PRIESTMEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL
FULL GOVERNING BODY
MINUTESDate: Thursday 26th March 2015
Time:7.15pm - 9.15pm
Location:Priestmead Primary School
Hera Library
(upstairs, first on the left)
Please note all information is confidential and only to be shared with Priestmead Governors unless otherwise specified. This forms part of the Governor Code of Conduct.
Attendance at this meeting
Keith Savage / Community Governor, Chair / Present
Sash Hamidi / Headteacher / -
Sangita Patel / LA Governor / Present
Cllr. Vina Mithani / LA Governor / Apologies
Peter Feldman / Community Governor / Present
Zeeshan Khalid / Community Governor / Present
Seeta Mepani / Community Governor / Apologies
Andrea Chrysostomou / Parent Governor / Present
Benita Patel / Parent Governor / Present
Craig Chester / Parent Governor - Vice-Chair / Present
Richard Jamieson / Parent Governor / Present
Ann Woodgate / Staff Governor / Present
Sarah Marshall / Staff Governor / Apologies
Jamie Rogers / Staff Governor / Apologies
Wendy Markland / Clerk / Present
Allison Lloyd / Observer / -
Alison Stowe / Observer / Present
At a glance decisions/actions agreed from the meeting
Decision / Action and Who / Due Date / Completion RecordedUpdate from Governing Body Staffing Restructure Phases 3 & 4 Working Group. / Headteacher to email this to all Governing Body members.
Safeguarding meetings / BenitaPatel to attend. / Mondays.
Budget. / Governors to ratify budget. / 14 May 2015.
SFVS / Action: Allison Lloyd & Sangita Patel to ensure completed copies available. / 9am on 30 March 2015.
Spring Term Data Report / Action: Headteacher to update chart and email it to governors. / By the end of Spring term.
Being Prepared for Ofsted Inspection document / Chair to send out Briefing Paper electronically for Governors to complete and return to him to collate.
Ofsted Awareness sheet for Governors / Governors to consider the version handed out compared with Wandsworth version also provided before advising the Chair on which version they prefer.
Governor training / Richard Jamieson to provide email address to Chair.
TABS / Benita Patel sends apologies for next meeting. / 30 April 2015
Minutes
Item / Notes / Action1 / Welcome to new Parent Governor – Richard Jamieson. Governors to introduce themselves & state roles.
Governors introduced themselves.
2 / Apologies for absence
Jamie Rogers and Sarah Marshall (on a PGL Trip).
Cllr. Vina Mithani - due to council meeting.
Seeta Mepani due to another commitment.
Andrea Chrysostomousent word that she might be late arriving.
3 / Declarations of Interest in any items to be discussed at this meeting. Governors to update their declaration of Business Interests form.
No declarations made.
4 / Order of the agenda. To discuss the order of the agenda items, should it be necessary to allocate a different priority order from that given below.
The Governing Body were happy with the order of the agenda.
5 / Minutes of the meeting held on 12th February 2015.
Minutes to be amended to reflect that Craig was Vice Chair and that Peter had given his apologies. Vina is also governor at Glebe school. Query raised about link to the new Framework to Governance document, the Chair said that this has been done. It was noted that the staff pay rise was agreed in the budget previously. The first amount had gone through. The next will be in April/May pay packets. The Chair has forwarded the Instrument of Governance to the Local Authority for endorsement and it has been received back very quickly – all Governors have been sent a copy as is required. The EYFS data has not been done yet. GLaMs and SLA to be done tonight.
Minutes were approved and signed as a true record.
6 / Update from Governing Body Staffing Restructure Phases 3 & 4 Working Group.
The Headteacher is to email the update papers on this to Governing Body. The Working group which was set up is to meet again in May. It was noted that changes in staff restructuring are always difficult. It was understandable that people might feel unsettled and worried about their futures. They will feel unsettled if restructuring contains personalisation. / Action: Headteacher
7
7.1 / L&M: Headteachers Report
Headteacher’s Report for Spring term including-
7.1Staffing update including staff absence spreadsheet/analysis & Performance Management – midyear review/update
7.2Premises Report – inc PSBP & BrightKidz update & LA Bulge request & new Pedestrian access proposal
7.3Safeguarding update
7.4QuickKey – Current Primary Accountability Reform
7.5Headteacher Report
7.6SEF (Full version) This will not be discussed page by page at this meeting, but will be looked at closely at TABS and GLaMs after Easter
Headteacher’s report also contains TABS and GLaMsupdate reports as Committee meetings for each of these were not held this term.
