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The Langtree School Academy Trust Company
a company limited by guarantee
(the "Academy Trust")
Company number: 7980335
Minutes of a meeting of the directors of the Academy Trust, duly convened and held at Langtree School, Woodcote, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 0RA on Tuesday 26th September 2012 at 7:00pm.
Present: / Rob Pickering (RP) (Chair)Rick Holroyd (RH)(Headteacher)
Neil McIntosh (NM)
Sarah Hobbs (SH)
James See (JS)
Jan Seal-Roberts (JSR)
(Vice-Chair) Arrived 7.55pm / Alan Broomhead (AB)
Isabel Aisbitt (IA)
Val Nowell (VN)
Amanda Holland (AH)
In attendance: / Lindsay McLoughlin (Clerk)
Apologies: / Robin Peirce (RP)
Peter Allen (PA)
Brian Davies (BD)
1.Welcome and Apologies
RP opened the meeting at 7.00pm by welcoming the directors to the meeting. Apologies were recorded and accepted from RP, PA, and BD.
2.Election of Chair & Vice-Chair
RP and JSR stood for Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, and were duly elected for a term of one year.
3.Procedural Issues
3.1Quoracy - The meeting was quorate, there being more than half the directors present.
3.2Declarations of Pecuniary Interests & Other – None declared for this meeting. However, after the meeting closed, RP informed the clerk of an additional pecuniary interest. RP now has a client called Inspired to Lead as a business coaching client. He wishes to draw it to the public attention that this client may deal with Langtree at some stage. A signed declaration will be placed on the file after the next board meeting.
3.3Changes of Address/Email – None.
4.Governor Resignations/Appointments/Vacancies
RP advised directors that George Byrne had recently resigned from the Board. RP thanked him for his valuable contribution to the board. The resulting vacancy was addressed later in the meeting via AOB.
5.Minutes of the Last Board Meeting
The minutes of Monday 25th June 2012 were accepted as a true record, and duly signed.
6.Matters Arising from the Minutes
None.
7.Committee Reports
7.1Curriculum Committee (Minutes circulated in advance)
7.1aIt was established that the Terms of Reference would be reviewed at the next board meeting.
Action: Clerk to ensure it is on agenda
7.1bIt was proposed and agreed the board should have a link governor to work with the Educational Visits Coordinator. This would provide an extra level of support outside of the committee.
Action: JS to discuss with BD
7.1cPrior to the meeting, a series of questions had been circulated and submitted to RH designed to understand the reasons behind the disappointing 2012 English exam results. RH had responded to the enquiries and provided further information via his presentation.
7.2Finance & Planning Committee (Minutes circulated in advance)
7.2aAt a recent Health & Safety Inspection, minor items had been highlighted. It was proposed and agreed that Health & Safety should be placed on all committee and board agendas in order to maintain the focus.
Action: Clerk & All Committees to ensure on agenda
7.2bThe budget contained some good news in that there was a surplus within the current account. An amount would remain in the account to meet expenses, but some would be moved to a deposit account.
7.2cDirectors discussed the current relationship with the cleaning contractors.
7.2dThe charging policy had been reviewed and was to follow.
7.2eA complaints policy should be placed on the website, with possibly an additional one for students.
Action: RH to add policy to website
7.2fThere is a possibility that 10 car parking spaces could be created from the land outside. However, this is a costly exercise and not a priority.
8.Headteacher’s Report (Circulated in advance)
8.1 There had been a positive start to the term/academic year. The first set of refurbished toilets had been completed and signed off on the day of the meeting. Students had been involved in the whole process. This had included working with the graphic designer on an “Expect it; Respect it” logo which was part of the student-led campaign.
8.2Over the summer, there had been a parental complaint about school uniform. RH had spoken to the parent concerned and the issue had been resolved. RH advised that he had also received positive feedback from parents about the uniform. Governors added that they felt that the uniform was a contributory factor to an improved attitude to learning by students, and an improvement in behaviour.
9.Presentation – 2012 Exam Results
9.1The examination results for 2012 had produced a mixed picture for Langtree. 70% of students had achieved 5+ A*-C grades, which continued the upward trend in the headline figure over time. In addition, the proportion of full GCSE grades awarded at A* and A grades was 34%, which was the highest the school had ever attained. The EBacc measure also increased to 25%, an increase of 5% on 2011, with a noticeable improvement on the performance of the boys on this measure. Overall, the median grade awarded was again a grade B, which maintains an improvement from the median grade C achieved up to 2009.12% of the cohort achieved A* or A grades. However, the proportion of students securing 5+ A*-C grades with English and Maths fell to 51%, which was short of the prediction (63%).
9.2The Curriculum Committee had queried the reasons behind this disappointing result with RH prior to the board meeting. RH had replied in detail, and now presented to the board a full and detailed explanation, together with a KS4 Action Plan 2012-14 (in which a lot of work had already been undertaken).
9.3RH stressed that the 51% was the highest key priority focus across the school. He assured directors that there is no complacency within the school; everyone is totally committed to the sole focus of significantly improving on this result for the 2013 series.
9.4A key issue for 2012/13 would be to boost the attainment of boys in order to reduce the gender differential in performance. While the school’s more able students did very well in English and Literature, there is clearly a trend of underperformance in the middle ability range, and especially amongst the boys.
9.5Directors were advised that every student had achieved a qualification. RH said that his staff had worked really hard and diligently throughout the year, and these successes were in no small part due to both the staff and the learning support team.
(Note: JSR arrived 7.55pm)
9.6RH highlighted features and circumstances that may have contributed to the results. This included:
aChanges to boundary/English Language. From Jan 2012 to June 2012, Edexcel changed the marks boundaries meaning that, in June, students were required to achieve 10 additional marks to get a C.
bDelivery of a new specification. The course had been delivered according to Edexcel guidelines, but the awarding body had changed the course structure. Directors asked what other schools had done differently, but every school has its own story and every cohort varies.
cIn 2011 the ratio of mentors to mentees was 1:12. In 2012 this has been significantly improved and is now 1:5. This should have a significant impact on the success of the scheme.
Action: RH to consider addressing boys and parents and/or convening a boys’ pupil panel
dLiteracy levels of middle ability boys. CATS and verbal scores illustrate a difference between girls and boys in literacy/verbal skills.
eAttendance of the boys
fImpact of the Academy conversion process
9.7RH is confident that the current Year 11 have a different outlook and, with the KS4 action plan already in place, he is positive about the year ahead. In addition, some of the features above, that may have contributed, will no longer apply. Eg. Academy conversion
9.8Looking ahead to 2017,RH is predicting that the current Year 7 year group boys and girls would achieve 66% and 83% respectively, based on their CATS results. He is working with the feeder primary schools to look at improving literacy for continuity and progression. RH is also interested in working with these schools to use SATS to test skills that would need improvement at secondary level.
9.9The two top groups will continue to take English and English Literature as two separate GCSE’s. Students in the middle and lower groups will take the combined English course and there will be no future entries for Digital Communication. In this way, the department will be focusing on the priority of English for all.
9.10One director asked if students were taking too many examinations. RH suggested that this was a matter for the Curriculum Committee to discuss, prior to a full review by all directors.
Action: Clerk to remind Curriculum to add to agenda & bring to Board/December
9.11The school has asked for a re-marking in one or two subjects, eg Art for the second year. This is based on advice to all schools to seek an appeal where an injustice may have taken place.
10.Ratification of Policies
10.1RH had prepared a schedule for policies to be regularly reviewed. Each policy had been allocated to a sub-committee who was delegated the responsibility of reviewing at the scheduled intervals. Governors agreed that, once the committee had reviewed the policy, it could be brought to the next board meeting for adoption. Once adopted, the policy would be posted as live and active on the website.
10.2The Health & Safety policy had been reviewed and was accepted by the Board. In addition, the policy had been shared with the inspectors at the recent Health & Safety visit, and they had been content. There were some typos, which RH would amend, prior to posting on the website.
Action:RH to amend and post Health & Safety policy to website
10.3The Charging policy was currently with the bursar, and would be made available at the next board meeting.
10.4New appraisal regulations were now in place which would feed into the policy on teaching and learning.
Action: Curriculum Committee to review new PM policy on completion
11.Membership of Community Committee & Date of First Meeting
11.1The members of the Community Committee would be RP, RP, JSR, RH, AH & VN. They are due to meet on 14.11.2012.
11.2Committee schedule and related terms of reference to be reviewed at next board meeting
Action: RP & Clerk to circulate current committee schedule
Action:Clerk to ensure committee membership review & related terms of reference is on agenda for next meeting
11.3Parents will be involved in a consultation regarding reporting to parents and consultation evenings, as part of a whole school review proposed in the SIP for 2012-13.
Action: The Community Committee to review/take forward and bring back to board
12.Directors Contact Details
Directors agreed that they wanted to continue to have an open and accessible policy in terms of communication with eg. parents. However, it was understood that adirector could not respond as an individual to an enquiry because they are a member of a full governing body which makes decisions collectively. It was agreed that stakeholders should definitely have a route/access to directors should they raise a concern. The school would list the names of governors on the website, along with a clerk to directors email address. The clerk would receive the enquiry, acknowledge it and share with the directors appropriately.
Action: RH to incorporate into complaints policy and arrange to update website accordingly
(Note: NM left meeting)
13.AOB
13.1One director highlighted to RH that there were elements of the website that were out of date.
Action: AH to update RH subsequently
13.2The website should include a description of a governing body. It will also have a complaints policy posted when it becomes available.
Action: RH to refer to website team
13.3The clerk had had an enquiry from a parent about access to the minutes. It was agreed that signed off minutes would be posted on the website (usually after the subsequent meeting).
Action: Clerk to remind RH to take this forward
13.4The clerk had recently circulated briefing feedback. RP highlighted that equality and the pupil premium reporting were now due.
Action: Clerk to re-circulate briefing feedback along with relevant attachments. Directors to review and take forward as appropriate
13.5Directors agreed to seek three parent directors and two further directors to join the board.
Action: RH and RP to start the election and invitation processes
14.Date and Time of Next Meeting
Wednesday 5th December 2012, 7pm at Langtree School.
There was no further business and the chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.55pm.
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Chairman
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Dated
Signed ……………… Date ………….. Minutes drafted/L McLoughlin/26.09.12