LIVERPOOL GOVERNANCE FORUM

Minutes of committee meeting held at 10:00 am on Tuesday 22 January 2019 at 
Childwall Abbey School, Childwall Abbey Road, Liverpool L16 5EY

Key note speaker: 
Kathy Desmond, LGF Chair provided background information on Pupil Premium with examples of how different schools use their Pupil Premium and to what effect.  Please see Appendix A. 
A copy of the power point presentation delivered by KD is to be distributed with the minutes of this meeting.

1.0 STANDARD ITEMS:

1.1	Welcome and Apologies

Present: Kathy Desmond (Chair), Frank McFarlane (Vice Chair), David Blythe (Honorary 
               Secretary), Dave Owens, Cliff Barton, Maureen McDaid, Michael Morris,
               David Cadwallader, Pauline Warrington, Cynthia Carmichael. Barbara Murray, 
               Andy Chadwick

Associates & Visitors: Howard Harris

Apologies: Marlene Taylor, Amanda Patmore, Avril O’Brian
                    
Absent without apology:  John Thornhill
                                  
1.2	Declaration of Pecuniary Interest
There is no change since last meeting

      1.3 Minutes of the December Meeting       
     The minutes of the meeting held on 11th December 2018 had already been agreed by   
     email and posted on the LGF website. 

1.4	 Matter Arising
•	A letter has been sent to Mark Rea to confirm he was no longer an associate member of the LGF.
•	A meeting to discuss Governor Hub and the LGF Website was held on 16.1.19. Please see item 2.4 for further details.
•	Some LGF members are still to confirm with their respective head teachers if they had received a copy of the November Conference Summary Report which should have been shared with them via the Head Teachers Association and cascaded down to their Governing Bodies.
•	Tom Lambeth of FFT is to attend the LGF Meeting to be held on 12.3.19 
•	Liverpool College to be contacted at the start of 2019/20 academic year regarding a venue for a LGF meeting. Contact details for Susan Bamber, Principal’s PA is sbamber@liverpoolcollege.org.uk
•	A thank you card and gift were sent to Clive Jervis to acknowledge the service he had provided to the LGF.  A letter of thanks was received and shared with the meeting. 
•	Contact was made with the Liverpool Safeguarding Board regarding the concerns expressed by LGF members.  Please see item 3.7 for more information.

2.0 LGF Matters and Events

2.1 Finance
      Finance information had been circulated prior to today’s meeting. DB reported that there   
      are no current outstanding invoices or debts.

BANK ACCOUNT	£	
Statement @ 31st December 2018	2623.92	

     2.2 Feedback from Events 
           There have been no events since last meeting

     2.3 Future Events
Information regarding future events and meetings were shared by DB prior to meeting.   Please see Appendix B.

           It was noted that a discussion regarding items for the forthcoming LGF Conference is 
           needed. 
      
    2.4 Website
          DB reported that Website is up-to-date and there have been110 hits since the last meeting. 

The sub-committee agreed at the last meeting, comprising of KD, AP, MM, DC and DB met on 16.1.19 to draw up a list of changes to refresh and modernise the website.  It was suggested that the current general format should be retained but an ‘Archive’ section added to allow information older than two years to be stored. 

It was also suggested that a password protected area could also be added to allow access for LGF members only. 

Some suggestions from the group included making the website more visually friendly and welcoming, improving the colour scheme, making it mobile phone and iPad friendly, have the provision to include photographs and documents in PDF format.

The current provider was sent a summary report and in reply confirmed that:

“Some of the changes requested are quite simple and would be included in the current update and maintenance contract (e.g. changing colours, removing content, adding content and links etc.).

Others requirements would involve a considerable amount of work, such as re-structuring the website to make it more mobile / iPad friendly, and adding password protected pages.

If mobile / iPad friendly is essential, then my strong recommendation to keep costs down would be that we move to a WordPress based setup… I could create a basic demo of that if it is of interest. This would give the site a very different (more modern) “look and feel”. We would not have as much fine-grained control over layout, but it would look a lot more professional.

As a very rough guide, and depending on ironing out more of the detail above, the cost would be a one-off charge of between £500 and £750 for a re-design of the website as described by your notes.” 

It was agreed that this cost is reasonable.  It was noted that WordPress is basically a scaffold to support the building of the website. 

LGF Members were asked to consider a new strapline to appear on the first page of the website.  ‘Driving Governance Forward’ was put forward as an initial suggestion.  LGF members were asked to give some consideration to the new strapline.  It was suggested that it might be appropriate for the first letters of the words of the strapline to be LGF.    

It was noted that the updating of the website will be a two part process.  Part 1 - agreeing the changes and format. Part 2 – additional details.

It was unanimously agreed to proceed with the updating of the website.  A further meeting of the Website Sub-committee is therefore to be arranged

           Governor Hub: It was the view of the sub-committee that LGF should not progress this as there 
           are few documents of a confidential nature. 

       2.5 Twitter Account
             Deferred to next meeting.

       2.6 Others  
             N/A
           
 3.0 Feedback from Representatives

It was noted that DB had circulated by email the LLP Chair of Governors Power Point presentation recently delivered by Elaine Rees. It was also noted that DB had sent out a reminder of the dates of the LLP and LSF meetings for the Spring Term.
						
3.1 Liverpool Schools Forum

MM reported that a number of meetings of the Liverpool Schools Forum had taken place   with key discussions on the cost of School Parliament, High Needs Block and MFL funding. It was noted the High Needs Block information took the form of a narrative and did not provide the information on impact as required.

   As the working groups had not had the opportunity to scrutinise the Minimum Funding 
   Grant information prior to the initial LSF meeting a second meeting was convened on 
21.1.19 when it was agreed a level of MFG at 0.35% would be applied to the schools budget   formula for submission to the DfE. It was noted with some concern that this will result in a reduction in funding for certain schools.

CB highlighted concern at the lack of effective communication and not being provided appropriate and up-to-date information so that better informed decisions could be made. 

With regards to LGF representation, it was noted that there are several governor vacancies on the LSF;, both the main committee and the two sub-committee working groups. HH agreed to attend the next meeting on 6.3.19 at 1:00 at LACE, standing in for the vacancy to assess whether he is able to commit to the role. FM is to approach one of the Governors at his school to see if he is interested. It was stressed we need governors who are going to be committed representatives and attend meetings on a regular basis and report back to LGF accordingly. 

3.2 LLP Executive Board
      There have been no meetings since the last LGF meeting

3.3 LLP All Learners
       There have been no meetings since the last LGF meeting

3.4 LLP LWNM.
      No information since the last LGF meeting. The next meeting is to be held on 30th January    
      2019

3.5 LLP Maths Group
      There have been no meetings since the last LGF meeting. 

3.6 LLP Employment and Skills Group
      There have been no meetings since the last LGF meeting.

3.7 Liverpool Safeguarding Board 
FM advised that the LSB will be disbanded in April 2019 and replaced with new local safeguarding arrangement led by three named safeguarding partners; local authorities, chief officers of police and the clinical commissioning groups (health). Details have been set out in the document ‘New Safeguarding Arrangement Consultation’ which has just been issued and includes a questionnaire that must be completed by 11.2.19.  DB will email the document to all committee members for scrutiny. 

The 3 named statutory bodies will form the new Liverpool Safeguarding Partnership Board and will have overall responsibility. Operating under this board will be a new Liverpool Safeguarding Partnership Forum which will bring together the named statutory partners together with representatives from relevant agencies. 

However, concern was expressed that the new arrangements do not allow for any school governor representation.

BM agreed to raise the issue with Heather Duggan.

It was agreed a small group of LGF members (KD, FM, DC & DFB) would also meet to complete the questionnaire and write a strongly worded letter expressing concern to the apparent lack of governor involvement.  

3.8 Other
1.  BM invited the LGF members to nominate a Parent Governor to be part of the Liverpool Schools  
     Admission Forum.  The first meeting of the Forum is to take place on the afternoon of Friday 
     1.2.19. LGF members were asked to consider if they could suggest an appropriate Governor from 
     their individual school’s governing bodies who could commit to this role.  It was noted that the role     
     would involve attending 3-4 meeting per year and would require an understanding of the LA  
     admission process. 

        2. Chris Alison, Alison Holliday of the SEN Review Team recently met with DC and KD.
            As a result Governors have been invited to join a working group.  More information regarding dates 
            and venue are to follow however it was confirmed that the meetings will take place during the 
            working day.

            Chris Harrison and Alison Holliday are to be invited to speak at the next LGF meeting in March.  DB
            is to contact them regarding time, date and venue.

   4.0 Other Items for Mention

4.1 NGA 
  Subscription to be continued.  Concern regarding the lack of information for the NGA   
  Regional Spring Conference was noted. 

             The Key to be approached by KD to see if a reduced rate can be negotiated for LGF     
             members.

         4.2 Other
                N/A

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS FROM TODAY’S MEETING	
No	TOPIC	ACTION BY	
1	Update on the development of new website update	KD, DB, AP,MM, DC	
2	Governor at FM’s school to be approached regarding LSF	FM	
3	Safeguarding Arrangements Consultation document to be circulated by email	DB	
4	Lack of Governor involvement with the proposed new Safeguarding Arrangements to be raised with Heather Duggan	BM	
5	Safeguarding Arrangements Consultation questionnaire to be completed and letter written	KD, FM, DC & DB	
6	Progress parent governor for the Liverpool Schools Admission Forum.  	DB	
7	Chris Harrison and Alison Holliday to be invited to speak at the next LGF meeting in March	DB	
8	Investigate securing a reduced cost for LGF to join The Key	KD	

The meeting concluded at 11.45

Appendix A

Key Note / Guest Speaker: 

Kathy Desmond, LGF Chair provided background information on Pupil Premium with examples of how different schools use their Pupil Premium and to what effect. A copy of the power point will be distributed with the minutes of the 22.1.19 LGF meeting.

The power point was informative and the following was noted:
*PP was launched by Nick Clegg 2011
*PP stands at £2412M per annum currently and is guaranteed until 2022
*Purpose of PP is to narrow gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest of the school      community
*It is essential that targeted funding should not be absorbed into main school budget. It should   always be an ‘add on’ funding and not a core funding.  
*PP Champion and PP Governor should collaborate closely. The Impact of PP should be and agenda item for Governors meeting.
*Ofsted like Governors to reference EEF (Education Endowment Foundation)
* It is necessary to evidence the progress made as a result on PP.  
*Sharing of good practice between schools would be helpful. 	
KD was thanked for her informative presentation. 

 

Appendix B

MEETING DATES FOR THE 2018-19 ACADEMIC YEAR
(SPRING AND SUMMER TERMS)

LIVERPOOL SCHOOLS FORUM 

Main Committee: (NB: All Wednesday at 1pm @ LACE)

16th January 2019 (Recently moved from the 23rd) 

6th March 2019

26th June 2019

LIVERPOOL LEARNING PARTNERSHIP

Executive Board:

Wednesday 6th February 2019 at 8.45am

Wednesday 19th June 2019 at 8.45am

Strategic Group –All Learners:

Wednesday 23rd January 2019 at 8.30am

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 8.30am

Strategic Group – Learners who need more:

Wednesday 30th January 2019 at 8.30am

Wednesday 12th June 2019 at 8.30am

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES	
SCHOOL VENUE AND SPEAKERS	
2019 SPRING TERM EVENTS	
Tuesday
22nd January 2019
10:00 to 12 noon	Childwall Abbey School, Childwall Abbey Road, Liverpool L16 5EY
Guest speaker: Kathy Desmond, LGF Chair will give a little more background to 
Pupil Premium with examples of how different schools use theirs and to what effect. Hopefully this will lead to governors at the meeting, sharing their experiences and outcomes.	
Tuesday 
12th March 2019
10:00 to 12 noon	St Julies Catholic High School, Speke Road, Woolton Liverpool L25 7TN
Guest speaker: Tom Lambeth, CEO, Food for thought (a not for profit company owned by its schools), will give an overview of the importance of quality healthy school meals. 	
2019 SUMMER TERM EVENTS 	
Tuesday
30th April 2019
10:00 to 12 noon	Mosspits Primary School, 21 Moss Pits Lane, Liverpool L15 6UN
Guest speaker: Heather Duggan, Chief Education Officer for Liverpool. This is a new role within our city. Heather will provide an overview of her role and how governors and trustees can provide support. 	
CONFERENCE 
Saturday 
11th May 2019
09:30 to 12:15	Partnership for Learning Centre, South Road, Speke, Liverpool L24 9PZ
Details to be confirmed	
Tuesday
18th June 2019
17:30 to 19:30	Evening Committee Meeting at:
St Michael In the Hamlet Primary School, Neilson Road, Liverpool L17 7BA
Guest speaker: To be confirmed	
Tuesday 
9th July 2019
10:00 to 12 noon	Archbishop Blanch CE High School, 80 Earle Road, Liverpool L7 6HQ
Guest speaker: To be confirmed	
	
PLEASE NOTE: 	
To attend any Committee Meeting please book-in via the LGF e-mail account:
admin@livgovforum.org.uk	
VENUES FOR MONTHLY COMMITTEE MEETINGS	
We welcome offers from our city schools to host one of our committee meetings. 
Please do let us know if your school can accommodate us.