COCKWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL

Governing Body

Full Governing Body Meeting – Part I Minutes
Date/Time / 12th December 2013, 6pm / Location / Class 1 Classroom
Attendees / Initials / Attendees / Initials
Tania Weeks / TW / Chair, Community Governor / Nick Tallamy / NT / Parent Governor
Joy Taylor / JT / LA Governor / David Snape / DS / Parent Governor
David Andrews / DA / Parent Governor / Lee White / LW / Parent Governor
Lorraine Curry / LC / Headteacher / Sharon Hodge / SH / Staff Governor
Cliff Curd / CC / LA Governor / Derek Phillips / DP / Associate Member
Apologies / Initials / Reason (Category of Governor) / Absent without Apology / Initials
Juliet Phillips-Barry / JP / Work commitment (Community Governor)
Izzy Crocker / IC / Unavailable (Associate Member)
In Attendance / Initials / Minutes to
Brigitte Hawkins / BH / Clerk / Attendees
Apologies
School Website
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Agenda
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Led by
PROCEDURAL ITEMS
1 / Welcome & Apologies / TW
2 / Declaration of interest / TW
3 / Confidentiality / TW
4 / Minutes of previous meetings / TW/JT/DA
5 / Matters arising from the previous Full Governing Body Meeting Minutes / TW
STRATEGIC ITEMS
6 / Policies / TW
7 / Clerk Remuneration / TW/LC
8 / Capital Expenditure – Ipads / LC/DA
MONITORING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
9 / School Improvement Plan / LC
10 / Headteacher Update – partially Part II Minutes / LC
GOVERNING BODY MANAGEMENT
11 / Governor Visit Day 3rd December - Literacy / Various
12 / Gold sheet updates 15.11.13 / LC/JP
13 / Devon Governor – Autumn Edition 2013 / Various
14 / Ofsted / LC/All Governors
15 / Governor Training / BH/All Governors
16 / Governor Vacancies / TW/LC
Ref
/ Action or Decision / Owner/
Decision / Date Raised /
Date Due
/
1 / Welcome & Apologies
TW welcomed the 2 new Parent Governors, Lee White and David Snape to their first Full Governing Body Meeting.
Apologies were received and accepted from JP and IC. / TW
2 / Declaration of Interest
TW read out the statement shown on the agenda. No declarations were made by Governors. / TW
3 / Confidentiality
TW handed out the Attendance Sheet for all Governors to sign and drew their attention to the confidentiality statement on the sheet. / TW
4.1 / Minutes of Full Governing Body Meeting 25th September 2013
DP asked LC if we were able to accommodate all children having school meals, when the new Government policy on Free School Meals is introduced. LC confirmed that this would not be an issue and that we already have days when all children have a School Meals.
NT asked about the arrangement for Pupil Tracker Training. BH will liaise with LC and the Governors to set up the training next term.
The minutes were agreed by all Governors and signed off with minor amendments by TW. BH to make changes and publish minutes. / BH
BH / 12.12.13
12.12.13 / 03.04.14
12.01.14
4.2 / Minutes of T&L Meeting 24th October 2013
JT thanked LC for completing the school prospectus. See 5.3 for further comments.
JT thanked all the staff and LC for taking part in the DLP Support Partner Review in preparation for our next Ofsted audit. See 9.2 for further comments.
NT asked if we had received the feedback from the DLP Website audit. LC confirmed that this has been received and that she was pleased with it. She is currently working through the results. NT offered to support LC with anything he can. JT asked if we could change the photos on the homepage to reflect current pupils and activities. LC confirmed that photos are added on an ongoing basis.
The minutes were agreed by all Governors and signed off with minor amendments by JT. BH to make changes and publish minutes. / BH / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
4.3 / Minutes of Resources Meeting 13th November 2013
DA said that the redesigning of the Kitchen Hatch had now been put on hold due to the possible expansion of the school.
DP confirmed that he will find out about the possible reduction of the School Insurance cost and feedback at the next Resources Meeting
LC said that it has been confirmed that our PE equipment in the Village Hall is covered by their contents insurance.
LC has completed the Fire Risk Assessment with Colin Gardner and will feedback at the next Resources Meeting.
