LIVERPOOL GOVERNANCE FORUM

Minutes of committee meeting held at 10:00 am on Tuesday 16 October 2018
Held at Archbishop Blanch CE High School, Earle Road, Liverpool L7 6HQ

Key note speakers: LSCB Young Advisors provided an overview on how they engage other young people to promote their voice in the city around issues that matter, which is fed back to services to better inform their plans and deliver. A summary of their presentation is provided in Annex A. 

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, Avril O’Brian, John Thornhill,
                Michael Morris, David Cadwallader, Howard Harris

Visitors: LSCB Young Advisors Lucy, Jess, Erin, Jacqui Taylor - Coordinator

Apologies: Cynthia Carmichael, Mary Donohue, Clive Jervis, Andy Chadwick, 
                    Barbara Murray, Amanda Patmore, Pauline Warrington

Absent without apology:  N/A
                                    
1.2	Declaration of Pecuniary Interest
No change since last meeting

      1.3 Minutes of the September Meeting       
     The minutes of the meeting held on 18th September 2018 had already been agreed by   
     email and posted on the LGF website. 

1.4	Matter Arising
Anthony McVerry was approached by DB and has attended his first meeting of the LLP Learners Who Need More Group on 3rd October 2018.

       Regarding Nebula, KD has attended a meeting on the proposed software which will allow 
       attendance data to be shared to improve communication between schools and hopefully 
       highlight potential future problems.

       KD contacted Mark Rea by emailed but has not received a response to date.

            Sharing of potentially sensitive information: MMcD has now met with Terry Brown and the 
            article on ‘school exclusions’ should appear in the next Governor’s Newsletter

 1.5 Finance
       
 Item	£	
Bank Statement 1st October 2018	4604.92	

DB advised that the account balance remains ‘healthy’; there have only been few small transactions and there are no matters to highlight.

2.0 FEEDBACK FROM LGF EVENTS & REPRESENTATIVES: 
      Annex B summarises all the scheduled committee meetings for the 2018/19 academic    
      year: LGF, LSF, Termly Chair of Governors and LLP. 

 2.1 LGF Events
There were no events to feedback at this meeting. 	
       
 2.2 Liverpool Schools Forum:
  MMcD, DO, AC & DB attended the AGM which took place on 26th September 2018. 
  James   MacDonald was reappointed Chair for the new academic year. 

  An extraordinary meeting has been arranged for 7th November 2018, at LACE to discuss  
  a number of specific topics; Early Years, Exclusions, SEND and High Needs. 

  Dates for the regular meetings are summarised in Annex B. 

      2.3 LLP (Executive Board, All Learners, LWNM & Maths Group)
             Feedback from the various group meetings is summarised as follows:

     General
•	LLP chart summarising the priorities has been issued to the committee.
•	Tim Alderman, Headteacher at St Julies Catholic High School is now Chair of LLP.
•	Reduction in subscriptions to LLP from £3 per learner to £2 per learner if schools sign up to a three year commitment is now in place.
•	Only 18% of LLP’s income now comes from subscriptions.
•	£12.63 per learner spent last year, more than four times the amount given in subscriptions. 

          Transition
•	18 summer schools took place across the city’s secondary schools for year 7 pupils who may struggle on transfer from their primary school.
•	Evaluations are very positive from the 14 schools who took part. 
•	Special Schools were awarded £1000 each to develop their transition programmes. This was spent on a range of activities in different schools

           Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing
•	All secondary schools have at least one MHFA champion. 
•	Additional training is being offered for more secondary school MHFA Champions. 
•	ROAR still being delivered across all primary schools and some special schools with fantastic evaluations.
•	Further support through staff Toolkit is available on the CAMHS website
•	The Liverpool model is recognised as being excellent and a Partnership Expression of Interest (LLP, CCG, Alder Hey and the City Council) has been submitted to Department of Health for Trailblazer status; £326K for each bid.        

