London Borough of Lambeth

London Borough of Lambeth

CLAPHAM MANOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

GOVERNING BODY

Minutes of a meeting held at the school on

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 at 7.00 pm.

*******Future Meetings*******
14 JanuaryPupils, Parents & the Community Committee
21 JanuaryAchievement & Curriculum Committee
28 January Governors Training Session
4 FebruaryFull Governors’ Meeting
All meetings are on Wednesdays and start at 6.30 pm. unless otherwise stated.
A full list is at minute 12.2

Constitution, Membership and Attendance Clerk:Philip West

Nominated/Ex-officio/Elected - 5 / Co-opted - 10
1 LA Nigel Haselden (C)
1 HTBrian Hazell
2 ParentsHannah Jaffer
Selene Brett*
1 StaffJennifer Ross* / Ben Dickey
Joanna Fulford
Katja Pempelfort*
Clare Rooth (VC)
Abby Taylor
Barbara Williams
Eddie Woods
Three Vacancies

*The names of governors absent from the meeting are printed in bold.

Absent with Apologies Selene Brett, Katya Pempelfort and Jennifer Ross

Absent without Apologies: None

Also attended:None

Committees and Membership

Achievement and Curriculum / Pupils, Parents and School Community / Resources / Headteacher’s Performance Review/Pay
Selene Brett
Ben Dickey (C)
Joanna Fulford
Nigel Haselden
Abby Taylor
Barbara Williams
+
Jo Clarke (co-opted) / Nigel Haselden
Katja Pempelfort
Clare Rooth (C)
Jennifer Ross
Headteacher / Nigel Haselden
Headteacher
Hannah Jaffer (C)
Abby Taylor
Eddie Woods / Nigel Haselden
Hannah Jaffer
Clare Rooth
Review Governor: Ben Dickey
The Chair is empowered to form committees for Pupil Discipline, Staff Dismissal and Appeals etc as and when required and may draw on governors from Herbert Morrison School.

