Minutes of Governing Body Meeting
Wednesday, 4 October 2017 at 7.00 pm
Southfield Primary School
Present Robert Huxford (Chair), Simon Prebble, Georgina Gilbey, John Tanter, Anthony Korn, Angela McHale, Leong MacSweeney,
In Attendance Marianna Loizia, Amandeep Tamber, Pav Bal
Action/ Apologies / Apologies were received from Tom Muir and Janet Barton. Governors congratulated Ngozi Fasan on the birth of her baby boy since the last meeting.
/ Authorised /Unauthorised absence / Governors authorised the above absences.
/ Election of Chair / Robert Huxford was duly elected Chair of Governors for the academic year 2017 – 2018.
/ Election of Vice Chair / John Tanter was duly elected Vice Chair of Governors for the academic year 2017 – 2018.
/ Governing Body Membership and Declaration of Business Interests / There are two parent governor vacancies – Emel Alaoui had also resigned as parent governor.
Ms Fasan’s term as co-opted governor is due to end on 14 November 2017.
Ms Barton’s term as staff governor is due to end on 27 November 2017.
There is currently one co-opted governor vacancy.
A parent governor election is in process with three nominations. Statements are being prepared by the candidates.
Skills audit analysis – The Chair is still to complete this, but noted there are good reviewing and communication skills, but finance may need to be looked at. The School Governors' One-Stop Shop may be an optionto fill the co-opted vacancy and there is also interest from a local vicar who could represent local community. Mr Tanter has finance experience, but thought that the Finance Governor should not be the same person as the Chair of the Resources Committee.Mr Huxford mentioned that a colleague had expressed some interest in becoming a governor and had financial experience. He will look into this. The Chair will share the skills audit analysis within two weeks.
There were no declarations of interest for this meeting. / RH
/ Declaration of Interest Forms / Governors completed their Declaration of Interest forms.
The website is being reviewed and governors’ interests will be updated. Ms Gilbey’s biography is still required. / GG
/ Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters Arising / The minutes of the meeting held on 6 July 2017 were agreed and signed by the Chair. All the actions have been completed or are on the agenda.
/ Planning for the Year / Committee Membership, including Pay Committee
Resources Committee
Ngozi Fasan, Robert Huxford, Anthony Korn, Simon Prebble, John Tanter, Thomas Muir
Teaching and Learning
Janet Barton, Georgina Gilbey, Angela McHale, Leong MacSweeney, Simon Prebble
Pay Committee (incl Head’s Performance Management Panel)
Robert Huxford, Tom Muir, Anthony Korn
Hearings Panel
2 Parent Governors, 1 Co-Opted Governor in alphabetical order.
Appeals Panel
1 Co-opted LA Governor, 1 Parent Governor, 1 Co-Opted Governor in reverse alphabetical order.
Link Governors
EYFS - John Tanter
English - tbc
Maths - Tom Muir
Inclusion, incl SEN/D - Leong MacSweeney
IPC and Computing – Angela McHale
Safeguarding – Angela McHale (The school will check if Georgina Gilbey can take on this role as a staff member)
Finance – Ngozi Fasan - tbc
Health and Safety/Site - Robert Huxford
Single Central Record - Anthony Korn
The school office will contact governors to set up meetings.
Training for Governors
Governor training is available in the Directors Report and the Ealing website. The Head asked governors to contact him if they want to go on a course as the school does not buy back into training. Safer Recruitment was recommended as it is good practice for at least one governor to have undertaken training for recruitment panels. This also gives a flavour of what is involved in safer recruitment. Anthony Korn offered to attend Safer Recruitment training. Amandeep Tamber will look into available courses.
Governor Code of Conduct
The Head will review and send to governors to agree at the next meeting. / AK
AT
SP
/ School Improvement / School Improvement Priorities 2017 – 2018
The SIP timeline for 2017 – 2018 was tabled.
The Head also tabled the draft priorities and asked Governors to consider the reasons the priorities were chosen, which were then outlined and discussed at the meeting.
Governors asked if the school’s good achievement results have been shared with parents. They were circulated at the end of last term, and will be circulated again. SEN children achieved above the national average.
