Meeting of the Curriculum and Standards Committee

Meeting of the Curriculum and Standards Committee

of the Governing Body

held on Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 6.30 p.m.

Present:Luci AmosHead Teacher

Mary PotterFoundation Governor - Chair

Jennifer GreenParent Governor

Rev Anne Lee.Foundation Governor (Items 5, 6 and 7 - SEND onwards)

Laura LovelyStaff Governor

Helen HoweDeputy Head (Observer)

Elizabeth Carrington-PorterCommunity Governor and Subject Governor for Gifted and Talented

Kay FarnellStaff English and Gifted and Talented Team (for items 1-7)

Jane StorerStaff Maths Team (for items 1- 7)

Jacqui CashmoreClerk

Action
1 / Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received and accepted forKay Allen.
2 / Register of Business and Pecuniary Interests
There were no changes to the register and no declarations of interest were raised with regard to items on the agenda.
3 / Minutes of the last Meeting of the Curriculum and Standards Committee Meeting held on 21November2013
The Minutes of the Curriculum and Standards Committee were agreed and signed as a true record.
4 / Matters Arising from the Minutes
4.1 / Governors noted the report and commented on the following items.

• International Policy (4.1.1): Kim Drinkwater and the HI Council (a children led group) had been asked to write an International policy in consultation with the Geography Subject Team. This would be brought to a future meeting. The HI Council had been busy fundraising for the Philippines disaster. Luci to remind Kim this needed writing.

/ LA/Kim Drinkwater

• Drama Policy (5.3.1): A paragraph on performance poetry had been added and circulated to Governors with their papers. Governors agreed the Policy and it was signed at the meeting.

• Mystery Reader (6.1.2): Luci reported that this scheme was proving to be very successful. Mary had been in to school that afternoon and had really enjoyed it.

5 / Policy Reviews
5.1 / Front page to all policies: Noted.
5.2 / English:The policy had been reviewed by the Subject Team and Governors agreed and signedsubject to “SENCO” being changed to“SENDCO” throughout.
5.3 / G&T/Mable: Governors reviewed the Policy and it was agreed and signed at the meeting.
5.4 / Maths
5.4.1 / Governors reviewed the Policy and it was agreed and signed subject to the following changes:

• Page 1, Rational, last sentence:Delete “doing and thinking” and replace with “thinking and learning”.
• Page 1, Aims, fifth bullet: delete “ eg including computers, calculators, logo.”
• Page 1, Aims: Add new bullet “Children’s ability to draw upon practical hand on experience to embed mathematical concepts.”
• Page 2, Guidelines: Add new bullet “Practical activities are used as a foundation to enhance learning.”
• Page 2, Teaching methods, add new second bullet: “Use of BASS and termly/weekly assessments to uniform planning for learning and next steps.”
• Page 2, Teaching methods, new bullet: “Additional support through the 1st class at number in both key stages.”

5.5 / Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND): Governors reviewed the Policy and it was agreed and signed subject to “SEN” being amended to read “SEND” throughout the Policy.
5.6 / Assessment recording & reporting including marking
5.6.1 / The policy was reviewed and agreed and signed at the meeting subject to the following amendments.

• Page 1, Guidelines for Assessment: Add 2 new bullets “use of BASS assessments” and “BASS mentor meetings”.
• Page 2, Guidelines for Recording: 2nd sentence to read “The school has decided upon a BASS file, which contains:”
• Page 2, Guidelines for Reporting: Bullet 5 to read “Reception will report progress against the Early Learning Goals in the 7 areas of learning.”

6 / Individual Governors Reports
6.1 / G&T/Mable
6.1.1 / The Gifted & Talented/Mable Subject Team (Kay Farnell and Elizabeth Carrington-Porter) had met in November and again in January, as progress had been made in producing individual support plans to monitor children who were on the register. A report was presented to the meeting.
6.1.2 / Governors noted that:

• We had worked with North Somerset Athletics Club (NSAC) in a Cross Country event where they identified children with skills for cross country and invited them to join NSAC where they could improve their skills.

• We were discussing with local Head Teachers a chess competition and quiz where gifted and talented pupils would compete against other schools.

