East Brent First School Governors

 

MINUTES OF GOVERNORS’ MEETING

HELD ON 21ST MARCH 2007

 

                                                              Present       Apologies     Absent

Mrs Heather Hector                               P

Mr Chris Abbott                                     P

Mrs Francesca Bowkett                           P

Dr Wendy Kingdom                                  P

Mrs Jenny Farrell                                   P

Mr Ian Evans                                           P

Rev Martin Lee                                                           Ap

Mr Ivan Beretvas                                    P

Mrs Caz Townsend                                   P

Mrs Alison Currie                                    P

 

Mr Abbott welcomed Mrs Caz Townsend, our new Foundation Governor, to the meeting.

                                                                                                                   ACTION

 

1.    The minutes of the meeting held on 24th January were approved and signed.

 

 

2.    Head’s Report: 

3 children from Year 4 did not get a place at H.S.M.S., 2 of  whom are appealing. The 3rd child is moving to America in the summer holidays. H.S.M.S. are creating an extra class of 30 this year which may help our children get in. Next year the criteria is changing and linked schools children will be above distance.

Attendance – Mrs Hector has received a letter from County saying our absence percentage is higher than previously, Schools in Somerset have been advised not to authorise holidays in school time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Mr Beretvas asked what SEAL and SELT were. SEAL stands for Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning and SELT is County’s provider of in-house training for headteachers.

Mrs Hector had had a meeting with our School Improvement Partner, Mrs Janet White, on 13th March 2007 which they used to go through Parts 4 & 5 of the SEF; Parts 6 & 7 will be gone through in June. Mrs White will then present these to the Governors on the 11th July.

 

3.    Committee Meeting Minutes:  It was agreed that N Hare’s contract be extended

to cover the summer term to give Class 3 some stability and to maintain & improve

standards. The Breakfast Club was discussed – it was agreed to continue this on a

term by term basis so that membership could be measured. The Best Value Statement is being updated by Mrs Farrell.                                                                         J FARRELL

Curriculum and Management & Personnel will be discussed at the next meeting.

 

 

4.    Clerk’s Briefing:  A brief resume had been sent out with the agenda which included the next 2 items.

 

 

5.    Safeguarding Children:  Mrs Hector briefly went through The Annual Report to Governors on Safeguarding Children (attached to minutes). There will be an inset training day on 4th June 2007.

 

                                                                                                            

6.    Whistleblowing Code (Confidential Reporting Code):  A copy of this had been sent out with the Agenda. A copy will be put in the staff room and all staff will be informed of this.  H HECTOR

 

 

7.    Finance including Budget:  Mrs Farrell went through the budget which she had worked on with Mrs Currie & Mrs Hector. Most of the expenditure is historical: staff, premises, supplies & services so we added 3% on last year’s costs for most cost centres.. We are buying the same services from Blue book (which are services bought from County) as last year. Staffing cost centre has had to be subsidised from this year’s standard fund grant to enable us to pay for another teacher (Ms Hare) whilst Mrs Kelly is off. Some of this money will be reimbursed by our supply insurance. We are also subsidising Breakfast Club as we are hoping this will attract more pupils.

 

 

8.    Policies:  Mr Abbott will divide the policies, which need to be reviewed, to the 3 committees. Mrs Hector presented the Behaviour Policy which she had reviewed. Mrs Bowkett is doing a Food Policy for the Healthy Schools Mark., she had met with Nigel Laycock, who went through a list of objectives which need to be done before we achieve this award. Mrs Parsons very kindly agreed to be the nominated governor for this.                                                           C ABBOTT

 

 

9.    Governor Training:  Mrs Farrell asked if there would be local training on FMSiS(Financial Management Standard in Schools). Mrs Currie will make enquiries in the Cheddar Valley Area.    A CURRIE

 

 

10.  Promoting Good Practices: An A4 flyer with coloured pictures has been emailed to

local estate agents showing what our school does. Copies will be given to various local

places: Doctor’s surgery, Butchers, Rooksbridge Post Office etc.               A CURRIE

 

 

11.   Assessment Manager 7: An Inset Day was held on 26th February for teaching and some support staff led by Sarah Hill from County.  All staff can now track a child’s progress and see whether they are on target; need extra help or are achieving well. All this information can then be passed on to the middle schools.

 

 

12.  Celebrations:  48 pupils entered the Burnham & Highbridge Festival which is about 2/3rds of the school, and many of these entered more than 1 class. We won 9 gold, 11 silver and 6 bronze medals. Our thanks and congratulations go to Mrs Bowkett, Mrs Plummer and Mrs Steady.

5 children won books for their book cover competition entries.

Field – This has now been mowed and is currently being fenced. We are going to have a launch party on the 6th July which will incorporate fund raising. There will be children’s sports, launch at 6 pm then adults sports followed by a barbecue.

A self defence class for adults had been held by one of the parents which went very well. All proceeds from this will be given to the PTA fund.

An Easter celebration will be held on Thursday, 29th March at 2pm in St. Mary’s Church.

 

 

13.  Review Promotions & Action Log:  A progress report was made on the changed procedures for capturing and responding to parental concerns. Improved practices have been implemented and monitoring of their effectiveness continues.

 

 

The next full Governing Body Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 9th May  at 4.30 pm, and the last one of the academic year will be held on Wednesday, 11th July at 4.30 pm.