King Edward Vii School

KING EDWARD VII SCHOOL MINUTES OF FULL GOVERNORS MEETING

Tuesday 17 May 2011: 6pm – 8pm Upper School PRESENT: Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors (CL) Carol James (CJ) Beverley Jackson, Headteacher (BJ) Will Davey (WD) Barbara Walsh (BW) Stuart Carvell (SC) Karl Gehring (KG) Rachel Cornish (RC) Clare Allison (CA) Rob Whittingham (RW) Matt Naylor (MN) Carol James (CJ) Steve Haake (SH) Amanda Dempsey (AD) IN ATTENDANCE: J Jackson, Clerk to the Governors

No. ITEM BY DATE 1. Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence were received from: John Cornwell (JC), Hilary Mesher (HM), Huw Parker (HP), Linda Gooden (LGO), Asma Khurshid (AK), Najma Khurshid (NJ), Michael Williams (MW), Caroline Fisher (CF), Rebecca Kay (RK)

The meeting was quorate. 2. Declaration of any Pecuniary Interests Governors were asked to declare any pecuniary interests. There were no interests declared. 3. Confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting(s) and reports on matters arising from the minutes- decision & information Eco Council – CA has spoken to Lydia and Rachel about how the Language College could work together with the Eco Council particularly around supplying fair trade products for evening class refreshments and also becoming involved with International Week. After their latest Eco-Council meeting they fed back that CA needs to contact Mr Berry who leads the Council and that the group have agreed to look into supplying the evening classes and also would like to be involved in International Week.

Training School - BJ clarified that the bid has been sent in. The bid is from Silverdale and Birley Spa Primary with other schools linked (Tapton, All Saints and KES). Notre Dame and The Diocese will also be placing a bid.

The Schools White Paper – A collation of comments from Governors, made at the Governors meeting in March, is available to collect.

The minutes of 29 March 2011 were accepted as a true record. 4. Headteacher’s Report CL introduced Tom Quant and Zoe Bullock (Y13) who were invited to give their views of their time at KES, summarised below:

Signed …………………………….. Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors 1  Teachers teach around the curriculum, not just about the subject or how to pass the exam  Teachers prepare students well for exams  Excellent preparation for University applications – students are shown powerpoint presentations, are made familiar with the UCAS website and are prepared well on how to write their personal statement  Extra Curricular – KES has areas on offer that other schools don’t provide, ie Music and Outdoor Education  The PCs in school break quite a lot, often waiting weeks/months to be fixed  Would like to see an improvement in students being encouraged to do sport, particularly in Upper School  The vertical form system is useful – helps to give an overview of the sixth form CL invited Governors to ask questions:  Students feel that they are asked for their opinions and feel able to talk to teachers, they feel that they are listened to when expressing how they want to be taught, ie by reading text books or by likely exam questions  Would like to have more awareness of the school council ie clarity of when meetings take place  Transition from LS to US is handled really well  Social ethos within school is emphasised well by teachers and students feel that the wide intake reflects a good cross section of the city  Discipline is at the right level – some lower year students push boundaries sometimes  Split site is preferred as students feel “grown up” when moving up to upper school for Y10

Both Zoe and Tom have offers of places at Oxford University next year, studying English and History.

Appeals – RJW gave an update. RJW has attended 18 independent appeals during May 2011 and will attend another 4 or 5 in coming weeks, but these will be represented by a local authority officer. BJ will attend a meeting on 18 May with John Bigley where she expects to be told that admission numbers will rise. BJ will report back to Governors at the next Full Governors meeting. The local authority proposes the number but Governors discuss and agree the admission number at the first full governors meeting for the following year.

UTC - BJ updated that Sheffield is still putting a bid together and it is being led by Sheffield College, supported by the University and some schools, including KEs which is a lead school. J Twyman (Assistant Head) has been asked to join a working group to produce a section of the bid concerning curriculum. BJ has been asked to chair a group which will look at finding suitable premises.

Air Raid Shelter – Disabled access will be installed. There are plans for

Signed …………………………….. Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors 2 lighting and heating to be installed if planning permission is received. KES is putting together a plan of what the finished shelter will look like inside. RMC & BJ have discussed placing a “Wall of Memories” with details of the Sheffield Blitz and evacuation, also possible sound effects to be installed. BJ will keep Governors informed.

The Big Challenge – Governors registered thanks to Rob Whittingham for his involvement in this project. CL has sent a congratulations card to Alicia Cannon for her achievement in this project as a sole trader entrepreneur. 5. Reports from Committees Finance & Premises 5 April 2011 – MN reported that the in-house payroll is running really well. Thanks and congratulations to Debbie Ireland and her team were registered from Governors. This facility will make big savings for the school. BJ confirmed that there will be a short budget meeting on 23 May to discuss signing off the school budget – a licence deficit is now no longer required for the new financial year, information still being awaited regarding funding for the Training School. KES is pursuing the selling of services and is linking with Primary schools regarding this. E Lamb and C Allison are working very hard to bring in income via the Language College. JJ to invite all Finance, Premises & Personnel committee governors to the meeting on 23 May. CL clarified that Governors recognise that LT have taken the appropriate action.

Finance & Premises 4 May 2011

Curriculum & Performance11 May 2011 – Governors took part in a training session on the MLE (Managed Learning Environment) – it will eventually include a Governors Section. 6. Chairperson’s Correspondence – for information only List available 7. Chairperson’s report on urgent decisions taken

8. Any Other Business Governors registered congratulations to Iffat Hameed, who has recently been awarded two Special Community Awards in recognition of her work in education and the wider community.

School Private Funds Audit – BJ presented this to Governors, who formally accepted it.

Exams – BJ gave thanks to Governors who had already volunteered to do some exam invigilation. Interested Governors to give their names to J Jackson.

C Allison made Governors aware of Holiday Intensive & Taster Courses that will start in school w.c 13 June, in various languages. CL asked for Governors to attend if they are interested and to promote the classes by displaying the posters and placing information on their websites. 9. BSF Visit BSF/Sports Hall - BJ invited Governors to have a tour of the newly Signed …………………………….. Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors 3 refurbished Sports Hall and clarified that the next decant will take place on Friday 27 May. 10. Date of Next Meeting Tuesday 12 July 2011 – Lower School CL invited Governors to consider items for the agenda for this meeting.

Signed …………………………….. Carolyn Leary, Chair of Governors 4