Minutes of the Federated Governing Body Meeting of Marsham and Hevingham Primary Schools held at Hevingham Primary School on Wednesday 6th July 2016 at 6.00pm
Present: Lydia Board (LB), Harvey Bullen (HB), Robert Burton (RB), Trisha Creed (TC) (Chair), Wendy Durrant (WD), Jo Field (JF), Karen Hutchison (KH), Vicki Millington (VM), Alan Price (AP), Moira Stansfield (MS), Andrea Loudoun (AL) (Notes)
The meeting started with Sarah Lewis, Science Subject Leader giving a presentation of the science action plan.
SL distributed copies of the Science Overview which included: What and How do I know, What is being done and the Impact of the action. There were 3 areas being developed and SL went through the Action Plan explaining the comments and highlighting the following points:
Gaps in teaching science had been addressed and monitoring will be continued.
Concept Plans were explained and SL will collect these ½ termly from class teachers.
Y3/4 have now completed a scientific investigation which covered the gaps in their science learning.
SL had attended a Science network meeting and discovered other schools were having similar problems with assessment. She will carry on looking at research to resolve this.
KH said that staff knew what needed to be taught at each level and although there was no formal testing, investigations carried out enabled progress to be monitored.
Marsham still needed to carry out an assessment.
KH explained that science is one of the areas OFSTED are concentrating on at the moment.
SL was thanked for her presentation.
School Council Presentation
Three representatives of the school council and Rachel Howard then joined the meeting to explain their recent discussions of the School Vision & Values statement to make sure all pupils understood it.
They told governors they had decided to look at the ‘Successful Learners’ section first and had prepared a questionnaire to ask the children in their class what they felt made them a successful learner. The school council then looked at the answers and changed each section of the statement into ‘child speak’ – a copy of this was distributed to governors.
KH asked for a copy to be put on the school website.
Posters showing pictures of pupils and quotes from the discussions had been produced to put up around the schools and banners for outside the schools. It was agreed the posters should be printed with individual pictures and larger quotes to make for easier reading and only a few put up at a time and then changed regularly.
The school council said they would be looking at the ‘Confident and Healthy’ part of the Vision statement next year.
Thanks were given to the school council and Rachel Howard for their work and the presentation and they then left the meeting.
56. Election of Chair
AL explained that, for personal reasons, Lindsay Peaston had resigned as a member of the governing board and therefore a new Chair had to be elected. TC had agreed to take over the role as Chair and she left the room while a vote was taken. All governors present agreed with TC becoming the new Chair. TC rejoined the meeting.
Secondment of Headteacher
KH and LB were asked to leave the meeting for the next item so that the release of KH on secondment could be discussed.
TC summarised recent developments in proposed staffing changes which had been discussed at an extraordinary FGB meeting, the minutes of which all governors had received.
TC read out an email she had received from Sebastian Gass which outlined details of KH’s secondment. KH had asked that she could still be involved in any major decisions about the schools. HR had advised that this would not be possible to include in KH’s contract of employment. After further discussion it was agreed that, to be fair to LB in her role as Acting Head, KH would be kept ‘in the loop’ regarding the academisation of the schools only. LB to be informed of this decision. TC to speak to Governor Services on how to include this in KH’s contract.
ACTION – TC
After speaking to Governor Services TC was informed that KH needed to be included in all decisions regarding the schools so that she was up to date on her return in September 2017.
Sebastian Gass had asked for KH to be released for 4 sessions of shadowing before the end of the summer term and in return KH would be released for 4 days during September to support LB. This was agreed.
LB and Tim Bannister had been asked to give a presentation to governors on how they intend to approach their role. KH had asked to attend the presentation but it was felt this would not be appropriate. The presentation was arranged for 10am on Friday 15th July.
TC then read out the letter she intended to send to Sebastian Gass in reply to his email. Governors agreed with the letter. TC to send.
ACTION - TC
TC had also drafted a letter to be sent to families informing them of the change in staffing. She had sent this to governors asking for their input. The letter was discussed and agreed. It would be sent to families on Friday 8th July. KH and LB would speak to staff on Thursday 7th July.
ACTION – KH/LB
KH and LB then rejoined the meeting.
57. Apologies for Absence – Olivia Corfield – these were accepted.
58. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 4th May 2016 were agreed and signed.
59. Matters Arising
The safeguarding audit had been completed and was available on the governor hub.
The Safeguarding and Child Protection policy and the IT Internet policy had been finalised, signed and uploaded onto the schools’ website.
60. Policies
Care and Control – this policy had been sent to governors for comment. As no comments had been received TC would sign the policy.
Admissions 17/18 – this policy was agreed.
