Present: Sally Birkbeck (Chair), Sally Joy (Head), Jean Kellett (JK), Barbara White (BW), Peter Sumpter (PS)
In Attendance: Rob Cameron (Deputy, RC), Ann-Marie Cullen (Business Manager, AMC for part of the meeting), Linda Townsend (Clerking Service)
F13/13 Apologies for Absence and their Acceptance
There were no apologies for absence.
F14/13 Declarations of Interest for Items on this Agenda
There were no declarations of interest.
F15/13 Any Other Business and Requests for Agenda Order Variations
It was agreed to take Items 20 and 23 first, including Health & Safety Report
F16/13 Minutes of the Previous Meeting on 21 October 2013
The minutes were proposed by Chair and seconded by SJ to be a true and accurate record of the meeting, all agreed.
Minutes of the extra meeting of 4 November 2013
Staffing Structure should read 3 administration assistants not 2.
The minutes were proposed by Chair and seconded by SJ to be a true and accurate record of the meeting, all agreed.
F17/13 Matters Arising from these Minutes
The minutes had been sent out as full governing body minutes in the title, rather than F&GP minutes, Clerk had changed these to be correct.
08/13 - Head has produced document to table later in the meeting. Other actions are covered in the agenda.
F20/13 Premises Update
Ann-Marie Cullen introduced this item.
§ Chicken enclosure is nearly finished. Tarmac could not be used because the ground is too wet, so a decking ramp with non-slip surface is being laid.
Q: Has this been tried before for wheel chair users?
This is used in nursing homes etc so is the right material for the setting.
§ Drains have been cleared in the playground and twice yearly maintenance programme is in place which should hopefully solve the problem.
§ Council surveyor has found a company to maintain the Building Management System (BMS) and to train the site manager in how to use it effectively. The BMS controls the heating in school and needs to be completely re-set as this has never been done properly. The initial “flooring” of the system and training will cost £1,300 and annual maintenance and support will cost a further £1,700 per year for twice yearly visits. AMC to look into negotiating a cheaper deal as both Phoenix and Chellow Heights use the same system.
Contractors will produce a report to help in the claim to Educo that the system was never set up correctly in the first place and try to claw some money back for the school. Council are supporting the school in their claim.
Q: Would they train more than one person? The site manager has the right skills to be able to manage the system once training is complete. Just one person being trained cuts down on the system being messed up again.
Q: What if the site manager is off ill? Telephone assistance is available as part of the contract. They would also visit the site if something went wrong and the site manager was not here.
Governors approved AMC to go ahead with the training and maintenance contract.
§ There was a small electrical fire in the kitchen due to overload of the sockets. This has made FM relook at the kitchen provision. It appears that they are looking to convert the kitchen to a primary choice kitchen and will fund the conversion. This would mean no longer having to rely on Lapage warming the food and should improve the quality. SJ noted that when the availability of free schools meals is expanded, the Lapage kitchen will not be large enough to supply both schools.
§ A number of toilets around the school have had problems with flushing. As the site manager has followed all manufacturers instructions the company has provided free parts and he has carried out the repairs.
§ Improvements have been made to the pipe work needed to fill and empty the pool chlorine tanks saving the site manager a huge amount of time.
Q: Do the lifts get checked? There are twice yearly checks done.
Head commented that the caretaker is doing a brilliant job and Chair asked to pass on the thanks of the governors for his hard work.
Health & Safety Report - AMC updated governors.
§ AMC attended a Data Protection overview in November. There is a major concern that some schools do not follow legislation. One school in Bradford has been fined for a data protection breach. Further training is being planned and AMC will prepare an overview for governors and staff early in the new year. Chair had also received this overview after attending the Autumn Term Governor Area Briefing.
§ Esafe is now active and running on all school IT equipment including laptops. Esafe will scan and record user keystrokes on the keyboard for inappropriate words and take screenshots of any content which is deemed unsuitable for school. All staff aware of the programme. Chair had also seen this presentation at the Governor Area Briefings. Head had asked the question who checks the Head but had not had a response. Head had investigated the legitimacy of the programme and is happy with it. It has been provided free of charge to all schools through Bradford Council's Schools Forum.
§ Work to improve the fire escape procedure has been completed and feedback forms for staff are in place so they can highlight any problems they experience which can be built in to future tests.
§ Monitoring and recording of fire tests has been improved by the caretaker by numbering activation points to ensure he uses a different point each time. In the event of a real fire the new system will help establish where the fire is.
§ A recent Union H&S visit went very well and a full copy of the report was distributed to governors. The only outstanding item is the date of the last Fire Risk Assessment. This is part of the SLA with Facilities Management and school are awaiting a more up-to-date version.
