Carole Self Learning for Life Partnership [163] 26 January 2021
Wheelock LAB   Minutes   08/09/2020
virtual video conferencing  Tuesday, September 8, 2020  5.00pmChair: David Booth   Clerk: Carole Self   
FINAL: The minutes are confirmed and locked.
Governors Attending: >Helen Sweeney, Angie Robinson D.L, David Booth, Hazel Harris, Kim French, Sam Davies, Matt Pearson 
Governors Apologies: >
Non Governors Attending: >Carole Self
Non Governors Apologies: >
Agenda Item 1  Welcome and Apologies for Absence
MINUTE The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.  There were no apologies for absence.
Agenda Item 2  Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair for 2020-21
MINUTE The Clerk advised that she had received two nominations for the position of Chair.  These being for David Booth.  Members supported the nomination and approved David as Chair for the academic year 2020-21.  Angie Robinson was nominated as Vice Chair by Members for the academic year 2020-21.
DECISION  Members approved the appointment of DB as Chair and AR as Vice Chair for the academic year 2020-21
Agenda Item 3  Annual Declaration of Personal/Pecuniary Interests
MINUTE Members were reminded to forward their completed annual declaration forms to the Clerk, this included the eligibility check and code of conduct for Governors.

The Headteacher confirmed that all Members had had enhanced DBS checks undertaken.
ACTION  Members to complete the annual declaration forms electronically and forward these to the clerk
Agenda Item 4  Declaration of Any Other Business
MINUTE  None
Agenda Item 5  Part One Minutes of the Last Meeting
MINUTE The minutes of the meeting dated 30th June 2020 were confirmed as a true and accurate record.
DECISION  Members approved the minutes of the 30th June 2020 as a true and accurate record
Agenda Item 6  Matters arising
MINUTE
Members reviewed the matters arising as follows:


  • Members to update declarations of interest on Trust Governor and CS to undertake face to face training on this at the next appropriate meeting.    Members agreed that this action should be removed as a new action had been agreed in today's meeting. Action removed
  • Members to undertake PREVENT training.  DB outstanding and to complete ahead of next meeting
  • Discuss the Trust's vision and aim at the next Chairs Forum - Members discussed this as part of the agenda item on communication.  Action completed
  • Chase up certificates for safeguarding training.  Members agreed to remove this item and replace it with an action for all Members to undertake Level 1 Safeguarding Basic Awareness training via Educare.
  • Include some positive questions on the home learning and contact as part of the Parent Survey in Autumn.  
  • Follow up the recommendation for DB to stand for a further term with members and Trustees. Recommendation submitted, awaiting confirmation
  • Headteacher to update GIAS once DB status approved.
  • Follow up complaint letter addressed to Chair with Executive Head.  DB confirmed that the Executive Head had resolved the complaint, details of which were included in the Headteachers report.  Members sought confirmation of whether the complaints policy had now been updated to include the process being dealt with at Trust level, the Headteacher agreed to check.  Members were concerned that if this was not the case, then they would be open to challenge as the process had not been followed
ACTION  Headteacher to check the current status of the Complaints Policy and in particular whether this is now Trust led.
Agenda Item 7  LAB membership, training and link roles
MINUTE Members discussed the current membership and agreed the following:

David Booth - re-appointed as a co-opted Member.  Members awaiting for Trust Board approval as per the matters arising
Kim French - tenure ended 31st August 2020.  KF agreed to stand again as a staff member subject to staff support.  The Headteacher to progress with the staff election process and confirm the outcome to Members
Hazel Harris - Members were advised that HH had resigned and would leave the position in October 2020.

The Local Advisory Board agreed that following the above this would leave the following vacancies:

2 Parent Members
1 Co-opted Member

Members debated the process for electing Parent Members should there be more applications than vacancies.  CS outlined the process detailed in the articles of association and the Terms of reference but agreed to double check with the Trust Board ahead of progressing with these.

Training - CS agreed to circulate links to online training available in relation to governance.
Link Governor roles - the following roles were confirmed:

Teaching and Learning - MP
Health and Safety - request the compliance report from the Trust in the interim
Safeguarding - AR to undertake an initial review ahead of a new lead being confirmed
Pupil premium and Looked after children - AR

Members agreed that they would need skills form new members to support health and safety and safeguarding.

DB advised that he would like a comprehensive induction pack for new Members to be available and would progress with this in conjunction with the Trust.
ACTION  Headteacher to progress with the staff election process
Headteacher to progress with the parent election process with CS checking on the Trust process
The Chair to progress with the formulation of a new Member induction pack
CS to provide Members with a link to online training on governance in particular
Agenda Item 8  Headteacher Report
MINUTE The Headteacher presented her report which included the following:
  • Pupils on roll - this was confirmed as 323 and being consistent with previous years.  48 pupils were reported to have started in Reception which was a slight increase, minor amendments to leavers and started confirmed.
  • SEN - 5 children with EHCP plans was confirmed with 13 children requiring SEN support
  • Attendance - the Headteacher confirmed that she was really pleased with the attendance of pupils on their return to school, advising that there had only been one child who had not returned as yet.  Members were advised that the difficulty now was that children were presenting with coughs and colds which were difficult to determine whether they should be tested for Covid 19 or not.  Q.  Do you have testing kits in the school?  The Headteacher confirmed that she had a small number of tests in school, only to be used in an emergency, an example being that no access to transport or there is concern that a test would not be sought if not supported.  Members were pleased to hear that it was not the School's decision whether to close or not, this was subject to Public Health England PHE advice.  The Headteacher outlined when she might have to make that decision i.e. if a child had become poorly over night however this again would only be done in conjunction with the Trust whilst they awaited PHE advice.
  • Behaviour - although there were no particular incidences to report, Members were advised that boys in Years 5 and 6 were being particularly challenging as they were struggling to adapt to the school regime.  To this end the Headteacher confirmed that she was having to talk to the Year 5/6 Teachers on a daily basis to identify support for these children.  Members were not surprised the gap away from school had led to a breakdown of daily structure and agreed to receive an update at the next meeting. The Headteacher confirmed that Heads of the MAT had discussed the possible emotional impact on children however they had not anticipated the anger that they had experienced.
  • Exclusions - none
  • Safeguarding - the Headteacher confirmed that there was currently one child on the Child Protection register.  The Headteacher raised the issue of the lack of a safeguarding member visit since the departure of the last lead acknowledging that Covid 19 had also impacted on this.  AR agreed to undertake a visit as a matter of urgency in the absence of a permanent safeguarding member lead.  CS agreed to circulate AR should information of what to review on the virtual visit.  Q. What is the position now with external visitors? The Headteacher confirmed that external visitors could now attend school if this was essential to education.  Q. What about Member visits? The Headteacher agreed that the LAB needed to review what could be done remotely accepting that the health and safety responsibilities were being covered by the Trust compliance officer as part of the risk assessment work.  The Headteacher agreed to share his latest report for assurance.
  • Premises - the Headteacher updated Members on the work completed over the summer which included the work in the Owls Classroom, the Hive and Sandpipers.  The heating work was confirmed as commenced with the boiler being installed however the delay with the internal works was outlined and the risk with funding which expires in April with the work being pushed back to the Summer.  Q. How long will this work take? The Headteacher confirmed in total 2 weeks which would require using the school over the half term holiday, Xmas and some weekends.  Q. Is there any risk that the school will not have any heating this winter? The Headteacher confirmed that there was not as the boiler was installed and the heaters were being replaced one by one in the classroom however overall the system would work.  The works on the fence were reported to be completed in the next 2 weeks.
  • GDPR - nothing to report
  • School Re-opening - the Headteacher confirmed that the school re-opened on the 2nd September to all pupils with attendance either equal to or higher when compared to the previous year.  No cases of confirmed Covid 19 were reported in the community and all suspected cases had been tested with negative results.  New reception children were reported to be settling in well which was attributed to the inovative use of tapestry over the summer.  KF confirmed that the difference in the approach to transition for these children this year included online information for Parents with all questions receiving immediate responses; all Parents were provided with Tapestry log ins ahead of the new term which had not been done before.  All Parents were telephoned by KF and then again by their class Teacher.  Every Monday during the school holidays the staff were uploading videos for the children so when they started the staff and the children felt they knew each other already.  Q. Is there any learning from this in terms of supporting remote learning should we need to in the future? KF thought this particular system might not be useful as it worked like a social media platform although the general approach could be adapted.  Members recorded their thanks to KF and the team.  Members were advised that the Hive opened the previous day however places had had to be limited to 26 per session in line with DfE guidance.  To accomodate this, the Headteacher confirmed that they had restricted access to contract bookings thus removing the facility for flexible bookings.  Members were advised that this was causing alot of issues for families as they were struggling however the Headteacher could not see a way to increase numbers without a change to the DfE guidance.  Members agreed that the approach was fair and that the school had to follow the guidance.  Q. Is the issue space, staffing or the guidance?  The Headteacher confirmed it was all 3.  Q. Do we have a list of childminders that we could distribute? The Headteacher advised that this was not the case and was not the role of the school.
  • Risk Assessment - the Headteacher confirmed that the school was now on Version 3 with only tiny tweaks being made to handwashing for Years 5 and 6 children.  Members were advised that the latest version was on the school website.  Members agreed that they would only receive further details if the change was significant or following a major change in DfE guidance.
  • Complaints - the Headteacher confirmed that there had been 2 formal complaints during the academic year 2019-20 both of which were investigated by the Executive Head of the Trust.  This first complaint was not upheld as it related to the issue of fixed penalty and there was no action arising from this.  The second complaint was a racist incident that the complaintant felt had not been dealt with properly by the school.  Two actions arose from this, one was to use the software system to record all behaviour and safeguarding incidents in the future and the other was to provide training for staff across the whole Trust.  Members were provided with an outline of the CPOMs system in terms of its use, as this wa new to the school and currently being implemented.  MP agreed to share any training material on this that might help.  
  • School Development Plan - the Headteacher advised that this would be developed this half term and presented at the next meeting.
ACTION  Headteacher to update members on the behavioural issues in Year 5 and 6 reported at the September meeting.
AR to organise a safeguarding review as a matter of urgency
CS to forward AR information of what to review of part of the safeguarding review.
Headteacher to share the latest health and safety compliance report with Members for assurance
Present the SDP at the next LAB meeting
Agenda Item 9  School Data 2020
MINUTE The Headteacher provided an update on the curriculum given the gap in learning and lack of availability of data.

