Rushmoor Schools Plus(RSP) Steering Group

Rushmoor Schools Plus(RSP) Steering Group

Notes of the meeting at the BlenheimBuilding – 31st January 2012

Mark Sammes (MS)- ManorJuniorSchool (Chairman)

Jane Armstrong (JA)-Farnborough Grange Infant School and LCP Chair

Lisa Hogg (LH)-Wavell School

Richard Lane (RL)-Autodesk Ltd.

Jo Riglar (JR)-St. Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

Marilyn Penman (MP)- Manor Infant School (to item 6)

Fiona Hodgson (FH)-St. Mark’s CE Primary School

Corinne Martinez (CM)-Cove Junior School

Tony McGovern (TM)-Rushmoor Schools Plus

Paul Baker (PB)-Connaught School

Don Cook (DC)-Cove School (to item 8)

Matt Smith (MSm)-First Wessex

Debbie Wall (DW)-Rushmoor Borough Council

Sue Hathaway (SH)- Rushmoor Voluntary Services

Richard Mann (RM)- Rushmoor Schools Plus

1. Welcome and apologies

MS chaired the meeting. Apologies were received fromLiz Beckwith of the Linden Education Centre. MS proposed that items 5 and 6 be swapped on the agenda and this was agreed.

2. Notes from the last meeting

These were agreed as accurate.The action arising from the last notes (6 ii) about Wavell quantifying their in kind contribution would be followed up by LH and at the Blenheim Building Management Committee.

3. Matters arising

These would all be dealt with as part of the agenda.

4. Funding update

i) Balance

MS reported that the current balance held by Manor Junior is £28,102. Additional funds are also being held but these relate to The Paul Hamlyn Foundation grant for The PIER. It was noted that as only 2 out of The PIER’s 3 staff have so far been appointed that there is some money in hand.

Rushmoor Borough Council (RBC) are holding funds related to TM’s salary, the Megarider, the Motivating the Middle Years event and contingency funding. TM reported that RSP is in a good position financially for the current year.

ii) Subscriptions update

The only outstanding contribution is Guillemont. MS has chased this several times but it was appreciated that there is an acting head in post. In April 2012 MS will ask schools for their 2012/2013 subscription. MS asked if the pound per pupil ratio should continue or be increased. MP said that with the uncertainty over school budgets the current ratio works well and reflects the various size of school in Rushmoor. JR said that her Governors had asked for sustainability in funding. It was agreed to keep subscriptions at the current rate but to consider an increase in the future. TM said that showing cost benefit was an important part of the process and that the benefits to schools needed to be quantified to show that it was more effective and better value for money to be working in partnership.

iii) Grants

There was no further feedback on applications. The Red Hill Trust had visited The PIER last week and had undertaken a thorough evaluation of their grant of £2,500. They had been very interested in what was happening and described it as unique and pioneering.

5. Community Interest Company (CIC)

RSP officially became a CIC in mid-December 2011. It is a limited liability and non-profit organisation. The asset-locked body named to receive residual assets is Rushmoor Voluntary Services (RVS). The Steering Group is now effectively a committee advising the Board of Directors. The Directors are MS, MSm and TM.

TM said that the CIC structure now needs to be used to gain the maximum benefit and for seeking funding. The mission and aims need to be focussed, processes put in place, especially those relating to finances, banking and accounting, and the way forward managed carefully. TM also said that there was not a lot of advice available due to the limited number of CICs working in the schools field.

MP asked if an accountant was needed. TM said he had met one last week. MP offered the services of her daughter, a qualified accountant.

MSm asked how the Action Plan should be focussed and whether this should be done by the Steering Group or the Board. MS said all the various documents needed to be fed into the process but that the Board would needto meet too.

6. Partner Contributions

MS said this was a new item which would appear on each agenda and allow people to provide updates on current issues or support which was available.

MSm commented on the Parent Support Adviser (PSA) role. He said that there was an opportunity to link the work of the PSAs with the social housing work of First Wessex and Thames Valley Housing through targeting specific streets. As the PSA’s have an early intervention role this could prevent social housing problems in the future. JA said that the LCP were specifically looking to target families. MSm also said that First Wessex had joined the Community Matters Partnership.

SH said RVS have various training courses available such as first aid, minibus driving and food hygiene. SH also said specific training could be organised if there is enough need and that she can cascade information by email.

7. Project Updates

i) ELSA / Supervision

Training is being costed by Julia Powell.

ii) The PIER

FH reported that The PIER is up and running, that she is in regular contact with Jen Hill and that it is a real success story. The opening event had been very good. FH asked all schools to invite Jen to training events if it was thought these could be useful. She also asked if now was the time for Jen to produce a newsletter and MS said this was a good idea. MS reported there had been some minor issues around protocols and training, for example physical restraint training. TM asked how the success of The PIER should be communicated to Members and the public. MS said this needed to be considered in the light of the accountability to The Paul Hamlyn Foundation but that word of mouth was also important.

