Minutes of the Cranbrookshadow Governors Meeting

Minutes of the CranbrookShadow Governors Meeting

08.30- 10.30 on Wednesday 1st July 2015

Sparx, Oxygen House, Exeter Business Park

Attendees:Steve Wilkinson, Chair (SW)

Rob Bosworth (RB)

Tracy de Bernhardt Dunkin (TBD)

Mark Cornfield (MC)

Kevin Jennings (KJ) – from Item 3 onwards

Alison Kerr (AK)

Craig McCrum (CM)

Matt Rowett (MR)

Moira Marder (MM)

Jenny Leach (JL)

Lizzy Anderson (LA)

Tracy Hannon (TH) – Item 4 & 5 only

Louise Telford (LT) – Item 4 & 5 only

Sheena Wright (SWr) – Item 4 & 5 only

Minutes: Steph Barnard (SB)

1. / Welcome, Apologies and Declarations of Interest
Apologies were received from Gill Ryall
No declarations of interest were received.
2. / Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the meeting on 14th May 2015 were agreed by all as an accurate record.
3. / Update from Project Team
Risk register – JL gave an update on the main risks on the project and explained that once the school is open then the risk register will need to be adopted by the Governors to take forward.SB will add this as a future agenda item for update/discussion.
Structure – JL reported no change to the current project structure and explained that IT was being co-ordinated by Stephen Coaker.
Finance – LA circulated an update on income and expenditure for the school and explained that FF&E was still to be spent, but will be spent beforethe opening of the school. Running costs are being kept as low as possible as the budget will be tight. LA also circulated the budget plan or information. JL & LA will meet shortly to update the nursery budget. LA confirmed that an audit of the start-up funding will be commissioned around November time, but there will be a year end audit via the Trust. LA has made sure that everything has been recorded ready for this.
Agreement/Legals
JL confirmed that these were all up to date but there are several deadlines due at the building handover. JL has produced a holiday schedule for the project group as will need access to RB & SW over the holiday period to sign off various documents. JL confirmed that the Trust solicitors have the documents in place for DCC to sign. JL confirmed that Paul Weeks, Head of Estates, is on site now to deal with keys and handovers from the contractors.
Admissions
JL explained that these numbers are constantly changing. There are 12 confirmed at reception and 32 for Year 7. They are receivingat least 2 primary enquiries a week and there is now pressure over Year 2. JL explained that as St Martins are full at Year 2 they have asked if we would be prepared to operate a Year 1 and 2 mixed group in year?
RB commented that operationally it seems a good idea but expressed concerns over legality etc. JL also confirmed that nursery applications have only been accepted from age 2 upwards at present.
Staffing/HR
JL confirmed that the Teaching Assistants and Admin posts have been filled for Cranbrook. All appointments have been made on 1 year basis so that we can look at potential Trust benefits in the future.
Catering – Devon Norse have been appointed but have asked to use our facilities to produce catering for other schools. This will mean that we can run at a profit in the interim until the School is fully utilised.
RB added that the Trust’s next step will be appointing some resource for HR which will benefit Cranbrook going forward. RB queried what the induction process was for the new appointments for the School/Trust? MM explained that the first two days of school will involve safeguarding training and induction including health and safety. Jill Willis has produced the Single Central Register for CEC and induction will take place at start of term for all new staff.
Building
JL updated the governors that the earliest date for the handover of the building is 20th July. FF&E will be delivered on 5th-7th August. IT installation is due early august. Mi-Space have confirmed that this work can go ahead even if the building has not been handed over. The holdup has been due to issues with power and the service road which has impacted on connection to services.
SW asked JL to inform him of the value of the equipment being installed in the school so that he can make sure that this is insured, as Mi-Space will have responsibility for this.JL will email this direct to SW.
Sporting Facilities
MM has met with Leisure East Devon and is waiting for them to come back with their proposal, however they have an issue about the lack of floodlights as this restricts usage over winter. The cost to install floodlights is £100k which the school can’t afford. The school will look at options in the future but for now it needs to concentrate on the pupils and the opening of the school. MR & KJ will try to get this message out to community informally.
CM added that once the school is ready to look at options he will speak to his contact in the premier league. JL added that we also have others championing this for us in Cranbrook but the main efforts are being ploughed into the new leisure facility that is being built however residents are looking for facilities now!
Building concerns
-JL added that BT have issues with phone lines going in however the school needs the phone line asap so that the lift can be signed off.
-The fence that has been put up meets the legal requirements for Network Rail but the school has been given recommendations that some of it should be double the height. Mi-space won’t pay to change this as they have followed the advice given to them. JL is getting quotes to increase the height.
-Unisex toilets – JL explained that other schools in Devon have them i.e. Uffculme. AK suggested asking Uffculme students what they think. SW added that we need to change the doors on the ground floor toilets as they were not full height which is wrong.The governors discussed options and the research carried out on the usage of unisex toilets at other schools and agreed that it is the lesser of two evils to have unisex toilets without an external doors but agreed it would be better if staff are using them as well as students.
Ofsted pre-opening check
JL confirmed that this will take place all day on 3rd July. They have a folder of information ready for this. RB suggested that the project group go through the checklist at the project steering group meeting. All agreed and MM will bring the folders to the meeting. JL added that DBS checks are the key documents needed in order to update the single central record for the school. All agreed to send SB the necessary documents asap to demonstrate that we are meeting the requirements.