Members were advised that Power Maths had been introduced across the Trust as this was supported by the DfE and would ensure that teaching was undertaken in a consistent way which was particularly important if they had to support further remote learning.  The Headteacher confirmed that staff would be trained on this in September although she advised that this was designed to be used in single age classes not mixed age classes.  The Headteacher confirmed that she was working with a school in Staffordshire as she was keen to learn and adapt practices to make this programme work within the ethos of the school context.  Q. Does it produce better results?  The Headteacher advised that this was the belief, yes.

Reading and Phonics - the Headteacher confirmed that literacy leads across the Trust were working on a consistent approach to this teaching.  She confirmed that schools were either using Floppys or Letters and Sounds, both of which were DfE approved.  Members were advised the I-Abacus had also been purchased by the Trust for all schools.

Catch Up Learning and Government funding - the Headteacher confirmed that a baseline assessment was currently being undertaken by Teachers to establish the gap in learning. Q. What is this highlighting? The Headteacher said there was a significant issue in terms of the gap although the full assessment would need to be finalised.  Q.  How much is the catch-up funding? The Headteacher confirmed that this was £25,800.  Q. Does this have to be used for every child?  The Headteacher confirmed that it was to be used for those children that had been impacted by Covid 19 significantly.  Q. Will interventions be based or designed on the size of the gap? The Headteacher confirmed that this would be the case and that the summary of this would be discussed with the Executive Head on Friday whereby she was hoping that the Trust would provide some direction.  KF advised Members that the difference in the gap could be seen significantly by how much children had accessed remote learning during the lockdown.  The Headteacher agreed and also advised that she was not clear at present as to how schools were expected to record progress by using the catch up funding.
Agenda Item 10  Approval of school holiday dates 2021-22
MINUTE The Headteacher advised that the Trust approved these based on the Cheshire East dates including the inset days.

Q. Is the inset day going ahead on the first day back after half term for everyone?  The Headteacher did not know and CS agreed to check with the Trust Board.
ACTION  Check whether the whole Trust inset day was progressing on the first day back after half term. Clerk
Agenda Item 11  Communications to/from MAT
MINUTE The Chair provided an update on the Chairs Forum undertaken at the end of the Summer as follows:

DB advised that this was reasonably well attended, not surprising as this was a virtual meeting, and the main focus was on Covid 19 and how schools had been affected and the plans for re-opening.

The Executive Head was reported to have provided an update on the vision which was in the short term to focus on the learning gap for children as a result of the Covid 19 crisis in parallel with protecting against future lockdowns and the closure of "bubbles".  DB reiterated the message about the consistancy of learning in boths Maths and English which would support remote learning if necessary and place the emphasis on Teacher learning without the reliance on Parents.

New website was reported across all schools

A change to the Scheme of Delegation to allow for a change in the curriculum and the use of Power Maths.

Members were advised that the Trust had commissioned a review of Governance across the Trust over the next 2 weeks.   Geoff Marshall was confirmed as leading the review who was thought to be an ex Chair of Governors.  Members sought to establish what the terms of reference were for the review, the timeline and the process to be implemented and requested that the Clerk seek to ascertain this detail from the Trust.

ACTION  Clerk to ascertain the ToR, timeline and process for the planned Governance review.
Agenda Item 12  Date of next meeting
MINUTE The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 12th November 2020 at 5.00pm.

Members agreed to continue with remote meetings.

The Board gave their thanks to HH for her hard work and time as a Member and wished her all the very best for the future.
   Governor Agreed Actions set during this meeting:  0
 
Wheelock LAB Autumn 1   dated:  08/09/2020
 Minutes approved by Carole Self