Staffing report
Since September teacher absence has fallen by 32%; support staff absence has fallen by 17%. “Days lost” refers to the equivalent number of working days lost.
Teachers: -150 days lost. Support staff -300 days lost. Overall staff attendance is just over 95%. The totals are falling. This will be looked at in GLAMS in much more detail. Governors asked whether these figures were higher or lower than normal and how they compared with similar sized schools. The Headteacher said that it is difficult to establish a benchmarkand it would be almost impossible to find a similar school with a “typical” sickness pattern. The hope for 97% attendance as that is what is expected from the children. These figures are just the starting point for a deeper investigation into this issue.
The Headteacher reported that no staff have indicated that they are leaving this year. A number of people have been recruited for September.
Appraisal – We had aimed to reach 80% teaching at Good or better,we currently havegood at 87%. Teachers are aware of what we are looking for. The quality of teaching is getting better but is not consistent. Improvements are required. The Headteacher talked about the School Centre Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) Programme initiative which will be run jointly with a Sudbury School. Alison Stowe will be the lead person from Priestmead. In 2015-16 we will only need 3 NQTs. Interviewing for these posts takes place this week. 3 candidates are from theHarrow Primary Pool. This year only 51 turned up for interviews, a lot lower than in previous years. 3 days of interviews were planned but interviews finished after 1½ days. Harrow happy to support Priestmead’s application, which means there will be a good network of candidates. Candidates would apply to “Priestmead who is affiliated to the university of X”. The Headteacher, Alison Stowe, Allison Lloyd and the Chair are due to visit one of the pioneering SCITT schools in May to see how it operates. The programme is self-funding and self-sustaining. As a Knowledge Centre we would also attract funding from HSIP.
Premises Report – produced mostly by Mark Alwyn and Allison Lloyd.
The playground development starts on Monday and will be carried out over the Easter break. A grant application has been made so that the other playground works can be done. Governors asked whether the new equipment can be relocated when the PSBP works start – they can.
Year 1 – solution to class bulge location is that the kitchen prep room, which formed part of last year’s refurbishment, will become a Year 1 classroom. A mobile catering unity will be providedfor one year to enable the food to be prepared outside the current building and then brought back in. There will be no cost to the school and school will get money to convert another room into a classroom.
Priority Schools Building Programme – BrightKidzhave received their termination notice. They have acknowledged that their contract is ending. The Council are keen for them to be looking for alternative accommodation and not just relying on the Council to find them a new location as it is not their responsibility to do so.There is the possibility that if they do move they would have to re-tender for the pre-school provision.
Lettings for the Kenton Tuition Centre have not been sorted out yet. The requested information on this letting should be ready for the GLaMs meeting after Easter.
The Headteacher updated Governors that the school is looking at ways of improving the pedestrian entrance from the corner of the service road. Mark has reviewed thefive quotes received – details were contained in the Governor information pack. Although five quotes were obtained two do not cover the cost of the whole project. The quote provided by GDL has a greater understanding of what is required andthey will do the whole package, including CCTV. Their quote is £24,917 – not the cheapest but it offers the most “together” package. 2 references from other schools have been obtained (Welldon Park and St Johns) who say they are satisfied with the service received from GDL. Other contractors would subcontract some of the work out or just would not be able to complete it i.e. Harling spoke from a business point of view; saying that they would need to approach another contractor to dig the required trench. GDL said it would be straightforward. Harling did not understand what was wanted to be achieved by the school. GDL will be also be replacing the cameras as well as installing new cabling, whereas Harling will not. Terry & Stephens prefer to carry out small, basic work (eg. The boy’s toilets refurbishment).
The recommendation was to place the order with GDL and the Chair asked Governors to approve/ratify the £24,917 spending required. Governors approved placing the order with GDL.
As Safeguarding Governor Benita is to attend staff safeguarding meetings on Monday afternoon’s.
