Noadswood School

Full Governing Body Meeting

3rd February 2014, 7.00pm

MINUTES

Governors Present:
Beverley Audoire BA
Alex Bernard (Headteacher) AB
Chris Blake CB
Val Cacchi VC
Steve Davies SD
Tracy Gates TG
Alan McElevey AMc
Carolyn Millar CM
Alison Munden AM
Paul-James Putt PJ
Jackie Rapson (Chair of Governors) JR
Mike Roberts MR
Diane Smith DS
Jim Watt JW
In Attendance:
Sally Callander (Clerk) SC
Steven Pike SP
The meeting opened at 7.02pm. / Apologies:
Dave Crowley
Bruce Downie
Paul Uglow
Agenda Item / Action
1 / Apologies for Absence
Apologies were accepted from those listed above.
2 / Declarations of Interest
None
7.04pm CB arrived
3 / Approval of last FGB Minutes of 2nd December 2013
A copy of the Minutes had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting
JR read through the Minutes.
4 / Matters Arising
  • Item 15, MR confirmed that the issue had been discussed with Sarah Staley and that £200 had been placed with Santander; £300 had been placed with Virgin and £300 would be placed with Nationwide at a later date
The Minutes were approved by the Governors and signed by JR.
5 / Headteachers Report
7.06pm PJ arrived
  • Pupil Premium
A copy of the document had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting
SP talked through the background of Pupil Premium and what the School has done so far. He briefly explained how information was gathered on each pupil and how the pupils are tracked. The Annual Report of Pupil Premium pupils is on the school website and SP is hoping to make this more detailed in the near future. PJ asked if PP pupils felt there was a stigma attached to PP, SP explained that all teachers dealt with the issue sensitively. SP also explained that we don’t ‘advertise’ Pupil Premium, parents of Pupil Premium write in asking for assistance if needed, this may well change in the future.
JR asked if Governors had questions for SP. There were none.
SP thanked for his time and left the meeting at 7.35pm
  • Update on School Development Priorities
AB explained that there are three main priorities that the school were dealing with at the moment :
a)Narrowing the gap;
b)Curriculum (including the changes to performance measures and changes to examination systems); and
c)Transition (making sure that the curriculum we use in year 7 runs on from what is being taught in the feeder schools).
  • Staff Structure Review
AB handed out a document named Teaching Staff Structure January 2014
AB explained that there is little change to this document from last year. Leadership team is the same. TLR1b one fewer posts; TLR1a House Leaders (Learning) x4; TLR2c remains the same; TLR2b; there are now 5 subject leaders instead of 4; TLR2A there are temporary changes, resulting in fewer posts.
Staffing: update
English – now has Jack Eyles in place.
DT – Maternity cover vacancy filled from June onwards.
Maths – Interviews are being held on 4thFebruary.
IT – Computer Science post is being advertised.
History – 1 post being advertised.
We also now have a Lead Practitioner – Paul Miller.
  • CPD Issues
  1. Pay Policies have been approved, AB working on Support Staff policy.
  2. AB spoke briefly about professional development (using Blue Sky System).
  3. Next summer all teachers will visit another school (on an INSET day) and bring back best practice and use it within their own departments. Staff to write their own agenda as part of the School Development Plan.
  4. On 17th January Chris Wormald who is the Permanent Secretary for Department for Education visited the school. After his visit he wrote a letter to AB to thank him for his time and that of the teachers he was able to visit while in school.
  5. HLTA for Literacy – 2 posts will be advertised next week – an HLTA in Literacy and a teacher trained at KS2 level to teach literacy also.

  • Scorecard
This document was circulated to Governors prior to the meeting
AB asked for questions; CB asked about averages, it had been agreed that this would appear on the first one of the year only. AM asked about ‘number on role’ and was AB concerned about this. AB said the drop in numbers was happening in the feeder schools too. JW asked about the Special Provision Room (H14) and AB briefly described how the room was being used in order to help ‘vulnerable’ pupils who were not coping in the classroom. TG explained that this was another provision for these pupils before having to send them to be educated elsewhere eg FEC. AB talked about the pupils were are currently doing off-site activities such as hairdressing and mechanics. TG talked about the CoPE (Certificate of Personal Effectiveness) course, an ASDAN qualification, which was being taught in H14.
JR asked if the Governors had further questions, there were none. AB thanked for his time.
6 / CM and AM House Leaders visit has not yet been scheduled so this item to be carried over to next FGB meeting. / SC Agenda
7 / AM visit to English Department has not yet been scheduled so this item to be carried over to next FGB meeting. / SC Agenda
8 / SEN Policy
  • AB confirmed (in BD’s absence) that BD had made one visit to Katrina Spence and another meeting is planned. This item is to be carried over to the next FGB meeting.
/ SC Agenda
9 /
  • Reports from Committees
Copies of both sets of Minutes were distributed to the Governors prior to the meeting.
  • General Purposes Committee – MR talked through the Minutes of the meeting of 20th January 2014. AB confirmed that under item 6, there is a bid in place for a budget of £800k to clad the science block. MR asked if there were any questions from Governors – there were none.
  • School Improvement Committee –AM talked through the Minutes of the meeting of 22nd January 2014. AM asked of there were any questions from Governors – there were none.

10 / Academy Business
  • JR confirmed that the Senior Governors Day is 27th February 2014. Items to be discussed:
  • Pay and performance Management Policy
  • 3 to 5 year School Plan

11 / Governing Body Business
  • Membership and Administration
Welcome to PJ Putt – now an official Governor
Parent Governor application closing date is 5th February 2014
  • Training
Full Governing Body Training will be ‘Marketing the School’ on 19th March 2014, 7pm to 9pm in the school Library. All Governors to attend and staff will be invited also. JW asked if Governors have any ideas that they would like discussed at this meeting, could they please email JW prior to the meeting and he would pass them on to Gellan Watt from Thinking Juice, the marketing company running the event. CM suggested that Gellan should be given a tour of the school prior to the meeting.
12 / Correspondence - (a copy of the report had been circulated to Governors prior to the meeting)
  • No further correspondence from Governors.

13 / Any Other Notified Business
  • None

14 / Future Agenda Items
  • There were no future Agenda items

Date of Next Meeting
  • Monday 19th May 2014 at 7pm – NOT 15th July as stated on the Agenda

JW wanted AB to be aware how Governors appreciated the time and effort put into the pupils by all the staff at Noadswood.
The meeting closed at 8.32pm.

Minutes Approved by……………………………………………

Position……………………………………………………………

Signature………………………………………………………….

Date………………………………………………………………..