St Benedict’s C of E VA Junior School, Glastonbury Minutes of the Full Governing Board Meeting th
Held on Thursday 18 July 2019 in Leopard classroom Present: Jo Boughen-Hunt (Vice Chair- VC) [arrived at 4:50 pm], Bill Burrow (Foundation Governor), Mike Derbidge (Foundation Governor) [left at 6:25 pm], David MacGeoch (Ex Officio) [left at 6:10 pm], Piers Ranger (Headteacher- HT) [left at 6:22 pm], Rachel Rood (Elected Teacher- ET Governor), Helen Roper (Chair), Natasha Wardle (Foundation Governor) arrived at 4:38 pm], Paul Winter (Foundation Governor), Sue Wootton (Foundation Governor)]. Also present: Jan Chandler (prospective Clerk), Sarah Hamlet (Clerk), (baby) Katy Rood and Anna Trojanowski (prospective Foundation Governor). The meeting started at 4:37 pm.
1.
Agenda Item Welcome and Opening Prayer
2.
Apologies for absence
3.
Declaration of Interest in any agenda item
4.
Approve and sign amended nd th minutes of 2 and 9 May 2019
5.
Action Points & Matters Arising
Action
Ex Officio led governors in reflection about children and adults overcoming worries to achieve new skills. Absence- Louise Fairbrother, Ann & Roger Parsons. Early departure- David MacGeoch, Piers Ranger. Late arrivalJo Boughen-Hunt. All apologies accepted. Ex Officio spoke re: his involvement with St John’s and their recent good Ofsted result, which would be positive for our collaborations. nd Minutes of 2 May 2019 Approved by governors and signed by Chair. th Minutes of 9 May 2019 (Budget) Approved by governors and signed by Chair. nd 2 May 2019 Item 6- Traveller Allowance/Premium County have confirmed this allowance does not exist. Item 7- Contact with St John’s re: MAT timeline; visits to other schools Governors agreed to further talks with St John’s in September; a working party will be set up following this. Visits to St Dunstan’s and Midsomer Norton MAT have been welcomed.
Chair & HT to contact St John’s.
Governors halted discussions for introductions and to welcome to Jan Chandler and Anna Trojanowski.
Natasha Wardle arrived at 4:38 pm.
Item 8- Play/Art Therapist funding support Ex Officio reported that unfortunately no support is available at present, but would like to be able assist in the future. Item 9 Emotional Literacy training (Strode) F. Gov to give
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A Foundation Governor will forward contact details to HT. Clerk to add to next FGB agenda. St Matthias Trust may be of possible support; prospective Clerk to investigate and report at next FGB meeting. PP children trip funding support Ex Officio informed that the PCC has agreed to support these pupils on an ad hoc basis, through limited funds.
contact info to HT; Clerk to add Item 9 to next FGB.
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6.
Headteacher’s Report
Jo Boughen-Hunt arrived at 4:50 pm.
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9 May 2019 (Budget) Item 4 School Business Manager Budget actions All actions have been completed. PFSA costs check Sheila Martin (CLP) has clarified; she will investigate why St Ben’s has covered extra costs and aim to rectify the situation. A governor requested that a glossary of terms and acronyms for governors be available next term. Item 6- Teacher Interview shortlisting A recruitment has now taken place. Number on Roll 220; 76 Pupil Premium (PP) children (13.3% National Average). 55 SEND pupils (25% intake cf. 12.4% National Average). Attendance 93.51% whole school; 95.6% without control group. Governors considered strategies in place to encourage persistent absentees and change in Courts involvement. Chair challenged external support provided, apart from that provided by St Ben’s. Governors discussed difficulties re: follow-up of absenteeism and use of volunteers in the process. The PFSA works closely HT and families to implement supportive strategies. Governors agreed that the Glastonbury Festival period has a distinct effect on attendance. A process for meetings with other local schools, to address the issue, will be discussed at a later date. Racist Incidents 1- both families have been informed. Looked After Children 2 post- LAC; 2 pupils looked after by grandparents and 1 other. Safeguarding HT spoke of current Child Protection issues, and methods in place to address these e.g. Team Around Child meetings, CPOMS online recording system and
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Clerk to compile glossary.
