RESOURCES COMMITTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2014 at 6.00pm
MEETING HELD AT KILMINGTON SCHOOL
COLYTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
KILMINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
SEATON PRIMARY SCHOOL
SHUTE PRIMARY SCHOOL
MINUTES
GOVERNORS PRESENT Nic Harris -‐ Headteacher Verdun Trott -‐ Parent Malcolm Bettison -‐ Headteacher Tim Leat – Parent. Stewart Adlam – Parent Natalie Markham – Business Manager Duncan Rae – Associate Apologies None 1 2 3 4 5 NH VT MWB TL SA NM DR Colyton Colyton Kilmington Kilmington Kilmington Shute Reason Alan Simpson – Executive Headteacher Jim Knight – Local Authority Tony Gaukroger – Parent. Arrived 6.10 Amanda Graham – Headteacher. Left at 7:40 Catherine Way -‐ Parent Alan Morbey -‐ Community Marshall Barrand – Parent. Left at 6:48 AS JK TG AG CW AM MB Seaton Seaton Seaton Shute Shute Shute Seaton Absent without apology: None Chaired by Vice-‐Chair TL as TG arrived late Minutes taken by Becki Davey Clerk Notes
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: None received – all Governors present. Decision Date Due ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR TG was nominated as Chair and elected unanimously. TL was nominated as vice-‐
chair and elected unanimously. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: JK, all Local Authority Business. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING: 25th June 2014: Agreed and signed as a true record. BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES: 25th June 2014: (5) Administration: TL proposed Governors speak to all admin staff to find out what their routine entails. TL,TG & SA to do this, although only 2 Governors per visit. NM to provide them with a breakdown of what their roles should be beforehand. NM suggested doing a possible census day prior to the Approved 6 7 Notes
Governors meetings to see how the Admin staff spends an average day. TO REVIEW AND AGREE TERMS OF REFERENCE: Agreed. BUDGET MONITOR STATEMENT: NM provided an update. SEN funding is received month by month. A new child has started in Colyton which may increase the amount of funding received. Due to changes in staffing the costs have increased (teachers being replaced by higher paid teachers) and need to be careful going forward. All schools have had to get off the current broadband hub provided by South West Grid for Learning, this should create a rebate. All four schools are now in the Mutual Fund. However, there have been a lot of claims recently so they are now only paying out 50%. Any funds left in the pot will be distributed between all claimants. CW – Will this affect the decision to continue membership in the Mutual Fund next year? NM – Will do some research with other schools to see what they are doing. All members of staff from Kidz @ Play have been made redundant, creating unexpected costs. TG suggested speaking to Kerry Thorne to see if she can help in funding this. AS will speak to her. There is a new computer system provided by DCC for NM to use to provide the data to them. This in turn has made the budget statement unsuitable for Governors to read and understand. There has been no training provided by DCC to NM to use this. TG requested it be noted how many more hours are required to use this new system. NH suggests that a spreadsheet is devised that can be used by NM enabling her to import all the data to a more user friendly spreadsheet. There is no concern over the data being provided as it is tallies with the main system – just the way in which it is being presented. NM, MB & TL to meet to discuss improvements and changes to the template. TG suggested a 2.5% increase in the future pay budget as this is an ongoing problem and forecasting has been unsuccessful. NM confirms a 3 year plan is used. NH reported that as part of his duties he is looking at all four school sites and a new umbrella site and hoped by time of
next resources meeting we would have policies and statutory information on this site at least. POLICY REVIEW: a) Staff Leave and Absence Policy Decision Date Due Approved All policies approved b) Pay Policy 8 9 c) Appraisal Policy for Teachers and Headteachers d) Finance Policy. TG added as signatory. TG proposed all policies were approved. JK seconded. STAFFING UPDATES: AS provided an update. Numbers are down in Seaton. Numbers will increase during the year but numbers are down on the date used in funding calculations. Three of the schools have had open days. Seaton had 179 visitors, Colyton had 5 and Shute had 29 (including 24 prospective parents). Kilmington are having their open day tomorrow (23rd October). AG was asked by parents about the appeals procedure for Shute – they do not have one as never had to turn any children down before due to numbers! All schools believed it to be a worthwhile PR exercise. This is an example of how being a federation works as all staff are protected. A reduction in numbers at Seaton could have 10 11 Notes
meant a need to reduce staff, but as the numbers Federation wide have remained almost static, it enables the staff numbers to remain as they are, although funding will be tight next year as there has been no increase in children numbers. AS. A supply member of staff has questioned the policy to only pay on grade M2 for supply staff. This was discussed. TG proposed the policy continue. TL seconded. PREMISES AND GROUNDS UPDATE: Shute: has their new classroom, it is working very well. They have just had a visit from DCC -‐ they are top of the list for re-‐wiring and a new boiler. Kilmington: Water leak is fixed, hopefully going to get a rebate on the last bill. All the cracks in the playground have been repaired. The children toilet in the main school is working well. DCC have visited to look at the windows which no longer shut. Building is not Grade 1 listed but is next to a Grade 1 listed building (church) and within a conservation area so will need planning permission for any window replacements and will not be allowed UPVC. AG suggested MB get a quote for new windows to assist DCC in their decisions. NM to do this. AS said the costs of the works completed above have been funded through the capital spending budget for the Federation, meaning that more money has been available for the smaller schools allowing for it to be possible for the works to go ahead. This is a good example of the Federation working. UNOFFICIAL SCHOOL FUND AUDIT REPORTS: Reports received and approved from all schools. Decision Policy continue Date Due Approved CW has attended an SEN training course. CW & TL have attended a new curriculum training course. JK attended a Headteachers Appraisal Training session and AS, JK & BD attended the Heads, Chair and Clerk training day. AS & JK did not feel it was of much benefit but as a new Clerk, BD found it comforting to see that ABF do things well and work well as a Federation. NEXT MEETING: To be agreed at FGB: Wednesday 26th November 2014 at Colyton 6:00pm Meeting finished at 8:00 Signed:……………………………………………………………… Date:………………………………………………………………..