HORSFORTH Minutes 14 03 13 - Drighlington Primary School

Minutes of the full Governing Body
Wednesday 14 th March 2013
6.00 p.m. in the Learning Resources Centre
Present:
Roland Meredith, Ray Agar, Helen Shearer, Steve Wood, Chris Townsley, Richard
Bainbridge, Fiona Lloyd, Barbara Nixon, Debby Gibson, Tessa Freer, Paul Blackburn,
Katherine Parsons, Nicola McArthur, Graham Auty, Simon Jackson, Oliver King, Steve
Jex, Keith Bothamley, Rosemary Edwards.
In attendance: Judith Nelson
Apologies: Jenny Share, Tracy Boyes, Marc Burrow. Paul Bell, Jill Rowett, Claire Wright, Sarah Nowell
1. MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
The Chair welcomed Rosemary Edwards, a new potential Community Governor to the
meeting. All Governors voted in favour of Rosemary Edwards becoming a Governor of the
School and she was welcomed as a member of the Governing Body.
2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING: The Minutes were agreed as a true record.
3.MATTERS ARISING:
15.4 Benton Park School: SJ reported that Benton Park School had recently been inspected by
Ofsted, receiving Grade 3 overall. The Governing Body at Benton Park were very
appreciative of the collaboration and support given by members of staff and Governors of
Horsforth School, particularly in helping the school achieve a Grade 2 for Leadership and
Management. Benton Park would like to continue this arrangement. A further Ofsted
Inspection at Benton Park will take place in 12 months’ time, and Governors there have agreed
that the current arrangement of Joint Headship will continue for a further two years. Thanks
were given to all members of Horsforth School who have supported Benton Park.
4. REGISTER OF GOVERNORS’ INTERESTS
All Governors were reminded that they should complete a new form if their circumstances
change. Rosemary Edwards was asked to complete the Register of Governors’ Interests forms
and Eligibility for Governorship form.
5. RATIFICATION OF HEADTEACHER
The Chair of Governors informed members that a number of candidates had taken part in a
rigorous interview process during the last two days to appoint a new Headteacher for the
School. One candidate had been taken forward through to the second day of interviews and
the Strategy & Personnel Governors have offered the post of Headteacher to Keith Bothamley
with effect from 1 st September 2013. IKB left the room. RM explained the interview process
to Governors in more detail and thanked Lauren Robinson for her work on the organisation of
the interview process and advice on protocols. Governors voted unanimously that Keith
Bothamley should be appointed Headteacher from 1 st September 2013. RM reminded the
Governing Body that the appointment of a new Headteacher heralded the last stretch of Steve
Jex’s career and the Chair thanked Steve Jex for the outstanding and magnificent job which he
had done during his 12 years at Horsforth School.
6. ADMISSIONS CONSULTATION
All Governors had received copies of documents on the proposed change to the School’s over
subscription criteria, including a document comprising all comments received from parents,
councillors, other schools and interested parties. RM and SJ reminded Governors of the
rationale behind the proposed changes, which was to ensure that all students living in Horsforth
get the opportunity to come to our School, as their local community school. RM said that the
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School was proud of being a community school for Horsforth and that discussions have
consistently taken place over several years with the local authority about the problem of some
children living in LS18 who are not able to get a place at the school because, as the crow flies,
they live further away from the school than others in neighbouring postcode areas. The
Governing Body had put forward a proposal for a change to the over subscription criteria of
the School’s Admissions Policy to ensure that those families with an LS18 postcode would have
priority over students from other communities. Other over subscription criteria are
unchanged, so first priority will continue to go to Looked after Children and SEN applicants,
followed by younger siblings, but then LS18 children and then straight line distance to the
school. The Chair reported that the number of responses received during the recent eight
week consultation period showed that many families, local primary schools, councillors and
other interested parties had concerns regarding this change, although a significant number of
parents were in favour of the change.
Concern was expressed by Governors regarding the proposed new housing scheduled for the
Horsforth area, which would result in the problem of over subscription to the school becoming
more acute, although over the next two or three years it was likely that many children who
were not in the LS18 postcode area would still receive places at the school. However, should
all the proposed new housing plans go ahead, whatever decision is made now it is likely that the
school will not have the capacity to meet the needs of the community, even for those children
in LS18 in the future and the school has been in discussion with the local authority on
increasing in size to cater for the expected ‘bulge’ in student numbers
Following a full discussion, Governors were invited to vote for adoption of the proposed
change to the over subscription criteria: that applications from those families with an LS18
postcode be given priority over straight line distance from the school. The proposal was
carried by a majority vote that the School should go forward with the change from September
2014.