Governors’ Special Responsibilities

Special Responsibility / Governor / Special Responsibility / Governor
Child Protection / Chair / Training Link Governor / Clare Rooth
Computing / Selene Brett / Data / Joanna Fulford
English / Abby Taylor / Health & Safety / Eddie Woods
Maths / Barbara Williams / School Council / Jennifer Ross
Science / Ben Dickey / Pupil Premium / Hannah Jaffer/Eddie Woods
SEND / Clare Rooth / Early Years/Children’s Centre Com Rep / Joanna Fulford
Safeguarding / Clare Rooth
ACTION
1. / 1.1Welcome, Introduction and Apologies.
Apologies were noted as listed above and it was
Agreed they be accepted.
1.2Declaration of Interest/Register of Interests
Governors were reminded that they must declare any personal or pecuniaryinterest in any item that might arise during the course of the meeting and that the register of interests, kept by the school, should be fully completed and up-to-date. Governors had been circulated with new forms for completion.
1.3 Governing Body Membership
Governors note:
Resignation: Nell Bond and Sue Hayes, staff governors, had resigned.
Current Vacancies: one community, one parent, two staff and one LA governor. / ALL
2. / Election of Vice Chair 2014/15
Barbara Williams was elected Joint Vice Chair for 2014/15.
3. / Minutes, Matters Arising and Chair’s Action
3.1Minutes. Minutes of the meeting of 8th October 2014 had been circulated and were
Agreed.
3.2Matters Arising. There were none.
3.3Chair’s Action. There was none which required endorsement by the Governing Body.
4. / Reconstitution of the Governing Body
Governors noted the Instrument of Government (copy circulated) which set out the new constitution operating from 3rd December 2014.
The governors were reminded of their previous decisions regarding the co-option of any governors displaced by the reconstitution. It was noted that two of the existing parent governors could continue as elected parent governors until the end of their existing terms of office.
The governors discussed this and
Agreed that:The terms of office for co-opted governors should be four years.
The 10 places available for co-opted governors be filled by co-option as listed below:
Ben Dickey
Joanna Fulford
Katja Pempelfort
Clare Rooth
Abby Taylor
Barbara Williams
Eddie Woods
Three vacancies
For the sake of clarity the other members of the Governing Body be noted:
Headteacher1Brian Hazell
LA1Nigel Haselden
Staff1Jennifer Ross
Parents2Selene Brett
Hannah Jaffer
A procedure be developed for the co-option of additional governors on the basis of skills.
They confirmed the decisions of the Governing Body regarding Chair, Vice Chairs and Committee Structure and membership.
The Clerk should inform governors not present of the decisions made.
The parents should be informed of the changes made regarding parent governors. / ALL
ALL
Clerk
Clerk
HT
5. / Report of the Headteacher
The report had been circulated and summarised below are matters the Headteacher expanded on and queries raised by governors.
5.1General Assessment. The Headteacher reminded governors that the School Improvement Partner (SIP) in her autumn visit last year had given an overall judgement of good but with several qualifications. He was very pleased that this year the SIP judged the school to be a strong good with elements of outstanding. She had suggested that the school should now reflect on its self assessment and consider which areas could be judged as outstanding.
Governors pursued this and discussed the matter further. The Headteacher was asked to explain why he had not so far raised gradings to outstanding and to outline what needed to be done to achieve an overall outstanding grading.
He explained that there were time lags between the lesson observations, the assessments made and his report and the SEF being produced. He expected that an updated SEF would show improvements in gradings but that had yet to be assessed and agreed within the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
Two areas where he felt some improvement needed to be made were ensuring that all staff were committed to and supporting the school vision and the need to hold staff to account in management terms.
5.2Visit by the Deputy Prime Minister. The Deputy Prime Minister had visited the school to look particularly at school meal provision to mark the introduction of free meals for all KS 1 pupils. The pupils had enjoyed the visit, especially the opportunity to see how such events, seen so often on television, are conducted and produced for public viewing.
5.3Food Flagship Programme. Governors noted the work being done and queried the purpose of the LA’s £15k grant. The Headteacher explained it would enable the school to continue its work and continue as a beacon school for the borough. He detailed some of the work being undertaken.
5.4Shine Saturday School. Governors were interested in the Shine project which the school now hosted on Saturday, following Lark Hall’s withdrawal from the collaborative. The Headteacher explained that the project was now in the second of four years. Selected Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils from collaborative schools attended on Saturday for intensive additional teaching from outside staff. The pupils selected were those who would achieve a Level 4 provided they had this additional support and whose parents would provide the essential support at home. The school was satisfied with the evidence that this programme was successful.
5.5Dancing and Team Building. The school had not agreed to proceed with the Strictly dancing involvement without long discussion and being convinced that it would be helpful for team building.
5.6Music. The arrangements for covering the work of the music teacher, who had resigned, prompted discussion. The Headteacher was happy to confirm that he felt the role was important for the school and that he was seeking to recruit a replacement. However there were growing difficulties in recruiting staff, most probably because of housing costs, and music was a difficult curriculum area to recruit for.
5.7Finance. Asked about the overall financial position the Headteacher responded by saying that the budget was very tight and that it was more difficult each year. Increases in staffing costs were the most significant element arising from the annual salary increases and staff progression on the pay scales.
5.8Maternity Leave. Arising from the above, governors noted that the funding of maternity leave continued to be an issue. This year there were four staff taking leave. The Headteacher reminded governors that the LA’s scheme, which provided for 42 weeks pay compared with 26 weeks minimum, was the most generous he knew. Moreover, the LA did not enforce the requirement for staff either to return for 13 weeks or to forfeit their pay. Schools had argued the case for change because there was insufficient funding in the budget for this but the LA was not minded to change the arrangements.
The Chair undertook to write to the appropriate Council Committee and set out the difficulties that schools experience from this policy. / Chair
6. / Committees of the Governing Body
Reports of Meetings of Committees.
Achievement and Curriculum – 19th November 2014, draft minutes circulated.
Ben Dickey reported that there were additions to be made to the draft minutes regarding the teaching of maths.
Pupils, Parents and Community – 12th November 2014
Clare Rooth reported that the Committee had:

Reviewed and recommended the staff dress code for approval (see 8 below).
Looked at parental engagement.
Reviewed the latest draft of the vision document.

