ST. JOHN’S C.E.

PRIMARY SCHOOL
MINUTES OF FULL GOVERNING BOARD MEETING 15th May 2018
Present: Mark Bowring, (Chair) Lucinda Curtis, Matthew Ewens, Colin Kemp, Sally
King, Michaela Luckett, Jo Miller (Vice-Chair) Vanessa Russell, Rob Stanton, Jenny
Stiff (DHT), Paul Tanner, Dan Turvey (Head Teacher),
Clerk: Jan Davies
In attendance – Natalie Pearson -

1. Opening Prayer – LC opened the meeting with a prayer.

2. Apologies for absence – Received and approved from GW. RB was absent.
3. Declaration of business interests – None declared.
4. Membership – Mr Bullock’s term of office as an LA Governor had been agreed by
the Local Authority Governor Panel for a further period of 4 years. The date of this
meeting is the first day of his term of office. Mrs Curtis’ term of office as a
Foundation Governor finishes on the 31st August 18. A new Foundation Governor is
being sought. Mr Adkins – staff governor – has stepped down with immediate effect
as he will be taking up another teaching post in September. A staff governor
election is under way.
5. Update on SIP/SEF – The HT reported the following changes under Leadership &
Management: -
- A number of staff are involved in various leadership programmes.
- Achievement for All (AFA) project is being re-launched. The School has a new
AFA external coach and there will be a focus on specific year groups.
Governors will be kept updated.
- By way of development the MLT are thinking about their leadership roles and
how to work collaboratively rather than just within their subject roles.
- The homework policy, after a considerable amount of work, has been re-
launched. Children now have “Discovery Books” designed to engage parents
with their children on a range of topics of which children are asked to choose 1
each term.

What about Maths? – Reading is the key to unlocking learning.

The DHT has launched a “look at our curriculum” with the view to expanding
the School’s vision. This will result in a new Teaching & Learning Policy.
- The School is holding an Inclusion Day which will focus on disabilities including
physical, vision and hearing. Children will have the opportunity to find out what
its like living with a disability. Outside speakers will be involved.

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 - Governors were invited to attend upcoming inset days on Friday 25th May and
Monday 4th June.
Proposed development of the outdoor learning area in Foundation Stage –
Natalie Pearson presented to Governors the proposed 3-year project for the
development of the Foundation Stage outdoor learning area. The total cost is
around £33,000 and . It was suggested that the Foundation Stage create some
fund-raising opportunities supported by parents. It is anticipated that further
funding will come from the School’s revenue budget. All of the different areas,
apart from the Music Wall, will have secure storage.
Will Fire engines still be able to access the area given the number of new areas
being created. This had been considered and there was sufficient access for
emergency vehicles.
PT offered to turn the hand drawings of the outdoor area into computer images.
The school grounds have undergone much development with children able to
access the woodlands, field and forest school which is working well for vulnerable
groups.
6. Monitoring Reports –
SEND – The report had been made available to Governors prior to the meeting.
The issue arising from the report was the provision of additional TA support so that
more intervention programmes could be rolled out. (See under staffing structure
for further information)
SIAMS – The report had been made available to Governors prior to the meeting.
The issue arising from the report was that the worship areas in some classrooms
needed to be more visible. This observation had been fed back to staff for action.
The changes to the SIAMS inspection process coming into place in September
means a new vision for the School. It was suggested that a presentation be made
to Governors in the new academic year.
IT – This report will be presented by RS at the July FGB.
Finance – The foci of this report, which had been made available to Governors
prior to the meeting, was the final outturn position for the financial year ended
31st March 18 and the new 3YP. The final outturn showed an in-year deficit of
about £17,000 with an overall surplus carried forward of about £116,000. The
impact of the increase in PAN numbers in KS2 would not be felt until Year 2 of the
Plan because budgets were based on the number of children on role at the October
pupil Census. Year 2 of the Plan will see an increase in the AWPU to £3,400 per
child (currently £3,200) which should be ongoing, KCC having confirmed that this
amount will not alter. With the change in the PAN and the assumption that the
school will be full in all year groups an additional revenue of around £195,000 can
be expected.

The catering contract is currently out to tender with a decision needing to be

made by Friday 25th May. Due to the cost of the new contract, which comes into
force on the 1st August, approval of the full governing board is required. The

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 school was currently visiting other schools to look at the service provided by their
caterers, so it was not possible to approve the new contractor at this meeting. It
was agreed that the finance monitoring group make a recommendation to the
GB via email with a reply all response from governors.

Had an assessment of the impact on the quality of teaching that replacing

experienced retiring teachers with NQTs will have? The school is aware that
there are a number of teachers leaving at the end of term 6 and it is always
mindful of expenditure when recruiting. The school does not set out to appoint
NQTs but to appoint the best person for the post which may or may not be an NQT.
6b - Monitoring priorities – A draft monitoring schedule for terms 5 and 6 had
been circulated to governors prior to the meeting along with an up to date list of
governor monitoring responsibilities. The schedule would enable governors to
better align governors’ monitoring responsibilities to priorities in the SIP.
Monitoring visits could incorporate more than one action in the plan to cut down
on the number of visits needed. The schedule will be updated once the priorities
on the new SIP are known

It was recognised that for some of the issues to be monitored this would be best
achieved via presentations to the FGB as opposed to individual governor monitoring
visits. Monitoring responsibilities outside of the SIP were also shared with
governors.