Are the children informed on how well they have done, it was noted that the Year 6 children will have already left the school.
Governors asked about the under achieving groups– eg Disadvantaged and White British and asked if it was white British disadvantaged - which the Head confirmed was. Proportion of EAL pupils is 50% and ranges from children in the school system since nursery whose first language may not be English to new arrivals with no English. SEN/D is 7%, Disadvantaged is 30% but declining. This is not a national trend and governors asked what was driving this. The disadvantaged children were living further away and are not getting into the school now. Are there any plans to breakdown EAL – at the last census a scale was introduced on how competent children are. Across Ealing Disadvantaged is Black Caribbean and White British especially boys for both. Children are taught the same in school, but home support is different. The school is targeting disadvantaged parents and carers to support children and introducing mentoring within school is also being explored.
/ Ofsted Arrangements / School are being inspected between 3 – 5 years since their previous visit. The latest the school would be inspected would be July 2019. Nationally schools inspected in the previous academic year to Southfield are currently being inspected. The school’s data has improved generally since the last inspection.
Mr Prebble gave a presentation of the Ofsted process to governors highlighting the key changes since the last inspection:
- Good schools – to receive one-day visit
- During consultation vulnerable schools to have two day inspection.
- Schools judged good will get a letter to say the school has maintained, and will not receive a report
- Schools judged to be below or above good will receive two day inspection with second day up to 15 days later.
The inspector carries out a desktop analysis with lines of enquiry which the school expects to be: KS1, Pupil Premium children and SEND/underachieving children on SEN support. Focus is on achievement for pupils in school and across the whole curriculum. The inspector will seek views of parents (online Parentview), staff and children. Governors will also be seen with focus on whether school has capacity for improvement. Typical questions for governors were noted. A group of governor representatives (RH, JT, AMcH, TM) will meet with Mr Prebble to go through questions.
Mr Prebble will also send out his presentation to governors by email following the meeting. / RH/JT/
AMcH/TM
SP
/ Governing Body Audit/ Self Evaluation Action Plan / Mr Huxford and Ms McHale will be reviewing these documents on 12 October and will report to the next meeting. / RH/AMcH
/ Update on Policies Cycle / Admission Statement 2018 – 2019
Governors suggestedhighlighting that the school is the admissions authority for Nursery only and not for the rest of the school. Governors agreed the policy with the above amendment.
Pupils Toileting Guidance
Governors agreed the policy.
Following the query raised at the last meeting about how governors know the school is complying with policies, a section has been added to new policies on how governors are made aware of compliance, eg through the Head’s Report, at meetings or within Link Governor visits
Mr Huxford said he found it useful to have a group of policies to review in one go. The school will bear this in mind, but it may not always possible to send them all out together. / SP
/ Ratification of Term Dates / Governors agreed the term dates for 2018 – 2019. These will be published on the website.
/ Safeguarding Documents / Governors were made aware of and signed for receipt of the following safeguarding documents for them to read:
- Acceptable Use of Phones
- Safeguarding Policy
- Keeping Children Safe in Education, Parts 1 & 2
- Code of Conduct for School Employees
/ Any Other Business / School Meals
The Harrisons’ contract to supply school meals is due to end in July 2018 and the consortium (which Mr Prebble is a member of) is recommending a 2-year extension and asking all schools to agree to this. Harrisons provide good meals and are a good organisation.
Mr Tanter asked if this was compliant with the Finance Policy and whether the contract is below the cut-off for going out to tender. Mr Prebble confirmed that the Consortium goes through the tendering process, but will look into this at the next meeting later this week and report back to governors. The contract does not need to be signed until the end of term. / SP
/ Date and Time of next meeting / The following dates and times for future meetings:
Resources Committee
Thursday, 2 November 2017 at 6.30 pm
Teaching and Learning Committee
Thursday 23rd November 2017 at 9.00 am
Governing Body
Wednesday, 29 November 2017 at 7.00 pm
Mr Huxford suggested a staff/governor breakfast before the end of term, and the Head will advise of a suitable date. / SP
Meeting finished at 9.05 pm.
Robert Huxford
Chair of Governors
Southfield Governing Body
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