late submitted reports. MM prosed adopted subject to the above amendments, LE seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Scheme of Management Delegation: Governors discussed the amendment of sections 46, 50, 57, and 64 due in part to changes in the reporting structure to committees and operational matters. MM proposed adoption subject to the above amendments, HK seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Terms of Reference (ToR): Finance Committee: Governors decided no changes were necessary. JD proposed re-adoption of the ToR for the Finance Committee, HK seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Joint Strategic Committee: Governors decided no changes were necessary. MT proposed re-adoption of the ToR for the JSG Committee, MB seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Pay Committee: Governors discussed the responsibilities section, bullets 1 and 2. It was agreed that bullet 1 should include the LA Pay Policy which includes school support staff. And bullet 2 should redefine the responsibility of the Pay Committee to consider pay applications on request from teachers only. MB proposed adoption of the ToR for the Pay Committee subject to the above changes, CK seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Progress & Attainment Committee: Governors decided no changes were necessary. CK proposed re-adoption of the ToR for the P&A Committee, JD seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Governance Collaboration Agreement: This document now includes staff appointment panels. CK proposed adoption, MM seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Action Point 1: Clerk will update the documents and bring them back to the Chair for signing. 7. Governing Board Responsibilities a) Update on Board membership. There are currently eight governors following the resignations of Mr Cheverton and Mr Bolton due to work time commitments. The Board has 4 current vacancies and one parent space due to become vacant in December CB reported that the parent governors election process is underway and should complete on 14 th October The advertising flyer worked on by MM and CB has been sent to the IW Chamber of Commerce and Newport Business Association; no acknowledgment has been received to date. b) MM and CB collated the skills audits and the following were identified as needed: Legal, Human Resources, Finance and Community experience. The governor role profile document has been developed to cover the main monitoring areas, this will provide a guide to what each role is and the skills required to deliver it. Governors discussed the document and the links back to the skills audit. MT proposed adoption of the Role Profile document, MM seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. FGB Minutes 13 th September 2016 Page 2
b), in part, and c) The Governor Code of Conduct and signing sheet will be moved to the meeting on 11 th October d) Governors discussed allocation of the roles and the following were agreed: DC: Health & Safety JD: Early Years & Foundation Stage MM: Finance and Development of the Board HK: Safeguarding 1, Prevent Agenda and Headteacher PM MB: Pupil Premium CK: Safeguarding 2, Headteacher PM This leaves Community and Marketing which may be good roles for new governors. Allocation of SIP monitoring will be discussed at the meeting on 11 th October Governors discussed committee membership which is defined by the allocated roles with the exception of the pay committee: Progress & Attainment: CK, HK, JD, MT, and LE. Finance: CK, DC, MM, MB, and LE. Joint Strategic Group: CK, LE, Chairs of Committees, Deputy Head, Assistant Head and School Business Manager; the last three are non-voting members. Pay: CK, DC, MM, JD and MB. Only three members of this committee will sit on pay applications which leave two in reserve for appeals. e) Governors confirmed their contact details to CB. f) Progress of DBS checks was discussed and governors were reminded to prove poofs of ID to Mrs Green if they had not already done so. g) Governors provided CB with photographic ID details. 8. Head s Update The school has welcomed one NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) and an Assistant Head who is mentoring the NQT. LE told governors that the atmosphere is positive and everyone is settling well. Year R have settled very quickly, parents are being invited to stay for 10-15 minutes in another area to be reassured that children are settling. This may be extended to coffee and chat sessions to enable Year R parents to meet and to provide information. The school roll stands today at 333 pupils but there are more families being shown round. Numbers in each year are: Year R- 56; Year 1-37; Year 2-47; Year 3-59; Year 4-39; Year 5-37; Year 6-58. Because of the numbers there are two split year classes; a year 1-2 and 4-5. Each group has two members of staff. This is a more financially efficient year as classes are either achieving, or are close to achieving 30 pupils. Turbulence is recorded as 11 leaving and 17 incoming throughout the school. Reasons are known for all the leavers and governors need to be aware that there is one child moved to home education but this is for geographical reasons. Q. Do we know why the incoming pupils are moving here? Some are families coming from the mainland, some are Island movers, but some are from other local schools for various reasons. The school achieved the Science Mark Silver Award. Governors wished to congratulate the school and in particular Mr John Kirby for leading this award. Action Point 2: CK will write to Mr Kirby offering the Board s congratulations. FGB Minutes 13 th September 2016 Page 3
