Minutes of the Governing Body meeting held at the school on Thursday 19 September 2013 at 6.30pm.

Transcription

1 London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Kew Riverside Primary School Minutes of the Governing Body meeting held at the school on Thursday 19 September 2013 at 6.30pm. Constitution, Membership and Attendance (Bold=absent) LA - 1 PARENTS - 2 CO-OPTED 9 STAFF 2 Jean-Francois Burford Katie Rodney-Smith Loreto Branford Michael Dillon - Headteacher Joana Santos Katie Ljungdahl Julie Smith Jenny Mikkelsen Laura O Connor Sabina Mangosi Regan Jane Spencer - Chair Andrew Kitchen Vacancy x 2 Apologies: Absent without apologies: Also attended: None None Sonia Malik Deputy Headteacher Valerie Clark Supply Clerk 1. Welcome and Apologies welcomed everyone to the meeting and it was noted that there were no apologies for absence. ACTIONS 2. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair: Governors were reminded that the Chair and Vice-Chair were elected in 2013 for two years, so no further election is required. 3. Declaration of Interests Governors were reminded of their duty to declare any direct or indirect pecuniary interest which may relate to any matter under discussion. a. Annual declaration of business interests completed forms were returned to SM b. Declaration of interests relating to this agenda none declared 4. Minutes of the previous meeting, having been circulated previously, were taken as read, and signed as a true record. reported that an additional statement as follows should be added to item 1: It was also noted that Andrew Kitchen s term of office as Parent Governor had expired. The Governors agreed to appoint him as a Co-opted Governor. 5. Matters arising Inclusion Governor s report to go to CAC this was agreed Report concerns on fire safety to LA and PFI reported that this would happen next week Monitoring visits to be discussed at CAC and feedback given to FGB this was agreed Governors to consider the characteristics of a governing body agenda item Clerk s Report the Clerk gave a verbal report and reminded governors about: Termly Governor ing Schedule of Continuous Professional Development Request for governors to sit on schools forum

2 7. Director s Report Governors were reminded that the Director s Report is now replaced by Termly ing and weekly enews which can be obtained online 8. Governing Body Terms of Reference and Code of Practice: Governors discussed the contents of these two documents and: agreed to update the Terms of Reference to include the new constitution and specific policies to be reviewed by FGB. agreed to update the Code of Practice to reflect the agreement that governors would commit to attend 80% of FGB, to join at least one sub-committee and attend at least 80% of meetings of that committee, and 100% of any working group they join. It was agreed that all governors will continue to receive agendas of all committees and can attend additional meetings. There was discussion on the vacancies for co-opted governors and all were encouraged to consider/nominate appropriate people. It was noted that there is no apparent skills gap on the governing body. 9. Governor Responsibilities: Governors approved the following: Curriculum & Achievement Committee: Chair Katie L. Dep Chair Loreto B Members Julie S, Jane S, Joana S, Jenny M and Laura O C. Resources Committee: Chair Sabina MR. Dep Chair Katie RS Members Andrew K, Jane S, J-F B. SEN/Inclusion governor: Jenny M Child Protection governor: Jane S Health and Safety governor: J-F B Pay Committee: Katie L, Katie, RS, Jane S HT Performance Management group: Jane S, Jenny M, J-F B, Loreto B In addition, it was agreed that the Disciplinary Committee reviews HT s exclusion decisions and the Staff Dismissal committee follows government and LA guidelines for dismissal of a member of staff. Link Governors Maths Loreto B (Staff Laura O Connor) Literacy Jenny M (Staff Laura Martin) Science Joana S (Staff Sonia Malik) Modern Foreign Languages Sabina MR (Staff tbc) ICT & DT Andrew K (Staff - Michael Dillon) Creative Arts Julie S (Staff tbc) Humanities Katie L (Staff Louisa Connelly) PSHCE Katie RS (Staff Sarah Waight) PE J-F B (Staff Rachel Roberts) There was discussion and it was agreed that the Link Governor works closely with the relevant Link Teacher. It is important to gain an understanding of the subject in order to acquire an element of expertise. In addition, it is necessary to look at appropriate policies. There was some discussion on whether to link governors with a class. However, it was agreed to continue linking to subjects.

