ST VINCENT COLLEGE Board of Governors (Corporation)

Transcription

1 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page 1 ST VINCENT COLLEGE Board of Governors (Corporation) Minutes of a Meeting of the Corporation held on Thursday 27 th February 2014 at 5.30 p.m. in Room E1 at the College Present External Members: Lucy Docherty (Chair), Keith Gill, Brian Corrall, Malcolm Chesworth, Stephen Tregidgo, Kathryn Brewer, Kim Laws (Vice Chair), Anne O Reilly, Malcolm Foster (part). Principal: Di Lloyd (part) Staff Members: Glynis Western, Vanessa Weaver Parent Members: Michelle Coleborn, Roger Killen In attendance: David Jenkinson (Deputy Principal) (part) Sarat Jones (Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Quality) (part) Andy Grant (Assistant Principal, Students and Community) (part) Lisa Rhodes (Director of Business and Adult Provision) (part) Ian Potter (Headteacher, Bay House School) (part) Andrew McVittie (Clerk to the Corporation) (part) Apologies External Members: Clare Ansell, Bob Forder. Absent Nil Quorate Yes 828 Welcome & Apologies Apologies for absence were noted and accepted.

2 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page Declaration of Interests There were no new declarations 830 Appointment The Chair welcomed Roger Killen to the meeting. The Corporation voted unanimously to appoint Roger Killen as a Parent Governor. 831 Minutes of the Previous Meetings Minutes of the meeting held on 9 th December 2013 and of the extraordinary meeting held on 29 th January 2014 were agreed and signed. 832 Matters Arising o 808 To join a working party to develop the College s marine skills offer. This action had been assigned to Eddy Perry who had since resigned from the Corporation. However, the College had now appointed a Marine Skills Coordinator to help develop this area of the curriculum. Completed. o 808 To present further plans for development of the College s waterfront. These plans would be scrutinised by the Resources Committee and the Curriculum & Quality Committee. On-going. CA KL Ian Potter joined the meeting at this point o 810 To advise the Chair when Safeguarding training for Governors was next due. The Assistant Principal (Students & Community) advised that this training would be delivered at the Corporation s June Away Day. Completed. o 810 To prohibit staff from making contact with students on social media by means of a contractual obligation. Governors noted that the Students & Community Committee had now advised that this matter should not be pursued through staff contracts due to concerns about enforceability. However, staff would still be asked to comply with clear guidelines. Completed. o 824 To provide market data regarding the College s current offer. The Assistant Principal (Students & Community) would establish data at the curriculum level to demonstrate whether or not there were any significant gaps in the College s offer. Governors suggested that part of this work could be completed in association with Bay House School as part of the Strategic Alliance. On-going. o 825 To report the findings of Paris Smith regarding ESSU funds. A further report would be made at the next meeting. On-going AG

3 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page Report from the Curriculum & Quality Committee Governors noted minutes of Curriculum & Quality Committee meetings held on 11 th November 2013 and 29 th January In addition, the Committee Chair highlighted the following points: o The Committee had scrutinised target grades and forecast success rates. This review had been made possible by a significant improvement in the availability of in year data which would allow Governors earlier insight in terms of any performance gaps and/or required interventions. o The Committee continued to have some concerns that forecast success rates remained overly optimistic in some cases. The gap between these forecasts and actual results would be monitored closely and it was expected that overall accuracy would be seen to have improved year on year once the results for 2014 were known. Forecasts would be further updated in May o The Committee had become increasingly aware of the risks associated with losing key staff, such as those with specialist subject knowledge. The importance of managing this risk would be emphasised in the Risk Register (Risk 12) DL SJ o Governors noted that the College had not yet achieved its target to establish 30 apprenticeships. To date only 10 had been secured. However, the Director of Business reported her expectation that there was still a realistic opportunity of achieving the apprenticeship target as pre-apprenticeship programmes were now underway. 834 Report from the Resources Committee Governors noted minutes of Resources Committee meetings held on 25 th November 2013 and 30 th January Governors reviewed the Management Accounts for the period ending December 2013 and expressed some concern to note that the staff pay ratio continued to rise and was now at 80% of income. A Governor asked what action was being taken by the SMT to address this issue. The Deputy Principal reported that the SMT had scheduled two planning days for the purpose of considering potential savings and how any reductions in expenditure might impact on the curriculum. Opportunities to improve efficiency would also be analysed. In the meantime, the Principal advised Governors that it might be necessary to return a deficit at year end rather than a small surplus as currently forecast. A Governor expressed his view that the College s leadership had not yet established a clear plan to mitigate growing financial pressures which included an over-reliance on funded income. The Chair asked the Deputy Principal to provide an interim report regarding plans to improve

