1
PRIMET HIGH SCHOOL
SPRING TERM 2013
MINUTES OF THE LOCAL GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 15 MARCH 2013 AT 3.45PM AT THE SCHOOL
PRESENTMr D Rothwell(Chair)
Mr T Horsley
Mrs B Johnson
Mrs S Tice
Mrs J Terry
Mrs L Stone
Mr D Bennett
Mr J Spencer (Vice-Chair)
Mrs J Walsh (Principal)
IN ATTENDANCEMr J Halshaw (Clerk)
1312
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence.
1313
MEMBERSHIP OF THE GOVERNING BODY
There were vacancies on the Governing Body for:
3 x Foundation Governors
1314
DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Governors were distributed with a Declaration of Interest Form for them to complete and return to the Head Teacher.
1315
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
RESOLVED
That the minutes of the last meeting held on 31 January 2013 having been circulated previously be accepted as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
1316
MATTERS ARISING
The following matters arising were reported:
1304 – Principal’s report
62 pupils had been offered places in year 7 for the commencement of the 2013/2014 academic year and at the end of the current academic year 95 pupils would be leaving year 11.
Governors’ questioned whether one way of raising additional income for the school would be to hire out part of the school to primary schools which were oversubscribed and needed extra space. The logistical difficulties of this were highlighted.
In response to Governors questions it was agreed that at a future meeting historical admissions data would be sent out to Governors showing the number of pupils transferring from year 6 to the school and how many pupils from each primary school come to Primet.
1317
GOVERNOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Governors were reminded that the Local Authority were willing to provide training for Governing Bodies of Academies.
Governors held a discussion about training and they all felt they could benefit from training but that any training provided would have to be appropriate and meet the needs of the Governing Body.
All Governors had access to the Schools’ Portal where information regarding training courses was availableand were advised to contact school if they needed their password to the Portal resetting.
All Governors had received a copy of the Lancashire Governors’ Newsletter. The newsletter provided information about online training courses that were available.
RESOLVED
That the Lancashire Governors’ Newsletter considered as part of a standing Training and Development item on future agendas of the Local Governing Body.
Governors were advised of a new tool “OFSTED Data Dashboard”, however they were unable to access this at present as Primet was not on the OFSTED website. The Principal to investigate how this can be resolved.
After further discussions about training it was;
RESOLVED
That the Chair of the Local Governing Body investigate the possibility of arranging some in-house training provided by the Local Authority regarding Governance of Academies which should include carrying out a skills audit of the Local Governing Body.
1318
CHARITY AND COMPANY LAW UPDATE
Governors were advised that the Charity Commission had recently produced a revised version of the Trustees Handbook which replaced the previous version.
The School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS), the Department for Education (DFE) and the Charity Commission had produced guidance which briefly explained the responsibilities of charity trustees and where to find further information about being a company director.
This information would be of more benefit to members of the Trust rather than the Local Governing Body.
1319
SCHOOL FORUM ELECTIONS
RESOLVED
That the Chair of the Local Governing Body be asked to vote in School Forum elections on behalf of the Local Governing Body.
1320
ADMISSIONS ARRANGEMENTS 2014/2015 – SEPTEMBER 2014 INTAKE
The Governing Body was reminded that schools which were their own admissions authority must determine a published admission number and admission arrangements for 2014/2015 by 15 April 2013.
Governors were reminded that it had been agreed as part of the academy conversion consultation that the admission arrangements for the Academy would remain unchanged from those previously agreed whilst Primet was a Local Authority maintained school, however the admission number had been decreased to 120.
The Admissions Policy for the Academy would be considered by the Trust.
1321
INFORMATION AND UPDATES
Governors were provided with the following information from the Local Authority:
aSchool places, provision and strategy investment
bCriminal Records Bureau/Disclosure and Barring Service
c2015 Key Stage 4 Performance Tables
dFinance Issues
Governors questioned whether Governors of the Local Governing Body or the Pendle Education Trust required a DBS check.
RESOLVED
i. That the information be noted.
ii. That the Clerk investigate whether DBS checks were required for Local Governing Body members and/or Trust members.
1322
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Governors had been distributed with the Principal’s Report which covered the following:
Student data
Student achievement/progress
Attendance
Exclusions
School (Academy) Development and Improvement Plan
Curriculum update
Teaching and Learning update
OFSTED
Health and Safety
Premises update
Budget update
Staffing update
From the information provided the following points were discussed/ highlighted:
-Governors questioned whether the Government’s Welfare reforms would have an effect of the income threshold for families for free school meals and if this in turn would have an impact on Pupil Premium funding.
-Exclusions during the current academic year were lower than for the same period in the 2011/2012 academic year.
