Local Governing Body
MINUTES
School
Deer Park
Date & Time Autumn 1 (first meeting of the governing body)
Tuesday 22 September 2015 at 6 p.m.
Attendees:
Governors:
Community (BPET Appointed)
Jane Spencer (Chair)
Graham Dearman
Claire Delaney (Trust Governor)
Henry Giles
Staff
Alison Colenso (ex officio)
Sanah Dhillon (elected)
BPET Chief Executive Officer: Mark Greatrex
Clerk:
Beryl Hawkins
Apologies:
Nick Hodgess (Community – BPET Appointed)
Everyone present had met informally prior to the meeting. Pending the election of the Chair,
the Clerk took the chair.
1. Welcome, Apologies and Membership Apologies were received from Nick Hodgess.
The governing body received a current membership list. It was noted that the closing
date for nominations for a parent governor was 30 September 2015 and that the second
parent governor would be elected in autumn 2015.
2. Election of Chair and Vice-chair Jane Spencer was elected chair for a term of four years.
Jane Spencer took the chair.
The election of vice-chair was deferred to the next meeting.
ACTION BY:
Governing Body
3. Declarations of Interest
(a) Register of interests It was agreed that:
 The clerk would send completed register of interest forms to Mark Greatrex.
 Mark would publish a register of interests summary on the BPET and Deer Park
websites and would publish the required information about individual
governors, including details of attendance at meetings of the local governing
body and any committees.
(b) Agenda There were no declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.
ACTION BY: Governors, Clerk, BPET Chief Executive Officer
4. Governor Profiles and School Website It was noted that all governors had been asked
to send a mini-profile and photo to Vackas Mohammed at BPET for publication on the
school website. The governing body agreed that staff governors should complete a
profile.
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ACTION BY:
All governors
5. Report of the Clerk The governing body received a report from the clerk including
information about training available and an invitation to a conference on multi-academy
trusts being organised by the local authority. Arising from the report:
 Mark Greatrex recommended all governors to attend Safeguarding training.
 Governors who were new to school governance were advised to attend the national
training programme for governors organised by Achieving for Children
(www.afccpdonline.gov.uk).
 Graham Dearman, Claire Delaney, Alison Colenso and Jane Spencer agreed to book
places on the AfC Conference to be held on Thursday 12 November 2015 from
7 to 9.30 p.m. (networking from 6.30 p.m.) at Holy Trinity Primary School.
 The governing body agreed that governors who attended training should write a
short summary of key points gained from the session to share with the governing
body.
 The school should investigate the feasibility of establishing a governors’ secure area
on the school website where training summaries could be shared.
 Jane Spencer should initiate an email correspondence between governors to agree
who should attend what training.
ACTION BY:
All governors, Headteacher, Chair
6. Skills Audit and Future Training Needs The governing body agreed that:
 Mark Greatrex should provide a skills audit proforma for completion by governors.
 The clerk should circulate the proforma to governors and collate the responses for
use by the governing body in identifying training needs and recruiting future
governors.
ACTION BY:
BPET Chief Executive Officer, Clerk, All governors
7. Terms of Reference and Code of Conduct The governing body adopted the Bellevue
Place Education Trust Local Governance Handbook, including the local governing body
terms of reference and code of conduct. Any governor having a concern about any
aspect of the Handbook was advised to speak to Alison Colenso. It was noted that
copies of the Handbook were being printed and bound and would be made available to
governors.
ACTION BY:
BPET Chief Executive Officer
8. Inaugural Presentation by BPET Chief Executive Officer Mark Greatrex gave a
presentation on the BPET governance structure and the place of Deer Park local
governing body within the structure as set out in the Local Governance Handbook. The
presentation covered: the roles and background of personnel within the organisation;
funding arrangements; the BPET Scheme of Delegation; accountability; governing
documents; the relationship with the Department for Education, Ofsted, the local
authority and other BPET schools; performance management; organisation of the local
governing body, including possible committees, and named governor roles; governors’
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visits to the school; headteacher’s reports to the governing body; external validation;
conflicts of interest; training for governors, including in-house training; financial
management and control, including audit and procurement; obtaining views of parents,
pupils and staff; engaging with the community; measuring the impact of the governing
body’s actions on school improvement, including a template for an annual governance
report.
Mark then read out questions that had been asked by inspectors at the first inspection
of a BPET school.
Mark agreed to provide a copy of his presentation slides for circulation with the minutes
and governors were invited to submit questions.
