MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF
MORTIMER ST MARY’S CE JUNIOR SCHOOL
HELD AT THE SCHOOL AT 7.00PM ON TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2016
PRESENT:
MRS C BARNES (CB)
MRS J CARLESS (JC)
REV P CHAPLIN (PC)
DR S COLLEY (SC)
DR R FERRIS (RF)
MRS A LANE (AL)
MRS M LOCK (ML)
MISS J MACARTHUR (JM) (HEADTEACHER)
MRS C MAY (CM)
MRS M MAYES (MM)
MR N MUNSON (NM)
MR C SMITH (CS)
MRS H UDALE-CLARKE (HUC)
CLERK:
MRS S COLE
ACTION
WHO
WHEN
PC opened the meeting with a prayer.
The Clerk Chaired the meeting until the Chair had been elected
85/16
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were accepted from Emma Siertsema (ES), Richard McGee
(RM), Steve Wood (SW), Marjorie McClure (MMc) and Jeni Pearson
(Deputy Head)
86/15
ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR
Nominations for these roles had been requested and had been received from
Chris Smith for the role of Chair and Janet Carless for the role of Vice
Chair. They were duly elected in these roles until the first meeting of 2017
academic year. CS took over as Chair of this meeting.
CS advised that he has a new job in London which will also involve some
international travel which may impact on his role as Chair. JC advised that
she would not be in a position to take on the role of Chair on a permanent
basis but is happy to cover for CS in his absence. CS asked governors to
consider taking on the role of Chair in the future and to consider being joint
Vice Chair with JC.
87/16
ITEMS FOR ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Governor Development (JC), governor forms for signature (Clerk),
governor liaison (JC/MM), admissions (JC), Year 6 residential (JM)
88/16
DECLARATION OF INTEREST
None
All
governors
8/11/16
89/16
ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS/SPECIAL ROLES
Admissions – JC/ML/JM/RF/CM
Staff Dismissal & Redundancy – PC/CM/MM/CS
Complaints – PC//NM/CS/SC
Pupil Discipline – JC/CM/SC
Complaints, Staff Dismissal & Redundancy Appeals – SW/ML/JC/RF
Personnel & P ay – PC/JM/MM/CS +1
Pay Appeals – ML//SC/JC
Headteacher’s Performance Management – PC/JC/CS
Clerk re
agenda
8/11/16
Health & Safety – CM +1 (Marjorie McClure?)
Safeguarding – RF/CM
Special Education Needs & Disabilities – ML/CM
Gifted & Talented – JC
Looked After Children –
Admissions – JC/CM/ST
Governor Development – CS
Schools Financial Value Standard – CS/ES
Finance – CS/ES
Statutory Inspection of Anglican & Methodist Schools –
Pupil Premium – SC
School Council - SC
Numeracy – HU-C
Literacy –
SIAMS working party: MM/CS/PC/RF/MMc?
90/16
MEMBERSHIP OF GOVERNING BODY GROUPS
It was AGREED to set up 3 groups as follows:
Teaching & Learning – ML/PC/RF/HUC/JC/CM
Pay/Personnel/Finance/Resources – MM/NM/CS/SC
Governance – to be decided
These groups will meet from time to time to go through information at
greater depth, to share expertise and workload, and to improve
effectiveness and impact.
91/16
Governors split into two groups to discuss further and set up meetings.
Each group will produce Terms of Reference for approval at the next
governing board meeting.
All
RF AGREED to arrange a date with JM for governors to attend a session
on the latest assessment data. All governors will be invited to attend.
RF
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 5TH JULY 2016
The minutes of the meeting held on 5th July were AGREED as a true record
and were signed by the Chair.
asap
92/16
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
CS had sent out a draft Statement of Activities for 2015/16. Governors
were asked to read this through and send him any comments/suggestions.
This document will be discussed at the next meeting.
93/16
Clerk
8/11/16
CS
8/11/16
LENGTH OF THE SCHOOL DAY
No changes were proposed. JM confirmed that statutory requirements
regarding teaching hours are being met. AGREED.
94/16
MEETING DATES FOR 2016/17
Meetings will be held on Tuesdays at 7.00pm on the following dates:
8th November, 13th December, 24th January, 2nd March (Thursday), 25th
April, 23rd May, 4th July
95/16
HEADTEACHER’S VERBAL REPORT
JM gave a verbal report. As requested she reported on attendance of pupil
premium children during 2015/16 – only 1 pupil had attendance below 90%
which was mainly due to 3 weeks unauthorised holiday absence. JM
reported that there are generally no attendance issues for children in this
group although one child’s attendance is being monitored by the
Educational Welfare Officer.
A data report was circulated to all governors which will be discussed at a
meeting to be arranged (item 90/16). JM advised that the school had come
4th within the local authority for combined results but almost bottom of the
list for progress which highlights the ongoing issue with KS1 levels. JM
reported that once again the school had not been given access to any of the
Year 3 pupils’ books at St John’s so the teachers have not seen any
evidence of what the children can do. CS AGREED to contact the Chair of
Governors at Mortimer St John’s to ask for this to be discussed by their
governing board.
