Suffolk Division
Secretary:Graham White, Brook Farm
Pooley Street, South Lopham
DISS IP22 2JX
Minutes of the Division Council Meeting held on Wednesday 9th May, at Belstead Brook Hotel, Ipswich at 7pm
Chair: Ed Sedgwick - Past President (ES)
Secretary: Graham White (GW)
In attendance : Martin Goold (MG),Paul Widdowson (PW),Penny Cook (PC),Linda Rutter (LR),Peter Byatt (PBy),
Keith Borrett(KB),Paul Brewerton (PBr), Andy Royall (AR),Andrew Guite (AG),Christine Lloyd (CL)
1 Apologies received from Gary Deeks ,Roger McKay and Kendra Cogman
Penny Cook moved that a letter be sent to Roger and Tony Dooley thanking them both for their work on Divisional Council. This was agreed nem con.
2 The minutes of the AGM held on 7th March 2012 were approved
3 There were no matters arising
4 Division Reports
It was agreed to move the Treasurer’s Report to item i) as Paul Brewerton has to leave the meeting early.
a) National Executive Report : No report received as the National Executive was due to meet on 10th May and KC was not carrying out her Executive Role at present as she is a candidate for Regional Officer at Newmarket.Grahan White reported that there had been a Press release today from HQ re Employment Tribunals and pensions and also a Special Executive Report had shown that Suffolk had one of the highest responses to the survey about further action on pensions.
b) Regional Report : No Report received. GW said that the next Regional Council was on Saturday and he will receive a report then and report to the next meeting on any relevant matters
c) Divisional/County Reports
i) Treasurer’s Report : PBr had received a letter from HQ informing him that Suffolk Division
was to be audited this year. He apologized for the late dispatch of expenses and Honoraria
payments but had been awaiting payment from Associations and also from HQ. MG asked
if we could ask for earlier part payment of Subs from HQ. PBr reported having paid £50 to
the Strike Fund at Colman’s of Norwich .(PBr left the meeting at this point)
ii) Secretary’s Report : GW submitted a written report (in file) .He is dealing with a case
involving a salary query where a teacher moved from a Middle School on a TLR to a
Deputy Headship of a Primary where there was a drop in salary. MG said that in the
Western Area the Schools Adjudicator has ruled that SCC cannot close St Louis Middle
School but half of their intake have already gone, also that St Benedict’s U/S is trying to
get parents from the Newmarket/Haverhill area to send Year 7’s to them, which has upset
St Louis. There is now a new consultation and will probably result in the closure of St Louis
at a future date. Linda Rutter asked if St Louis would be issuing Section 188 Notices. MG
said that most Catholic pupils in Haverhill are staying there and not going to St Louis. GW
stated that SCC redundant staff are not getting posts at the Breckland Free School, and
that it seems that there is a limited opportunity for anyone from SCC Middle Schools to
get jobs in Free Schools. He added that Tim Yeo is actively supporting Stoke-by-Nayland
school. GW said that Paul Widdowson had written to SCC re the confusion about
Free Schools and Transport – SCC are to allocate broader catchment areas to permit
free transport to the nearest school. PBy reported that a question had been asked at
Waveney District Council about the issue of free transport out of public funds for Free
Schools and will report back on this. GW said that the DFE had ruled that SCC should
provide free transport for Free School pupils. MG said that the provision for free transport
to Free Schools was to the nearest school so providing transport to a Free School which is
not the nearest to a pupil’s home could potentially be challenged. Christine Lloyd asked
about whether all staff in a Free School would have QTS. PBy replied that the Seckford
Foundation which will run the Beccles Free School has stated that staff in their school with
either have QTS or would have it within 2 years. Martin Goold reported that that there was
now a new Chief Executive in post at SCC and also a new Director of CYP, and that there
now to be no more than 5 stages of management between the Chief Executive and the
“front line,” but this doesn’t apply in EOTAS as Area Management has been removed from
their structure. Georgina Green is now in charge of EOTAS but is not a teacher so cannot
carry out Performance Management. This means that there are 6 levels of management
in EOTAS. MG added that the LEA have asked for volunteers for redundancy – some
senior managers have gone but EOTAS have also cut front-line staff. GW reported on the
new shortened procedures for Capability for non-teaching staff. He said that he continues
to fight for adequate Facility Time – NAS/UWT have taken all of the unused ATL time but
that NUT should be OK until April 2013. Ed Sedgwick asked what would happen after that.
