Minutes of the Meeting of Rowledge Primary School

Minutes of the meeting of Rowledge Primary School

Full Governing Body held on Monday 30th November 2015 at 6.30pm

Present:
Apologies: / Rachel Swan (Chair)
Jane Stansbury
Clive Richardson
Sarah Oliver
Lisa Harper
Sarah Rose
Matthew Porter
Lindsey Chivers
Margaret Mitchell
Andrew Fisher
Selena Cameron, Dorcas Podger
In Attendance: / Helen Davies (prospective governor), Mary Downes (Clerk)
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15. / Prayers, Welcome and Apologies
Rachel welcomed governors to the meeting.
Apologies had been received and were accepted from Dorcas and Selena.
Jane then opened the meeting with a prayer.
Rachel welcomed Helen Davies who was attending the meeting with a view to potentially joining the Governing Body as a co-opted governor.
Confidentiality
Rachel reminded governors of the importance of retaining the confidentiality of discussions at these meetings
Declarations of Pecuniary Interest
No pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda of this meeting were declared.
Minutes of the previous meeting: FGB 14th September 2015
The minutes of the meetings held on 14th September 2015 were approved as an accurate record.
Matters Arising from the Minutes
a)  Data Sub Group Update
This item will be discussed under Item 8 – Standards Report
b) Parent Engagement Update
Sarah R. reported that she and Lindsey had met and are proposing three principles for effective parent engagement:
·  Only engage when there is a real purpose in seeking parental opinion;
·  Use existing means of communication whenever possible;
·  Consideration at the end of GB meetings whether any items discussed at that meeting require engagement with stakeholders.
Sarah R. added that she and Lindsey also suggested that the use of social media should be an agenda item at the Curriculum committee and that better use of parents’ evenings could be made by governors by engaging on particular subjects. It was suggested that at the GB meeting immediately preceding a parents’ evening, governors could identify suitable topics.
c) Governor Self-Evaluation
Rachel reported that she had now held 1:1 meetings with almost all governors. Governor self-evaluation forms are being collated by Mary and the analysis of these will be available at the next meeting.
Chair’s Correspondence
a)  Lump Sum Funding Consultation
Rachel referred to the letter circulated concerning Hampshire’s approach to future lump sum funding, explaining that the deadline for response is 14th December. Governors noted that whilst both proposed options involved a reduction in funding, Option 2 was considered to be more equitable and resulted in a smaller reduction being applied to primary schools. Governors voted unanimously to support Option.
Action: Rachel
b)  Revised Committee Structure
Rachel explained that the current structure of three committees had been established last year and was generally working well. However the Resources committee has become overloaded with the addition of both staffing and Health & Safety matters. Rachel also drew governors’ attention to the increased profile of Safeguarding, separately from Health & Safety matters.
Rachel proposed that general staffing matters should be transferred to the curriculum committee and that the Resources Committee would retain the resourcing elements.
Additionally Rachel proposed that Safeguarding should be an agenda item at all committees. Sarah R had offered to sit on both resources and curriculum committees to ensure a cohesive approach.is maintained. Terms of Reference for the committees will need to be adjusted to reflect the change.
Governors agreed to this proposal to take effect from 1st January. Mary would review the committee terms of reference and circulate new versions.
Action: Mary
c)  Deceleration
Rachel advised governors that the Hampshire Admissions code (Dec 2014) allows parents to request deceleration at entry/transfer points and that she had been contacted by a number of parents on this issue. Governors discussed the matter, expressing a range of views. Governors agreed to support the school’s approach which is to encourage children to join the school with their appropriate year group and to consider requests for deceleration on a case by case basis.
d)  Letter from Standards and Testing Agency
Rachel reported that in response to her letter to Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State concerning assessment, a reply had been received from the Standards and Testing Agency and this was circulated for governors’ information.
Headteacher’s Report
Governors asked questions/made comments:
Section 1: Achievement
C: Please clarify the terminology – “GLD” and “APS”
A: “GLD” = Good Level of Development; “APS” = Average Points Score.
Q: With regard to the Early Years data, and the RAISE analysis having identified listening as being below national average, will “listening” in Year R be added into the SIP?
A: This is a cohort-related issue and is not an issue for the whole school. School leaders are aware of the difficulties and are putting appropriate actions in place. Governors will see considerable improvement in future reports.
Helen Davies left the meeting at 7.20 pm
C: Despite small numbers, it is important to continue to monitor data on disadvantaged pupils.
Q: The percentage of pupils achieving a Level 3 in Writing at Key Stage 1 is not as high as that in Maths and Reading. What action is being taken to address this?
A: Writing is a SSP priority. Lindsey and Sarah O have a whole school focus on “extended writing”.
C: An update on pupil premium/disadvantaged pupils would be helpful.
A: Agreed to prepare this for the next curriculum committee meeting
Action: Sarah O.
C: The data appears to suggest that there is a high level of movement in the school population.
A: This data is incorrect – the school’s population is very stable with little movement.
Q “Low” and “middle” attainers make excellent progress; “high” achievers make “good” progress. What action is being taken to demonstrate excellent levels of progress with “high achievers”?
A: “High achievers” do make very good levels of progress. Under the “levels” system, a high attainer would need to have reached Level 6 for their progress to have been deemed excellent. Under the new assessment arrangements, rates of progress will be measured from pupils’ starting points.