JM reported on current pupil numbers and movement over the holidays
with some families being rehoused out of the area by social housing.
JM had met with the safeguarding governors (RF/CM) and looked at
elements of their role, discussed numbers of children with child protection
issues (6 out of 216 pupils). RF/CM also went through the Single Central
Record. JM reported that all staff have received Level 1 Safeguarding
training - 3 governors also attended the training (MM/RF/CM).
JM updated governors on staffing and reported that the new teachers have
settled in well. She also reported on building works carried out over the
holidays and outstanding issues. Governors thanked JM and Julie
Joannides (School Business Manager) for working during the summer
holidays to enable the building project to be completed.
JM reported that 4 Year 3 parents had expressed an interest in joining the
Parent Council. She asked for a governor to attend these meetings – HUC
AGREED to do so.
96/16
SOCIAL MEDIA
JM/CS/RF/CM had discussed concerns regarding social media being used
to say negative things about schools. It is becoming an issue for some
schools and the governing board may have to take stand on this. CS
AGREED to draft a letter from the governing board which could be sent if
this situation arises. The governing board will also look at the local
authority’s model policy at the next meeting.
97/16
HUC
Clerk re
agenda
SAFEGUARDING
Covered under 95/16. RF asked all governors to complete online e-safety
training.
RF advised that he will be away from October to March and CM will be
taking over the main safeguarding governor role.
98/16
FIXED PENALTY NOTICE GUIDANCE
West Berkshire Council’s guidance had previously been circulated. It was
noted that a child’s attendance over the last 12 months should be
considered when looking at absence requests.
99/16
PUPIL PREMIUM REPORTS
The 2015/16 Pupil Premium Report and 2016/17 Planned Spending Report
had previously been circulated. JM advised that the DfE has just released a
report template but this is not mandatory. It was AGREED that JM did not
need to redo her reports using this template, unless it becomes a
requirement. Governors noted that the homework club has been very
successful and JM advised that the club is being run again this term.
100/16
SPORTS FUNDING REPORTS
The 2015/16 Sports Funding Report and 2016/17 Planned Spending Report
had previously been circulated. Nikki Stamp (Year 6 teacher) has taken
over the role of PE co-ordinator but JM controls spending. It was noted
that the fact that the school was awarded the Bronze Sports Mark had not
been included in the report - JM AGREED to add this in. JM advised that, JM
following Parent Council feedback about sports day, she intended including
one or two competitive races next year. HUC expressed surprise at
negative comments received as she has only heard positive comments. It
was AGREED that more feedback should be obtained via the annual parent JM
questionnaire which is due to be done this term.
101/16
SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (SDP)
A copy of the SDP was circulated. In July governors had attended a joint
SDP review meeting with teaching staff which they found very useful. It
8/11/16
was AGREED that the new groups (item 90/16) should go through relevant
sections and continue to focus on these during the year.
CS asked CB how she was coping with her dual teaching/Special Needs
Co-ordinator role. CB advised that she is training teaching assistants to do
some of the small group work she used. She advised that she will have
fewer days during the week to be available for parent meetings, which will
in the main have to be limited to Mondays and Tuesdays. However in
situations where parents need to speak to her immediately she will ensure
that she contacts them at the end of the school day. She has now completed
her SENCO training and is waiting for the result.
The clerk AGREED to check whether the SDP needs to be published on the Clerk
school website.
102/16
PAY POLICY
The Pay Policy had been updated to include figures agreed in the Teachers
Pay & Conditions Document. AGREED.
103/16
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Governor Development – governors were asked to update their training
records and advise the clerk of any training they receive, including online
modules
All
Governor liaison – JC’s Gifted & Talented liaison report had been
circulated and MM’s RE liaison report was distributed at the meeting.
SIAMS working party – MM advised that this group would be meeting on
4th October. PC suggested that governors needed to be responsible for a
particular area: governance (CS/JC), Religious Education (MM), theology
(PC) and evidence. Governors to consider taking on responsibility for
evidence. The working party will complete section 4 of the SIAMS toolkit
and draft the 50 word statement.
Admissions – JC reported that the admissions committee did not feel the
oversubscription criteria in the Admissions Policy needed to be changed.
AGREED. Consultation is therefore not necessary this year.
Forms, etc – the clerk asked governors to complete their Register of
Business Interests, Declarations, sign Code of Conduct and give
information for the DfE’s governor database.
RF requested approval for his absence from meetings whilst out of the
country (October to March). AGREED
Year 6 residential – JM reported that the Year 6 trip to PGL Liddington had
been very successful. Governors thanked the staff who gave up their time
to accompany the pupils on this trip.
All
asap
104/16
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 8th November at 7.00pm
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.00 pm
Document Summary
Papers sent out in advance
Minutes of meeting on 5th July
Pay Policy
Papers handed out at meeting
Approved
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