4 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page 4 the College s finances at the next meeting of the Corporation. Final proposals would then be presented to the July meeting. Governors also agreed that the Resources Committee should seek to identify and evaluate new income opportunities. CA Governors reviewed the Pay Policy as had been considered in detail by the Resources Committee. Governors welcomed the fact that the revised policy established a closer link between pay and performance by introducing a greater degree of discretion in the award of previously automatic annual increases. The Corporation voted unanimously to ratify the Pay Policy. Malcolm Foster left the meeting at this point. 835 Report from the Audit Committee Governors noted minutes of the Audit Committee meeting held on 13 th November 2013 and the Committee s Annual Report. The Committee continued to develop a framework for Board Assurance and would report further in due course. MC 836 Report from the Strategy Committee Governors noted minutes of the Strategy Committee meeting held on 9 th January Outputs from this meeting had subsequently been developed further in terms of the Strategic Alliance with Bay House School, and at the Corporation s January Away Day. 837 Report from the Students & Community Committee Governors noted minutes of the Students & Community Committee meeting held on 16 th January Governors were pleased to note that the number of applications received today were significantly higher than last year. The College hoped to capitalise on this increased interest by working to improve its conversion rate from 75% to 80%. The Committee had reviewed a report of student destination data and had agreed that this information would be of value to all Governors. The Assistant Principal (Students & Community) would provide a copy of the report for circulation. In discussion, Governors agreed that destination data linked to specific courses should be provided in future as this would help them to understand the value and impact of the curriculum. The Committee remained concerned that the Student Union was not yet fully developed and that it lacked consistent representation at Governors meetings. Plans were however in place to address this weakness. AG AG Governors were asked to note that a significant risk had been identified in terms of the potential for standardisation of LDD funding. The LDD provision at the College

5 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page 5 was generally much greater than that on offer elsewhere and would suffer if this was not recognised by funding that was linked to outputs. The Deputy Principal would emphasise this risk in the Risk Register and provide an interim update at the next meeting of the Corporation. In the meantime, funding from Hampshire for the current year had now been confirmed after a long delay. 838 Strategic Alliance and Principal Vacancy The Chair updated colleagues with regard to recent meetings and discussions aimed at establishing a working framework for the Strategic Alliance with Bay House School. In particular, Governors noted that a joint Futures Group led by Ian Potter would be established and would make further recommendations to the Governing Bodies of each institution. Terms of Reference for this group would be proposed by its members for ratification by the Corporation in due course. In the meantime, the College would be represented on the Futures Group by Stephen Tregidgo, Bob Forder, Glynis Western, and a fourth Governor to be decided.(clerk s note: subsequently, Anne O Reilly also agreed to join this group). Meetings of the group would also be attended by the Clerks of each organisation who would advise as necessary. Notes of all meetings would be circulated to Governors. IP Members of the SMT left the meeting at this point. The Corporation voted unanimously to appoint Matthew Atkinson as the Interim Principal of St Vincent College for two terms (Spring and Autumn 2014). An announcement regarding this appointment would be made to staff by the Principal once the Richard Taunton s College Corporation had ratified the agreement similarly. Matt Atkinson would be on site for three days of each week, with individual members of the existing SMT deputising for him on the remaining days - a rolling schedule would be established for this purpose. In discussion, Governors agreed that the Interim Principal should retain full powers consistent with his position. With this in mind, a job description would be drafted for ratification at the next meeting. The Chair would provide line management for the Interim Principal whilst a dotted line would also be established to Ian Potter and the Futures Group for the purpose of consistency. It was agreed that the Interim Principal should be a member of the Futures Group. Governors agreed unanimously to delegate powers to the Remuneration Committee for the purpose of agreeing the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with Richard Taunton s College that would support the secondment of Matt Atkinson. The Committee would also consider similar arrangements with regard to Bay House School and Ian Potter s role. DL LD/DL KL The Clerk and the Principal left the meeting at this point.

6 Corporation Minutes February 2014 Page Report from the Remuneration Committee The Remuneration Committee had met on 3 rd February 2014 to review the pay of post-holders (Principal, Deputy Principal, and Clerk). Recommendations made by the Committee were noted and agreed unanimously by the Corporation. 840 Date of Next Meeting Governors noted that the next meeting of the Corporation would take place on Tuesday 1 st April 2014 at 5.30pm There being no other business, the meeting closed at 7.50 pm Signed..Date.. (Chair)