PEGASUS ACADEMY TRUST MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE ECCLESBOURNE PRIMARY SCHOOL ACADEMY COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015 AT 6.

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1 PART A PEGASUS ACADEMY TRUST MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE ECCLESBOURNE PRIMARY SCHOOL ACADEMY COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015 AT 6.00PM IN ATTENDANCE: Miss Claire Binks Staff Member Present Mrs Sue Bittle Staff Member Present Mr Mark Dawkins Parent Member Present Mr Nick Escow Parent Member Absent Ms Yasmin Kitamirike Parent Member Present Ms Rafaela Lopes Silva Parent Member Present Mr Jolyon Roberts Board Representative Present Mr Paul Robins Head of School Present Ms Lynne Sampson Board Representative Present Mr Kevin Smith (Chair) Community Member Present Mrs Geraldine Vassell (Vice Chair) Community Member Present Also Present:- Mrs Carol Fagan, Minute Secretary to the Board of Directors 1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence Kevin Smith welcomed everyone to the meeting. No communication or apologies for absence had been received from Nick Escow. The clerk was asked to contact him to find out if he was able to give the required level of commitment to continue as a member of the academy council. Action: Clerk 2. Quorum The meeting was declared quorate, with ten of a possible eleven MACs in attendance. 3. Declaration of Pecuniary Interests MACs were asked to declare any pecuniary or personal interests in the agenda items for this meeting. None were declared. Page 1 of 10 Ecclesbourne Primary Academy Council Minutes 9 February 2015

2 4. Academy Council Membership Community MAC: Lynne Sampson s approach to a local resident about joining the academy council had been unsuccessful. The husband of a member of staff was suggested but the academy council was mindful of the need to have a balance of members from outside the immediate school community. The search would therefore continue for a suitable candidate for this vacancy. Action: Chair 5. Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 November 2014 Accuracy The Part A and Part B minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2014 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair. The signed minutes were passed to the Head of School for the school s minute book. Matters arising from the Minutes. There were no matters arising from the Part A minutes. 6. Academy Council Skills Audit Completed skills audit forms were still awaited from three MACs. The Clerk would send another reminder to enable an analysis to be presented at the next meeting. Action: Clerk 7. Head of School s Report The Head of School s Report had been circulated in advance of the meeting and was taken as read. The following areas were highlighted:- Pupil Attainment and Progress MACs attention was drawn to the fact that year on year the data tables were showing more green and less red, which was good, and that children were getting closer to age related expectations. When looking at progress, that in Year 3 was not as strong as it should be. The school always mitigated against this because of the push children had received in Year 2. Another issue for MACs to be aware of was the Year 5 data. The Head of School had spoken to the teacher who said that she had erred on the side of caution. A lot of things had been put in place this term and it was anticipated that the next set of Page 2 of 10

3 data would show an improvement. Data for this year group was affected by a group of pupils who fell into a number of vulnerable groups and one child that had joined Ecclesbourne both new to the country and new to school. When looking at the Fischer Family Trust predictions, 20% of the children had no Key Stage 1 data because they were new to the country. Lynne Sampson explained that pupil mobility was an increasingly Trust wide issue due to the number of families being re-housed outside of Croydon. She added that a number of these families had chosen to keep their children at the school and were commuting from a considerable distance. The Head of School reported that the school was keeping a very close eye on Year 5 and making sure that all the things spoken about in pupil progress meetings were happening. He pointed out however, that compared to the picture in Year 5 last year, this year s data was stronger. The current challenge was that the school had been unable to recruit a suitable candidate to provide maternity cover for one of the Year 5 teachers and one of the Deputy Heads of School was currently covering the class. Lynne added that teacher recruitment was a trust and borough wide issue. Contingency plans were in place to provide the class with a good teacher for the next half-term together with a further contingency in case the teacher did not return from maternity leave after Easter. This was a situation that the school would be watching carefully to make sure that children moved into Year 6 in the best possible position. A question was asked about where the present Year 5 children were when the Trust had begun its work at Ecclesbourne. Lynne Sampson explained that the cohort had been in Year 1 at that time. The children had been at low levels, but not significantly so. However, it was important to note that the current Year 5 class were not all the same children that had been in Year 1 at the time. MACs raised the following questions:- Was the school able to track just the core cohort? Such tracking was carried out. The details were not included in the Head of School s Report but would be provided for the next meeting. Action: Paul Robins It should be borne in mind that the groups which had suffered most from pupil mobility were Years 2 and 5. Lynne Sampson stressed that these were not families who wanted to leave Ecclesbourne but those that had been rehoused out of the area. She added that the school had received 310 applications for the 60 reception places for September 2015, which was 510% over subscription. Some very positive comments had been received from parents who had come to look at the school. The Chair reiterated his disappointment that during the building programme Croydon had not agreed to provide sufficient foundations for a second storey, which would have enabled the school to expand. Page 3 of 10

4 Were the applications all from people who had put Ecclesbourne as their first choice? Some of the applications were from people who had included Ecclesbourne as part of their choices. What were the application numbers at the other Pegasus schools? This information was not yet available. Progress and attainment of pupils with special educational needs: The information included in the separate report had since been revised and would be resent. However, the main headlines remained the same. Attainment Gap Analysis: Children on interventions, other than those with special educational needs, were making the same sort of progress as those not receiving the support. Karen Hammond had spent a lot of time producing the gap analysis included in the report but, due to pupil mobility, it was difficult to tell whether a group was making better progress. However, the school would continue to track this. MACs discussed the following points:- Jolyon commented that the general set of data for Year 3 was not as good as it should be although some of the children were making progress. He asked if it was worth adapting the grid slightly to reflect this. Paul replied that he had discussed this with Karen Hammond today. He added that for performance management purposes the challenge in Year 3 was to get 100% of children to make one-sub level of progress. Jolyon congratulated the school on the success of the EAL intervention in reading and asked if this was being provided by just one person. It was explained that this intervention was being delivered by a member of staff who had joined Ecclesbourne from another school in the trust. The Chair stated that MACs were aware of the dip in Year 3 data year on year and the reason for this. However, anyone looking from outside might be concerned about this. What could the school do to explain the story behind this? Jolyon had understood that intervention data was to have been presented in the same format across the trust and queried the fact that Ecclesbourne was using a different format to that used at Whitehorse. It was explained that Claire Dudman, the school improvement partner, had shared a new way of presenting this data with Whitehorse, which included the use of venn diagrams. Ecclesbourne would look at doing the same. Paul reiterated that the intervention analysis was a huge piece of work which did not necessarily Page 4 of 10

5 tell the school anything they did not already know, and which could be affected by the mobility or personal circumstances of just one child. In view of this Jolyon would recommend to the Board of Directors that Pegasus s Inclusion Managers work together to look at how this could be presented in the same way across the Trust. Action: Jolyon Roberts Groups Monitoring: MACs were advised that this table tracked different groups to see if there was a trend of any group doing less well in every year group. It could be seen from the report that there were no particular trends. A commentary was included in the Head of School s report to explain the under-achievement of any groups. The following question was raised:- Were girls shown on this report? Girls were not included as a separate group on the report as they were not considered to be a vulnerable group. Pupil Premium Gaps: MACs were informed that this analysis was carried out to see if all Pupil Premium children were doing less well in every year group. It could be seen that there were some year groups where Pupil Premium children were out performing non-pupil Premium children. In Year 5 the gap had got wider. In year 6 the gaps had closed in Year 6 in reading and maths but got bigger in writing. However, it should be noted that all of the other gaps were smaller than national. The following questions were raised:- Why had the gap got wider in Year 5 but closed in Year 6? Progress was much better in Year 6 than in Year 5. This had been discussed at pupil progress meetings and as a result a Pupil Premium reading group had been set up in Year 5. In addition the cohort was doing the Power of Reading project. Was the fact that one of the Year 5 classes was without a permanent teacher whilst the other had an experienced and long standing teacher reflected in the data? The Year 5 teacher in place was the one who had been particularly cautious in her assessments. However, she was confident that the children would all move forward. Jolyon reported that the senior leadership team across the trust had done everything possible to get a good teacher to provide maternity cover in Year 5 but staff recruitment nationally was at an all-time low. The fact that the attainment gap was widening was a concern and the SLT would be looking at everything it could do to make a difference for these children. Page 5 of 10

