Minutes of the meeting of St. Giles Governing Body Assessment & Standards Committee to held on Wednesday the 3rd February 2016 at 9.30 a.m.
PRESENT:
Ken Morcombe – Co-opted Governor – Chair Jane Humphries – Co-opted Governor
Virginia Marshall – Head Teacher Caroline Horgan – Co-opted Governor
Isolyn Isaacs – Staff Governor
ALSO PRESENT:
Colin Milsom – Clerk
1. Apologies & Welcome
No committee members were absent. The chair welcomed Isolyn Isaacs to the meeting.
2. Membership
Isolyn Isaacs had been elected as a staff governor and had been appointed to the committee
3. Pecuniary Interests
No pecuniary interests were declared.
4. Minutes 11th November 2015
The minutes of the meeting held on the 11th November 2015 were signed by the committee chair as a correct record.
5. Matters Arising and referred items
E Safety (Encrypted lap top for home use) – The school was still in discussion with the staff member concerning the appropriate type of machine that might be used when work was being prepared at home. The committee would be kept advised.
SMSC (British Values – Key Words) – The key words had been discussed with staff and no suitable alternatives or variations had been suggested. Staff and students had been asked to provide photographs which encapsulated the image of the word in the school and these would be judged. Those considered most appropriate would be used on the display boards in the main corridor.
Eye gaze –There were now 3 units, 2 of which had been funded through charity donations. In addition a small mobile unit had been purchased. These were in the process of being put on stands so that they could be used. One would be in RED class for a particular pupil, one in the Communications room and the mobile unit. The two higher specification machines were used for communication but the lower specification would be used for cause and effect work. Staff would be being trained in their use at the February inset day.
School Web Site - School Web Site –Jane Humphries had carried out an audit of the content and more information needed to be put on, in line with the new government guidance. The chair had looked at the governor information that was required as well as the non-statutory information that was held and had noted that the governor pen portraits were not up to date.
Pupil Survey – At the strategy meeting it had been suggested that the reformed School Council could be used as a base for the consultation with pupils if a governors formed a link with the Council. If the type or format of the questions was decided in advance these could be sent to Council members who could consult with their peers and feed these responses back to a meeting attended by the governors. The committee considered that key areas that were particularly relevant to pupils wellbeing were Safety – Whether they felt safe in in school and also if not if they knew who to go to, Curriculum – Did they like the curriculum and the things that they were being taught. Homework was also a subject which could be explored at some time. The other area was communications; were they listened to, heard and understood.
Other areas discussed were school trips and visits, but the chair had already undertaken a review of this as part of the linked monitoring programme and he would be following this up towards the end of the school year with all classes. The head teacher also indicated that she would be asking all classes what trips were being planned for the end of the summer. A comment was made that one thing that secondary pupils had requested was that electric access doors be installed, and this had been planned as part of the refurbishment and extension of the premises however the council had run out of money and so they had not been installed.
Given the range of ability and understanding the individual issues would need to be approached in a range of ways to get a comprehensive spread of views.
Jane Humphries agreed to liaise with Joe Tullock and other staff working with the School Council and some of the questions would need to be converted in to symbols which pupils would understand.
There were no other matters arising that were not dealt with elsewhere on the agenda.
6. This Terms Topics
Collective Worship – The head teacher had circulated a summary which spelt out the current practice as well as the legal background. There was a class box system however it was questionable as to how much impact this approach would have given the range of pupil understanding. Although it might not be seen as a collective worship I some respects it did cover what were considered to be basic Christian values, as well as a time for reflection, celebration, sharing and all of the key Christian religious festivals, as well as festivals related to other religions and beliefs.
The key issues for the school were that initially the school needed to ensure that it met the requirements of the law, and secondly, that it was right and appropriate for the school.
For the school a daily act of worship was not an absolute necessity but it should reflect Christian values, not necessarily Christianity. This should be undertaken at least once a week. The current structure showed that Christian values were covered and met the wide spread of pupils backgrounds. There was a period of quiet reflection and it was well documented across the school with each department having a good format. The head teacher would check the planning to ensure that this was covered and that it followed the agreed structure and the school policy.
It was agreed that assemblies and collective worship were not the same although the latter was an integral part of the former. It was noted that the Croydon Standard Policy was used as the base for the schools policy. The committee agreed slight wording changes to the document to clarify the Christian values element, as well as a reference to other religious festivals. Subject to these changes the policy document was agreed and would be circulated to governors for approval.
Life Without Levels – The school was making good progress with the preparation and implementation of the changes to the systems. The SLT members had recently attended a conference of Special Schools where this was a key topic and in comparison the school was well ahead of the game which was very reassuring. The school was now working on some bridging milestones between levels. Croydon had prepared schemes for Maths and English but many of the pupils were working on P levels and there needed to be links between P8 and the year 1 programme of study. Bridging level workshops had been held and the head of maths was already using these in green and the secondary department. Similar systems would be used across all subjects to show progress.