ACTION BY:
Chief Executive Officer, Clerk
9. Governing Body Structure and Appointments to Roles The governing body considered
the guidance in the BPET Local Governance Handbook and made appointments as
follows:
 Governor Training (to circulate skills audit and report to the governing body on
training attended)
Beryl Hawkins
 Safeguarding and Child Protection
Jane Spencer
 Inclusion
Henry Giles
 Health & Safety
Graham Dearman
It was agreed that Graham should consult Alison Colenso about how much he should
get involved in premises issues.


Finance Henry Giles should be the lead governor for Finance and should report back
to the next meeting of the governing body with a recommendation on whether the
governing body should establish a finance sub-committee. In reaching a conclusion,
Henry should consider the guidance and terms of reference for finance subcommittees in the BPET Local Governance Handbook; have regard to the need to be
conversant with the financial regulations; and take advice from a finance governor of
another BPET school, to be introduced by Claire Delaney.
Performance The governing body should retain responsibility for performance.
ACTION BY:
Clerk, Governors
Mark Greatrex left the meeting at this point.
10. Report of the Headteacher
(a) The governing body received an oral report from the headteacher:
i. Introduction Alison stated that she would usually produce a written
report.
Alison reported that the school was open and that there had been good
representation from the Bellevue Place Education Trust.
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ii. Admissions BPET and the local authority were working together to
promote the school; pupils had settled well and were happy. The school
had received enquiries from a number of parents for 2016 admissions
and would be making arrangements for parents to visit in the near future.
iii. Staffing In addition to the headteacher and assistant headteacher (Sanah
Dhillon), staff comprised a class teacher and two part-time members of
staff who were running the breakfast and after school clubs as well as
supporting in the classroom as needed.
iv. School Meals All pupils were attending full time from 21 September and
hot lunches had been provided on the first floor.
v. Budget If the number of pupils on roll did not increase by 1 October 2015
the school would be subject to clawback. No pupils at the school had
attracted Pupil Premium Grant (PPG): the budget plan was based on an
estimate of two PPG pupils. The school was confident that numbers
would increase year on year.
vi. Baseline Assessment The school had opted into Baseline Assessment and
was using Early Excellence in line with other BPET schools.
vii. Characteristics of the Cohort The school was putting interventions in
place to improve listening skills and independence. Overall, vocabulary
was excellent.
viii. Uniform All children had now been able to obtain uniform.
ix. CPD The assistant headteacher and class teacher had completed training
in the literacy programme, Read, Write, Inc, and fire warden training.
x. Premises Negotiations were ongoing with regard to completion of the
perimeter fence. Pending a planning application for use of a different
colour of paint the external painted areas would be improved with
children’s work.
xi. Connectivity Efforts were ongoing to establish internet access.
xii. Parental Involvement The first meeting of the Friends of Deer Park
would be held on 23 September and a McMillan coffee morning had been
arranged for 1 October. Governors were invited to the meeting on 23
September to talk to any parents interested in the role of governor.
Parent teacher consultations had been booked for all children.
Parents wanted to help in school and this would be organised when the
children had settled.
Local Governing Body – Deer Park School – Autumn 1 22 September 2015
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xiii. Thanks Alison wished to formally record her appreciation and thanks for
the phenomenal efforts of all the staff in pulling together to give the
children the best possible start.
xiv. Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher Induction Alison would be
meeting with other new BPET headteachers on 23 September and would
attend the AfC headteachers’ forum. Alison was meeting with her
mentor, Damian Burke, Headteacher at Hampton Wick Infant and Nursery
School, for monitoring and support meetings. Janelle Chetty, School
Improvement Partner for Deer Park, would be visiting in two weeks’ time.
Sanah Dhillon would be meeting with the new deputy headteachers’
group.
xv. Teacher Appraisal Alison would be the appraisal reviewer for the
assistant headteacher and class teacher and Sanah would be responsible
for the appraisal review of the part-time staff.
xvi. Website Alison would take over responsibility for editing the school
website once she had received training.
Arising from the report:


Curriculum Event The school would be arranging a workshop for parents
on Read, Write, Inc and governors would be invited.
Thanks from Governing Body The governing body thanked Alison for her
efforts in securing such a successful start to the school.
(b) School Development Plan The governing body received the school development
plan for 2015/16.
The governing body agreed that all governors should familiarise themselves with
the contents of the plan and that Jane Spencer should arrange a meeting with with
the headteacher and governors to consider the plan in more detail and agree how
the targets and actions in the plan would be monitored (see also Minute 11).
