Christleton Primary School

Learning & Teaching Committee

Part One Minutes of Meeting:Tuesday 19th September 2017 at 6pm

Committee Members:

Governors: Yvonne Gibson (YG); Laura Nield (LN); Jon Hosker (JH); Elizabeth Inall (EI); Rob Ward (RW); Julie Shaw (JS); Emma Binns (EB); Oliver Mitchell (OM)

Clerk: Jacqui Critchley

Agenda
Ref / Agenda Item / Action Owner / Action Date or
Outcome
19/09 - 1 / Apologies
Apologies were received in advance from J Shaw and were accepted.
19/09- 2 / Declarations of Interests
There were no conflicts of interest with items to be discussed.
EI declared that she is a member of the parish council.
19/09 - 3 / Review of Terms of Reference (TOR)
The Terms of Reference were reviewed and approved. These will be reviewed annually each autumn term.
19/09 - 4 / Minutes from Part One of the last meeting
The Part One minutes from the 21st June meeting were agreed to be a correct record. The minutes were signed by the Committee Chair at the end of the meeting.
Matters Arising
The parent questionnaire and the staff questionnaire have been sent out. The pupil questionnaire will be going out soon. These will be reported back at the full GB meeting on 27th November.
Update on previous actions
All Part One actions have been completed
19/09 - 5 / Staffing Update and CPD
OM gave an update as follows:
  1. All staff bar 2 have attended de-escalation training
  2. Four members of staff are having Team Teach (safer handling) training and this is a good skill to have.
  3. Literacy Counts training will start next week for each year group co-ordinator.
  4. The local Headteacher’s Group is accessing writing training for Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6 and there will be training for moderators too.
  5. Teachers have remained where they were and TAs are now allocated to where they are most needed.
  6. The Deputy Head is carrying out CPD training for TAs half termly as a group to share skills and knowledge. A literacy company will also be coming to work with them too.
Questions were raised as follows:
Q: Who is providing the Behaviour training?
A: An external Headteacher is providing the training and has already delivered Team Teach today. This is particularly useful for the TAs and the upper KS2 teacher to target identified children.
Q: Who is attending Literacy Counts training?
A: All teachers and TAs.
Q: When is the training taking place?
A: Most before Christmas with a couple afterwards. This can then beembedded during the spring and summer.
Mr Ward entered the meeting at 6.15pm with apologies.
19/09 – 6 / Performance data (Year 6 Standards)
The focus is on improvement. In combined Reading, Writing and Maths 63% reached the expected level. As the school wish to get as high as possible the focus will be on those children who did not reach expected in all 3 subjects. Greater Depth in Reading, Writing and Maths was 17% and ideally that should be 30%.
Q: What are you aiming at for RWM expected level?
A: Near to 70% would be preferred
National Average Progress from Y1 to Y6 was -0.1 Reading; -0.3 Writing and -0.9 Maths. Our school should at least be 0 and we want a plus. The accuracy of KS1 assessments needs to be considered and the teaching in KS2 also needs to be reviewed to ensure it is consistently good to ensure the Y6 teacher is not having to play catch-up.
Attainment looks good but Ofsted are looking for progress now. In an area like Christleton a score of 80%-90% would be expected.
Greater Depth writing and grammar needs to be higher.
In attainment, the lower band of average has been increased so the middle ability group must get expected level and try and achieve as close to 100% as possible.
Q: Were any of the cohort of low prior attainment?
A: No, so the data should have shown a higher percentage. The higher attainers in KS1 were not converted in KS2 and that was half of the cohort. The transition from KS1 to KS2 will be looked at and more TA support put into KS1.
Q: Is there access to this information for other schools yet?
A: No, this should be available around Christmas.
Q: Will the information be in the same level of detail?
A: No, but there should be splits for gender, LAC and SEN etc.
This is an area of priority in the SSDP. Children must be identified early and interventions put in place as necessary.
19/09 - 7 / Subject Leaders and their Responsibilities
There will be a lot of work on the curriculum this term to bring it up to date so staff are staying as they are until Christmas and then it will be reviewed.
The Literacy lead has been amended and Caroline Rogerswill be doing reading across the school on her 2 days in and that should be successful. Kimberley Stokes will cover the rest of literacy with OM supporting and monitoring. This will be reviewed at Christmas too.
A push is required for English and Maths so there may be changes there after the Christmas review.
19/09 - 8 / SSDP
The Draft SSDP had been distributed and YG thanked OM for the very detailed plan. This committee is responsible for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so the actions are to monitor standards. OM noted that the action plans are coming in and governors should speak to the co-ordinators in spring to find out where the children are now and where they are going as the spring term will be pivotal.
Action: OM to provide a prompt sheet for the governor and subject leader meetings.
All curriculum and assessment materials are on the website as Ofsted are focusing on the full curriculum now. Governors were requested to check the website regularly to ensure it is up to date and report back as necessary.
Action: All governors to check the website to ensureit is up to date and report back as necessary.
Assessment materials have been purchased so they can be used with the teacher judgement to help identify any children requiring support.
In KS1 the Y2 pupils are using the previous SATS tests. In Y1 start of year assessments will be used as starter data.
OM noted that it is most useful for governors to come into school in the spring term as the teachers should be used to the new materials then.
Q: Do governors need to contact the teachers or vice versa?
A: Either way is good, however if governors can be proactive that shows effective governance.
Q: Are there emergency registers?
A: There are laminated yellow registers for use in the fire drills. Although the school are moving to SIMS and the office staff will bring a list of children who are in school, it will still be good for teachers to have the information immediately.
Q: Is there a Critical Incident Plan?