GW said that there would be a 25% cut with additional cuts of 17.5% for Academies -
there would be 195 days for 2013-2014 plus what can be picked up from Academies
buying-in. Keith Borrett asked why Academies should buy in. GW replied that as NUT
wouldn’t be able to go into schools in school time there would be delays in dealing with
case work – if schools acted against staff without union representation they would risk
being taken to Employment Tribunals. GW said that so far 8 Academies have accepted
out of 25 and that it would be helpful if Regional Office could help by dealing with those
Academies that haven’t signed up. PC suggested letting members in Academies that
haven’t signed up know about the procedures. Andrew Guite asked if there were any
Primary Academies. GW replied that Forest Primary and St.Mary’s, Mildenhall had opted
to do this, and that Langer Primary had been forced to. AG asked about Little Bealings but
GW had heard nothing but there had been several schools making general enquiries.
Gw also provided a comprehensive Conference Report (copy in file)
iii) Assistant Secretary’s Report : PW submitted a written report(in file) and also presented
a discussion paper on possible strategies to oppose Government reforms. PW asked for
questions from his report. MG asked what the union’s view is on University Technical
Colleges (UTCs). PW replied that they are Academies so the N.U.T. is opposed.
PBy suggested that the NUT looked to demolishing the Government’s proposals for
payment by results by agreeing to this and then showing how it couldn’t possibly work.
PW referred to Free Schools and that they will be “Grammar School “ like as they will be
using the new 14 – 16 Curriculum which is biased towards academic rather than
vocational development. MG expressed concern about 14-19 Diplomas. PW said that the
Government had significantly reduced the list of Vocational Qualifications, and that there
is much confusion about the status of BTEC and other qualifications which creates great
difficulties for teachers and pupils in developing appropriate courses MG said that we
need to seek workable alternative policies from the Labour Party.
KB said that it had seemed that not much had been decided at Conference. PC said that
there lots of activists there , agreed but that there was little that can be done about
Government action until they make mistakes. PW would like to see our message getting
out to the general public .KB asked how we get our message “up the food chain” . MG
said that if there was a good local interest issue then the public would want to know
more. PBy reminded Council that the Suffolk County Council elections were due next
May and that SOR, Free Schools and relevant Qualifications are issues that will resonate
for a long-time with the public –we need to ensure that education in Suffolk is high on the
list of priorities for this election. PW said that teachers in Academies would be able to
stand for election to SCC as they were no longer directly employed by SCC.PC said that
we should raise concerns about the cutting of all Public Services. PBy agreed that we
must not be seen to self-serving and that our campaign against 68 as the retirement age
should be for all workers. There then followed further discussion about how we get
our views over to the public and to those making decisions.
It was agreed that the discussion paper would be discussed at the next meeting
iv) Scrutiny Report : PW submitted a written report (copy in file)
v) Health and Safety Report : nothing to report
vi) Equal Opportunities Report : nothing to report
vii) Student Recruitment Report : LR reported that all recruitment material had been ordered and was awaiting a list from SCC of SCITT students and NQT’s
d) Local Associations
Ipswich: CL said that they had received a detailed Conference Report from John Parker and that
the Pensions Campaign had been discussed at their last meeting. She added Tony Dooley has
stepped down from his officer role, and also that Roger McKay is very unwell. GW said that he was
in contact with Roger’ family and would pass on Council’s best wishes to Roger. PBy suggested a
asking for a letter of thanks from HQ to be sent to Roger and Tony.
West Suffolk: LR reported that the amalgamation between Bury-St-Edmunds and Sudbury was
now complete. She expressed concern that older teachers seems to be being targeted by some
Heads. Also Phase 2 of the SOR will result in Middle Schools Closures with many staff still unsure
about September.
S.E.Suffolk: AG reported that he was now Secretary of the Association and would be meeting
soon at a new venue and would be inviting GW. AG added that Mike Sharman was now their
Treasurer
North East Suffolk: PW reported that they had held their AGM and that GW had attended. Also
PW said that they would be changing how meetings are held, planning to hold question and
answer sessions in different schools.
Lowestoft: PB reported that no decision had been received yet re the use of Carlton Colville
Primary site for the temporary Beccles Middle School site. He also asked if there were any matters
for TSN National Council from Division. The Lowestoft AGM had not been held yet due to venue
problems, and there was a continuing soft federation between Lowestoft and North Suffolk
Associations.
5 Pensions Campaign : AG said that he hoped that NAS/UWT would work with NUT as they appear
to be going it alone at the moment. GW said that there was a lot of work going on to get other unions on-
side. GW will be attending Divs Secs briefing on 29th May.
6 A.O.B. None
7 Date, time and venue of next meeting
6:30 pm for 7pm General Meeting Wednesday 20th June – Belstead Brook Hotel,Ipswich
Meeting closed at 8:55 pm
Signed: Dated: