ST. JOHN’S C.E.

PRIMARY SCHOOL
MINUTES OF FULL GOVERNING BOARD MEETING 30.03.22
Present: Jessica Addis, Roy Bullock, Lizzie Culverhouse, Kerry Geaney, Astrid
Goodwin (joint Vice-Chair) John Henley, Michaela Luckett, Jo Miller (Joint
Vice-Chair), Guy Moss, Dan Turvey (Head Teacher),
In attendance – David Robson – SBM
Keiran Bradbeer - AHT
Governance Professional – Jan Davies
Agenda Discussions & Outcomes Action
No.
1. GM opened the meeting with a prayer
2. Presentation by KB on the School’s tracking tool Insight –
The School had moved over to the new tracking tool Insight as
this had proved a more user friendly system that of SIMS
previously used. Insight allowed the School to track progress
across EYFS, KS1 and KS2 as well as individual pupils and
cohorts. Other benefits of using the new system was that it
was web based meaning that staff could use the system at
home, it was easy to use and to analyse data. Excellent
customer service back up support was available if required.
Governors were shown the ease with which Staff could enter
and analyse data against different year groups and cohorts
and how the system was used during parent consultations.
Was all data entered regularly to ensure the system was up to
date? – Entering data using the SIMS system had been
laborious and time consuming. However staff found it easy to
do this using Insight.
How would the School know if data had been entered
incorrectly? – Whilst there was the possibility of a mistake
being made it was less likely using the current system.

Governors thanked KB for his valuable presentation which

allowed them to improve their knowledge of how the School
tracked the progress and attainment of all pupils and cohorts.
3. Apologies for absence – Apologies received and approved
from MB and KW
AG took the Chair in MB’s absence.

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4. Business Interests – None declared.
5. Approval of minutes of last FGB meeting – Governors
unanimously approved the minutes of the meeting held on the
26.01.22 and these were signed by the Chair.
6. HT report – The HT provided an in-depth written report
which included contextual data, staff update including staff
development, the curriculum, safeguarding and monitoring.
A GDPR update was also provided.
In terms of Safeguarding was there any correlation between
the cost of living and safeguarding concerns? It could not be
said that there had been a clear connection between the 2.
During lockdown additional children were added to the list of
vulnerable pupils and there had been a significant increase in
the number of children should be supported with things such
as holiday activities and lunch voucher. The School was aware
that there was a need to be attentive to all families’ needs
not just those with children considered to be vulnerable.
Was there any other impacts of the cost of living that should
be considered? – The School were mindful of the cost of
school trips and provided costings to parents well ahead of
trips to allow them to spread the cost of payment.
Residential trip dates for Years 5 and 6 had been changed to
reduce the demand on parents. The PFA had agreed to make
additional funds available by way of support and it was
important to stress that no child had ever not gone on a
school trip because the parent(s)/carer(s) were unable to
afford the cost.
Could the results of the writing moderation which took place
on the 17th March be shared with the GB? Why were the
writing results for writing so different to reading and maths?
Teachers met together in year groups and looked at each
other’s books. They then provided written feedback to one
another, having looked at 2 children from each class,
regarding next steps. Writing results differed to reading and
maths as during lockdown, when children had accessed
remote learning, technology was used to complete work
rather than writing. Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling had
also been severely affected and handwriting remained a
concern in some classes.
Due to schools being stuck in their individual bubbles there
had been no cross moderation with local schools for 3 years.
Were other schools seeing the same pattern? – Yes, following
feedback from the LCT it was clear that other schools were in
the same position.
Admissions update – 90 places had been offered for
Reception from September 22 of which 1 child had an EHCP.

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 38 children were siblings. The centre-point for the admission
criteria was 0.49 miles.
Further information was made available to Governors
regarding behaviour incidents which was deemed confidential
and recorded separately.
IDSR – Following advice from Governor Services, the
Inspection Data Summary Report was made available to
Governors having been released by the DfE on the 22nd
February 22. Due to the Pandemic all progress and
attainment data related to 2019 about which Governors were
already aware through progress and attainment reports from
the HT.

Residential trips for years 5 & 6 – Residential trips had been

arranged to PGL from 26-28th September 22 for Year 5 and to
the IOW on the 20th June 23 for 4 days for Year 6. Both
venues having been used regularly by the School the FGB
unanimously approved these residential trips.

7. Combined SIP-SEF – This was circulated to Governors for

their information. Season 2 milestones would be updated and
shared with Governors at the next FGB meeting.
There was a reference within the SIP/SEF to one year group
requiring support from SLT. Were there specific issues within
this year group that needed addressing and were any relevant
to Governors in terms of Safeguarding/SEND? – There were no
issues relevant to Governors. There had been an increased
SLT presence at the beginning of the academic year with
difficulties being experienced due to staff absence and as a
result of the emotional state of some children in this year
group on returning to school. However, staff had now
returned from long term absence and Saplings and Rainbows
classes were now fully staffed.
A further discussion relating to staffing took place which was
deemed confidential and recorded separately.
8. Monitoring Reports – All written reports were circulated to
Governors prior to the meeting. Governors were commended
for the high quality of their reports.
Quality of Teaching – This visit was carried out by EC and GM
and focused on SIP Key Action 1.1 Curriculum. EC and GM
attended Staff PDMs whose goals were to review the
Curriculum for each subject and ensure that they were
organised to build upon pupil’s learning progressively, that
staff fully understood what had been taught to the pupils in
previous years, and that pupils had the opportunity to make
links and connections between units of learning. The aim was

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to have an ambitious curriculum which was meaningful to the
school’s particular mix of pupils.
The report highlighted that some children were having
additional home support which might diverge from what was
being taught at School. Was there a way of making learning
more engaging and consistent for parents? The School would
be looking at its Website to consider how it could be used for
this purpose so that learning would be constant across every
year group.

SEND & Pupil Premium Monitoring Report – This visit was

carried out by JA and related to key areas within the SIP/SEF
and the role of the new SENCo who would join the School
after Easter. The new SENCo would be a full-time role
enabling them to pick up additional work to free up the Head
of Inclusion.
Using Pupil Premium funding the School was able to purchase
Word Shark, an effective games based solution for pupils to
learn to spell and read. It was particularly effective when
used by children with SEN and dyslexia.
Consideration was also being given to the purchase of buff coloured
paper and workbooks for all children to use rather than the current
white paper which was difficult for pupils with dyslexia to use. This
would stop these children from feeling different.
The report mentioned that 1-6 children at St John’s were now
classed as vulnerable due to a change in the definitions. Could
some background information be supplied on these changes? – The
DfE had broadened the criteria due to the Pandemic so that it now
included more categories of children classed as vulnerable than
just Pupil Premium children and Looked After Children as had
previously been the case. The School was providing lots of
additional provision both through its Saplings and Rainbow classes
as well as staff training so as to provide additional classroom
support. Given the number of children on role (633) and the
increase in the vulnerable children criteria 1-6 was not a large
number.

SIAMS – The visit was carried out by GM whose focus was how
effective was the school’s distinctive Christian vision established
and promoted by leadership at all levels, in enabling pupils and
adults to flourish? GM visited a collective worship on Wednesday 9th
March, attending the upper school worship. The visiting speaker
was Caroline Glass from St. Luke’s Church who came to the school
twice a term. The Headteacher opened the assembly with a few
questions to the pupils about the role of governors. The pupils’
responses were:
· ‘To look after mental health’
· ‘To look after money’
· ‘To try to make the school better for children.’

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There then followed an assembly on the subject of Lent Caroline
said that lent was ‘a time to get to know God better’. The
assembly was interactive with children playing a large part.
The next monitoring visit would focus on a learning walk with the
RE lead.

Safeguarding – The 2 visits were carried out by JM – Safeguarding

Governor – and followed on from the November visit. On 16th March
2022 she visited the Personnel Officer to review the practices
associated with keeping the Single Central Record up to date and
on 21st March 2022 she visited the Family and Attendance Support
Adviser to discuss her role and how it supported the school’s
safeguarding strategy. The focus for the summer term visit would
be to speak with the school council and/or some pupils to get their
perspective on the impact of the school’s work on safeguarding. 1
Were there sufficient Governors on the Board who had received
safer recruitment training? It was recommended that perhaps 3
Governors (non-staff) undertake the 4 hour online training provided
by NSPCC. The Clerk would send the link to Governors and follow
up at the next FGB meeting.

Mental Health & Well-being – The meeting was carried out by JA

and JH and included a virtual meeting with the Head of Inclusion
and a face to face meeting with the School Council. A number of
questions had been sent to the School Council for consideration
prior to the meeting. The focus of the meeting centred on key
actions within the SIP relating to mental health & well-being.
Children were enthusiastic, engaged and very keen to give their
opinion on things. They spoke about how safe, secure and happy
they felt at school. In the classroom, they spoke about being
excited to learn new things and being focused in their lessons.
In terms of support with mental health schools were being assigned
a Mental Health support worker via emotional wellbeing teams in
Kent. This initiative would be financed by KCC The MH worker
would visit the school weekly to provide support for children with
mild to moderate mental health concerns. Training for Head of
Inclusion would commence in the next academic year

The focus of the next monitoring visit would be to see how the 2
Zones of Regulation had been adopted fully into classes and how all
the strategies had been impacting on the school over the last year.
There would also be a focus on how to make the School
Playgrounds feel safer – any thoughts on this please to ML, JA and
JH

Food Standards – JA and JH had an exchange of emails with the

Primary Area Manager for Independent Catering on the 17th March
as well as a face to face meeting with the Head Cook. JH had
attended lunch on the 16th March. The focus of the visit related to
the Governors’ role in Food Standards.

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 The take up of school lunches was high with Roast Dinner
Wednesday and Fish & Chips Friday being the most popular. All
children including those with allergies were able to access school
meals and it was confirmed that the kitchen was nut free.

The focus of the next visit was to follow up on how the school
Food Standards were embedded into policy at the school, including
who on the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) was responsible for
healthy food provision and food education. Further discussion
needed on how Standards were met outside of the lunch service
including what practical experience children had of food growing
and cooking.

9. Monitoring Group priorities – Term 5

The following reports are due to be presented at the May FGB
Finance (final outturn and 3YP) RB EC AG,
British Values – JH
H&S – RB, JH with the SBM.
10. Finance
Financial Compliance Visit – Schools Financial Services had
carried out a financial compliance and risk assessment visit
on the 23rd February. The report had been made available to
the FGB. Compliance covered areas of Governance, Financial
Planning and control, Payroll, Bank accounts & cash,
procurement and assets.
The School was fully compliant in all areas apart from 4
management actions requiring attention, one of which
related to a minor amendment on the school’s Finance Policy
which had been done, two relating to Payroll around the
signing off of reports by both the HT and SBM and one on
procurement where any order over £100 should be signed off
by the Head Teacher or other authorised signatory which did
not always occur.

Verbal financial report by the SBM

The SBM provided a verbal report on the school’s current
financial position as shown below
budget actual variance
income £ 3,172,816 £ 3,230,576 £ 57,760
expenditure £ 3,243,045 £ 3,227,664 £ 15,381
-
£ 70,22
in-year 9 £ 2,912 £ 73,141

rollover (brought £ 186,00

forward) 2 £ 186,002
rollover (carried £ 115,77
forward) 3 £ 188,914 £ 73,141

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 capital
£ 51,23
income 4 £ 24,919 -£ 26,315
£ 52,50
expenditure 0 £ 29,416 £ 23,084
-
£ 1,26
in-year 6 -£ 4,497 -£ 3,231

rollover (brought £ 10,96

forward) 7 £ 10,967
rollover (carried £ 9,70
forward) 1 £ 6,470 -£ 3,231

The budget for the new financial year was likely to be as

follows, based on 633 pupils rather than 639 pupils as was the
case in the financial year just ending. This was due to the
reduction in the school’s PAN to 90 from 96 in KS2.
The minimum funding per pupil (AWPU) had increased from
£4,180 to £4,265.
The delegated grant was estimated to be £2,772,961 which
was up on last year’s grant of £2,744,236. An additional
grant of some £71,000 would be received to cover the
increase in NI.
The new 3YP would be presented to Governors for approval at
the May FGB together with the final outturn for this financial
year.

KCC Feedback on 9 month monitoring return – Governors

noted the queries from SFS on the 9 month monitoring return
and were satisfied with the explanations made on the return
and explained to them by the SBM.

SFVS – The SFVS for the financial year 21-22 was presented to
Governors. The Finance Governor had completed the 30
questions on the Standard with support from the SBM.
Governors unanimously approved the SFVS and it was signed
off by the Chair. There were no actions arising for the GB to
monitor.

11. Chair/Vice-Chair actions – It was reported that the HTPM

mid-year review had been due to take place today but,
because of the absence of the Chair, would be re-convened at
a later date. There were no other actions to report.
12. Preparation for Ofsted – Governors were reminded to add 3
comments to this document as soon as possible, where

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 relevant to their monitoring responsibilities, which was easily
accessed via Teams.
13. Policies – Governors approved the following policies which
had been reviewed and updated by the School and seen by
Governors prior to their presentation to the GB.
Health & Safety Policy
Medical Needs Policy

The following policies had been reviewed/updated but did

not require FGB approval.
Finance Policy
Supervision of Staff Policy
All policies were available on GovernorHub.
14. Governor Training – Governors had undertaken the following
training since the last FGB and had provided both verbal and
written feedback as well as some presentation slides:-
- Understanding the Governing Body’s responsibility in
SEND –
- The role of the GB in making a difference for
disadvantaged pupils
- Governors for Schools e-learning on SEND – JA had
taken part in the SEND courses to enable her to
understand better her role and responsibility as the
SEND Governor.
- Monitoring Visits – JH attended this virtual training and
slides from the presentation were made available to
Governors. This would help him to understand the
expectations of what a governor monitoring visit
entailed.
- County Clerk’s Briefing – The Clerk had attended this
to ensure Governors were kept informed of updates
from the DfE, Ofsted and Governor Services. Follow up
actions related to Governors’ monitoring of food
standards, safer recruitment training (both of which
had been covered above) and Governors checking on
how SATs were managed – Mr. Bradbeer the AHT would 4
invite Governors to attend during SATs week.
- The GB role in safeguarding – JM had attended this as
part of her responsibilities as Safeguarding Governor.
Bespoke Governor Training by The Education People on
managing Complaints – it was decided not to go ahead with
this training as 3 Governors had now signed up to undertake
the general training provided by TEP which was free as the 5
School had an SLA with Governor Services. Governors other
than staff were encouraged to sign up for the training in
June.

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15. Governor Skills Audit – All Governors had completed the NGA
Skills audit and the anonymised results were shared with the
GB. A feedback report outlining suggested actions had also
been circulated with links to various development
opportunities provided.
The Audit identified the need for succession planning and it 6
was recommended that Governors read “Preparing your Board
for the Future” which the Clerk will post to GovernorHub.
Consideration needed by the Strategy Team to determine
whether actions arising from the Audit should form part of
the Governor Action Plan. This will be an agenda item at their 7
next meeting in May.
16 Membership – RB had been an LA Governor on the GB since
1998 and was seeking approval from Governors for his
nomination for a further term of office to be submitted to the
LA Panel for their consideration. RB was given the
opportunity to put his case for approval of his nomination
prior to leaving the room to allow Governors to consider his
request.
Governors acknowledged his great contribution to the work of
the GB over the last 24 years and his continuing affection for
the School. There was a need to refresh the composition of
the Board to enable successful succession planning and to
ensure new ideas and skills were brought to the GB which
would best serve the School.
A secret ballot took place, RB having cast his vote prior to
leaving the room. The GB voted in favour of not approving
RB’s nomination to the LA as a Governor for a further term of
office based on the reasons stated above.
RB would continue as an LA Governor until his term of office 7
finished on the 14th May 2022. Clerk to advise the LA
17 AOB – An audit of the School website would take place and 8
findings presented to the FGB at their May meeting.
18 Confidential items – Discussions took place during Agenda
items 6 and 7 which were deemed confidential and recorded
separately.
19 Date of next meeting – It was agreed that the meeting be
moved from the 18th May to the 25th May at 5.30pm.

Governor actions arising from this meeting

Action Action arising Lead Outcome
No Gov
1 Governors (non-staff) to consider Clerk Link sent to all
undertaking Safer Recruitment online Governors
training provided by NSPCC using link to 31.03.22
be provided by the Clerk.

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 2 Thoughts on how to make the School All Govs
Playgrounds feel safer – any thoughts
to ML, JA and JH

3 Complete Ofsted Key Questions All Govs Ongoing

document on Teams with bullet points
relevant to areas of monitoring
responsibilities
4 Governors to be invited to attend KB – Feedback to be
during SATs week to look at the process AHT given at May FGB
5 Governors encouraged to sign up for All Govs 2 Governors signed
TEP Managing Complaints Training up
28.06.22
6 Governors to read NGA Guidance on Clerk & Posted to
succession planning – “Preparing your Govs GovernorHub
Board for the Future” Clerk to post on 04.04.22. Govs
GovernorHub signposted.
7 Advise LA of FGB’s decision regarding Clerk Completed
RB’s re-appointment
8 Audit of School website to be carried Clerk Completed and
out for May FGB presented to May
FGB

Signed: M Bowring Date: 25.05.22

Chair of Governors

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