61. Headteacher Report
There had been an ECP visit at Marsham on the 24th June – the formal report had not yet been received but very positive comments were made during the feedback and the ECP could see no reason for the school not to be outstanding at its next inspection.
KH then distributed provisional data headline figures for KS1 and KS2. She explained that KS1 children had sat their exams under test conditions for the first time. Teachers then used the results to compare to their own assessments which had proved to be very accurate. The results for Reading, Writing, SPAG and Maths were all better than national figures. Science results were slightly lower.
KS2 is judged on a combined reading, writing and maths result which was also above the national figure.
Children at the end of Reception are judged on expected progress.
The original floor standard set by government was 85%, they reduced this to 65% for this year only. 53% achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths combined. External visitors cannot use the attainment figures to judge a school, they need to wait until progress measures are released in the autumn term.
EYFS is judged on number of children achieving GLD and progress measures.
WD asked about the effect this would have on children once they reached Y8 – KH explained this year’s figures would not be used.
Marsham figures were not published as there were less than 5 children in the year group. The pupils had all made expected progress in Writing, Maths and SPAG. Reading was slightly lower than expected. HB asked if the results were as predicted and proved the tracking the staff used was working. KH said they were and everyone was very pleased with the standards achieved.
62. Equalities Report
This had been sent to all governors and was available on the hub.
63. Safeguarding
JF said the annual report would be completed by the end of term and made available to governors.
ACTION – JF
64. Staff Wellbeing
TC reported that Tim Bannister had been approached to oversee this and he wanted to carry out a staff audit. It had been suggested the OC and TB liaise at the beginning of the next academic year to devise and carry out an audit. JF offered her input as she worked as a mental health nurse.
Governors were not sure this was the best way to approach staff to find out about their wellbeing and that an open discussion with staff asking them how they felt they were being supported would be better. It was decided an informal meeting would be more beneficial than an audit. It was agreed to keep this as an item on the agenda and an informal discussion be arranged soon after the next FGB meeting.
65. Budget Revision
This had been discussed at the Leadership and Management meeting held on 5th July, agreed and signed. HB reported that the proposed staff changes had improved the budget situation.
66. SEND Report
This had been completed and was available on the governor hub.
RB joined the meeting at this point.
67. Norfolk Governing Body Profile
It was agreed all answers could be ‘yes’ to the statements on this profile. TC to complete, sign and return.
ACTION – TC
68. Governance Statement
TC had a copy of the statement made last year and said there were a lot of changes needed which she would carry out and then forward to governors for approval before the end of July.
ACTION – TC
69. Instrument of Government
Due to a change in the statutory regulations for Federated schools a slight amendment was need for the Instrument of Government. It was agreed to remove the stipulation of one elected parent from each school. AL to let Governor Services know of suggested change.
ACTION – Clerk
70. Future of the Schools – Academisation
At the last meeting KH had agreed to attend three meetings regarding academisation options, which she had done. KH gave a brief overview of the meetings she had attended and the MATs being formed. She then distributed an example of a typical MAT structure which was now the only model the DfE would accept. All MATs have to be sponsored. The recent change in the white paper meant that the only schools currently being forced into academisation were those in special measures, requiring improvement and coasting schools.
The Aylsham cluster trust is currently a co-operative and this would not be accepted as a MAT – this was being investigated by the Trust Board but it was felt there was no rush at present to change into an Academy as all schools in the cluster were Good.
KH explained that there is lots of advice available and gave examples of where it was available from. Governors and stakeholders would have to make the final decision.
It was agreed this item would remain on future agendas.
71. Succession Planning
This had been covered under item 56.
72. Governor Visits and Training
JF – Reading Café
AP – Y3/4 Classroom visit and Science subject leader meeting
VM – School trip
WD – Family learning science day at Hevingham, Marsham Summer Fayre
HB – Governance Now training
73. Dates of future Meetings
Full Governing Body (All meetings to be held at 6.30pm at Hevingham)
Wednesday 5th October 2016
Sub-Committee Meetings (all held at Hevingham):
Leadership and Management – Tuesday 20th September – 6pm
Personal Development – Thursday 22nd September – 2pm
Teaching & Learning – Thursday 22nd September – 3.30pm
74. Any Other Business
MS and TC had carried out KH’s Performance Review.
There is a Trust meeting on 11th July – TC will inform the board about the change in leadership at Hevingham and Marsham.
VM asked about Children’s University of Learning and asked why the schools were not involved. It was agreed to discuss this at the next Teaching and Learning Committee.
ACTION – AP
AP’s item on Governor liability would be discussed at the next meeting.
The meeting closed at 8.30pm
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FGB Meeting 6th July 2016