RESOLVED
That at a future meeting of the Local Governing Body the Head Teacher provide more detail exclusion information by group e.g. gender/free school meals etc.
-Staff at the school had received extremely positive feedback from the recent review day. Governors who were parents of pupils at the academy confirmed that it had been a very worthwhile experience and that they had found the reviews to be “brutal and honest”.
RESOLVED
That the report be received with thanks.
1323
APPROVAL OF EDUCATIONAL VISITS
Governors were provided with a list of type A educational visits.
RESOLVED
That the information be noted.
Governors considered the following proposed type B visits:
2-4 April 2013Extreme Physics Stowe School
8 April 2013Blackpool reward trip
18-19 March 2013Humanities London trip
RESOLVED
i. That the trips be approved.
ii. That the Vice-Chair of the Local Governing Bodybe required to approve future type B visits on behalf of the Local Governing Body.
1324
ACADEMY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT PLANNING
aDevelopment Plan 2012/2013
The 2012/2013 School Development Plan would be reviewed in the near future.
bDevelopment Plan 2013/2014
The Dean Trust, a teaching school, would be carrying out a diagnostic assessment of the school over a 2 day period in the near future. This is similar in form to a ‘mock’ OFSTED inspection.
In addition Brand Vista, a brand alignment company would be carrying out some academy vision development work in conjunction with the Senior Leadership Team at the academy.
During the process work would be done in and out of school and discussions would take place with:
Pupils
Staff
Parents
Governors
Feeder primary schools
Other Community Members;
before a report would be provided for the Academy to consider.
The report would be considered it conjunction with the Academies self-evaluation information and the outcomes of the diagnostic assessmentto form the basis for a School Improvement Plan and a vision for the school.
1325
STUDENT ATTAINMENT AND PROGRESS
Governors were distributed with the following statistical information:
-Colne Primet High School – Evidence Base (January 2013 page 2)
-Percentage of pupils achieving A*-C grades in English/Maths over the last 3 years and predictions for the next 2 years and percentages of pupils making at least expected progress in English/Maths over the last 3 years and predicted for the next 2 years (Page 3)
-Current year 11 (tracker 3 pages 6 and 9)
-Current year 10 (tracker 3 pages 12 and 15)
Governors were distributed with the following commentary providing further details about the information:
Explanation - What the document shows
Page 2 of the document gives the figures for all pupils for the following measures:
Measure: 5+A* - CEM: The percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSE’s including English and Maths.
Measure: 5+A* - C: The percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSE’s.
Measure: 5+A* - G: The percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSE’s at any grade.
Measure: 1A* - G: The percentage of pupils achieving 1 or more GCSE’s at any grade.
Measure: Ave Capped: The average number of points per pupil calculated on their best 8 subjects. A ‘C’ grade is worth 40 points, a ‘B’ grade is worth 46 points, an ‘A’ grade is worth 52 points etc.
Measure: Total Points: The average number of points per pupil calculated on all of their subjects.
Measure: En/ Ma Points: The average number of points per pupil for English/ Maths. If all our pupils got a grade ‘C’, then the average points would be 40.0.
Page 3 of the document gives:
Percentages of pupils achieving A* - C grades in English/ Maths over the last 3 years and predictions for the next 2 years.
Percentages of pupils making at least expected progress in English/ Maths over the last 3 years and predictions for the next 2 years.
The rest of the document gives
Exactly the same information (excluding the average points score for English and Maths) but for identified cohorts of children e.g. girls/ boys, children entitled to free school meals (FSM) or not (NFSM), pupils with varying levels of prior attainment (low, middle and upper), pupils who feature on the SEN register (DSEN), pupils who have an Asian Heritage and pupils who arrived after the beginning of year 7 (transient). These are our key pupil groups.
The colour coding relates to the estimates provided by ‘Fischer Family Trust’ they are a charitable organisation who provide data for schools (don’t know why). We have found that the estimates that they provide create good targets for us to aim for. Their figures compare us to the top 25% of schools with similar intakes to our own.
If we want to aim higher, we can set ‘targets’ to the top 10% of ‘similar’ schools using FFT estimates.
A ↑ next to a number indicates that this figure is higher than tracker 1, a ↓ is lower, an = means it is the same. Tracker 2 data has not been referred to.
Commentary for Tracker 3
Attainment - page 2
-Year 11: All indicators have remained the same or show an improvement from tracker 1 apart from the 1+A* - G figure.
-Year 10: All indicators have remained the same or show an improvement from tracker 1 apart from the 5+A* - CEM and the 1+A* - G figure.
(Historically, year 10 data tends to oscillate - especially at the beginning of GCSE courses)
English/ Maths - page 3
-The percentage of pupils predicted to achieve A* - C has improved for both years 10 and 11 in English.