DA thanked LW for offering to support us with the Legionella testing and Asbestos.
DA also confirmed that NT has been appointed as Vice-Chair of the Resources Committee, with particular responsibilities in Health & Safety.
The minutes were agreed by all Governors and signed off by DA with minor amendments. BH to make changes and publish minutes. / DP
LC
BH / 12.12.13
12.12.13
12.12.13 / 30.01.14
30.01.14
12.01.14
5.1 / Matter arising from previous FGM - Update on Communication with neighbouring landowners
TW updated all Governors on the recent communication with the owners of the Bungalow opposite the school. Unfortunately it is not available to the school as the owners want to continue using it as a residential property.
LC has had some communication with Simon Niles (SN) who will be attending a DLP Headteachers meeting in January to discuss the future schooling requirements for this area. LC said that expanding our school is definitely a possibility; however it is tied in to the land issue. TW confirmed that further housing developments are being planned around Dawlish with money being made available for primary schooling. DP said that we need to make sure that the 106 money is not as restrictive as it has been in the past, and he asked if we get to see the contracts. TW confirmed that this is all being calculated and signed off by DCC, without the schools involvement. DP also mentioned that there is a ‘New Homes Bonus’ which goes towards education. LC to find out how we claim this. / LC / 12.12.13 / 06.02.14
5.2 / Matters arising from previous FGM - Agree Term Dates 2015/2016
TW explained the process of agreeing term dates to the new Governors.
A short discussion took place regarding the different ways schools allocate the training and occasional days.
Governors agreed the Term Dates proposed by LC.
BH to feed these back to DCC / BH / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
5.3 / Matters arising from previous FGM - School Prospectus
TW thanked LC for completing the new School Prospectus and all Governors agreed that it looks great.
LC will order some wallets and the prospectus will be printed as and when parents ask to take one away.
LC to make some minor changes as requested by the Governors, including a statement that says we can provide this school prospectus in other formats if required. / LC / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
6 / Policies – Governors visiting the School Policy
Agreed by all Governors present and signed off by TW
7.1 / Clerk Remuneration - Clerk Hours from 1st January 2014
Agreed by all Governors present and signed off by TW.
LC to amend BH’s contract / LC / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
7.2 / Clerk Additional Hours for 2013
Agreed by all Governors and signed off by TW.
BH to claim hours. / BH / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
8 / Capital Expenditure – Sign off cost for 4 Ipads and case
Governors agreed to purchase 4 Ipads at a total cost of £1362, including cases. The PFA has agreed to pay for these and will reimburse the school.
LC said that Mr & Mrs Butler (parents of a child in Year1) are so pleased with the school; they will provide us with an Ipad as a thank you. Governors would like to mention this in the newsletter. LC to find out if that’s okay with the parents. / LC / 12.12.13 / asap
9.1 / Agree the revised School Improvement Plan
All Governors agree to the new SIP and will use it on an ongoing basis to support their monitoring of the school’s performance.
9.2 / DLP Support Partnership Review
DA attended the parent meeting as part of the review and said it was nice to see very positive and open comments from the parents about the school. LC had asked a selection of parents from each year group to attend. Ofsted will look at Parent View, rather than hold parent meetings; however it would be nice for them to hear some of these comments.
TW said that we were still not where we need to be with G&T and ICT, which also came up during our last Ofsted audit. LC said that we have made huge progress and that we are continuously looking for ways to improve in those areas.
TW asked that the marking and planning in Years 4, 5 and 6 is being shared across the school. LC said that this was already being done.
All Governors appreciate the work the staff and pupils have put into this and DA thanked LC for volunteering our school to go through this process. LC will now be part of the reviewing team as the DLP continue to roll this out across the other schools.
DA and LC both said that this was one of the most valuable and important things they had done and that the school and staff had taken a lot from it.
10.1 / HT Update – Review Pupil Numbers
LC said that we currently have 85 pupils at school and that a few parents have been to view the school recently.
10.2 / HT Update – Attendance
Attendance is good at 96.3% so far this. The best attending class is Class1 and they will receive a reward at the end of term. All classes are achieving over 96%. Children on Free School Meals (FSM) are on 93%, with one pupil on 45% who has significant health issues. NT asked if the no-holiday policy during term time was having an impact. LC confirmed that it was a combination of both low sickness and less holiday requests.