6 The school had received 230K in Pupil Premium funding this year as compared to 183K in the previous year. This year there were less Pupil Premium children in school but the school had the extra funding from last year. What would happen to this money? It was the responsibility of the schools to which Pupil Premium children had moved to chase the funding but it was thought to be extremely unlikely that they would do so. However, Sue Bittle had successfully secured some extra Pupil Premium funding for some out of borough children. Had the school lost out on Pupil Premium money because of universal free school meals? The school had sent letters to parents reminding them of the criteria which made them eligible to claim this funding. The Head of School at Beulah Infant School had some ideas on this which she would be sharing with SLT tomorrow. Quality of Teaching: The last round of formal inspections graded 73 % of lessons as good or better and this picture was reinforced through DIACs. Impact of Professional Development: Debbie Thomas, the borough s literacy advisor, had given a very inspiring staff meeting on the Power of Reading project which was being delivered in school. Curriculum Developments: Children were being asked to predict the scores they would get in the SATs and teachers were reinforcing with them the message about aiming to beat their personal best. Over time this would help children to develop an awareness of how they were doing and what they needed to do to improve. School Improvement Partner Report: Following her latest visit, the School Improvement Partner, Claire Dudman, had re-categorised the school from a 2b to a 2a. Parents Questionnaire: This was underway and Parent MACs were urged to complete it. Maths Workshop: Rafaela Lopes-Silva had attended the recent maths workshop for parents. She had found it very useful to see how children were being taught and to note the higher expectations of them under the new curriculum. She commented that many of the parents were finding the new methods challenging. The following question was raised:- Do children have to use the new calculation methods in their SATs papers? Children were expected to use the new methods and would be awarded marks for their working out, even if their answers were incorrect. Page 6 of 10

7 Academy Improvement Plan: This was being worked through and it could be seen that many areas were changing from red to amber and then green. Behaviour and Safety: The school had re-established the expectation that any child receiving three cloudy days in a half term would result in a formal meeting with parents. MACs raised the following questions around this:- Was this having in impact? Behaviour at the school was generally good and the number of cloudy days had reduced since last year. Parents were broadly supportive of the school s behaviour system and the vast majority of children were getting sunshine cards each day. What happened if a child s behaviour did not improve following a meeting with parents? If a child continued to get cloudy days the school would work with the learning mentor to see if there was a need for a personal behaviour system to be set up. Would the educational psychologist become involved? The educational psychologist would only be involved if there was no improvement in behaviour once the school had put all its strategies in place. Attendance: Attendance was currently at 95.36%, which was just below national. This had been discussed with the manager of the Educational Welfare Service, who was aware that attendance had been affected by various bugs in the autumn term. She was confident that the figure would go back up above 96%. The following question was raised:- How did this year s attendance figure compare with the previous year? The figure was about the same as it was for the same period last year. Attendance levels usually increased in the summer terms. However, there were still some families who continued to take children out of school for extended leave either before or after the Christmas holidays. The Head of School was thanked for his report. Jolyon Roberts asked for the number of children in each class to be listed in future reports as the variance was a key thing for MACs to know. The Chair of Directors would be asked to amend the Head of School s report template across the trust. Action: Chair of Directors 8. MACs Monitoring Reports Page 7 of 10