The Governing Body are confident that the consultation process has been followed in line with
DfE guidelines and although changes to an admissions policy must be approved by the Secretary
of State the school is not actually changing its policy – only one of its over subscription criteria.
There has been no change in the principles of our Admissions Policy.
Thanks were given to all Governors for their views and contributions to the debate on the
proposed change.
Governors agreed that a statement on the decision to change the over subscription criteria of
the School’s Admissions Policy should be placed on the School website as soon as possible and
that LCC and EFA should be informed. All parties who sent in their individual comments or
views to the school should receive an individual reply, as well as headteachers and Chairs of
Governing Bodies of local primary schools, local councillors, MPs and others who had written
to the school, informing them of the Governing Body decision and also reminding them about a
FAQ document published in 2011 prior to becoming an Academy, which stated that Governors
would have the flexibility to change the over subscription criteria of the admissions policy in
future.
7. COMMITTEE REPORTS
7.1 Curriculum Committee: Helen Shearer reported to Governors that the Curriculum
Committee had received an overview and documents from Paul Bell on the new draft
curriculum from 2015 and how any changes to the curriculum might affect our students, and a
presentation from Paul Snowden on Pupil Premium funding. Paul Bell had also given
Governors an update on QA and Judith Nelson had reported on post-16 issues and new
strategies which have been implemented for learning and teaching. Feedback had been
received from Lead Governors in Core Subjects and at post-16, and the Lead Governors were
continuing their involvement in school issues within their areas.
7.2 Pastoral Committee: Steve Wood informed the Governing Body that the Pastoral
Committee had reviewed the recent pastoral data for the spring term in addition to several
policies, where amendments had been made. Mike Casey, the Attendance Strategy Officer
had attended the meeting and given an overview of his role and the strategies and processes
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which the school employed in relation to persistent absence. Improvements were on-going
and work was also being done in this area in conjunction with Horsforth’s Joint Collaborative
Committee. More information would be given at the next meeting.
8. GOVERNOR TRAINING UPDATE
Barbara Nixon reported that she had attended a Child Protection course on safeguarding in her
role as Child Protection Governor. The question of a School Safeguarding Audit had been
raised during the course and a service was available from LCC at a cost of £150. BN will meet
with SW, JR and SAN to discuss this. Governors were informed that on-site training sessions
on Child Protection for staff took place on a 3 year cycle.
Several Governors had attended the Governor’s Conference in January focusing on 20 Key
Questions for the Governing Bodies of Schools to reflect on the skills of individual Governors.
This item will be added to the Agenda for the next Strategy & Personnel Meeting.
New Governors had attended Induction Training Sessions and Governors were reminded that
they were welcome to take part in all training sessions offered by LCC at their convenience.
9. GOVERNOR NETWORK MEETINGS
Fiona Lloyd had attended a meeting where the focus had been on school standards, pupil
premium, clusters and vulnerable children.
10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
10.1 Risk Register: A full Risk Register has been recently guided by Richard Bainbridge and Jenny
Share to identify and monitor potential risk areas, thereby enabling the school to see clearly any
areas of risk and to minimise, prioritise and reduce the risks. A document showing headline
risk areas was presented to Governors, with the current and most critical risks highlighted,
review dates and specific responsibility. Thanks were given to Richard Bainbridge for the time
and effort he had taken to implement the Risk Register. The Risk Register, managed by Emma
Dowson, will become a Standing Agenda item at future full Governing Body meetings.
10.2 Red Kite Alliance: Horsforth School has received a formal invitation to join the Red Kite
Alliance, with other schools and which is centred on Harrogate Grammar School. We have
confirmed that the School will be accepting the invitation and that we will become a member of
the Alliance’s policy making Steering Group.
10.3 Dates of future meetings:
Finance & Premises Committee
Pastoral Committee
Curriculum Committee
Tuesday 30 th April 2013 5.30 p.m.
Tuesday 18 th June 2013 5.30 p.m.
Tuesday 25 th June 2013 5.30 p.m.
Meeting closed 7.30 p.m.
2012/13 / Governors / Full Governing Body / Minutes / 14.03.13