          Reading Clubs
•	94 reading clubs have been established with a total of 1079 children engaged as follows: 
•	22 secondary school reading clubs with 199 pupils 
•	58 primary school reading clubs with 595 pupils  
•	10 special school reading clubs 272 pupils 
•	 4 nursery school reading clubs 13 children

Annual Readathon 2018
•	The event will take place over two weeks this year - Weeks beginning 5th and 12th November and will include Author events, Drop everything and read. Liverpool Library Service is involved in the event.
•	A Reading Festival is being planned for June 2019

          Liverpool Counts Quality Mark
•	83 schools have currently been awarded the Liverpool Counts Quality Mark.
•	20 schools just started the process as Cohort 5

         Dragons Den 2018
The event took place on 2nd July, when pupil representatives from Liverpool schools stepped     up to face the ‘dragons’ in showcasing their design to enhance maths, linked to the Year of Engineering.

Pupils from a range of primary, secondary and special schools presented their designs to both their peers and board of education professionals. 

It was a tough decision; the overall winner was Childwall Abbey School

         Liverpool Cultural Partnership
•	A Digital Platform Website is currently under construction and should be live in January 2019.
•	A celebration event will be held on 12th October 2018 at Blackburn House.
•	Sponsoring Arts in a Secondary School at Educate Awards are to be held.
•	Artsmark support is on offer.
•	Cultural Citizens is running again with Trust Funding support
•	Next newsletter due out in two weeks’ time.

        Attendance 

•	The annual awards ceremony is due to take place on 6th November 2018. Where awards for 100% attendance, most improved attendance etc. will be given.

      LGF representatives attended the following meetings:

•	LLP AGM 25th September: DO

•	LLP All learners 26th September: DO, FM & AC

•	LLP Learners who need more 3rd October: AO’B, AMcV & DFB

•	LLP Board meeting on 10th October: KD & MD

Maths Group
No further information since the last meeting

      Employment and Skills Group
JT advised that a meeting was arranged for September but was subsequently cancelled.

2.4 Liverpool Safeguarding Board
      FM advised there is nothing to report since the last meeting.  However, the next meeting is    
      to be held on 19th December 2018.  
 
2.5 Liverpool School’s Promise
      AP was thanked for her work on this project. It was agreed this item should now be   
      removed from the standard agenda.   
      
2.5 Others  
           Exclusions – Governors were asked to be aware that in the case of exclusion an 
     independent panel can be requested by parents.  FM reported that he had recently 
     attended training to update his knowledge in this area.  The training was provided by a 
     company of solicitors specialising in exclusion appeals.
           It was noted Governors are put under considerable pressure when serving on such panels.  
      It was highlighted that Governors/Headteachers need training in responding to legal based 
      procedures such as exclusion appeals as it is imperative that the correct procedure is 
      followed to the letter to ensure a case is not thrown out of court on a technicality.

     3.0 ITEMS FOR MENTION:
						
3.1 Twitter Account - update from AO’B. LGF twitter account now has more followers than we 
      are following.  AO’B is to examine items that have been ‘liked’ and contact individuals to   
      encourage them to sign up to the LGF twitter account.

3.2 Website
DB reported that there have been 108 hits since last meeting bring the total to 420 hits from 
the start of June 2018. The website is up to date and includes the promotional flyer for the 
Conference we are holding on 17th November 2018.

Governor Hub – usual cost £400 if not subscribed to SIL.  DC to discuss with SIL to see if a discount could be negotiated for LGF in view of its unique situation. 
Cascading information – it was noted that DC can send out an email on behalf of LGF with a link to documents on the LGF website but cannot send out an actual attachment. 

3.3 Future events (Meetings, Venues, Conferences, AGM etc.)
      LGF Conference is to be held on 17th November at 9:30 –12:30 at Partnership for Learning 
      venue.  Barbara Murray will deliver a session on her vision for the future of education in 
      Liverpool and Ruth Agnew will deliver a session on ‘Governing Board Self-assessment’.  
      LGF members were asked to consider appropriate questions for BM to be posed at the 
      meeting.

DB reported it was disappointing that there are only 12 confirmed bookings to date plus 8 from committee member bringing the overall total to 20.  Committee Members were asked to confirm with DB if they were able to attend the conference if they had not already done so and to continue to promote the conference.

     For the proposed conference to be held on 11th May 2019, it was suggested that a 
     performance by Archbishop Blanch pupils based on young people’s mental health should 
     be considered. FM to check if this would be possible. However, it was noted that the 
     conference will take place on a Saturday which may be problematic for the children to 
     attend.  Other suggestions included having a legal representative to discuss the legal 
     impact on governors carrying out their duties.
  
     DB advised that Terry Brown is to give an overview of the GovernorHub and its benefits at 
     our December meeting and Childwall Abbey have agreed to host our January 2019 
     committee meeting.

3.4 NGA 
      No information since the last meeting.  

   4.0 OTHER ITEMS: 

           NLGs – concern regarding the ongoing lack of support for Governors was highlighted.  A
           letter written by JT took 3 months to receive a response from the Parliamentary Under 
  Secretary of State, Lord Agnew. He apologised for the lateness of his response and  
  recommended that he should contact Susan Bier this served to further underline the lack of 
  support for governors. The content of the letter gave cause for concern regarding the future 
  independent role of the school governor. It was noted that although Ofsted expect ‘good 
  and effective governance’ there is little support for governor’s professional development. 

  A concern was raised regarding the need for a set protocol for a governing board to follow if 
  they have concerns surrounding decisions made by their own board.  It was suggested that  
  Governor Services or the school’s SIP could offer initial support if board members felt 
  unable to challenge their Headteacher or highlight their concerns at meetings. Governors 
  were reminded that the Whistle Blowing Policy could be employed.
  It was noted that Church schools can contact the Diocese or Arch Diocese in such cases.  
  It was also noted that since 2017 parent governors can be removed from a board of  
  governors.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS FROM TODAY’S MEETING	
No	TOPIC	ACTION BY	
1	AO’B is to examine items that have been ‘liked’ on twitter	AO’B	
2	 Governor Hub to be contacted to see if a discount could be negotiated for LGF	DC	
3	Archbishop Blanch pupil’s to perform at a future LGF event to be investigated	FM	

The meeting concluded at 12:15

Annex A

Key Note / Guest Speaker: 

Liverpool Safeguarding Children Board Young Advisors
Young Advisors are young people aged between 15 and 24, who show community leaders how to engage young people in community life, local decision-making and improving services. They also work with business leaders, bringing unique expertise and knowledge about being young to influence strategic planning, decision-making and marketing.
The Young Advisors network is managed by a central charity, which brings the network of social franchises across the UK cohesion and support.
Jacqui Taylor and the young advisers were thanked for attending by FM who stated he had been impressed by their performance at a previous meeting he had attended. 	
Four speakers were introduced, Jacqui Taylor who oversees the initiative, two Young Advisers, Lucy and Jess and an Archbishop Blanch pupil who has recently become part of the team, Erin. 
A power point was shared with the meeting that highlighted the work of the Young Advisers and their achievements so far.
It was explained that the purpose of the initiative was to capture the voice of the young people of Liverpool who often feel their opinion, views and concerns do not count.  Young Advisors especially want to reach out to groups and individuals that find it difficult to access help in their normal environments. 
The Young Advisors use a variety of means to reach out to young people, focus group meetings, questionnaires, graffiti walls, social media etc. and feedback their findings to a selection of professionals to inform decisions and awareness of the issues effecting the young people of Liverpool. A priority of the initiative is to increase school attendance and the range of opportunities available to young people by removing barriers where possible.
It was explained that training is given in specific areas such as domestic abuse, safeguarding etc. and appropriate risk assessments are undertaken to ensure no young adviser is put in danger.
It was noted that currently the majority of young advisers are female however it is hoped to address this imbalance by changes in the recruitment process including inviting prospective applicants to a focus meeting to give them a taste of what to expect.  It is hoped this will reduce the dropout rate.  The impact of poor communication was highlighted as having a detrimental effect on reaching potential applicants.  It was suggested that a presentation should be made to LASH for headteachers to hear, first hand, about the positive impact the initiative has on pupils and young advisers alike.
Information regarding the achievements and the work undertaken by the young advisers is available on their website which is designed to be easily accessible to young people and adults.

Annex B

2018/19 ACADEMIC YEAR – MEETING DATES
(School term, LGF, Chair of governors, LSF & LLP)

SCHOOL TERM DATES (Details taken from LCC Website)	
Autumn Term 2018	

•	Starts: Monday 3rd September
•	Ends: Thursday 20th December
•	Half Term: Monday 22nd to Friday 26th October
	
Spring Term 2019	

•	Starts: Monday 7th January
•	Ends: Friday 5th April 
•	Half term: Monday 18th to Friday 22nd February
	
Summer Term 2019	

•	Starts: Tuesday 23rd April
•	Ends: Wed 24th July 
•	May Day: Monday 6th May
•	Half Term: Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May

LGF MEETINGS AND EVENTS	
Autumn Term 2018	
Tuesday	18th September 2018	Committee Meeting at Belle Vale Primary	
Tuesday	16th October2018	Committee Meeting & AGM at Archbishop Beck 	
Saturday	17th November 2018	Conference at P4L	
Tuesday	11th December 2018	Committee Meeting at Notre Dame 	
Spring Term 2019	
Tuesday 	22nd January 2019	Committee Meeting at Childwall Abbey	
Tuesday 	12th March 2019	Committee Meeting	
Summer Term 2019	
Tuesday	30th April 2019	Committee Meeting	
Saturday	11th May 2019	Conference	
Tuesday	18th June 2019	Evening Committee Meeting	
Tuesday 	9th July 2019	Committee Meeting	
	
NB: The conference topics together with the details of our key note speakers, which precede our formal committee meetings, will be advised as soon as details have been finalised. 	

TERMLY CHAIR OF GOVERNORS MEETINGS	
Wednesday 	3rd October 2018	Autumn term 	
Tuesday 	15th January 2019	Spring term	
Wednesday 	30th April 2019	Summer tem	
	
NB: These termly meetings are open to all Chair of Governors. If they are unable to attend, it is expected that they should send a deputy to represent their school.

LIVERPOOL SCHOOLS FORUM	
MAIN COMMITTEE (To be held at LACE and due to start @ 1pm)	
Wednesday 	26th September 2018		
Wednesday	7th November 2018	(Extraordinary meeting to  focus on specific issues)	
Wednesday 	21st November 2018		
Wednesday	23rd January 2019		
Wednesday	6th March 2019		
Wednesday	26th June 2019		
	
NB: The LGF representatives on this committee are:
Primary: Dave Owens, Cliff Barton, Andy Chadwick & Mark Rea, Secondary: Maureen McDaid & Barbara Murray Special: David Blythe

LIVERPOOL LEARNING PARTNERSHIP	

AGM: Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 2.00pm @ LACE
	
EXECUTIVE BOARD (All due to start @ 08:45)	
Wednesday 	10th October 2018	Autumn Term 	
Wednesday	6th February 2019	Spring Term	
Wednesday 	19th June 2019	Summer Term	
	
NB: LGF representatives: Kathy Desmond & Mary Donohue 

ALL LEARNERS STRATEGIC GROUP (All due to start @ 08:30)	
Wednesday 	26th September 2018	Autumn Term 	
Wednesday	23rd January 2019	Spring Term	
Wednesday 	22nd May 2019	Summer Term	
	
NB: LGF Representatives: Kathy Desmond, Frank McFarlane & Andy Chadwick

LEARNERS WHO NEED MORE STRATEGIC GROUP (All due to start @ 08:30)	
Wednesday 	3rd October 2018	Autumn Term (Notre Dame)	
Wednesday	30th January 2019	Spring Term	
Wednesday 	12th June 2019	Summer Term	
	
NB: LGF representatives: Avril O’Brian, Jason McVerry & David Blythe

EDUCATION & SKILLS GROUP	
		NB: Dates for this group are to be advised	

	
NB: LGF representative: John Thornhill