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liaison with St Dunstan’s re: mapping meetings and County Lines issues. Transitions enhanced for vulnerable pupils e.g. Children’s World visit, Year 2 DVD production and supportive activities. Early Help Assessment (EHA)- 9 completed to escalate concerns. Basic Awareness Update- personalised for St Ben’s- took place on 26.6.19.
General Positive Year 6 attitude to SATs, despite being challenging. HT thanked everyone who supported pupils during the tests. Resilience workshops have identified how children struggled with SATs, however, the Edukit online service for Years 5& 6 has shown that St Ben’s pupils did well in this area cf. to other schools. Exclusions 5 Fixed Term Exclusions; staff skills have prevented more occurrences. Forest School 1 more staff training session to go. The positive effect on pupils and staff has been evident. Gardens The caretaker has erected a poly-tunnel. HT thanked Mrs MacGeoch and Mrs Caston for all their hard work with gardening. Chalice Well horticulturalist and gardener continue to visit and support work. A landscaper has been working on site. Pupils, staff and parents are all very welcome to be involved. Well Being Area £30K original cost; funding has been procured- which has saved St Ben’s £2k of their 10% contribution. Ex Officio reminded governors that Glastonbury is in lowest 15% of poorer parishes. He encouraged contact with the Diocese for support. Data Staffing issues, TA absence and high needs pupil numbers have resulted in fewer Year 3 or 5 interventions. Maths- good Mastery levels (23-24%); more Secure levels needed. HT would like to recruit 2 new apprentices to support interventions. Reading- Spelling Detectives scheme has been introduced to Years 4 & 5, resulting in some progression. From May, mostly ‘reading only’ homework will be introduced. Classes- A Year 4 teacher has moved to
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7.
SATs Results
8.
School Development Plan (SDP)
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Year 6, with an NQT replacing her; there has been some interruption. 8 Year 5 pupils with SEND have joined St Ben’s. Governors discussed ‘closing classes’; HT has implemented ‘overcapacity stance’ re: accepting more SEND pupils at present. More interventions will be possible next year. Writing- assessment needs to be less harsh next year. Levels are currently adequate, but could be higher. 60 pupils took SATs; of these 1/3 were PP, 1/3 were SEND and 1/3 were PP and SEND. Reading results were at 58%, SPAG at 57%, Writing at 82% and Maths at 62%. Greater Depth level is 20% for Reading & SPAG; Maths is 16%. HT informed re: level of mental health issues and difficulties for Year 6 pupils; tend to perform better on a day to day basis. He anticipates improvements for next year’s data. Current Year 4 are strong readers with a Greater Depth of over 30% cf. to 65% National Average. Governors discussed issue of falling below floor standards. There is a risk of this on results, but not on progress. Ex Officio reminded that Year 2- Year 3 data has been previously discussed and documented. HT invited governors to attend the Glee performance tomorrow at 2 pm, Sports Day on 22.7.19 and the Leavers’ Assembly on 237.19 at 1:45 pm. Behaviour & Welfare Attendance- of 95% without control group; aiming for 95-96% overall. Pastoral Team- SENDCo and Learning Mentor (LM) meet weekly to discuss vulnerable pupils. LM’s title to change to Inclusion Manager in September. Lunchtime Activities- went well until staff shortages occurred. 2 more apprentices to join in September. Some Year 5 pupils are trained as Sports Leaders. CPOMS- has transformed process of recording pupil data; linked to St John’s. Possible to transfer data between other schools. PE Surveys- have been sent out; results will be in for September. Forest School- an extra LM from September will run an afternoon session outside. Teaching & Learning Assessment SLT- Rachel Rood returns from maternity leave in September; along
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with SENDCo, new English Lead- will form a strong team. Maths training- has taken place throughout year. Inspire Workshops- have been very successful and well attended. Observation/Scrutiny of work- increased use of Maths language. Spider Maths to continue; increased use of TT Rock Stars program. Reasoning- big emphasis in Maths; very important to build skills. Interventions- difficulties this year due to staff shortages; will improve in September. Preparation/ Plans in place for incoming Year 3 to assist smoother transition. Homework- VC challenged re: issues of not doing Maths at home. HT clarified re: support strategies. Bar Modelling- used in classes; more evidence of 3D resource uses. Chair and Safeguarding Governor to submit recent monitoring report. More Able pupils- have presented with some pleasing results. SEND pupils- are well supported in class. Pupil Passports- have been updated. TA Deployment- improving, still more to do. Some SEND pupils may move to specialist provision in September, releasing up to 4 TAs. Pupil Premium- more data will be available at next meeting; some pupils achieving well. Reading & Spelling- latter is still an issue. Spelling Detectives may help this in future. Other Activities- inc. visitors and theatre trips have been very positive. Voluntary Readers- in place, but would like more, inc. those to read to pupils. Leadership & Management Pupil Progress Meetings- need to look again at Rising Stars as appropriate assessment tool. The Maths Lead will investigate this in September. Wider Curriculum- of great importance since new Ofsted Framework. Classes are doing at least 1 extra topic e.g. Carnival (year 5), Victorians (Year 6) and Festivals. Skills & Progression Frameworks- in progress. SEND Audit- is completed. SDP reporting in governor meetings- HT proposed abbreviated model for next year.