LE told governors that she was investigating a Learning Collaboration with another school. Q. Is the school continuing links with Lanesend Primary? The links with Lanesend have been good but following staff feedback it may be time to look at a fresh collaboration. LE will be talking with the Head at the new school. Action Point 3: CB will place Learning Collaboration on the FGB agenda for 11 th October Foundation level safeguarding training is being held for all staff at school on 21 st October 2016, governors are welcome to attend, please let LE know if you ll be attending. Walkie talkies are becoming essential for safeguarding of pupils on site now the school is increasing in size. Mrs Green is investigating costs, licensing and security of these and will report back to the finance committee. Related to the item above, policies need to be checked with reference to mobile phones. Action Point 4: CB and LE will look at the use of mobile phones in school and how to regulate activity within a policy. For governors information the purchasing of ipads for teachers, as approved by governors last term, has been actioned; they have arrived but need to be set up before distribution. Teacher/school staff training offered by Learning & Development is currently in a disorganised state, some courses have been split across the academic years and the situation is confused regarding what payments cover. The courses have not been properly advertised and, in some cases, not priced. This will be discussed at the Primary Heads Executive on 14 th September SLT member Mrs Morgan is now the training coordinator and there will be a tight needs led programme leaning towards whole school/teacher training inhouse where possible. The school did buy in to Governor Services but there is still a charge for courses, please co-ordinate with MM for training. Rebecca Kingsland (RK)is the new Leading Learning Partner (LLP) and LE will be meeting with her to arrange the dates for Head s PM. RK will be visiting the school on 22 nd September 2016 and governors are asked to attend for the feedback session at 1.30pm. CK and HK agreed to attend. RK is also coming in to talk to the teaching staff on development days, RK has stressed that bringing back to the child is the main objective. Action Point 5: LE will ensure governors receive a precis version of the LLP s presentation to staff. The headline figures for the school will be made available to governors before the FGB on 11 th October These will be from the SEF, SIP and data analysis, and include a key message. The updated crib sheet will also be available. LE informed governors that any Ofsted inspection cannot downgrade solely on the results from last year s data. Teacher assessments across the country indicate in many cases 20% difference to the results. Nationally no county achieved higher than 60%, the Island achieved 48%. Teachers Standards will be a main drive on performance management this year. The Teachers Standards document will be placed in the secure log-in area on the website along with the termly Headteachers Report. Action Point 6: LE with meet with CK to discuss the Teachers Standards document from the DfE. A Welfare page will be added to the school website to tell parents what the school does. JD has met with the welfare lead to discuss the policies involved and school practice; a report will follow. A governor led Have Your Say Day will be organised for the second half of the Autumn Term. Action Point 7: Governors will set up a working group to liaise with the school and set up the Have Your Say Day. 9. Minutes and Matters Arising FGB 12 th July 2016 AP1. The draft leaflet for Family Support Signposting was tabled. FGB Minutes 13 th September 2016 Page 4
AP2. It was agreed by governors that CK would write an open letter to staff welcoming them back to the new school year and thanking them for the work they do. AP3. Monitoring support staff attendance has been placed on the draft Finance agenda. AP4. The skills audits were reviewed and this was discussed under item 7. AP5. Head s report will be on the staff room notice board and discussed at the staff meeting on 14 th September AP6. Governors newsletters are on the school website. AP7. Governors discussed allocation of TLR3 pay awards for short term school improvement projects. It was agreed to wait and see the ideas and level of interest generated by teachers discussions first. LE told governors that there are now two groups set up to give teachers and TAs a platform to discuss ideas. The training of middle leaders is now having a positive impact on the school. AP8. CB notified the clerk at Holy Cross of the Board s decision. AP9. Governors agreed that a meeting on academisation was not needed at the current time. However governors need to complete the online training on Prevent and other child protection areas. Action Point 8: CB will resend the link for the CP courses to governors. AP10. JD forwarded the documents on academisation. AP11. Information on Learning Collaborations will be forwarded after the discussions with the proposed link school. AP12. See AP9. 10. Catering Contract Governors discussed the renegotiation of the catering contract. CK proposed that the Board delegates the responsibility of renegotiation to the Joint Schools Working Group that has been set up, MM seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. 11. Policies Freedom of Information (FoI): There are only minor alterations regarding contact details for this policy. MM proposed the policy for re-adoption, JD seconded and the Board agreed unanimously. Governors discussed the need for a policy to state the school procedure for dealing with FoI requests and agreed it was needed. Action Point 9: CB will research a model policy on dealing with FoI requests. 12. Dates of Next Meetings JSG: Tuesday 20 th September 2016 time is incorrectly listed as 5.30pm it should be 6pm. PAC: Tuesday 27 th September 2016 at 5.30pm. FGB Tuesday 11 th October 2016 at 5.30pm Governors discussed the Pay Committee scheduled for 18 th October and several members of this committee would not be able to attend making it inquorate. It was agreed to hold the PAY Committee after the FGB on 11 th October Pay: 11 th October 2016 after the FGB. Mrs King thanked governors for their time and closed the meeting at 7.50pm Contacts: Chair of Governors: Mrs C King Contact through the Clerk to the Governing Body or via the school office 01983 522506 Clerk to the Governing Body: Miss C Bailey Contact: email: CBailey@hunnyhillschool.co.uk 01983 551412 FGB Minutes 13 th September 2016 Page 5