TM commented that the Management group for the Blenheim Building is well under way, with 3 sub groups focusing on finance, the building and opportunities. This had led, for example, to the opportunity from County Music Service to set up a Gamelan room and offer a number of schools the chance to take part in an Olympics festival this Summer.

iii) Collaborative Leadership

MP provided an update. After discussions with RL and Ian Mitchell (Autodesk’s global contact for staff development) it had been decided to arrange a series of workshops for potential middle leaders. There would be 8 – 10 participants, a welcome session and a series of half day workshops. RL is happy to host these at Autodesk from April onwards and they are likely to be every other month. RL emphasised that Autodesk are not experts in education but that leadership qualities are generic. He also said that it would be a two way process in that it will be useful for business to see how the education sector works. MP will take the proposal to patch headteachers next week. PB said he is happy to help as he has a link to the National Leadership College. JA asked how non-education partners will be involved. MP said the aim was to target schools first and then expand to include others, for example the voluntary sector.

MP said they were also looking to develop self-evaluation for headteachers.

TM said that, arising from the Community Matters Partnershipdinner, there had been an offer from Flight Safety International for a mentoring project.

iv) Parent Support Advisers (PSAs)

Consultation with headteachers about the continuation of the PSA role took place in December. There had been a meeting of PSAs and line managers, plus TM, on 12th January. The majority of headteachers would prefer the role to continue, with some financial input. Tracy Clement has left her post as the Fernhill PSA to be the Project Manager fulltime with the Gaming Zone. The proposal to headteachers is that the service is retained for all willing Farnborough schools for 2012-13, with the two remaining PSAs covering 11 schools each. The contribution from each school would be a minimum of £1,500. This would still leave a gap of approximately£13kthat would need to be filled for 2012-13. TM is waiting for the Cove and Farnborough schools to respond to the proposals. The Aldershot schools, including the 3 that are willing to contribute, cannot be included in the provision at this stage.

The Wavell bid to the Military Covenant was successful so the Wavell cluster is able to retain Linda Parry to March 2013.

v) Children’s Centres

MP reported that they should know their future position by April 2012 and that there will be a transition period up until October. JA said that a Q and A briefing was available.

vi) Motivating our Middle Years, Fundays, Megarider

Money has been set aside for the Middle Yearsevent. Princes Hall is not available in the summer so dates have been pencilled in for October. TM asked whether we should stick with October or find an alternative venue for the summer. JR said the summer would be better so TM will pursue alternative venues.

All the dates for the Fundays have been agreed for the summer term. Funding is being applied for.

Last year’s Megarider scheme has been evaluated. There were 120 recipients, it tied in well with the free swimming scheme and was very well used. Rushmoor Borough Council will continue to manage the scheme, hopefully alongside the free swimming scheme, and RSP will contribute £5k to the costs.

vii) Business Links

RL reported on the following activities:

• A photograph taken atthe WorldSkills London 2011 event has been used on an Autodesk publicity postcard. It features St. Mark’s school.

• Cove and Wavell have signed up for robotics. RL has tried to contact Connaught and PB offered to provide a new contact. RL said it would be more efficient for Autodesk to work with a cluster. The software licence requirement has ended. A pilot project for primaries is being developed.
• Cove have signed up for the O2 Big Bang robotics challenge in Birmingham in March. They have received hardware, software and staff support from Autodesk. Richard is talking to other secondary schools about a similar opportunity.
• A £500 contribution has been made to The PIER. FH offered her thanks.
• 2 presentations have been made to Farnborough Grange. These includedthe debut of the 3D printer.
• There has been a slight delay in starting the work experience placements.
• Links to the Community Matters Partnership are being explored. However, the Partnership does not have children and education as a priority as they feel it is well covered elsewhere.
• A meeting with Jane Sheridan of First Partnership.

viii) Funding Opportunities

A Lottery Reaching Communities bid has been started. TM would like to get a group together to help with this and will approach the RSP Funding Group.

8. LCP Update

JA reported that most of the time at the recent meeting had been taken up by the Youth Support Service (YSS) and Children’s Services Integrated (CSI) grants. There had been excellent involvement by members of the Youth Council in the process.

£11k funding for co-ordination has been agreed in all districts.

A strong planning group is now in place and JA has also met with GPs and health professionals.

TM has been working with Hart on the Schools Services Audit. There had been a good response with 16 schools replying. A summary would be circulated to the Steering Group with these notes. However, some of the highlights were the significance of signposting; the chance this provided for schools to flag up services they needed more of, for example speech and language therapy and educational psychologists; and social issues, particularly that families were finding things more difficult. The last point again emphasised the importance of signposting.

9. Strategic Action Plan

The Strategic Plan needs to be revamped in order to reflect, amongst other things, the consultation that has taken place and the outcome of the proposed celebration event. More time will be given to this at the next Steering Group meeting.

10. Celebration Event

It is proposed to hold this on the evening of 31st May. It will be an opportunity to reflect, celebrate and network as well as promote the achievements of RSP. It will also be an opportunity for input to the Strategic Action Plan. TM said the Farnborough Holiday Inn is happy to help. Approximately 100 guests would be invited from schools and agencies.

11. Date and venue of next meeting

Wednesday 28th March at 9.30am, at the Blenheim Building. MSm offered his apologies. The main focus of the meeting will be the Strategic Action Plan.