Resources – 26th Novemberber 2014, draft minutes circulated.
Hannah Jaffer reported that the Committee had:

Received and reviewed a financial report.
Agreed not to approve scaffolding being erected before the Christmas break for the work on the new building.
Discussed the windows work and noted that there was a substantial snagging list. The contractors had assured governors of completion of these by 19th December.
Recommended the approval of a number of policies (see 8 below).

The reports were received.
7. / Plans for the Future
The Pupils, Parents and Communities Committee had reviewed the latest draft and Katya Pempelfort had sent the Headteacher comments to assist in preparing a feedback form for parents. The Headteacher was hoping to begin parental consultation at the parents’ forum the following week with full consultation in the spring term. / HT
8. / School Policies
The Headteacher tabled the policies listed below and these were
Agreed.
Attendance
Admissions
Restraint
The listed policies had been recommended for approval by the Committee as indicated and were
Agreed.
Resources Committee
Complaints
Critical Incident Management
Data Protection
Pay
Staffing Structure
Pupils, Parents and Communities
Dress Code
9. / Health and Safety Matters
Ben Dickey reported that two reports on health and safety matters and the window contractors had been submitted to the LA.
10. / School Journey/Overnight Stays
There were no matters for report.
11. / Working Together
Copies of the report were available through the LA’s website at this address:

This had been dealt with at the last meeting. / ALL
12. / Governing Body Training, Dates of Meetings and Visits
12.1Training. Governors noted the training opportunities available and urged governors to use these.
It was confirmed that the next school based training session would be on Wednesday 28th January.
12.2Dates of Future Meetings.

Spring Term 2015

21 JanuaryAchievement & Curriculum Committee
28 January Governors Training Session
4 FebruaryFull Governors’ Meeting
11 FebruaryResources Committee
25 FebruaryPupils, Parents & the Community Committee
4 MarchAchievement & Curriculum Committee
11 MarchResources Committee
18 MarchFull Governors’ Meeting
Summer Term 2015
29 AprilAchievement & Curriculum Committee
13 May Full Governors’ Meeting
20 MayResources Committee
10 JunePupils, Parents & the Community Committee
17 JuneGovernors’ morning visit to school
17 JuneAchievement & Curriculum Committee
24 JuneResources Committee
1 JulyFull Governors’ Meeting

All meetings are on a Wednesday.

Full Governors Meetings will be from 7.00pm until 9.00pm.

Committee Meetings will usually be from 6.30pm until 8.30pm.
If you are unable to attend a meeting please advise the school as soon aspossible.
12.3Visits. Details of governors’ visits to the school were noted. / ALL
ALL
13. / Any Other Urgent Business
13.1Reconstitution. The governors marked the reconstitution of the Governing Body in an appropriate manner and toasted the continuing success of the school.
13.2Parking. Governors were asked for their approval to the Headteacher’s request to the LA to use CCTV to monitor car-parking outside the school. The Headteacher wanted to ensure that the governors understood what was being approved and the possible complaints that might be received from parents.
14. / Reports on Any Confidential Matters
14.1Reports from any Committee established to consider Parental Complaints, Pupil Exclusions or any other Confidential Matter.
There were no matters to consider.
14.2Headteacher's Report on Complaints, Exclusions and Racist Incidents.
The Headteacher reported on exclusions as detailed below.
Year 4 Boy excluded for 2 days.
14.3Any Other Confidential Business.
There were no matters to consider.

The meeting closed at 9.00 pm.

Chair______Date______

ACTION SUMMARY
WHO / MINUTE / NOTES
ALL / 1.2 / 4 / 11 / 12.1 / 12.2
CHAIR / 5 / 8
HT / 4 / 7
Achievement and Curriculum Comm
Resources Committee
Pupils, Parents and School Community Comm
Committee Chairs
Clerk / 4
Clare Rooth
Ben Dickey
Barbara Williams