7. Finance – Review year end outturn for revenue and capital – At the end of the
financial year to the 31st March the school had an in-year deficit of £17,631 with an
overall surplus position of £116,841 on its revenue budget. The Capital budget was
used to repay the loan, the deficit could not be more than the amount of money
owing on the loan. There was an in-year deficit of £34,972 and the amount of the
loan outstanding was £37,850.

New 3-year plan – Year 1 2018-19 will carry an in-year deficit forecast of £52,722
with an overall surplus of £64,119. In year surpluses are forecast for years 2 and 3
with a surplus of £145,992 projection at the end of year 3, although this is
dependent on whether or not the hard version of NFF comes in to effect.

Governors unanimously approved the new 3YP.

Staffing Structure from September 18 – Governors were provided with a

breakdown of the staffing structure for both teaching and support staff. The FTE
for teachers had been increased by .2 to allow for additional cover for NQTs.
There had been changes to support staff hours particularly for teaching assistants
where there had been an increase in hours to support additional pupils coming into
reception with SEND, an increase in roll numbers and extra provision for
intervention support. Inclusion/SEND hours had reduced.

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 Why had the SEND Manager’s hours been reduced? – The SEND manager has
reduced hours voluntarily and so some aspects of her role are carried out by other
staff.

Governors unanimously approved the new Staffing Structure for September 18

8. Strategy Team meeting – The Strategy Team had met on the 8th May and draft
minutes had been made available to governors. Main points of discussions included
SIAMS and the new inspection process, and the methodology for governor
monitoring to ensure visits were timely and linked to the actions in the SIP as well
as those monitoring areas outside of the Plan. Governors would use the monitoring
schedule for terms 5 and 6 to plan for their visits to take place before the end of
Term 6 and, if possible, to time them so that they could be shared with governors
at the next FGB on the 11th July. Governor names were linked with specific
monitoring areas to avoid any overlap. Governors were asked to contact the Chair
if they had any queries.
With regard to the SIAMS inspection process and the involvement of parents
how would this work? A decision on this has yet to be made but this would
become clearer after a twilight training session for staff planned for September
and parents would be informed.
9. Chair and Vice-Chair actions – The vice-chair along with some other governors had
met to discuss how better to communicate with the wider community. Their notes
were made available to governors prior to the meeting. The main outcomes
included an annual statement from Governors in November, using the newsletter
to update parents on governor actions and signposting them to the governor
information on the school website and attending staff inset days.
10. Change of timings for Reception children – The change of timings had been
discussed and approved by governors at the last FGB subject to successful
consultation with parents. There had only been feedback from 2 parents and
therefore the new timings would come into force with effect from September 18.
11. Support staff appraisal timings – The change of timings for support staff appraisal
had been discussed and approved by governors at the last FGB subject to
successful consultation with support staff. There had been no feedback
forthcoming and, therefore, the revised timings would come into force as per the
consultation paper circulated to governors.
12. GDPR – Staff are currently completing a data audit. Governors were provided with
a GDPR action plan, together with a Privacy Notice informing parents on how it
used pupil information. This notice is on the school website. The privacy notice
from KCC governor services was also shared with governors.
The HT reported that the LCT were buying in the services of a Data Protection
Officer (DPO) through a company called Satswana at a significantly reduced cost
spread across the Trust. They are also buying in to the GDPR IS from SPS which is
software to assist in the management of GDPR.
13. Policies- The SEND Policy had been shared with governors. There had been no key
changes. Governors approved the policy. Policies relating to Medical Needs and
Managing Absence and Ill health will be presented at the July FGB. Policies for

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 Attendance, Governor Visits, and Food Hygiene remain due for review but were not
requiring FGB approval.
14. Governor Training – CK had attended the district governor briefing and provided
written feedback which had been shared with governors. JM had attended
admissions training provided by the diocese but reported that none of the training
had been relevant. The T&D governor alerted governors to training available until
the end of term 6.
15. Approve minutes of last meeting – Governors unanimously approved the minutes
of the last meeting which were signed by the Chair as a true record.
16. Matters and actions arising therefrom – All actions arising had been completed.
17. AOB – None
18. Confidential - A further matter recorded at agenda item 7 dealing with staffing
was agreed to be treated as confidential and excluded from the minutes to be
made available for public inspection:
19. Date of next meeting – Wednesday 11th July 2018 at 6.15pm.

Governor actions
Agenda No. Action Lead Governor
5. Governors invited to attend inset days on All governors
Friday 25th May and Monday 4th June.
6 IT monitoring report to be carried out and RS
presented to July FGB
6b Governors to check monitoring schedule for All governors
visits to be carried out in term 6 for
presentation to the July FGB if possible
13 Policies relating to Medical Needs and ML for Medical
Managing Absence and Ill health to be Needs
presented at the July FGB for approval MB for Managing
absence and ill
health

Signed: M Bowring
Date: 11th July 2018
Chair of Governors

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