10.3 / HT Update – Staffing & CPD
LC updated the Governors on the following training which has taken place throughout this term:
All staff attended G&T training last week which was free of charge. Other training included Maths CPD, Literacy training and Thrive training.
Also all teachers are in a DLP action group, such as Maths, Literacy etc. and there are lots of training opportunities coming up to further develop their skills.
The meeting moved to Part II. Nobody left the meeting.
Part of 10.3 minuted as Part II.
10.4 / HT Update – Data
Governors reviewed the Pupil Achievement section of the SEF. There were no further questions raised. / LC
10.5 / HT Update – Gifted and Talented
LC updated the Governors on the G&T opportunities coming up and the recent training (see 10.3) We are currently in partnership with St Lukes College, Exeter and there will be some PE events taking place in January. There have been DT workshops in Dawlish and G&T Gym for class 1.
A G&T Maths workshop will be running from January and we can potentially have 4 children attend (3 from year 6 and 1 from year 5) This will be a 10 week workshop at a cost of £50 per pupil. Governors agreed to cover the cost for this and LC will ask parents to make a contribution. / LC
10.6 / HT Update – PE Audit
LC sent out the PE audit and feedback for Governors to review and discuss at the next FGM. Governors to email questions to LC prior to the next FGM.
LC mentioned that the afterschool sports clubs are currently free, but that we may have to start charging a small amount to cover our costs. Governors agreed. / All Governors / 12.12.13 / 6.2.14
11 / Governor Visit Day 3rd December – Literacy
Governors who attended the Literacy Governor Day have completed their feedback forms (see attached).
DS asked about the library and Governors discussed how we could use a combination of kindles and books within our library linked-in with Accelerated Reader. LC will speak to Alison Murtha (AM) to look into options of how to use an Amazon account and whether children would be able to use their own kindles. / LC / 12.12.13 / 6.2.14
12.1 / Gold sheet Updates 15.11.13 – PE
See 10.6 – The Audit provided by Gill Watts (GW) and LC will be published on our website. / LC/JP
12.2 / Gold sheet Updates 15.11.13 – Devon Remembers
LC and AM have already emailed the contact and informed them of the activities they have undertaken with the children on WW1 in Class1. As a result of this Cockwood School will feature on an update to all schools. / LC
13 / Devon Governor Autumn Edition 2013
Nothing raised / All Governors
14 / Ofsted
Due to the unforeseen extended discussion around 10.3, TW asked for this to be moved to the next FGM. All Governors agreed.
BH to add this to the next FGM Agenda. / BH / 12.12.13 / 6.2.14
15.1 / Governor Training – Minute taking
BH updated the Governors on the recent Minute taking training she attended. Governors agreed to keep Part 2 minutes in paper format and not move to email. / BH
15.2 / Governor Training – New Governor Training
DS to attend New Governor Training on 6th February and LW to attend on 18th March.
BH to book training / BH / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
15.3 / Governor Training – Other training to be booked
Governors have also asked BH to book the following training:
NT to attend Finance training on Wed 26th February 2014.
DS to attend HR training on 11th March 2014.
TW or JP to attend Chair’s update on 6th March 2014.
BH to book all training / BH / 12.12.13 / 12.01.14
16 / Governor Vacancies
As SH is retiring at the end of this term, she is no longer able to continue as Staff Governor. TW thanked Sharon for her support as Governor and presented her with a mug and card.
TW informed the Governors that Gillian Taylor (GT) has resigned as Community Governor.
BH to work with LC and Governors to fill these vacancies. / BH/LC/All Governors / 12.12.13 / 6.2.14
The meeting closed at 8pm
Detail of next meeting
Date/Time / Teaching & Learning Committee Wednesday 15th January 2014, 9am / Location / 5 School Hill, Joy’s house
Governor Day – Numeracy Wednesday 29th January 2014, AM / Cockwood School
Resources Committee
Thursday 30th January 2014, 6pm / Cockwood School
Full Governing Body Meeting
Thursday 6th February 2014, 6pm / Cockwood School

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Signature of Chair