Eon
JL is still awaiting the quote for services from Eon. Eon have agreed to reduce the service charge but we have still not seen official quote. JL will continue to chase and will copy SW in to email so can get involved in discussion. / SB
JL
MR/KJ
All
JL
4. / Recruitment/Staffing Update
TH, SWr & LT joined the meeting
MM introduced Tracy Hannon, Louise Telford & Sheena Wright to the governors who in turn introduced themselves.
MM agreed to circulate an updated staffing list to the Governors. MM explained her confidence that we are in a good place for the secondary school however early years has been more of a challenge to recruit to.
TH explained that they had been through 3 rounds of recruitment and had finally appointed 2 teachers. One has commitments to another school until November and the other is newly qualified. SWr added that we aren’t able to open the 0-2 provision in September due to the long lead in to register the provision so we had been advised to open the nursery for 2 year olds upward initially.
Interviews will be taking place on 15th July for the Foundation stage supervisor post however there had not been a great deal of interest at present. TH added that candidates fed back that they found the recruitment process very challenging.
SWrformally acknowledged how supportive St Martins have been with the recruitment process and added that they will also help train our staff initially.
RB welcomed TH, SWr and LT on behalf of the Trust. RB asked, in terms of experience, have they been involved in this type of project before i.e. new school, new town? All replied ‘no’. RB also questioned if there were any alarm bells or things that the Trust/Governors should know about?
TH commented that they had learned that they needed more infrastructure in place i.e. admin hours/finance support. They had also found the fluidity in the numbers of children challenging particularly when putting the curriculum in place.
LT added that she has been trying to set up a transition programme for Year 6 students which they plan to run at St James so that the students can meet their teachers in advance. LT added that it has been challenging to answer questions from students and parents. LT informed the governors that there will be a parents’ afternoon next Thursday at St Martins which will include a drama workshop from someone who specialises in transition.
SB will send a link to the CEC website to SWr, TH & LT so that they can put Governor info into the parent packs.
JL queried whether any cover was needed prior to November for the teacher who wouldn’t be starting until then? SWr explained that they have a couple of options in mind and will make sure cover is provided.
KJ added that St Martins had a number of students turn up on the first day of school who had not completed any admissions forms. This could be a potential risk for CEC, together with the potential surge of admissions over the summer when the new houses are released. MM will bring forward discussions with the project steering group on Thursday about bringing forward the provision of admin cover for the school to deal with this over the summer.
SWr explained that they had noted several snagging issues at the school and will send these to JL to take forward. / MM
SB
JL
5. / Sparx Involvement
AK presented an introductory video on Sparx for the Governors to watch which explained what Sparx does and who they are. The governors were also given a demonstration from a member of Sparx on how the data is monitored.
AK explained that Sparx had been involved in a few other schools prior to St James. They would like to work with Year 7 students at CEC and are currently looking at the data for each student coming to the school so that they can ensure each lesson is tailored to each student. It is a very ambitious project but they are very driven to succeed.
AK confirmed that Sparx are a separate company from ATASS. They are part of the Andromeda Capital company.
Sparx will not be charging CEC for their work as for them the mission of getting it right is more important to them than making money. AK confirmed that they will not be charging the schools they are currently working for i.e. St James, other schools in trust, CEC and that charges will not be brought in in the future either.
MM clarified the benefits and impacts of Sparx at St James and RB reiterated that this was a great opportunity for CEC and Sparx, and will give CEC something different from other schools.
6. / Safeguarding
RB reiterated to governors the need to send through their ID and outstanding governance forms to SB asap as checks will be carried out as part of the Ofsted inspection.
RB explained that the pen portrait for Sarah O’Shea, potential new governor, had been circulated for consideration. Sarah is currently the designated safeguarding lead at Exeter College. All agreed to appoint her to the Governing body and will invite her to the next meeting in August.
SB confirmed that she will circulate potential dates for safeguarding training for all to sign up to. / All
SB
SB/All
7. / Committee Structure
RB circulated the proposed structure for committees for the Governing Body. RB confirmed that parent governors will be appointed when the school has been opened in September. RB also clarified that other committees, as suggested in the structure, will be formed as the school progresses. All agreed the proposed structure.
RB added that we are still looking for new governors to join the Governing body especially around school data.
8. / Official Opening of the School
RB explained that the Trust would like to lead on the opening of the school. RB confirmed that the Trust did not want to steal MMs thunder but wanted to help, and Debra Myhill has agreed for us to use the events team at the University to manage the event. RB will take this forward.
JL added that if anyone asks for a tour of the campus please give their names to SB who will collate an invite list. Visit of the campus have been limited at present to the Trust, Governors and Members until the official opening. / RB
All/SB
9. / AoB
SB added that the new website for CEC had been set up and was about to go live. SB will send the link to all. SB reminded governors to send through their pen portraits and photos for the website asap. / SB
All