Oasis Academy Bank Leaze Academy Council Meeting
MINUTES
Monday 17th June 2013 at 4pm
Oasis Academy Bank Leaze, Corbet Close, Lawrence Weston, Bristol, BS11 0SN.
Tel: 01275 894 580
PART A – Non-Confidential
Academy Council Members:
Name
Category
Peter Knight (PK)
Principal
David Berry (DB)
Chair, OCL Primary
Advisor
Ben Silvey (BS)
Sponsor Rep, Vice-Chair
Matt Butler (MB)
Sponsor Rep, Principal
OA Brightstowe
Brian Bush (BB)
Community Rep
Nicola Haynes (NH)
Community Rep
Sharon Hallett (SH)
Parent Representative
Clare Fairholm (CF)
Parent Representative
Sophie Lennox (SL)
Support Staff Rep
Liz Owen (LO)
Teaching Staff Rep
David Wayland (DW)
Vice Principal
Jodie Howells (JH)
Finance & Business
Manager
Sarah North (SN)
Clerk
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
2
2.1
Attended/Signed/Apologies
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Attended & signed
Welcome and apologies
Review Academy Council Membership
DB opened meeting at 4.03pm and welcomed AC members to the last AC
meeting of this academic year at OABL.
Apologies
None.
Resignations & Disqualifications due to non-attendance
There have been no resignations or disqualifications.
Sign attendance register & note any business interests
The attendance register was signed by all AC members in attendance. There
were no business interests.
Any other Business
CF – to feedback results from her Behaviour & feeling safe at school survey
DW – asked to change the Agenda order so that point 4 comes before point 3
BS – has to leave at 5pm
Review of Minutes AC Meeting on 8/4/13
Review Minutes
The AC reviewed the minutes from 8/4/13:
NH has made contact with the Academy re: reading (see 7.1 of section 2)
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13
PK informed the AC that staffing wise a reading recovery teacher has been
recruited for Sept, Ann Gorey. The SLT feel that she is a good appointment
and will have a full time post, point 6 as Reading Recovery teacher.
3.1 of mins - DB asked story behind English at Level 5. Why are Reading and
Writing percentages so much lower than Maths at Level 5? DW replied that if
students can’t decode the word they can’t work out the meaning whereas in
Maths you can teach children the ‘tricks’. LO agreed with this explanation.
Staffing changes for September
PK informed the AC at this point of changes for Sept in staffing:
 New Early Years Lead Jo Chambers, who will become a member of the
SLT. She is an excellent practitioner in Early Years. She will teach
Reception 4 days and have 1 day PPA/Leadership.
 Reading Recovery Teacher Ann Gorey
 4 NQTs have been interviewed for Yr2 teacher. Decision pending.
 Interviews for Early Years LSA will take place on 18/6/13 and Jo
Chambers will be involved in this.
 A parent liaison officer has been employed, Hannah Connell to cover
Emma Parker’s maternity cover.
 OABL hope to be able to offer 2 apprenticeships through the college
(Level 3 learning support qualification)
 OABL still requires a Receptionist
 Rory Quinn Teach First Teacher
 Sophie Lennox to become the Learning Resources Assistant as well as
being an HLTA. The library is going to be relocated to the staff room so
that it is more centrally located within the Academy.
PK informed the AC that he feels OABL will have a really strong team from
Sept.
2.2
Actions Arising
A couple of amendments were made to the minutes from 8/4/13.
Action: SN to print off amended copy of minutes for the file & AC.
3
3.1
Principal’s Report to AC
There was no Principal’s report. Instead Academy Councillors were sent the
latest KPI sheet and SEF Executive summary 2012-13 prior to the meeting and
discussion focused on these 2 documents.
PK pointed out that the KPI is the important document. He has to report every
term to OCL. PK explained that the KPI sheet is a standard OCL document and
covers the key bits: Attendance & behaviour, Progress, Staff Metrics and any
other important/relevant information for OCL.
Attendance
PK informed the AC that student attendance as of Fri 14th June is 95.14%. The
aspirational target set by OABL is 96%.
PK explained that the lowest attendance figure is for Reception however
nationally attendance is low in Reception. Children don’t legally have to attend
school until they turn 5. Students are marked as PA (persistent absence) if
their attendance is less than 85%. However this PA figure is judged NOT
including the Reception.
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13
Quality of Teaching & Learning
MB questioned PK, how close is OABL to the 75% figure for Good or better
Teaching? PK replied that OABL is very close to this figure but he did not have
any data to hand. The AC remarked on the fantastic progress made from 34%
Good or better in Term 1 to the most recent figure of 67% in term 5.
PK stated that he hoped to see a significant change with the change in staffing
from Sept’13.
(BS left meeting at 5.04pm.)
CF gave credit to the staff for the fantastic improvement made.
Action: PK to feed back to staff the AC’s praise of this fantastic
improvement in their quality of Teaching.
At the last Oasis review in Feb’13 Teaching & Learning was 67%.
LO pointed out that the LSAs at OABL are very strong and the Teaching Staff
are very lucky to have such excellent support staff.
Student Punctuality
PK stated that punctuality is still high but there are 2 students who are regularly
late. Strategies have been put in place including a funded breakfast club.
(N.B. In order to read the comment box on RHS of Excel spread sheet, AC
members need to look at the spread sheet on their computer as all the
comments in the comment box don’t show when spread sheet is printed out.)
Exclusions
There have been 2 fixed term day exclusion to date. One of which involved a
looked after child and so PK had to report this to BCC. PK explained that
internal exclusions are ‘repeat offenders’ especially students in Yr3. A lot of
work has been done to support these children and their parents.
PK informed the AC that he has had to deal with a homophobic incident which
occurred off site involving homophobic language directed towards an adult
volunteer. A racist incident involving a KS1 child also took place. SARI have
been involved and the parents are clear about what has been going on.
Progress
(N.B. FFT D refers to fisher family trust data.)
PK explained that floor targets for this year are 60% for Reading, Writing and
Maths and 92% for 2 levels of progress.
MB asked where does 66% feature. (This is the KS2 4+ Combined English &
Maths figure under FFT data.) PK explained the 60% is the worst case
scenario. If the Academy is below 60% and below the progress levels, that
means the Academy will be below Government floor targets.
SL remarked that for achievement OABL will be above government floor
targets but below for progress. PK pointed out that this is only an issue if a
school is below both floor targets and said that OABL has done everything they
could have possibly done to be where they are now.
Reading
At the last AC on 8/4/13, SL raised the issue that not enough reading is taking
place at OABL. In order to address this issue, all staff now go to KS1 during
assembly and listen to 3-4 readers for 10mins every day. PK commented that
regular reading with an adult and the appointment of the Reading Recovery
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13
teacher for Sept should have a significant impact on Reading next year. The
AC discussed the difference between listening to readers and guided reading
(which includes more discussion around the text). Reading recovery will be
focused on identified children for 12 wks, but all KS1 children will read during
assembly.
Staff Absence
PK highlighted the fact that there has only been 16 days of overall teaching
absence this academic year. The AC noted that this is fantastic and implies
good moral. SL commented that support if very high. PK commented that when
an absence has occurred it was due to a genuine reason and there are no
trends of persistent Mon or Fri absences. However PK pointed out that the
support staff absence figure is much higher, 103 days to date. This is due to
one member of staff being off long term sick and there is heavy absence
amongst SMSA’s.
Yr1 Phonics Test
The Phonics forecast for this year is 58%. The phonics test is taking place this
week and so far Gemma has tested 24 students from Yr1. Discussion took
place about the value of the phonics test and the possibility that confident
readers may not do so well, as they have gone beyond this stage in their
reading. The national average last year for this test was 58%. The phonics test
is an indicator of how strong the teaching of phonics is in the school.
DB commented that Ofsted will look at the children who didn’t pass the phonics
test last year and see how they have improved. They will also see whether
these children are FSM and see what impact the pupil premium is having on
these children. SL commented that there are already measures in place to
support the children who are not expected to pass this Phonics test. The
Phonics test will be used to help decide which students should have reading
recovery teaching. SL also commented that Gemma Burke is extremely
conscientious and honest when marking the Yr1 Phonics test. Although
children are taught letters and sounds from Reception, the Yr1 Phonics test
helps in streaming children for phonics. PK commented that Phonics will have
a stronger start in Sept due to the progress made this year.
Students on roll
PK informed the AC that there are currently 208 students at OABL. 2 students
have left but this is due to family re-location. PK commented that although 3 or
4 students initially moved to OABL from Long Cross after an inadequate report
from Ofsted, OABL has not gained any more Long Cross pupils. Student
numbers are not expected to increase significantly as 30 students will leave
Yr6 this year and 30 pupils start in Reception. However when the current Yr5
leave Yr6, PK hopes the figures will increase as the current Yr5 has a smaller
number of students.
Budget
JH distributed sheets showing the Budget overview and the funding allocation
for 2013/14. (Please see separate sheets.) It was noted that the outturn has
dipped but JH said the SLT had agreed this is a safe time of year to dip into
some of the reserves. The budget has been submitted to Becks Clark
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13
(Regional Academies Director) and there is a healthy carry forward of £14k.
Projects currently on the go are the relocation of the staff room and library and
improvements to the Early Years outside space. There will also be some
changes to the current dining area to include round tables with staff sitting with
students to create more of a family feel. JH commented that OABL is using up
the reserves from BCC closing accounts.