6.1.3 / Lizzie expressed an interest in attending one of the events eg Priory Spelling Bee annual challenge or the Churchill annual Maths Challenge. / LCP
6.1.4 / Kay agreed to map out a school calendar of when these events were taking place, which would be a visual way to show what we do for our gifted and talented children. / KF
6.2 / Maths
6.2.1 / The Maths Subject Team (Jane Storer and Jennifer Green) had met in January and a report was presented to the meeting.
6.2.2 / Governors asked whether banks and/or other businesses visited the school. Jane confirmed that we held a “My money week” where the school had visitors but because of demands on time this event could not take place every year.
6.2.3 / Governors noted there will be a booster group for those KS2 children who are struggling. This will take the form of 40/60 minutes sessions held four times a week, in addition to their usual lessons. The learning is very practical to ensure the children have an understanding of what they do and enjoy it.
6.2.4 / Governors asked if assessment results were affected by school holidays. LA advised we had seen an initial decline in classes 2,3 and 4 when the first BASS assessment had taken place in September, but thought that the BASS test had had a big impact. The results from the assessment after the Christmas break had been good and children had maintained their scores.
Anne arrived at 7.30 pm
6.2.5 / Governors asked whether we worked with the parents to help them understand the way Maths was taught. Jane confirmed that Maths Workshops were held on an annual basis and positive feedback had been received. Governors noted that Workshops were also held in Phonics and Reading
6.2.6 / Governors noted the report.
6.3 / SEND
6.3.1 / The SEND Subject Team (Helen Howe and Mary Potter) had met in January and areport was presented to the meeting.
6.3.2 / Governors asked if children hop in and out of the SEND Register. Luci confirmed that yes it could be short term or long term depending on the individuals need.
6.3.3 / An individual support plan would be set up for each child on the register and this form would include pupils’ feedback on how the experience made that child feel.
6.3.4 / New Regulations were due to come in which would change the definition of SEND. Children that have emotional needs may not fall into this definition but other support would be put in place to cover this.
6.3.5 / Governors noted the report.
6.4 / Mary thanked the Subject Teams’ for their reports.
7 / Action Plans
7.1 / G&T/Mable:Governors were updated on the action plan and its content was noted.
7.2 / Maths: Governors were updated on the action plan and its content was noted.
7.3 / SEND: Governors were updated on the action plan and its content was noted.
Kay Farnell and Jane Storer left the meeting.
8 / Targets set with Local Authority
8.1 / 2013-2014.
The percentage of KS1 pupils who will achieve:
L2C+ is 100% Reading, 100% Writing, 100% Maths,
L2B+ is 97% Reading, 78% Writing, 97% Maths
L3 is 36% reading, 18% writing, and 25% Maths
The percentage of KS2 pupils who will achieve:
L4+ is 97% Reading, 97% Writing and 97% Maths,
L5 is 55% Reading, 24% Writing and 45% Maths.
The percentage of pupils to meet or exceed 2 levels progress is
97% Reading, 97% Writing and 97% Maths.
The percentage of pupils to meet or exceed 2 levels progress in Reading, writing and Maths combined is 93%
8.2 / It was noted that the criteria has changed which made it harder, as children were usually better in Reading than in Writing but Reading and Writing were now combined.
9 / Pupil Premium pupils’ progression data
9.1 / Luci explained wewere aiming for 2.0 progress. Attached are the tracking forms showing the Pupil Premium pupils’ progression.
9.2 / Governors agreed that the results were good in the top years but asked why there had not been a high level of input in the lower year groups.
9.3 / Luci explained that she did not have the manpower to target all years at once. Some of the children were targeted because they were behind where they needed to be and some in Yr 6 received extra input and BASS. Years 4, 5 and 6 have had small focus groups and Year 3 would now be getting this in Term 3.
9.4 / Reading has been focussed on year 4, 5 and 6 but will be shifted once progress has been made.
9.5 / Luci explained that the colours used to score BASS married with our behaviour system. Luci to distribute copy of tracking system to Governors. / LA
10 / E-Safety
Nothing to report.
11 / Training and Development
Laura had been unable to attend the ‘e-safety essential’ training in January but would be attending training in May.
12 / Any Other Business
Believe, Achieve Succeed System (BASS)
Governors felt it would be useful to fully understand the BASS system and it was agreed that this would be included on the next FGB Meeting. / LA/Clerk
13 / Date of Next Meeting
Monday, 24 March 2014 at 6.30 pm.
Mary thanked all for their attendance and the meeting was closed at 9.00 pm.

Signed:Page 1

Dated: