Hampshire Governors' Representative Group
Notes of meeting
Date 18 December 2001
Time 6.00 pm
Venue The Professional Centre,
Winchester
Present Janet Sheriton HCC, Clerk
David Paterson Primary Heads Conference
David Chiswell Havant
John Mason Winchester
Jane Samsome Special Heads Conference
Stephen Steer-Smith Special Heads Conference
Jim Duckham Fleet
Sylvia Vine Havant
Cynthia Hicks Winchester
Robin Gray Fleet
Jim Watt New Forest
David White TLP/NASUWT
David Belfield TLP/ATL
Jane Pratt Fleet
Martina Humber New Forest
Graham Ellicott Co-opted - VI Form Schools
John Brailsford Havant
Tony Philpott Secondary Heads Conference
Wendy Morrish Secondary Heads Conference
Apologies David Goodman Winchester
Glyn Wadey Havant
Action
1 The Chairman welcomed representatives from
the three Headteacher Conferences and from
the Teachers Liaison Panel (TLP) and invited
them to talk to HGRG on what they saw as the
budget priorities for 2002/3.
Representatives from Special School Heads
tabled a paper (available from Angela
Donnelly 01962 845706) outlining their
priorities for:-
*
Parity for secondary funding for
pupils with learning difficulties (cost
estimate £500,000)
*
Implementation of the audit approach
(cost estimate £300,000)
*
Teachers pay rise to be fully funded
They reminded HGRG of the efforts of Special
Schools to provide the means of cutting
transport costs in the county and that the
provision now being made in county for
children with complex needs would previously
have gone outside Hampshire at greater costs.
Apparent surpluses in Special School accounts
were largely allocated or in some cases
already spent on improvements to buildings.
In answer to questions the Heads indicated
that each of the priorities were equally
supported. Whilst a partial move towards
fulfilling them would be possible in some
cases the audit could not be phased. If
funding could not be found the audit approach
would not happen. In respect of funding for
secondary pupils with learning difficulties
there was anecdotal evidence of behaviour
regressing after the transition from primary
to secondary but funding in the secondary
special sector did not reflect this.
Representatives of Primary and Secondary
Headteachers Conference made a joint
submission against a tabled paper (available
from Angela Donnelly 01962 845706). Heads
were proud to work in Hampshire and proud of
their partnership with the County Council.
Targets for further school improvement were
aspirational and could now only be met with
additional resourcing. A standstill budget
will threaten further development.
a)
Salary costs are going up because of:
*
difficulties in recruitment and
the associated costs
*
an anticipated gap in funding
incremental progression in the
upper pay spine
*
the costs associated with
retaining high quality teachers.
Whilst the forthcoming pay award
will need to be met in full this on
its own will not be enough to secure
further improvement.
b)
Inclusion - Schools are not adequately
resourced for dealing with EBD needs at
the level they are now presenting in
mainsteam. Behaviour issues in both
primary and secondary schools are a
significant issue for many teachers.
Dealing with them adequately has become
more important than workload issues in
terms of teacher retention.
c)
Diversity in curriculum provision and
the availability of placements for
alternative learning are essential
particularly in respect of pupils who
present with difficulties. A broad and
balanced curriculum is best for all
children including the disaffected.
There is a need to develop a more
creative curriculum.
d)
Equipment - As learning needs change
there is a need to update and renew
teaching resources of all kinds. ICT
costs continue to be a significant
challenge for all schools.
Given these pressures a standstill budget
will threaten standards and funding for
schools needs to increase substantially.
Discussion followed on the issues
surrounding retention and recruitment of
Heads and Deputies as well as other
managers and classroom teachers. There
was greater clarity now between management
and administration But in order to be
able to delegate administration there had
to be enough admin staff in post to deal
with the work. When it came to retaining
staff it was important to identify the key
motivators - What mattered to teachers was
time - to plan, to teach, to monitor, to
assess.
Some of the difficulties surrounding
inclusion would be helped with better
support from other agencies: educational
psychologists, Social Services and Health
in local areas working as teams with
schools locally. There was also a need
for all teacher training to include more
on behaviour management so that NQTs were
equipped to deal with behaviour issues in
the classroom.
Representatives of TLP tabled a paper
(available from Angela Donnelly 01962
845706) and outlined their budget
priorities as very similar to that of the
Heads Conferences. A standstill budget
would not be enough. Quality won't just
happen, it needs resources. Teachers
don't have enough time for planning and
assessment. Funding for school VI forms
needs to be maintained. Greater diversity
is needed in the curriculum. If teachers
are to teach, more resources need to be
found for admin support and more and
better trained SLAs in schools.
For teachers the main issues are
workloads, pupil behaviour and inspection.
Pay is important but is not the major
concern. There has been too much
promotion of inclusion without the
resources to support it. The behaviour of
pupils is a retention issue and poor pupil
behaviour lies behind too many good
teachers leaving the profession. TLP
would expect that the work of EOTAS
following its re-organisation to be
appropriately funded for the complex work
it undertakes.
The Chairman thanked all the Headteacher
and TLP representatives for their input
and attendance and they left the meeting.
2 HGRG discussion and agreement of governors
budget priorities for 2002/3
John Brailsford reported back on the
education budget partners consultation
meeting on 14th December. Papers from that
meeting are included as an Appendix to the
minutes for HGRG (available from Angela
Donnelly 01962 845706 for others). When
inescapable pressures like pay awards,
inflation etc. are removed from the £25.8
million extra cost for education there is John
about £600,000 left to meet growth and Brailsfo
improvement priorities. This will be rd
insufficient to meet the full year costs of
01/02 spending on recruitment and retention
of staff. It was agreed that John Brailsford
would write to the CEO asking that he should
press the government for a continuation of
additional money for recruitment and
retention next year.
The final partners meeting in the budget
consultation process was January 11th. John
Brailsford would draft a short paper in the John
light of discussion which would be circulated Brailsfo
for comment to HGRG at the beginning of rd
January.
3 HGRG Representatives to the meeting on the
11th January were confirmed as John
Brailsford; John Mason; Graham Ellicott and
Robin Gray
4 National Governors Council - The recent
internal differences in the NGC Executive had
been the subject of widely distributed e-mail
exchanges across the country. A meeting of David
Chairs of Local Associations was being called Chiswell
for late January. It was agreed that David
Chiswell would represent HGRG at that
meeting.
Discussion followed on what HGRG might wish
to say at the meeting and how it saw the key
purpose of NGC. It was agreed that NGC
should focus on representing governors at a
national level. In order that it could do
this adequately it needed to be open in its John
communication with local associations. The Brailsfo
NGC business plan needed to be shared with rd
local associations. John Brailsford to draft
a letter to Chris Gale, Chair of NGC.
It had been customary for the HGRG rep to NGC
to be a Vice Chair of HGRG. Jim Watt offered
to resign as Vice Chair and David Chiswell
was duly nominated and elected as Vice Chair.
V0162532 RFTD A1 3
5 Admission Forum - Terms of office on the
Admission Forum were coming to an end. The
LEA had written to Chairs of Governors asking
for nominations for the governor AD to
representatives. Ian Chrystie had been the inform
HGRG representative and had indicated his Ian
willingness to continue. HGRG agreed that Chrystie
Ian Chrystie should continue as their
representative.
6 Any Other Business - Remuneration of Clerks
to Governing Bodies to be an Agenda item for AD
HGRG next term
The meeting closed at 9.30 pm.
V0162532 RFTD A1 4
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