Minutes of a Meeting of the Full Governing Body of Marsh Baldon School

Held at the School on Thursday, 5th February, 2015

Present:

Arj Arul (AA)Parent/Chair

Geraldine Lydon Burke (GLB) LA/Vice Chair

Jude Aspinall (JA) - Staff

Emma Timms (ET) - Parent

Joe Singleton(JS) –Parent

David Rawlinson (DR) - Parent

Veronica Sandilands (VS) – LA

Sonia Hobbins (SH)– Foundation

In Attendance: Alison Porter (AP) - Clerk

The meeting was quorate.

1. Apologies.
Apologies were received from NP, PC, CMC. MJF did not attend.
2. Declaration of interests.
There were none.
3. Minutes of the Meeting held on 15th January, 2015
These were approved as a true record and signed.
4. Matters Arising
Several of the matters could not be updated in NP’s absence. The Fire Extinguisher training has been completed.
5. Governing Body Administration
a) Constitution of Governing Body – AA explained that all schools have to reconstitute by September, 2015. The government wants smaller governing bodies with the emphasis on obtaining people with the skills necessary to the good running of the school. The category of community governors is to disappear. People can be co-opted for a given period of time such as where they have useful skills or knowledge or to assist with a specific task. The headteacher and the vicar are entitled to be governors by virtue of their office. It was felt that having a small number of governors would increase the workload and could cause problems if some were unable to attend regularly. Various models were discussed.
The following structure was agreed:
2 staff governors, one of whom would be the headteacher
2 foundation governors, one of whom would be the vicar
1 L.A. governor
4 parent governors
5 co-opted governors, of whom three would be normal appointments with the facility for a further two if the need arose.
This was approved unanimously.
b) Standing Orders – AA proposed that the standing orders produced by Governor Services should be adopted with minor revisions. The orders were examined and a few changes made: elections would be round the table, not by secret ballot; papers should be circulated at least three days ahead of meetings; minutes should be available in the office only.
c) Associate Governors – Governors may appoint as many associate governors to help with specific tasks as they wish. Associate governors do not have voting rights. Shirley Bull, who was helping with Health and Safety issues, has resigned. The governors expressed their thanks to her for all her work in this area. The other associate governor is Leah Rudman Smith who helps with the school prospectus and IT. JA will discuss with her whether she is happy to continue and clarify exactly what contribution the school would like her to make. If she agrees then a four year term would be appropriate.
AA will update the constitution and standing orders and liaise with the diocese and local authority.
6) Parents’ Questionnaire
The statistical results had been discussed at the previous meeting. Improvements in the school that the parents had suggested were considered. The principal one was extra teaching space. The Premises Committee will meet and will communicate with the parents about this. It was agreed that either/both NP in the Newsletter and AA in the Governors’ Letter will comment upon the results of the questionnaire.
7) Date of Next Meetings
19th March, 2015 Governing Body at 7pm.
8) A.O.B.
AA informed the governors that the headteacher had resigned, to take effect from 30th April, 2015. This fulfils his three months’ contractual obligation. He is currently off sick and an Occupational Health Review has been carried out. It was agreed to send a letter to the parents jointly from NP and AA telling them he had resigned and that an open meeting would be held shortly after half term to explain the situation and the measures being put in place.
AA explained the involvement of Charlotte Christie from the local authority to act as an adviser to assist with the transition and also the financial implications.
The rest of the meeting was minuted in Part 2 – Confidential items of these minutes. / Action
JA
AA
NP, AA