Primary Accountability Reform – The Headteacher explained that baseline testing children on arrival at primary school was now well established however the tests were changing. Harrow is endorsing the latest test type format and a decision is needed by 30 April. There are new scaled scores in both KS1 and KS2 were 100 will be the expected score. The NHT Union is not overly happy about it, querying what testing will do for a younger child’s self-esteem. The floor standard it is aiming for is 85%. The progress measure does not say how progress is to be measured, EYFS profile will be discontinued and replaced by the test. There will be a framework but it will not be reported nationally.
Update on Headteachers Report Spring Term 2015
- Behaviour – fixed term exclusions for 3 children but 1 family intends to appeal.
- Reception, Years 1 and 2 already have a free school meal and so this means that a number of eligible parents are not submitting their applications for Pupil Premium and so this will affect the school budget next year. In order to encourage more parents to apply we may move towards offering uniform vouchers. Offers of iPad minis have proved successful in other schools in relation to increasing Pupil Premium funding. We are trying to close the gap with the additional funding. When the current Pupil Premium children move on if their funding is not replaced this will affect Priestmead financially.
- Note “Punjabi” is spelt wrongon SIMS.
- Nikki Metcalf meets with each new family and the school makes a best fit for all the families, making the assessment at the first meeting.
- Governors queried whether there was another depth. If the first language is not English but the family is fluent in English that could indicate an advantage. It was noted that once there was some grasp of the language children often made leaps and bounds in progress. Priestmead will often pair a new arrival with older children who are fluent in their language.
Andrea and Zeeshan arrived / Action: Benita Patel
8 / L&M: Finance Report
8.1 2014- 2015 Budget update/report, including anticipate close out & carry forward figures.
8.2 Proposed SLAs for next academic year (PreReading)
8.3 Proposed 2015 – 2016 Budget Plan
8.4 SFVS submission
Requests to Governing Body:
We need to do two virements, taking monies from Cost Centre A000 – Contingency and transferring it to Cost Centre Code A901 - £15,000 to recover unspent Staff Insurance funds and £15,237 to Cost Centre Code C108 – to cover the cost of purchasing new books. Governors approved the Chair signing these requested virements.
The closing budget for 2014/15still has a balance of £243,000 available. The school wants to allocate some of this budget by spending £20,000 as an investment in Early Years, £33,000 into Schools Direct scheme which we mean three additional posts can be funded from September (part funded from the Department of Education) – see below and a sum for upgrading the school’s internal and external CCTV system.
A figure of £75,000 will be allocated towards the PSBP building programme.
The final budget planning sheet will be ready for discussion at GLAMS after Easter. Governors must ratify the budget at their meeting on 14 May.
Any remaining contingency fund – going towards topping up books, Maths, IT and English.
Service Level Agreements– The Headteacher went through the Service Level Agreement (SLA) pack to agree which packages the Governing Body were being asked to sign up to. After some discussion about the services being provided for some of the packages Governors agreed to sign up to the pack – the Chair countersigned the pack ready to be sent off to the Local Authority. SLA figures have already been inserted into the budget planning spreadsheet.
Harrow Music Service – Will no longer be part of the offer provided by the Local Authority. This service has already been signed up to and Governors’ approval was sought. Governors approved the purchase of this provision.
SFVS – Noted that only the odd pages had been photocopied (because document was double sided). SFVS must be signed off by Tuesday. Action: Allison Lloyd and Sangita Patel (Chair of GLaMs) to ensure complete copies are available - by 9am on Monday morning – ready to be signed by Sangita. / Action: Allison Lloyd and Sangita Patel
9 / L&M: Data Report
DISCUSSION: 9.1 Spring Term Data – whole school
9.2 OfSTED Data Dashboard(PreReading)
The Ofsted Data Dashboard has now been released. The issue is whether Priestmead is above the dotted line or below it. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are all good, Writing is on the line. Maths is strong. Closing the gap is a strength but is not happening in all Year Groups. Reading: the gap is closing but attainment is not – there was a discussion as to why this might be the case. In Maths the gap is also closing. GPS is closing. Writing is closing but this is not hitting attainment. It was noted that Priestmead is currently a boy heavy school.
KS1 – Need to catch up Reading attainment, but Writing and Maths are both good. Gap is not closing quickly enough in Year 2 despite a number of strategies and interventions.
Spring analysis – Target areas from Autumn reviewed. 2 groups: (i) SEN children in Year 5 (the most statemented children are in this group); (ii) Writing.
Year 1 – no progress in Maths for 2 terms. Year 2 looks promising. 65% have 2Bs in reading so far. Year 3 – on track to reach their targets. Year 4 – experienced a disjointed timetable therefore erratic progress.Years 3 and 4 are performing above their age related expectation as a cohort. Year 5 – a range of different approaches have been tried – some very successfully. Year 6 – looks positive. Attainment levels have improved. / Action: Headteacher to update chart and email it to governors.
Inclusion Report – AS
A presentation on Inclusion – “Vision into Action” was shown. Priestmead is aiming to be a fully inclusive school, creating lifelong learners. Discussions with the SENCO about taking trips both inside and outside of the school have been held. The G&T provision, Pupil Premium and ASD unit are all building in resources to aid learning. We now have good EAL support for children who are fluent in other languages via new TA’s. The focus going forward will be on trips, Arts, playground behaviour.
Science focus (tried to involve children in enjoying the solar eclipse but it was cloudy); workshopsstill took place. Sports – Korfball, European netball trophy.Health living; Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural aspects are all a focus.
Money has been spent on: 1:1 support, booster groups, playground equipment, books and CDs/ Lego, music instruments. TAs have been recruited who speak Romanian and Arabic.
Involving Families’policy: providing improved family support for children, signposting families to parenting classes, learning mentors, developing relationships with parents, parent voice meetings, a chance for all to see school at work and at play.
Aim: That all children leave Priestmead having been treated inclusively, with measurable success in achievements as well as attainment, creating independent, resilientandlifelong learners.
We have received lump sum money from HSIP to lead and set up Knowledge Centre.
10 /
DISCUSSION: Being Prepared for Ofsted Inspection - Briefing Paper
Hand out provided for Governors (NGA version) – The Chair undertook to this out to Governors electronically for them to complete and return to him to collate.Ofsted Awareness sheet for Governors – Governors to fill in what they can from the evidence that they have and their initials – this will be collated into one master document.A different version is also available as used by Wandsworth Council. Governors to compare both and let the Chair know which one they prefer. / Action: Keith
Action: Governors
11 / Possible OfSTED Inspector questions:-
Strengths & areas of development for the Governing Body
- What is the proportion of teachers who have progressed along the main pay scale, those progressing to, and through, the upper pay scale, those on the leadership scale, and teachers who have achieved additional responsibility points? How is this related to their Performance Management?
- How has the school changed since the last inspection – eg expansion, demographic changes, staff changes, new projects? Have the changes had any impact on pupil attainment, attendance, safety etc, and if so, how has this been addressed?
- Broadly speaking, are you familiar with the trends in attainment over the last 3 years?
Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2
How does this compare with national data?
It was noted that the questions are not intended to be a memory test. The most important thing is for the Governors to be aware of the information and to know that it exists and where.
- Information on teacher progression (87%) etc is in the HT Report. Performance Management relates to information from last year’s review and awards as reported back to Governors.
- Since the last inspection there have been 5 Headteachers, a new SMT is in place, the school has been carpeted, the pupil profile has changed sugnificantly, there has been an increase in the variety of languages spoken (Gujaratiand Romanian). 5 years ago Gujarati was by far the most prevalent. Staff demographic has changed too. Staff are now younger due to retirement and staff progression, therefore less experienced. The ethnic make-up of staff is now more representative of the local community. There are more bulge classes. By 2020 the pupil figure will be 900. Early Years – there was a dip in 2013 but there was an improvement in 2014.
12 / Training for Governors
Local Authority Governor Training & Development Programme
The Chair has spoken to Richard Jamieson about undertaking the new Governor training. His needs Richard’s email address.
AHGB – Forthcoming twilight session was highlighted. Date not yet known. Location: Park High. / Action: Richard and Keith
13 / Any other relevant business. It would be helpful if Governors could give prior notice to the Chair so that any relevant information can be made available at the meeting.
-new website for Priestmead Governors
- Confirming a date for Summer Term Governor Day
- Apologies for next TABS meeting from Benita. Meeting will be on 30 April.
14 / What did this meeting accomplish which will help our Priestmead children and staff to better succeed (contribute to the school Self Evaluation Form)?
- Improved handling of data.
- School entrance improvement works.
- Approval of virements and spending of remaining budget.
- School is in a healthier financial position.
Date of next FGB meeting is Thursday 14th May 2015