The AC briefly discussed Forest School and the way is has been used for Yr6
students as an intervention strategy focusing on behaviour and self-esteem.
PK hopes that Jo Trenear will be able to give a presentation about this at a
future AC. PK explained that more PPA cover is going to be done internally
next year, rather than having to pay for external input. There may be a
possibility for a member of staff from OAB to cover PPA if their timetable allows
it. At the moment OABL is heavily reliant on ‘Big Foot’ and ‘Fit for Sport.’
4
4.1
Developmental
Academy targets and data
DW circulated a hand-out entitled ‘Standards & Expectations – Attainment and
Progress’. (Please refer to leaflet).
DW explained that in primary school the end of year attainment levels sit below
Level 1 up to the top of Level 5 in Yr6 and in some cases Level 6. A letter ‘a’ is
higher than a letter ‘c’. Each year group has an end of year expectation (ARE –
Age Related Expectation) and schools have to collect data on the % of children
working at minimum age related expectations (MARE). DW commented that
these figures are the result of on-going assessment by teaching staff. Yr6 have
national curriculum test for English and Maths (SATs) and Writing is internally
moderated. Yr2 also have statutory tests (SATs) which can help teachers with
their overall judgement. DW also explained the point score for each level. 2b is
15 points and 4b is 27points. The average point score of a Yr2 class should be
15.
MB commented that historically these point scores have been good indicators
as a 4b indicates a C at GCSE and these indicators are used at secondary
school. PK commented that 8 children at OABL sat a Level 6 paper.
The AC discussed levels, teaching to the test and the need to understand logic.
As the Bristol tracker only collects data in terms 2, 4 & 6, DW has tweaked data
for Term 5. DB commented that the data needs to marry up with what is going
on in the classroom and Ofsted will be interested in the HT’s judgement of
teaching and learning. The validation of data in Yr2 is important so that the
progress in Yr6 can be seen.
BB commented that data is only useful if it is used to improve teaching. PK
commented that performance management progress links back to the progress
of the students and staff are being challenged on individual pupil progress. DB
commented that OABL took on a legacy of weak teaching but children are now
making good progress and the weak teaching has been addressed. Progress is
now as good as other children in the UK. However what happened before is
irrelevant as Bank Leaze Primary and Nursery School no longer exists and
Ofsted will only be interested in the parameters OABL can control since the
school became an Oasis Academy in Sept’12. The question of whether OABL
could be given a Good judgement by Ofsted depends on whether the data is
strong enough as there is only 5 terms worth of data.
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13
5
5.1
5.2
6
6.1
7
7.1
Chair & Clerk’s business
Chair’s Update
DB discussed with the AC the possibility of him being unable to attend an
Ofsted inspection due to his other work commitments. PK explained that he is
trying to get other AC members up to speed so that they could be called upon if
necessary. DB stressed the need for the Chair position to be moved forward
due to him travelling so much for Oasis.
Clerk’s Update
Dates for AC meeting for 2013/14 were circulated prior to today’s AC meeting
and the AC agreed these dates.
Any other business/ Future Agenda Items
Discussion of items identified at 1.5
CF shared with the AC her findings from conducting a ‘behaviour & feeling
safe’ survey with a random selection of children from each year group. (Please
refer to survey). The survey was overall very positive but did highlight that the
most unhappy time of the day for children was lunchtime. PK explained that the
dining arrangements are going to be changed for Sept and JH is currently
looking into getting a ‘Scrap Store Playpod’. The library will also be staffed at
lunchtime. CF informed the AC that she is happy to start a lunchtime cooking
club in Sept and wondered if another member of the AC could run a chess
club?
Action: BB to consider being involved in a lunchtime Chess Club
CF explained that she comes into school fortnightly and is a ‘buddy’ to 2
children. These children have been recommended by Emma P.
BB congratulated CF on conducting such a brilliant survey.
BB has had a conversation with Mike Sargent about his involvement with
Science at the Academy and both BB and NH are helping with Reading. LO
commented that more volunteer readers are needed and invited ideas. NH
commented that the waiting time before lunch could be used for SMSA’s to
buddy up with individual children to read.
SH raised the issue of uniform and that she has noticed some inappropriate
footwear. PK stated that from Sept black footwear will become regulation with
no insignia or branding. JH said that they would produce visual representation
of what is/isn’t acceptable.
The AC commented on parents smoking just outside the gate but PK explained
that this is a shared road with the old caretaker’s house and so this cannot be
controlled however PK plans to re-locate drive way if fund allow.
.
Confidential Matters
Please see Part B – Confidential of the Minutes
The meeting ended at 6.12pm
Date of next meeting: Monday 7th October 2013 at 4pm
Minutes signed by Chair: ……………………………………………………...
Date: ……………………………………………………………………………..
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OABL AC Minutes 17/6/13