A: Yes. That was distributed last term but can be resent. OM noted that in each location there is sheet that a child can bring to gain assistance, the information has the name of the place the child had come from ie library, hall, Y2 etc. This will avoid time wasting and ensure help goes to the right place.
Action: Chair of Governors to distribute the Critical Incident Plan again to all governors.
19/09- 9 / Teaching Assistant and Office Staff – systems for review of performance
The Deputy Head will be appraising the TAs and the appraisals will be carried out before half term or just after. The appraisals will form the basis of the targets for pupil performance. OM will be appraising the office staff.
19/09- 10 / Policies to be reviewed by this committee
Governors reviewed the list of non-statutory subject policies that require review. OM will ensure these are written before Christmas and then assigned over 3 years as they are due to be reviewed tri-annually.
It was proposed that the following polices were assigned to individual governors as follows:
Art and Design – Laura Nield
Computing- Emma Binns
Design & Technology – Jon Hosker
English – Yvonne Gibson
Geography – Rob Ward
History – Rob Ward
Maths – Paul Smith and Jon West
Modern Foreign Language (MFL) – Elizabeth Inall
Music – Simon Rhead
Physical Education – Lucy Davies
PSHE and Citizenship – Laura Nield
Religious Education – Elizabeth Inall
Science – Simon Rhead
SMSC – Emma Binns
Sex and Relationship – Emma Binns
Calculation Policy and Progression – Paul Smithand Jon West
Handwriting Expectations and Progression – Yvonne Gibson
The homework policy will be reviewed by the full GB in the spring term.
The Food Policy and the Gifted and Talented Policy have already been reviewed so will be assigned at a later date.
Action: Chair of Governors to inform governors of the policies assigned to them for review.
Governors discussed the statutory policies review and dates. Governors were invited to review the policies on the website. OM will send out any policies that have been amended with the changes highlighted.
Governors reviewed the following:
Behaviour and Discipline Policy
Q: At what point is behaviour passed to the parent?
A: That is the teacher’s judgement.
Q: Are teachers clear on that?
A: Yes, as this is discussed at staff meetings. Each classroom has a book where teachers can record incidents which also helps to track behaviour patterns.
Q: Is it in the policy that parents are informed?
A: Yes, under the yellow traffic lights.
OM will report to the full GB on the new policy and its impact but to be clear the Behaviour Policy is the remit of this committee.
Teachers are responsible for their own class’s behaviour. This is improving and starting to become evident when they are going through to assembly and eventually the good behaviour will come naturally.
In the parent survey, a couple of parents think there is an issue with bullying so it is important to make sure parents see the children behaving during assembly or outside of school.
Q: Could we add honesty to the policy?
A: Yes, and OM will add that.
Action: YG to put Behaviour update on the spring term agenda
Action: OM to add honesty to the Behaviour Policy
SMSC Policy
The policy was reviewed and approved. OM explained that school need to develop rounded children who are socially aware as well as being academic.
19/09 – 11 / Dates for meetings for the next two academic years
The dates were agreed as follows:
  • Tuesday 16th January 2018
  • Tuesday 5th June 2018
  • Tuesday 18th September 2018
  • Tuesday 15th January 2019
  • Tuesday 4th June 2019
The start time was confirmed as 6pm.
Q: Is it difficult for JS to attend as this is the second meeting she has missed?
A: JS does not work on a Tuesday but she can swap her days if necessary.
19/09 - 12 / AOB Part One
Books
OM reported that new books have been purchased with handwriting lines that have laminated covers so will wear better. These were more expensive but will be more cost effective as they should last at least 6 months. There is a big push on handwriting which is impacting on KS1 already and it will be good to see the progress throughout the books.
Expectation Documents
This covers presentation, the environment and school systems to ensure consistency throughout the school.
School Systems relevant to this committee
The systems are there for teachers to follow and will be useful for supply teachers too. All governors agreed that these were excellent documents which would be very useful for staff.
Building Learning Power
OM, Deputy Head and FHare currently undertaking the BLP training which is aimed at empowering children. There are 16 elements and 6 have been chosen. One element per half term will be undertaken and the one for this half term is Managing Distractions. This can be used at home and each year group will be working on it so it can be built on. It is early stages but the children are enjoying it.
Q: How do staff feel about it?
A: They have taken to it positively.
Forest Schools
The Forest School has started and this is paid for by Sports Premium. The teacher is Rachel McDonald who is currently delivering half a day’s teaching. Y3 have really enjoyed it as this linked well with the Stone Age which they are studying.
Another half day has been requested for spring and summer next year and RMcwill also do CPD for the staff.
Q: Is this for the whole class?
A: Yes.
Q: How long is it for?
A: All afternoon.
Q: Will this be developed more?
A: Yes.
The outdoor space is also used for Active Maths so Sport Premium may cover that too.
Q: Y3 are doing this now, will that be for the rest of the year?
A: Up to December and then it will be reviewed.
Staff can be trained up at a cost of £800 each so eventually the sessions can be delivered in house.
Feedback Policy
This was distributed by OM. Governors discussed feedback for children and it was noted that verbal feedback at the point of learning had most impact. Some teachers need to change and become more hands on. OM will look for feedback during learning walks and lesson observations. If applied properly this will be a benefit to the school.
Q: How will you record verbal feedback?
A: The evidence will be the work in the books.
Action: YG to put feedback policy for children on the spring term agenda.
Action: OM to bring books to the spring meeting for governors to look at.

There being no furtherbusiness the Part One meeting closed at 7.45pm

------Committee Chair------Date

Page: 1

Christleton Primary School

Learning & Teaching Committee Meeting 19.09.2017