Section 2: Quality of Teaching
Q: Noting the overall grading of lessons observed as being “good”, what would make these lessons “outstanding”?
A: This would vary depending on individual teachers. In general, continuing to focus on pupils “doing” activities in lessons rather than receiving passively is a common factor.
Q: What approach is being taken to address the variation observed in work sampling?
A: On each occasion, feedback is given to individual members of staff on what action is required and this is checked and followed up on the next occasion. Books chosen for scrutiny are selected at random. Sarah O. and Lindsey continue to model best practice in marking feedback.
Section 3: Behaviour and Safety
C: Four members of staff have the designated safeguarding training – Sarah O., Lindsey, Joe Yates and Deana Holmes. This ensures that there is a designated safeguarding officer present on site at all times.
Q: What action is the school taking in response to the “Prevent Duty” guidance?
A: Some of the aspects of this have been covered in the work undertaken in promoting fundamental British Values. Additionally, information on the “Prevent Duty” has been shared with staff.
Andrew added that he is providing an update for governors at Frensham Heights covering risk assessments, reviewing IT systems and staff training and it was agreed to forward this to governors.
Action: Andrew
Section 4: Leadership and Management
Sarah O. explained that due to the changes in the curriculum and assessment framework it has been difficult to set targets and that therefore the end of key stage targets outlined are aspirational and challenging.
Sarah stated that nevertheless she has confidence in the ability of the staff, in the usefulness of Target Tracker as an assessment tool and that good evidence is available to support these targets.
Standards Report
Sarah O. presented the overview standards report, highlighting that Year R data is now available on Target Tracker. Sarah added that future data reports will be able to illustrate progress being made over the school year.
Sarah clarified that “working at expectations” is used where a child is where staff would expect them to be. The “pink” group (“below expectations”) will need to make accelerated progress.
Sarah O. explained that target tracker is updated each half term and that the data being shared is from the first half of the autumn term.
Q: Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar does not appear?
A: Target Tracker does not include this yet, however a different assessment tool is used (“spag.com”) and this will be the subject of a future report to governors.
Q: Will comparative data be available with the next report?
A: Yes
There were no further questions.
Sarah O. added that governors were welcome to contact her with questions following the recent curriculum presentation given to parents and circulated with the agenda.
LLP Visit Report
Sarah O. reported that the LLP had visited on 16th November and that the draft report had been received today. Verbal feedback given on the day of the visit indicated that the LLP concurred with the school’s own self-assessment. Sarah O. advised that the school has asked for clarification on some aspects of the report and that when the final version is received, this will be circulated to governors.
Assessment Update
This item had been covered under items 7 and 8.
Committee Reports
·  Resources
Minutes had been circulated – there were no further questions. Governors approved the revised budget as follows:
£
Income: 900,711
(nine hundred thousand, seven hundred and eleven pounds)
Expenditure: 911,949
(nine hundred and eleven thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine pounds)
In Year Deficit: 11,238
(eleven thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight pounds)
Surplus Brought Forward: 116,218
(one hundred and sixteen thousand, two hundred and eighteen pounds)
Cumulative surplus Carried Forward: 104,980
(one hundred and four thousand, nine hundred and eighty pounds)
·  Curriculum
Minutes had been circulated – there were no further questions.
·  PPM
Andrew reported that the committee had met with the Headteacher to discuss the Headteacher’s performance management.
·  Approval of 2015/16 Terms of Reference and delegated functions
Governors voted to approve committee terms of reference subject to further revision (see item 6 (b) above).
Policy Matters
Review Schedule Update
Sarah O. reported that she is prioritising the policy workload in the light of more recent guidance and website requirements. A revised schedule will be drawn up and circulated to committee chairs.
Action: Sarah O./Mary
Website Compliance
Rachel advised governors that the responsibility for ensuring compliance with legislative requirements lies with the GB, and that responsibility for maintenance/updating of the site lies with the school. Rachel added that she had recently reviewed the school website and reported that all the information statutorily required is on the website. Rachel stated that she was content to continue to monitor this.
Andrew Fisher left the meeting at 8.10 pm
Governor Matters:
·  Vacancies
Rachel advised that following Helen’s attendance at this meeting, she would follow up with Helen prior to a decision being made at the next FGB meeting. Rachel added that she had received details of a further possible candidate via Lisa and that she would pursue this.
Jane informed governors that it is hoped to hold interviews for the vacant vicar’s position on 24/25 January and that several applications had been received.
·  Governor Self-Evaluation Forms
This item had been covered under Item 5 (c).
·  Governor Training
Rachel informed governors that she had recently completed Safeguarding training and reminded governors of the commitment recently agreed that governors should attend at least one training course per year.
·  LA Clerking Services 2016/17
Governors voted to retain the LA Clerking Service for 2016/17.
Date of Next Meeting: Monday 21st March 2016 at 6.30 pm
Rachel advised governors that the next meeting would have a strategic focus and governors were invited to forward suggestions to Rachel and Sarah O.
There being no other business, the meeting concluded at 8.20 pm
Signed…………………………………………..Date……………...