English was more complex but there was a first draft for reading and writing was being worked on. The school was linking to other Croydon school in this process.
P.E. had completed their links and the programme included appropriate activities linked to physical ability. There would be a RAG rating for pupils individual journey record.
Q. Will the same type of milestones be set up and how many will there be
A. Yes they will and there will be 4 key milestones set
Q. Will the same process be applied to other subjects
A. Yes the aim is that all subjects will follow this pattern. Science will have this and these will be knowledge based.
Computing (I.T.) will follow the same format but will have new P levels.
Geography is a different format but will still have the 4 milestones which will show pupil progress and for the more able this will link to entry level 3 qualifications. Art, Music and DT will also be included.
One area that does not yet have a similar programme and progress development is PSHE but there will be a need to show pupil progress so it must be developed. Both the areas and the targets need to be realistic and show that pupils have developed skills and understanding with social and emotional development as well as learned behaviour. Some of this can be covered as part of the science curriculum. This is now included in the EHCP so there is to be able to develop and record this. The school will be looking at what other schools might have done to develop this rather than spend time creating the schools own system. It may be that another system can be adapted to the schools needs.
7. Data and Progress (pupil attainment) and Report (assessment update)
CASPA will still be relevant for 75% of the schools pupils but when a pupil works beyond P8 then they will be taken off the system and the school is in the process of devising a method or recording progress. This has been discussed with the staff and at the present time there will not be any changes to the data set. The government are looking at P levels at the present time so their decisions may have an impact. The CASPA system is not being changed at the present time.
Q. Are there any other systems that can or will be used.
A. The SIMS assessment system can be used for internal use but will not be valid for any external comparisons.
Secondary will be the main issue but there will be pupils spreadsheets but there will be marked sheets which will show pupil targets and progress.
The committee was advised that mid-year reviews would be carried out and progress assessed during the year but there would only be one data input for the year.
Q. How can governors be assured that pupils are making progress during the year if the data sets are not maintained on a termly basis.
A. There will be the target sheets and pupil progress review meetings and to ensure consistency the school will be using a standardised format developed in PMLD which will have the base line and the targets. Governors can attend the review meetings.
Q. How can governors challenge this
A. For the year and the key stage there will be summarised data but not on a per pupil basis
Q. What criteria will be used to explain progress and that a pupil is on track
A. The start point can be numeric however the targets will be set based on staff assessment of pupil ability and progress during the year will be based on the professional judgement and experience of the staff.
Q. What will happen if a pupil is not achieving the expected progress
A. The suitability of the programme will be reviewed although some issues could be health related however the key will be monitoring and challenge.
Q. How will this be marked at the end of the academic year
A. It will be related to the target which was set so pupils will either not have achieved the target T-, achieved T, or exceeded T+ but during the year. There will still be the CASPA targets and accreditations where appropriate.
Revised CASPA data was circulated at the meeting.
It was agreed that the targets would always need to be challenging and pupils progress would have a link to the staff appraisal targets which were set annually.
Moderation – This was now secure with internal departmental moderation as well as across the school and where possible with other Croydon schools. Because each school was developing its own systems some could only be carried internally but for secondary the school would be linking with Bensham Manor and there would be joint moderation with other schools for writing.
8. SEF
This was being update with the correct performance data and would be sent to all governors. It was agreed that it would be reviewed next term.
Action: HT to circulated and Summer agenda item
9. WSDP
The 2015/16 document was summarised on the web site and the following areas had been highlighted for review by the committee:
Target 1. To develop t Giles assessment systems for “life without levels”
This had been covered in the earlier discussions.
Target 2. To consolidate moderation of core subjects
This had been discussed under an earlier item.
Target 3. To deliver outstanding universal SALT provision
Further in-service was planned for the 22nd February which would cover speech and language and eye gaze
Target 5. To implement the sensory calendar
Checks were being carried out to see how implementing this was progressing
Target 7. To further develop the model for working with the multidisciplinary team to ensure all pupil needs are met – nursing, physio, OT, SALT
Work had started on this and was ongoing. . The head teacher was discussing the schools OT needs with the HA as there was a time issue.
Q. What is the problem
A. The time which is allocated had to cover both school and home, as well as recording and there is insufficient time allocated for the staff to complete all of these tasks.
Target 10. To achieve the Arts Mark
The school was still seeking to apply for this however the whole process and the required criteria had been changed and so this would not now be possible to start until the autumn 2016. There would be staff training and it would be built into the SDP.
Target 14. To lead the cross borough P levels project to develop a better understanding of P levels across mainstream and special schools
Caroline was undertaking this and there had been some work earlier in the term. The school was hosting workshop in this term and there were now some moderation groups in operation.
10. Outreach Work
There was nothing further to report on this at the present time.