Kirklees Directorate for Children and Adults
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DfE: 3400
THE GOVERNING BODY OF ST JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
CATHOLIC LIFE COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting of the Catholic Life Committee held at 11.00 am at the School on
Friday, 22nd May 2015.
PRESENT
Fr S Billington (Chair), Mr D Williams, Mrs F Marsden, Mrs L Geaney.
In Attendance
Mrs D Bray (Minute Clerk)
The meeting opened with a prayer.
39.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE, CONSENT AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no apologies for absence or declarations of interest.
40.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9 JANUARY 2015
RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2015 be approved
and signed by the Chair as a correct record.
41.
MATTERS ARISING
(a)
Year of Consecrated Life (Minute 24 (d) refers)
The visits by the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal had been very successful
and popular with the pupils. The Sisters’ review of pupils’ behaviour had been
fantastic and they had reported as enjoying every minute of their visit.
(b)
Mass Cards (Minute 34 (c) refers)
Fr Billington reported that he had not been able to go through the Mass cards in
advance with the classes and would now go through these 5 minutes before
Mass with the children as this would be more manageable. The Committee was
pleased to note that the children seemed to know how to use these cards.
(c)
Confession (Minute 36 (e) refers)
Pupils were now more happy and familiar with confession and real progress had
been made.
(d)
Walsingham Trip (Minutes 29 (a) & 34 (b) refer)
Mr Williams reported that the £750 cost of the coach was not an issue for the
school but as a strategy for encouraging pupils to attend he suggested asking
for a £5 deposit to secure a place which would be paid back on the day as
spending money. The school was aiming to take Y6 pupils but Mr Williams
asked for the committee’s thoughts about also taking some pupils from Y5, as
some did have challenging behaviour and their young age could prove an issue.
The Committee agreed that visit was good for the children.
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The All Saints pyramid meeting had also discussed this and they were to
encourage their own Y10 pupils who would also be going to Lourdes.
Mr Williams stated that he would like to fill the coach. The trip would take place
on 29 September 2015. It was suggested offering places to Y5 pupils as a
reward for good behaviour.
Q:
A:
How many staff/adults will be going on the trip?
The supervision ratio will be approximately 1:6, so 6 or 7 adults.
Some of the school’s pupils would be invited to be involved in Mass at
Walsingham and Mr Williams would consult with Fr Duane on this. Letters
would be sent to parents after half term and pupils would be given a PowerPoint
presentation.
(e)
RE Books (Minute 36 (a) refers)
Work scrutiny was planned shortly looking at the quality of literacy across the
board. Standards of spelling and presentation would be looked at in all books
across the curriculum, including RE.
42.
COLLECTIVE WORSHIP MONITORING – UPDATE
Mrs Marsden was thanked for her very thorough report on her visit to school to
observe collective worship and the catholic life of the school. She had also
observed the attitude to learning evident through classroom behaviour and displays
in the school and attendance and participation in the end of term school Mass. A
copy was tabled for information.
Mrs Marsden informed the committee that all had been very good and consistent
across the school. She had very much enjoyed her visit and could see progression
from the nursery through to the older pupils. Pupils’ reflection and thoughtfulness
was excellent. Mr Williams stated that it was good have an external view of this. It
was also noted that Pupil Premium had been monitored externally.
Mrs Geaney stated that the Parish enjoyed the pupils of all age ranges attending the
Friday Mass. It was also noted that the organist in school had commented on how
well the pupils engaged.
43.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
(a)
School Mission Statement
With new staff starting in September and also a number of new governors,
Mr Williams thought this would be a good time to review the School Mission
Statement. This would be carried out on 2 September 2015 at a day led by
Mr Peter Thompson, a former catholic head teacher, and all staff and governors
would be invited. Letters would be sent out.
(b)
School Family Mass
The next School Family Mass would be held on 18 July 2015.