3 10 Headteacher s Report: gave the following verbal report: Priorities for 2013/14 School Development Plan Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Secure procedures: Literacy & Maths SMSC New Curriculum: Literacy, Maths, ICT, MFL Topics Humanities PE (Sport Premium) Assessment The government have announced that National Curriculum levels are being abandoned from Summer New system is currently being consulted on There are LA concerns about our reliable the EYFS data from this summer are. Pupil Engagement & Behaviour JLT Houses Attendance / Holiday requests Finance / Budget As our budget become tighter we will need to review aspects of the budget Community Work Continue to work on range of after school clubs. Breakfast and After School Club average around children attending. Some days around 30 children but only about 11 on Fridays. Parent Voice SRE consultations with Parents Staying Safer Online Parents Session with Peter Cowley Independent Schools Talk with Sue Laidlow Focus on Improving Communication - launching new website this term Partnership Work Continue with Quindrat Work INSET with Darell & Queen Teaching and Learning with a guest speaker leading on what is an outstanding lesson. This will identify opportunities for individual CPD. Writing with Barnes Level 6 literacy project with RPA Re-Running the Able Maths Course across the LA Re-running the Jenny Mosley course with 6 schools Governors asked a question about subject programmes of study in new curriculum. replied that it is essential to cover specific programmes of study before looking at others. For example, in History, it is essential to cover Stone Age and Anglo Saxons before looking at Victorians. However, children will be tested on the old tests until new ones are introduced. A governor asked if children were being encouraged to strive for individual competition in sport. replied that children are encouraged to participate in both internal (house) and external competitions. Governors agreed to refer this to CAC for further discussion. There was also discussion on staff capacity in run extra curricular sports. Agenda /CAC

4 11 Governor Monitoring Visits It was agreed that the visits are referred to the CAC committee for discussion and action. 12 Governing Body Performance for and objectives for : Loreto B verbally reported that she had been reviewing the self evaluation document. Once finalised, it will be circulated to all governors for comment. Agenda /CAC Governors discussed how best to project the aims of the governing body to people outside of the FGB. There was a suggestion of a termly governors newsletter and this will be discussed further at a later date. Governors agreed that it is important that the governing body is seen to be working towards an Outstanding Ofsted report, using the School Development Plan. Governors should challenge appropriately in order to benefit the children. Governors agreed to continue as now, concentrating on ensuring that basics are completed well. 13 Policies: The Chairs of committees agreed to meet with to agree which policy would be discussed at which committee. The policies will then need to be added to the Terms of Reference of the relevant committee.,, Kl, SMR A governor asked what was included in the Pay Policy and it was reported that it was currently out for consultation with no comments received so far. It was reported that the Complaints Policy will be circulated to all governors for comment. It will be reviewed at the Resources committee and must be put on the school website. 14 Any Other Business: School lunches: It was reported that a topic in the Parents Questionnaire related to the standard of school lunches. It was suggested that all governors come in to school over the next 3 weeks to sample a little of all options. In particular, some vegetarian options are not suitable and should not be on the menu. Governors discussed the standard of lunches and agreed that feedback should be obtained from children, staff and governors to identify what should be included on the menu and what should be excluded. Governors were asked to call the school office to confirm when they are planning to come to sample the lunch options. There was discussion on the cost of school lunches and it was confirmed that the cost was sensitive to numbers taking lunch. The cost increased because numbers were reduced in winter and there were also reductions in the summer/september. Agreed to bring the matter to Resources for further consideration. It was agreed that the school is not allowed to use the school budget to subsidise meals. Kew Village Market Sunday 1 December 2013: It was verbally reported that there is an opportunity for local schools to provide choirs to perform. There was discussion on this and it was agreed to discuss this further with relevant staff as it would involve them being available to support the choir. to talk to staff and report back. Fit for Sport: It was verbally reported that good feedback had been received. While there had been some teething issues, including a lack of resources, most of these have been resolved. One father was quoted as saying that he liked the structure with two sessions. It was noted that children were calmer at pick up time. There were almost 30 children attending with a staff ratio of 1:8 (4 staff). Governors agreed that there should be an entry in the Bulletin from governors to report this feedback. Breakfast Club: It was reported that about 20 children are now attending. PTA: A governor reported that there were some concerns about the state of the PTA. Governors briefly discussed this and agreed that it should be discussed at Parent Forum.. Agenda/ Resources Agenda/ Resources

5 Safeguarding: reported that the recommendation is that the safeguarding lead for the school should not be the Headteacher. However, he recently met with the Chair of the LSCB and it had been acknowledged that in small schools this could be the Headteacher, as long as there was support from the Leadership team. Once they feel competent then the Headteacher should handover to them. 15 Dates of meetings A calendar of dates for committee/fgb meetings for the academic year was circulated before the meeting. Governors accepted the dates and agreed that the next FGB will take place on Thursday 5 December at 6.30pm The meeting ended at 8.45 pm Signed by the Chair Date Summary of Actions Item Action number 8 Update Terms of Reference to include the new constitution and specific polices to be reviewed by FGB Responsible person Consider/nominate people for vacancies on FGB 10 Agenda item for CAC Competition in sport Clerk 11 Agenda item for CAC monitoring visits Clerk 12 Comment on self evaluation document once circulated 13 Allocate policies to committees Comment on Complaints Policy once circulated Agenda item for Resources Complaints Policy 14 Call school office to arrange visit to sample lunches Agenda item for Resources cost of lunches Discuss with staff possible attendance of school choir at Kew Village Market Entry in Bulletin feedback from Fit for Sport,, KL, SMR Clerk Clerk