County Governor Forum

Date Thursday 27th March 2014

Time 18:00 – 20:30

Location Conference Room, Falcon House, Winchester

Present: / Cllr Peter Edgar
Governors
Robin Gray
Sylvia Vine
John Mason
Shirley Nellthorpe
Andrew Turk
Roy Lee
Dave Wright
Peter Higgs
Andy March
Pat Statham
Hampshire County Council / Lead Member for Education (Chair)
John Coughlan
John Clarke
Mandy Parsons / Director of Children’s Services
Deputy Director, Children’s Services
Governor Services
Amanda Stevens
Glynis Wright
Helen Hardy / Education Personnel Services
HIAS
Clerk
Apologies: / Martina Humber / Governor
1. / Welcome and Apologies
Councillor Edgar welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies were received and accepted as above.
2. / Minutes of Previous Meeting (7 November 2013) and matters arising
The minutes of the meeting on 7 November 2013 were accepted as a true and accurate record. There were no matters arising that were not covered by agenda items.
John Clarke informed the meeting that Lisa-Marie Smith (senior teaching and learning adviser – behaviour and attendance) and Philip Walker (post-14 learning) will be invited to a future meeting.
Members reiterated their thanks to Amanda and the EPS team for their hard work on the Teachers’ Pay Policy.
3. / Chairman’s Update
·  On 24 February he had looked at the recent ministerial group briefing highlighting at least a dozen things LAs should be doing to support education which Hampshire is already doing.
·  The recent Select Committee meeting had considered pre-school education; the Early Help Hub project in Eastleigh and budget reorganisation.
·  Visited EPS and was very impressed with all their work in Hampshire and beyond.
4. / Feedback from HGA
The recent HGA meeting had discussed the financial issues and budget changes.
Some governors had raised concerns through the HGA that there is a perceived “unwillingness” in Hampshire to prosecute parents for non-attendance at school and a belief that other authorities are prosecuting more often. John Clarke will provide figures from across the county for the next meeting. He added that there is no ideological reason why Hampshire would not be doing it, as they have been implementing penalty notices on the Isle of Wight (354 in the Autumn term alone). / JCl
5. / Teacher Recruitment and Retention
Amanda Stevens presented information on the work EPS is doing on recruitment and retention in Hampshire. She provided information on the national context and a recent survey conducted in Hampshire on the issue. 183 schools responded to the survey across all geographical areas, phases and sectors, governance models and Ofsted categories.
EPS anticipates that the Headteacher recruitment issues are likely to remain the same for around the next 10 years in Hampshire.
Governors expressed concern about the worries schools have about the quantity and quality of NQTs. Amanda Stevens explained that they are sharing the information with the local universities to try and resolve this issue. The quantity of NQTs is not within their control.
A governor asked about the shortage of maths teachers able to teach the new maths syllabus AS explained that maths is already registered as a shortage subject with the Borders Agency so they are able to recruit from outside the EEA. EPS is pursuing registering English as a shortage subject as well.
A governor talked about the situation in her school where they are trying to recruit a deputy Headteacher and are now in the second round and there has only been one applicant. Amanda Stevens confirmed that this is not an unusual situation and EPS are looking at introducing more flexible ways of recruiting to leadership roles such as supporting secondees to DHT roles.
A governor asked if EPS ever considers using headhunting Amanda Stevens confirmed that they will look at this if it is necessary.
6. / Teachers’ Pay Changes
Amanda Stevens provided a brief report of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB report). The DfE has indicated that the draft School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document is unlikely to be available until after May half-term. EPS is currently working with governors, school leaders and children’s services on the STRB report so that it is ready to consult as soon as possible on the new Pay and Conditions. The approximate timescale will be consultation with the Unions in early July with a Pay and Conditions document ready for approval by Governing Bodies in late July. They will be developing guidance for Pay Panels, documents that can be used for review and an e-learning programme on pay appeals. There is likely to be increased pressure on governors and an audit of pay decisions is likely to be included in the SFVS. The Pay and Conditions document will not automatically apply to academies and there are additional complications around those with TUPE arrangements. EPS will be attending the forthcoming Academies Show to highlight the advice service they provide for academies.
7. / Proposed changes to Business Mileage Rates
Further information will be provided on this in the Schools Comms (number 10856). The changes will mostly apply to departmental staff but there are over 3000 employees in schools who will be affected, with the greatest loss not exceeding £100 per year.
The Forum thanked Amanda and the EPS team for all their hard work. AS left the meeting.
8. / Educational Attainment in Hampshire: 2013: Results and Priorities
John Clarke introduced the information which is based on validated and value-added data and has already been widely shared:
Early Years and Primary Phase
·  Very positive year for children at the EYFS where results are 7% above the national average
·  The youngest children on FSM outperform their non-FSM counterparts
·  KS1 results are even better than previous years
·  KS2 results are a few points above the national average
·  The gap at primary level is narrowing for FSM but is still 3 points above the national level.
Secondary Phase
·  More concern here
·  Performance was better across the 70 schools that in 2012
·  The post-16 sector is performing strongly, at or above the national average and work with apprentices is very positive.
·  The performance of children in care is improving in all phases but only 5% get 5 GCSEs at grades A* - C.
·  However, Hampshire is ranked 135th out of 150 on performance of children on FSM. This is simply not good enough.
·  Some secondary governors do not recognise the improvements that have been made in the primary phase and continue to blame poor performance at secondary schools on the primary sector.
·  Improving the transition of pupils from primary to secondary is key to improving performance at GCSE. There is a project underway in Rushmoor where schools are working together for pupils in years 5 – 8. The new through school at Westgate will provide an interesting case study on the transition between phases.
9. / Impact of Pupil Premium on outcomes
Glyn Wright gave a presentation on the work she has done looking at how schools have been spending the Pupil Premium money. There are a range of interventions which have proved effective. Schools must decide what is best for the children and governors must influence this. The Ofsted tool kit is very useful for governors (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium-analysis-and-challenge-tools-for-schools) Schools must clearly display what they are doing with the money on their website; Ofsted will use school websites as part of their inspections. Examples of good practice are published in Schools Comm 11045.
Universal School Meals for Infants
Glyn Wright also updated the forum on the universal school meals for infant pupils which will start in September 2014. There are 309 schools affected, of which 121 will be able to deliver meals with no problems, 188 will require some support (ranging from extra utensils to new kitchens). HC3S will be delivering 65500 meals per day (assuming all eligible children take the offer). The Authority is looking to increase the uptake of school meals and an Uptake Coordinator is being employed at HC3S. Some of Hampshire’s current practice has been included in the national School Food Plan.
Governors expressed concern that parents may not sign up for Free School Meals (and hence provide the Pupil Premium funding for the school) when their children are receiving the universal school meal. Glyn clarified that the eligibility criteria for the Pupil Premium remain the same and parents can sign up on line. Officers added that schools need to engage with parents to explain what the additional funding will do to enhance their child’s education. Officers are very happy to work with schools to look at other ways schools can help encourage parents to sign up for the FSM entitlement, such as including the old paper form if necessary.
10. / Ofsted Outcomes
John Clarke outlined a number of key points:
·  The number of schools in special measures or with serious weaknesses remains broadly the same
·  It is more difficult to get outstanding
·  Vulnerable children are now not too far behind other children
·  6 of the 70 secondary schools are in special measures / serious weakness categories (it was previously 8). This is the best level for a long time. Of those 6 schools, 1 is maintained, 4 are sponsored academies (3 in special measures, 1 with serious weaknesses) and 1 is a convertor academy (also in special measures). Of these academies, a number of them were in a better position when they were in the maintained sector. One of the sponsors has now been prohibited from taking on new schools and another sponsor has 2 schools, both in an Ofsted category. Ofsted is looking at ways of inspecting academies, including sponsors.
11. / Isle of Wight Update
John Clarke informed the Forum that the senior management forum is extremely proud of how much has already been achieved. The highlights include:
·  Attendance rates improved to national average – in September 2013 1 in 12 days at school was missed.
·  All Ofsted monitoring visits have been positive
·  No schools have been moved into category
·  Predicted GCSE results show 58% achieving 5 a* - C grades, although this is likely to be lower but officers expect that there will be an improvement on last year.
·  There has been some backfilling of appointments in Hampshire but no diminishing of the service for Hampshire residents.
12. / Any other business
A governor mentioned that they had heard that the Ministry of Defence might be removing funding for boarding places for families where they live within a certain distance of the school and was concerned about the potential impact on local maintained school admissions. Officers were not aware of this but would look into it. / GW
Note from John Clarke
Attendance and Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN)
A question was raised about the number of fixed penalty notices that have been issued in the county in the 2013-2014 school year, to date. In total 56 FPN have been issued, some by the Local Authority and some by schools, 28 for each area of the county. Most of these were issued for general unauthorised absence and only a few for unauthorised holidays.

The meeting closed at 8.10pm.

Schools Comms can be accessed here:

http://cscommunications.hants.gov.uk/schoolcommunications

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