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Chair & SG Gov to submit mon. report.
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9.
Staffing Update
10.
Lunch Caterers
David MacGeoch left at 6:10 pm.
11.
Policies
12.
Governor Training
13.
Any other urgent business
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Academies- progress continuing, but more to do. Governor Monitoring- visits have taken place; feedback has proved very useful. Chair reminded re: governor ownership of SDP. 2 more Strode College apprentices will be joining St Ben’s in September. Lunch staff have been recruited. There has been some short term inclass support. A TA on long term sick leave has been signed off until September. HT spoke re: possible options. Claire Switzer- new Year 3 teacher recruited. Other teachers for September are Rachel Rood and Jane Brown (Year 6), Amelia Kirby and Liz Coton (Year 5), Amy Lowe and Jackie Ford (Year 4) and Tina Anderson (Year3). Issue of lunch uptake and wastage has not been addressed, though some Free School Meal pupils not eating lunch have been identified. These pupils have had shopping trips with staff to buy healthy options to eat. VC proposed looking at the current caterer’s length of contract. Business School manager to check. Finance 2019-20 Governors approved the policy pending amendments. Chair to sign once these are completed. VC kindly offered to take up the role of Finance Governor. Premises Management Governors present unanimously approved the policy. PSHE The PSHE Coordinator has overseen the policy update, which will need further reviewing when new guidance is available in September. Governor approved this policy until September. Pupil Premium HT will review this over the summer holidays; ready for September. Health & Safety (H&S) Governor training Unfortunately, the H&S Governor was unable to attend this training. SEND Governor Role The SEND Governor reported that this had been a very useful meeting, and referred to the SENDCo & Governor Relationship document. She has regular meetings with the SENDCo. Parent Survey 100% of responses stated that pupils
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BSM to check caterer’s contract. Clerk to amend Finance Policy; Chair to sign.
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Piers Ranger left at 6:22 pm. Mike Derbidge left at 6:25 pm.
14.
Meeting Review
15.
Date and time of next meetings:
were safe and secure. 97% of parents felt that teaching is good. Issues to work on include healthy lifestyle, pupil preparation for the future and effective home-school communications. Professionals are to visit and teach lifestyle techniques. Governors discussed the issues re: parents not reading newsletters etc. A governor proposed using the playground notice board to highlight events etc. A successful meeting; the overall view of the SDP had been very helpful. Lots of information constantly supplied, keeping governors up to date. A pleasure to learn how the pupils and staff are doing in school. The meeting was not quite so well structured as usual, but had been productive. Despite disappointing SATs results, St Ben’s continues to do everything it can to support pupils. Some good ideas have emerged from this meeting. Could have had more mention of Church items. Inclusion of SIAMS as a Standing Item on the FGB agenda. th FGB- Thursday 26 September 2019 at 5:30 pm- TBA. th SPA- Tuesday 5 November 2019 at 3:30 pm- TBA. th Sub Committees- Tuesday 15 October 2019 at 5:30 pm- TBA
The meeting closed at 6:30 pm.
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