| Agenda Item 1 |
 Welcome and Apologies for Absence |
| MINUTE |
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. No apologies for absence were received. |
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| Agenda Item 2 |
Declaration of Personal/Pecuniary Interests |
| MINUTE |
None |
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| Agenda Item 3 |
Declaration of Any Other Business |
| MINUTE |
None |
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| Agenda Item 4 |
Part One Minutes of the Last Meeting |
| MINUTE |
Members reviewed and approved the minutes of the 12th November 2020 as a true and accurate record. |
| DECISION |
Members approved the minutes of 12th November 2020 as a true and accurate record. |
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| Agenda Item 5 |
Matters arising |
| MINUTE |
Members reviewed the following matters arising as follows:
- Members to undertake Level 1 Basic Safeguarding training - All. CS to request details of access to Educare from the Trust
- Include some positive questions on the home learning and contact as part of the Parent Survey in Autumn. Included on the agenda under Headteachers report. Action completed
- Headteacher to progress with the staff election process. Members agreed to recommend KF for reappointment following the staff election process. Members agreed that they needed to understand whether staff needed to complete the new LAB application form.
- Headteacher to progress with the parent election process with CS checking on Trust process - Members agreed that this would progress once the new skills audit analysis had been undertaken.
- The Chair to progress with the formulation of a new Member induction pack - DB confirmed that Trustees were now progressing this.
- Ascertain ToR, timeline and process for Governance review - This has now been completed and circulated to Members ahead of the meeting.
- Headteacher to develop the Parent Survey based on the agreements outlined above and distribute asap. Action completed
- Include timescales for actions in the SDP/SEF. Headteacher. Action Completed
- Headteacher and MP to hold a virtual visit on data following the data drop on the 4th December 2020. Action completed
- Undertake safer recruitment training ahead of the second half of the spring term. By AR/DB Outstanding
- Send a thank you note from the LAB to staff. By DB Action completed
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| Agenda Item 6 |
Headteacher Report |
| MINUTE |
The Headteacher provided the following verbal update to Members:
Risk Assessment - the Headteacher confirmed that the school, like all schools, only found about the latest lockdown on the Monday evening before implementation on the Tuesday. She confirmed that Monday 4th January was an inset day so no children had actually returned to school. Members noted that the risk assessment addendum had been updated to take account of the latest lockdown measures. Q. How has the school coped with the latest change and has there been any backlash from Parents? The Headteacher advised that this period had been the most stressful of her career as she was trying to balance the need to reduce numbers of children in school which had been made particularly difficult given the wide definitions of key workers and vulnerable children which was leading to alot of upset from Parents. Q. Has the Trust been supportive? The Headteacher confirmed that there was an Appeals Policy in place and that two appeals to date had been received and although the first had been rejected twice, offers had now been made to both families. Q. How many children are currently in school? The Headteacher confirmed that there were approx 50 children in school separated into 5 bubbles. Q. How does that compare to the last lockdown? The Headteacher confirmed that this was significantly different as last time there was between 3 and 8 children in each day, although she accepted that last time there was alot of different employment sectors who were shut which was no longer the case and there was an expectation from Employers that Employees should now be in work. MP confirmed that he was having the same experience in his school. The Headteacher explained that the difficulty was trying to balance keeping everyone safe by reducing pupil numbers versus being able to support Parents. Members were advised that the greater the offer of attendance to Parents impacted on staff availability, bubble sizes and the ability to deliver high quality remote learning. Q. Are all staff in? The Headteacher confirmed that they were with the exception of two staff who were in the clinically extremely vulnerable category. One was managing to work from home as they were part of the Teaching team however the other other was a midday assistant so could not. Q. Are staff separated even though they are all on site? The Headteacher confirmed that all staff were separated into Teams and that the school had set up four staffroom zones. Staff were reported to be doing really well.
Health and Safety - Members discussed their responsibilities with regards to health and safety and agreed that the majority of this was being discharged through the review of the risk assessment at present. Members agreed to discuss this further as part of the LAB governance item.
Pupil Outcomes and Experiences - Children were reported to be having two Zoom calls per day which included Reception children and the feedback was confirmed as very positive from children, staff and Parents. Members were pleased that those children in school were able to join the Zoom calls so that they can see their classmates. The uptake/attendance for remote learning was reported to be exceptional with only a couple of families not engaging. The Headteacher confirmed that 18 devices had been issued to families who did not have any access to remote learning and although 49 routers had been ordered, it was not clear whether these would now be issued by the Government. Members were assured that those families not engaging were continually being chased and encouraged to do so although overall more than 90% of families were involved in the Zoom sessions. Members discussed the issue relating to internet access and the opportunities to improve this for the small number of families still struggling although they were pleased to hear that printed packs were being made available for these. Q. Are you waiting for any laptops from the Government? The Headteacher confirmed that they were originally eligible for 7 however only 1 had been received, A further 6 were confirmed as now being ordered. The Headteacher confirmed that the 18 devices supplied to families were from the school.