8 Safeguarding and Inclusion Monitoring: Rafaela Lopes-Silva had not been able to visit since the last meeting. She would arrange to visit after half-term. Action: Rafaela Lopes-Silva PE Grant Monitoring: Mark Dawkins reported that he had met with the Head of School to look at the allocation and impact of the PE grant. He had looked at some case studies to see how this funding had helped individual children but recognised that it was quite difficult to pinpoint the impact. He could, however, see that the money was being spent in the right way. He had booked to attend Croydon s governor training session on the PE Grant after half-term and would be meeting with the new sports co-ordinator on his next visit to school. It was confirmed that details of how the funding was being spent were available on the website. Mark had also attended the Annual Directors and MACs Day, during which he had visited each class in the school. He had found this extremely interesting. Mark was thanked for his visits. Pupil Premium Monitoring: Sue Bittle had attended a very informative course about Pupil Premium Funding. She confirmed that information about the school s allocation and impact of this money was available on the website. Performance Management Monitoring: The Chair had had a brief conversation with the Head of School about performance management and would be coming into school to look at the process in more detail. Action: Kevin Smith Data Monitoring: Nick Escow had not carried out a data monitoring visit or made any arrangements to do so. The clerk would report back at the next meeting as to whether he felt able to give the commitment required of a MAC. If he decided to stand down from the academy council the data monitoring role would be reassigned. Action: Clerk Academy Council agenda item Special Educational Needs Monitoring: Yasmin Kitamirike had met with Karen Hammond to look at how the school identified children s needs and how this was followed through. She had learned about all the different interventions available both outside and inside school. Yasmin had asked whether the school was able to provide anything to parents to help them support interventions and the work of the EAL team at home. Karen had agreed to follow these suggestions up. For her next visit Yasmin had asked to sit in on some of the intervention groups. Mark and Yasmin were thanked for their positive contributions and challenge. 9. Board of Directors Report Page 8 of 10

9 The draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting held on 4 December 2014 had been circulated for information and these were noted. There were no questions arising from these minutes. 10. Financial Reports The draft minutes of the Finance Committee meeting held on 27 November 2014 had been circulated for information and these were noted. Jolyon explained that schools would be facing harder times ahead and that the Trust might need to look at making cuts during the next parliament, particularly in support jobs. The Trust had initiated a moratorium on staff recruitment and was looking at the best use of existing staff. Fortuitously a Fairer Funding agreement meant that Croydon schools would be awarded additional funding per pupil from April 2015 which would ease the situation slightly. However, it should be noted that the Trust s cash reserves had declined and expenditure would need to be reduced. Fortunately the premises at Ecclesbourne were in good condition and would not require any major expenditure in the coming year. There were however plans in place to gradually replace the classroom whiteboards with touch screens. This was expected to cost in the region of 3.5K. 11. MAC Training Induction: Mark Dawkins had attended the first part of Croydon s induction training for new governors led by Andrew Dodge on 5 February and had found this very interesting. He would be attending the second part of the training this Thursday. In response to a question from the Chair Mark confirmed that the session had covered both academies and maintained schools and had pointed out the key differences between them. Pupil Premium: Sue Bittle fed back from her training course that Ofsted would look to see that attainment gaps were narrowing for vulnerable groups of children. If the gaps were not closing inspectors would look to see that schools had rethought how Pupil Premium money was being spent to support these groups. SEN: Yasmin Kitamirike was awaiting details of Croydon s next governor training session on SEN. The clerk was asked to forward a copy of the 2014/15 programme to Yasmin. Action: Clerk Pegasus Training Forms: Copies of the s training record form had been sent out with the agenda for this meeting. MACs were asked to complete a form following their attendance at training and to forward this to the Company Secretary or Clerk. Page 9 of 10

10 Croydon Governor Services: MACs were informed that from 1 April 2015 Croydon s Governor Services Team would form part of Octavo, a traded school improvement service. It was hoped that training bookings would become more accessible under the new service. 12. Any other business 13. Confidentiality It was agreed that, following approval by the Chair, the Part A minutes would be made available for publication. The Part B minutes would remain confidential to the academy council. 14. Date of Next Meeting Monday 27 April (review of progress to date) Wednesday 8 July (Initial review of SATs results The Chair thanked everyone for their contributions to a useful meeting. There being no further business for discussion, the meeting closed at 7.30pm Signed as a true and accurate record of the meeting. Chair s signature Chair s Name Date Page 10 of 10