-The percentage of pupils predicted to achieve A* - C has declined for both years 10 and 11 in Maths.
-The percentage of pupils making expected progress has improved for both years 10 and 11 in English.
-The percentage of pupils making expected progress has remained the same in year 11 for Maths, but declined in year 10.
Year 11 breakdown of attainment/ progress pages 6 & 9
-All attainment data has improved/ remained the same since tracker 1, apart from the capped point score for lower ability and DSEN pupils. DSEN pupils remain a key focus area for the school at present.
-Total points scores have declined but only by 1 or 2 points (this is not significant).
-The indicators for English progress have all improved since tracker 1, 2 have remained the same (unfortunately one of these is DSEN pupils).
-The indicators for Maths are very variable, although none are a major cause for concern. The Maths staff are aware of these figures though. Could be due to over optimism at the start of the course?
Year 10 breakdown of attainment/ progress pages 12 & 15
-The percentage of pupils expected to achieve 5+A* - CEM has declined since tracker 1, but the percentage of pupils expected to achieve 5+A* - C has improved for every group (apart from FSM pupils). The data suggests, that since most indicators for English progress have improved (apart from DSEN pupils), that it is the progress in Maths that is affecting the attainment data. This is supported by the fact that points scores and capped points scores have improved for all pupils.
Further, more up to date tracking information would be available in the near future. This would be brought to a future meeting of the Local Governing Body and would be presented in a more “Governor friendly” way.
1326
ACADEMY SELF EVALUATION
This item had been covered earlier in the meeting.
1327
ACADEMY VISION PROCESS
This item had been covered earlier in the meeting.
1328
ACADEMY FINANCIAL REPORT/UPDATE
Governors were distributed with the following documents:
-Budget commentary
-Budget allocation for 2012/2013
-5 year indicative forecast
-Cost centre allocation with additional notes relating to the allocations
-Conversion development grant proposals
-Pupil Premium funding 2012/2013
-2013/2014 budget allocation
-Care, Support and Guidance funding
-Departmental/Subject area allocations January – August 2013
The commentary provided the following information:
12/13 Budget – Jan- Aug 13
The academy has received its budget allocation for 12/13. This relates to funding for the period 1 1 13 – 31 8 13. The budget comprises the LACSEG element and the normal grant. It is based on student numbers in Jan 12 and is thus slightly higher than it should be. When next year’s budget is allocated we understand that it will reflect an adjustment to take account of the additional funding awarded in 12/13.
We have based our 12/13 allocations on what we project the ‘correct’ figure to be and therefore our total is less than appears on the EFA allocation documentation. This figure is taken from the 5 year indicative forecast prepared by Sarah Woolford.
We have set up new cost centres relevant to the academy and have assigned resources to them based on our projections as of March 13. This is the budget for 12/13.
This budget ‘feels’ less certain than previous budgets and I anticipate that future updates will reflect our immaturity at this stage as regards the academy funding/budgeting processes.
12/13 Budget - April-Dec 12
We have yet to receive our final financial return from the Local Authority which inevitably means additional uncertainty at this stage. Until we receive this figure and the information relating to it we will not know the final amount of funding that the academy has available to it for the 12/13 period (up to 31 8 13). We anticipate this information coming into school by the end of the term.
Specific Grants
-To support the conversion process and the academy development thereafter the Trust received grants of £25,000 (conversion) and £65,000 (development).
-One or two of the allocations within the Academy Budget for 12/13 will use some of this funding but this has not been formally identified as yet. A broad outline of the proposed development spending is provided.
-The academy receives Pupil Premium funding to support students who are currently eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) or are ‘Looked After’ by the local authority (or who have been eligible for the last six years). Use of this grant is monitored and it must be accounted for separately demonstrating how it has supported and improved the progress of the relevant students.
-A new grant was awarded for this academic year – Catch up funding. This was allocated on the basis of the number of students joining the school in year 7 (2013) with lower than expected KS2 attainment – level 3 or below in English and/or mathematics. The use of this grant also has to be accounted for separately to demonstrate its impact. As yet we have not identified the specific use of this grant as it was awarded mid-way through the conversion process and has not yet been allocated to a cost centre.
LACSEG
The LACSEG element of the academy budget is for those elements of provision which we previously provided centrally by the LA. We have made provision within our budget for those services. The trust is currently receiving 3% of the total academy budget and pays for a number of elements of provision for the academy from this. The final arrangements and detail of this have not yet been confirmed and information will be provided to both trust and LGB once they have. The LACSEG element of the budget is replaced by an Education Services Grant for 2013.
13/14 Budget
The initial budget for 13/14 has been received by the academy but as yet little work has been done with regards to its allocation as most of our attention has been on the allocation o[i]f the 12/13 budget.