§ Regular H&S walks are being done with AMC and the careraker concentrating on shared areas and corridors and significant improvements are evident.
§ More staff with known medical conditions now have risk assessments in place and a buddy system introduced where needed. Staff are pleased with this system and feel more confident.
§ Risk assessments are in place for all events held in school.
§ A protocol is in place for Lapage staff to use the shared access door.
§ Display screen equipment training and risk assessments are in place for the admin team, and there will be an assessment update in January for any other staff who are regular users.
§ H&S induction is in place for all new starters. T&L aspect done by RC and H&S is delivered by the staffing officer.
§ There is now a more robust procedure in place to immediately follow up any reported pupil or staff accidents to avoid future incidents, i.e. wet floors.
F23/13 Policy Review
§ Protocol for Lost Swipes and Fobs
Governors approved the Protocol
§ Protocol for Lapage Shared Access Door
Governors approved the Protocol which is working well with both schools.
AMC was thanked for her thorough reports and left the meeting.
F18/13 Staffing Update
Head updated governors on staffing issues. Gemma O’Meara has been appointed as teacher and started on 4 November. Two new assistants have been appointed and started in November and |December Kamran Hussain and Sehrash Ghafoor. The 0.5 teacher and the other assistant posts were not filled. One SNTA is leaving on maternity and another staff member is leaving to travel.
The recruitment process will start again in January. The supply agency is doing the recruitment work and this works out a lot cheaper for the school.
Confidential Item - Rob Cameron left the meeting
F19/13 Budget Update and PE Funding
Head presented a full budget update as at 3 December 2013. E19 - Curriculum. Head reported that staff were spending their own money on snacks etc for their children and therefore a budget had been set up for each class within E19 to pay for these items..
Head reported that although the carry forward was very small, Sohail Mahmood (the peripatetic Bursar) was happy with the budget as there mayl be some things that won't be spent.
Head had produced a monthly high needs statement for governors which highlighted budget differences each month. A full report/comparison from April to April will be done.Monthly reports are now availble to govermors so they can track differences in funding.
The budget changes each month and figures show there was £2,888 less budget than was set in April but £76,000 less in July which was due to 27 children leaving, four unexpectedly when they moved away from the area. Admissions take too long to process but this is out of the school's hands. Funding per pupil will be done on a monthly basis. The budget can go up as well as down. Funding is received for 105 places and at the moment there are 92.5 full time equivalent pupils, with 96 actually on roll. School has agreed to admit 6 in January increasing numbers to 98.5 full time equivalent pupils. By February half term school should be full. Recruitment is a risk that has to be taken to ensure enough staff are in place for when new pupils are admitted.
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has indicated that base funding for 2015/2016 will be based on the average number of pupils on roll for the proceeding year.
PE Funding - this is a ring-fenced amount of funding specifically to be spent on PE activity and this has to be reported on and the impact shown to parents and governors in a similar way to the Pupil Premium. School will receive £5625 this year which will be spent on priorities within the Accessibility Plan which will be of benefit to all pupils, and their health and wellbeing, related to PE. The information will be placed on the website and brought to governors at a future meeting.
F21/13 Data Protection
Training will be given on this to governors at a meeting next term. Chair confirmed she had attended he Governor Area Briefing where this was discussed and stressed to governors that they need to be careful how they deal with paperwork from school and how this is disposed of. If governors are not able dispose of paperwork themselves they can bring it into school to be shredded.
F22/13 Pupil Premium
Head tabled the Pupil Premium final report for September 2012 to August 2013. The report details the allocation for Delius, how the funding was spent, the intended impact and an evaluation of the actual impact. The majority of the funding is spent on extra hours for L2 and L3 staff in the form of mentoring and coaching and CPD in order to target those pupils who receive pupil premium. IEP analysis for February 2013 shows that pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium are showing better achievement rates when compared to the rest of the school.
Good discussion was held on the impact of pupil premium funding when the free school meals is brought in for all children up to 7yrs old and how this will be worked out. Head is attending a meeting this week and will ask the question as it could have a big impact on funding for the school.
Head tabled the Pupil Premium Report , and intended impact for September 2013-2014 and again funding will be targeted at L2 and L3 staff in coaching and mentoring and CPD.
Governors agreed the plan and this information will be posted on the school's website.
F24/13 Any Other Business referred from Item 13/13 above
None
F25/13 Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on Monday 20 January 2014 at 5.00pm
As there was no further business both head and chair thanked governors for their attendance and the meeting closed at 6.30pm.
Signed by Chair as a true record:
Date:
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