Minutes of the
Full Governing Body Meeting
14th October 2014, 5.30pm
Welcome and Prayers: MC said a prayer
Present: Head: Sarah Powell (SP), Chair: Christopher Dean (CD), Gary Hartley (GH),
Carol-Anne Barber (CB), Rev’d Cowan (MC), Roger Rushton (RR), Freddy Wayles (FW),
Pam Anderson (PA)
Apologies: Nichola Sanderson (NS) (arrived at 6.50pm from Carlisle)
Declaration of Interests: None
Minutes of last meeting July 2014: signed by CD as being a true record
Matters arising from minutes: MC asked about newsletters. SP: Newsletters were
now on the website (new URL www.burlingtonschool.org.uk)
HT Report:
Discussion focused on results of the last academic year. KS1: SP said the picture was
better although no children were writing at Level 3. CD asked the size of the cohort;
SP: 13.
Year 6: SP: one child had been absent and one unexpectedly did not reach Level 3: it
was an improvement on the previous year but still not good enough. Level 4+/5+
showed we did well in extending the more able children but needed to nurture the
less able as well.
SP: Work Scrutiny carried out last week; we are in a triad of schools with Croftlands
and Church Walk in Ulverston; three Heads + General Adviser (Marie Barnes) looked
at our children’s books for progress + attainment (following up a Work Scrutiny in
July with HMI). SP had fed back findings to individual staff and given targets for
improvement. Skill focus discussed: what we as a school were doing well and where we
needed to improve. At the next staff meeting SP would be showing staff how the
Work Scrutiny was done. The three Heads would next be doing joint observations
with the other two Heads feeding back to staff. They would also be looking at each
other’s data after Christmas. MC asked if the findings would be shared with the
Governors. SP: yes.
SP explained we were also part of a cluster of 18 primary schools; there was an
Alliance of Cluster Leaders and a member of our cluster group sat on the local area
panel.
Staffing structure: SP referred the Governors to the separate sheet, which was
self-explanatory.
SEN: SP: there were 13 in school with SEN 3.
CD asked about Breakfast Club and After School Club. SP: Breakfast Club numbers
were slightly down on last year but were going up: 8-9 on Mondays and 12-14 on other
days.
Attendance: (see p7 of Head’s Report) GH referred to the national figures, and there
was discussion about the fining of parents for taking holidays in school terms.
CD thanked SP for her report, which the Governors were happy with. GH commended
the broad range of extra curricular activities being offered.
CD referred to the Biblical text on the wall in the entrance hall, which he thought
would make a good strap-line for the school. There was unanimous agreement.
SP: two letters had been received from people interested in being Governors; both
had previously been Governors in other schools and both had Health and Safety
backgrounds. There were thought to be at least two more people interested.
Candidates would be asked to put in writing what they could offer the school. SP said
we also needed a Staff Governor.
Committee structures: CD confirmed the make-up of each committee:
Standards: SP, CD, MC, RR, NS
Curriculum: SP, CD, GH, PA
Premises: SP, CD, FW, Elizabeth Thompson
Finance: SP, CD, CB, Elizabeth Thompson
Contact details / Code of Practice / Business Interests:
Governors checked the forms and signed.
Committee minutes: Minutes of the 4 committees had been circulated and read
before the meeting.
Standards: SP explained the details in her report. GH asked about lateness:
SP: nil recently.
CD asked about the forthcoming Book Scrutiny – could Governors come? SP:
yes, on Wednesday at 3.30pm.
Premises: the boiler installation had been completed that day. Pete was looking
into the outside lights. PA asked about the road safety barrier; SP: The school
was paying the county Highways Dept to install it. MC asked about the
arrangements for a faulty burglar alarm; who were the key holders? SP: we pay
for a key holder service in Barrow. MC: Who were the keyholders? SP: most
teaching staff, Pete, Gail (for Breakfast Club). CD had not got a key. SP: he
could have the one from Mrs Fallows (Chair, retired) – Action: SP.
Finance: GH was surprised that we were still not getting “Sparsity Funding”.
SP: we have been told not to bother applying for the £20,000 allocated to each
rural school that qualifies.
OFSTED Action Plan (whole school): Action SP to distribute plan, highlighting what
had been achieved, and Governors to feed back ideas for inclusion to CD, using
“Making Governance More Effective” as a source of ideas. Action CD and PA to
formulate new targets. GH + CB asked about a survey of parents on the topic of
Communication and Consultation. CD suggested Action SP when informing parents
about Parents Evening, to tell them we would be conducting a paper survey. (Action SP
also to devise survey.)
New OFSTED handbook: (already emailed to Governors). Action all Govs to read.
School Meals: SP – going really well. The dining room was a pleasant place at lunch
time and some pupils were running a tuck shop, involving real-life maths. MC said he
had been impressed by children waiting on table, but more jugs of water were needed.
Governors asked if the tuck shop was “healthy eating”. SP: no chocolate and it sold
fruit juice. The school website showed the week’s lunch menu.
School Website: some Governors had been unable to get onto the site with iPads or
iPhones. CD was aware of a problem. SP felt the new site was brighter and more
friendly; children were writing on it and there was a page per class available. CD
asked for someone to do an audit of the site: Action GH.
AOB
SP asked for pay review committees to be formed before Performance Management
started the next week. The following pay review committees were formed:
Pay Review Committee: GH, CB, PA
Pay Review Appeal Committee: MC, NS, RR
Head Teacher’s Pay Review Committee; CD, RR
CD gave out the rota for Governors’ visits.
The meeting closed at 7.15pm.
Minutes taken by Roger Rushton