(c)
Pupils Attending Mass
Pupils currently attended Mass on Fridays and this clashed with other things
going on in school.
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Wednesday was the preferred day by staff and this would be arranged for the
school new year. Mr Williams would prepare a calendar for the next school year
and forward a copy to Fr Billington for consultation/ information.
(d)
Mission Day
Mr Thompson had sent the Head Teacher copies of the booklet entitled ‘A
Journey of Love, Faith & Growth’ which would be presented to all children as a
welcome to part of the catholic school community. This would include a photo
and a prayer sponsor. All agreed this was a very nice idea.
It was suggested children be presented with these as part of Mass at the
beginning of the year and could be done by class. Once all children had
received this it would then only be presented to new starters from September.
This would also be a good way to welcome pupils who joined mid-year. It was
noted that a high number of prayer sponsors would be required and they may
have to ‘double up’. Discussion followed regarding those people who wished to
attend church but were unable to and becoming a prayer sponsor could be a
good way for them to be involved.
The Committee agreed this was a good idea and Mr Williams agreed to order
the cards.
Mr Williams had also been in touch with Fr Phillip regarding the exposition of the
Blessed Sacrament. Fr Billington confirmed that this was done half an hour
before Mass and could be co-ordinated to be carried out with the pupils.
(e)
School Improvement Plan
Q:
A:
How was the School Improvement Plan coming along with regards
to RE?
All is on-going and the school will have a year’s worth of tracking at
the end of the school year.
Levels were now gone and the school was following The Bishops of England
and Wales RE levels at present. All was recorded the same for all subject
areas. Assessments were carried out regularly and RE would have a national
curriculum level at the end of the year.
The school needed to move forward on providing catholic provision in school.
The quality of RE could be looked at regarding improving points progress at the
Mission Day. Once there was a full year’s data this could be correlated with
book scrutiny; there needed to be evidence of a level of challenge in lessons.
Final assessments would take place in July looking for 6 points progress in KS1
and 4 points progress in KS2; this was expected in all subjects. As a catholic
school, all pupils were expected to make the same progress in RE as in English
and Maths.
The school would have more catholic staff from September and it was felt this
would help. Any training benefits for non-Catholic staff would also be looked
into.
The RE assessment co-ordinator from St Paulinus was currently working in
school covering maternity leave and this could also be helpful.
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A member of staff (and ICT co-ordinator) would be leaving the school. This
member of staff also had a TLR which would be offered slightly differently now
in the advertisement for replacement. This TLR needed to have an impact on
the children and lunchtime responsibilities would form part of this. Interviews
were to be held on 1 July 2015.
(f)
Foundation Stones – Update
Four further sessions were left and would be completed by the end of term.
Mr Williams reported that it was often the Catholics who asked the questions at
the sessions and gave details to the meeting. He felt that this was very
beneficial and a good initiative.
(g)
Proclaim ‘15
Fr Billington gave details of Proclaim ’15 - an evangelisation initiative and
national event to be held Birmingham. The Diocese was to send 35 delegates
of whom 7 would come from this Parish. This would be held on 11 July and he
stated that he was looking forward to what came from it. One of the workshops
to be attended was entitled ‘reaching people who don’t come to church’ and it
was agreed that this would be very good.
(h)
First Holy Communion
All was coming together for the forthcoming First Holy Communion. All were to
assemble in the Parish Room at 10.30 am. Mrs Geaney and Mrs Marsden
offered to attend and help out with the organisation.
34.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS
RESOLVED: That the next meeting of the Catholic Life Committee be held at 11.00 am
in the Church Parish Room on Friday, 11 September 2015.
It was agreed that the Parish Room would be used for future meetings of the
Committee.
35.
AGENDA, MINUTES AND RELATED PAPERS – SCHOOL COPY
RESOLVED: That no part of the agenda, minutes or related papers be excluded
from the copy to be made available at the School, in accordance with
the Freedom of Information Act.