Members were pleased that the Autumn assessment undertaken had shown good progress across all year groups and were interested to see whether this could be maintained given the high quality remote learning being provided.
Safeguarding - The Headteacher confirmed that all children with a social worker had been offered a place in school. All vulnerable children were also in school or being monitored closely. Members were advised that the school had not issued any food parcels as they had continued to issue food vouchers as these were deemed to offer better value. The Headteacher also confirmed that the kitchen staff had been furloughed and she was not surprised that alot of families across the country had complained about the food parcels. Members were advised that the school had provided a couple of parcels to families as there was some concerns. Q. Are all children in school bringing a packed lunch in? The Headteacher confirmed that they were. Q. Is this the same in the Hive? The Headteacher confirmed that cereals and toast and afternoon snacks were being provided here. Members were advised that all other schools in the MAT had closed the before and afterschool clubs however the school confirmed that they wanted to keep this open even though it was difficult to do so as this was felt to be essential for families. The Headteacher confirmed that there was reduced staff available and only contract bookings were being taken however the school had managed to breakeven.
Pupil and Staff Wellbeing - the Headteacher confirmed that the Team had been amazing and continued to look after each other. Essentially they were as well as they could be during this difficult time. Members were advised that lateral flow testing was looking to be introduced with webinars on this due to take place in the following week. Members discussed the possible options for this which included tests being conducted at home or school; who would undertake these; what the options would be if someone refuses to take a test etc. They agreed that all this needed to be considered however they would wait until the guidance was provided in the following week.
Parent Survey - although the overall results was felt to be very positive, Members were disappointed that only 33 responses out of a possible 330 had been received and sought to establish whether the data was therefore statistically significant. Members sought and received confirmation that the survey had been issued by e-mail, which was similar to other surveys issued. Members agreed that either microsoft forms or survey monkey should be explored for future surveys. Members discussed other reasons for the low response rates and agreed that this was normally chased up at events and Parents Evenings and through paper options. Members agreed that a further survey should be sent after this current lockdown noting that there was not an appetite for it at the moment.
Members thanked the Headteacher for her report and all her work and that of her staff. Members agreed that the school was doing an outstanding job.
The Headteacher advised Members that the Local Authority had invited schools before Christmas to submit expressions of interest to host a resource provision which would support pupils between mainstream school and special education, similar to that at Shavington for Autistic children. The Headteacher confirmed that the expression of interest from Wheelock would be for 7 children with communication and language difficulties. Members were advised that Daven had also submitted an expression however as it was at the very early stage, Trustees needed to vote on this and consultation would have to be undertaken. Members agreed that if successful this would enhance the school and was very exciting. |
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| Agenda Item 8 |
LAB membership, visits and training |
| MINUTE |
Members agreed that the next part of the Governance review was for all to complete the skills Audit. The Clerk agreed to re-circulate this to Members and collate the results ahead of the next meeting.
The new handbook for Members being progressed by Trustees was due to be communicated to LABs shortly although there was some confusion over the date for this.
The Chair confirmed that he had undertaken Exclusion training and agreed to circulate the slides and a summary to Members.
MP confirmed that the virtual meeting in relation to the data review had taken place with the Headteacher as discussed earlier in the meeting and as per the report circulated.
Members agreed that there would be value in a Member undertaking a virtual review of the risk assessment with staff to support the review of the addendum on the latest lockdown discussed earlier in the meeting. AR agreed to undertake this ahead of the next meeting.
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| ACTION |
Re-circulate the skills audit to Members and collate the results ahead of the next meeting. CS/ALL
Circulate the Exclusion training slides and summary to all Members. DB
Undertake a virtual review of the risk assessment with staff ahead of the next meeting. By AR |
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| Agenda Item 9 |
Policies for approval |
| MINUTE |
The following addendums to policies were approved by Members.
- Attendance and Punctuality Policy
- Behaviour Policy
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| Agenda Item 10 |
Communications to/from MAT |
| MINUTE |
The Chair communicated the following from the Trustees:
- The progress being made to develop the new Governor handbook as discussed earlier
- The changes being made to Trustee meetings following feedback from LABs to ensure there was time to cascade information. The Chair confirmed that Trustees were planning to produce a written summary from each meeting.
- Trustee membership - new Member appointed Bernard Kellett, one vacancy outstanding
- The process being adopted for recruiting new Members following the Governance Review
- The School's response to the Covid lockdown. The School was reported to be doing an outstanding job as evidenced by the absence of any internal contamination and very little disruption.
The content of the Chairs report was confirmed as follows:
- LAB review of the Risk Assessment and key focus areas
- Policies approved
- Recommendation of KF as staff Member
- Member visits undertaken i.e Safeguarding and data.
- Member visits to be undertaken - risk assessment
- Thanks to staff
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| Agenda Item 11 |
Date of next meeting |
| MINUTE |
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 4th March 2021. |
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