ACTION BY:
All governors, Jane Spencer
(c) Strategic Calendar The governing body received the school’s strategic calendar for
the autumn term, showing events linked to the priorities in the school
development plan and highlighting those in which it would be appropriate for
governors to be involved (in yellow).
The governing body agreed that guidelines and a reporting template for governors’
visits should be agreed at the school development planning meeting and that in the
meantime governors should contact Alison Colenso in the first instance if they
wished to visit the school.
Alison stated that attending a parent workshop would provide governors with the
opportunity to be involved in the development of the curriculum.
Local Governing Body – Deer Park School – Autumn 1 22 September 2015
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ACTION BY:
Jane Spencer, Governing Body
11. Performance Monitoring The governing body agreed to set its objectives and agree the
focus for monitoring visits for the autumn term at the school development planning
meeting (see also Minute 10(b)).
ACTION BY:
Governing Body
12. Attendance The governing body agreed an pupil attendance target of 97% for 2015/16.
It was noted that a single absence would bring attendance below the target for the day
of absence due to the current small size of the school. The governing body agreed that
the headteacher’s report should include data on attendance.
ACTION BY:
Headteacher
13. Items to the Trust Board Claire Delaney stated that she would channel back relevant
items to the Trust Board.
14. Confirmation of Local Governing Body Compliance Claire Delaney agreed to find out
what was required of the governing body under this heading.
ACTION BY:
Claire Delaney
15. Thanks Claire Delaney thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for their
contributions so far.
16. Future Meetings The governing body agreed dates of future meetings:
Tuesday 1 December 2015 at 6 p.m.
Thursday 11 February 2015 at 6 p.m.
Thursday 21 April 2015 at 6 p.m.
Thursday 14 July 2015 at 6 p.m.
The clerk agreed to inform Nick Hodgess of the dates of future meetings.
ACTION BY:
Clerk
17. Confidentiality The governing body agreed that no items needed to be recorded as
confidential.
18. Impact Statement The governing body identified decisions and actions agreed that
would have an impact on teaching and learning:




Inauguration of the governing body
Appointment of named governors
Agreed action to establish the structure of the governing body
Agreement to review performance as a whole governing body
19. Meeting Close The meeting ended at 8 p.m.
Local Governing Body – Deer Park School – Autumn 1 22 September 2015
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Deer Park School Local Governing Body
Minutes Action Sheet
Minute reference
Action required
By whom and when
2. Election of chair and
vice-chair
Elect vice-chair
LGB
On 3/12/15
3. Declarations of
interest
Collate and publish register of interests and Clerk, BPET CEO
other required information about governors Immediate
4. Governor profiles and Submit mini-profile and photo to Vackas
school website
Mohammed BPET for school website
All governors
Immediate
5. Report of the clerk
All governors
As appropriate
Alison Colenso
Immediate
Jane Spencer
Immediate
Attend training as discussed and write up key
points to share with governors
Consider feasibility of setting up governors’
secure area on website
Initiate email correspondence to agree
future training
6. Skills audit and future Provide skills audit proforma.
training needs
Arrange for governors to complete skills
audit and circulate completed audit to
governors
Complete skills audit proforma
BPET CEO
Clerk
7. Terms of reference
and code of conduct
Provide all governors with bound copy of
BPET Local Governance Handbook
BPET CEO
Immediate
8. Inaugural
presentation of BPET
Chief Executive Officer
Provide clerk with presentation notes
Circulate presentation notes with minutes
BPET CEO
Clerk
Immediate
9. Governing body
structure and
appointments to roles
Take action as agreed and as appropriate
Clerk, Governors
Immediate
10(b) School
development plan
Read SDP
Convene SDP meeting to agree monitoring
arrangements
All governors
Jane Spencer
Immediate
10(c) Strategic calendar Provide governors with model guidelines and
reporting template for governors’ visits
Agree guidelines and reporting template for
governors’ visits
Local Governing Body – Deer Park School – Autumn 1 22 September 2015
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All governors
Immediate
Jane Spencer
Immediate
Governors
At SDP meeting
Local Governing Body
MINUTES
11. Performance
monitoring
Set objectives and agree focus for
monitoring visits for autumn term 2015
Governors
At SDP meeting
12. Attendance
Include attendance data in reports to
governors
Headteacher
Ongoing
14. LGB compliance
Find out what is required of the LGB under
the compliance heading
Claire Delaney
Immediate
16. Future meetings
Inform Nick Hodgess of future meeting dates Clerk
Immediate
Local Governing Body – Deer Park School – Autumn 1 22 September 2015
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