Hampshire Governors' Representative Group
Notes of meeting
Date Thursday 30 May 2002
Time 6.00 pm
Venue The Professional Centre,
Winchester
Present John Brailsford Havant
Cynthia Hicks Winchester
Martina Humber New Forest
Terry Tillman Fleet
Jim Duckham Fleet
Dianna Hopkins Havant
David Chiswell Havant
Graham Ellicott Fleet
Robin Gray Fleet
John Mason Winchester
Apologies Jane Pratt Fleet
Sylvia Vine Havant
John Seymour New Forest
Action
1 Welcome - The Chairman welcomed Dianna
Hopkins to her first meeting. She
represents Fareham and Gosport local
Governors' Forum.
2 Notes of 19 February 2002 were agreed as a
correct record.
3 Matters Arising
Item 2 - A request for clarification of the
criteria for acceptance to the county supply
list and who is responsible for training
teachers on it was made on JS/SK
16-10-01 (Item 6) and had still not been
responded to. A response was requested at
County Governor Forum on 18 June 2002.
The 'Hampshire Compact' was tabled for AD/CB
members to look at. The Compact had been
signed and a certificate of membership
received which HGRG would like on the
website.
Other action points had progressed
satisfactorily and there were no further
matters arising.
4 Draft County Governor Forum Agenda
Item 4 - New Funding Arrangements - The
Chairman reported that he had been consulted
by Lynn Elliott (County Treasurers-
Consultant) who is project managing the
establishment of the Schools Forum in
Hampshire. His discussion focused on how the
governor membership of the Schools Forum was
to be achieved and whether it should be drawn
from HGRG. In the short term it was
difficult to see how any other governor
membership could be achieved in the time.
HGRG members supported drawing members from
HGRG as its members were already appointed on
a democratic basis from Local Governors Forum
although some saw the need to strengthen the
links from Local Fora to HGRG. SK/RM
The impact of the proposed new funding
arrangements on schools and the LEA were
discussed particularly in relation to sixth
form funding. A question was raised about SK/RM
the funding of Pupil Referral Units and PRU
representation on the Schools Forum. These
matters would be raised with Roger Mead at
CGF in June.
HGRG would also like its support for allowing SK/NH
local determination of election arrangements
for governors to Schools Forum to be
explicitly added to the County Council's
response in Consultation Question 4.
Item 5 - Pupil Data - This was considered by SK
HGRG to be a helpful paper and answered the
questions which had been raised. Unless
there were issues in the final paragraph that
Nigel Hill felt would benefit from further
discussion there was no need for Nigel to
attend CGF and the paper could move to the
'For information' section. If Nigel is to
attend the item could be moved further up the
Agenda so he could get away.
Item 6 - Guidance on Clerks to Governing
Bodies - JS reported that a first draft of
the paper was still under discussion. It was
not known whether the paper would be on CGF
Agenda or not.
Item 7 - Valuing Governors - HGRG found it
difficult to take an objective view on
whether they as governors should be valued
and recognised more. Most felt that it was
the recognition of their peers that was most
rewarding. Any formal system of recognition
needed to guard against being devalued by
being too commonly awarded. It was felt by
some that a formal reception for governors at
the Castle would do more to make them 'feel
special' than issuing certificates.
Item 8 - Monitoring, Supporting and
Challenging Governance - JS explained the
paper had not been cleared for circulation in
time to go with the Agenda. It was now
available and was tabled but not discussed.
Items 9, 10, 11, 12 were for information and
there were no questions or matters arising.
5 Local Governors' Forum Items
Winchester Forum - Nothing to report
New Forest Forum - The Chairman had received
an e-mail containing a resolution from the
Forum requesting that:
Hampshire County Council should follow the
lead of some other authorities in banning
parking on zig zag lines outside schools
which are the responsibility of the Hampshire
Local Education Authority. This is for
safety reasons. It is understood that the
authority for deciding such a ban rests with
County Councils and their equivalents rather
than nationally, hence this resolution.
Support for this resolution passed
unanimously is sought. JS/SK
HGRG supported the principle that no-one
should park outside schools on zig-zag lines
and requested that further information be JS/SK
sought as to the current situation and the
legal powers of the County Council
Fleet - There had been further discussion of
SAP and its impact on admin officers and
budget making processes. This further
discussion would be raised as a matter
arising at CGF in June.
Fareham & Gosport - Matters raised had
included:
-
LSAs and their pay
- SK/RM
Recruitment and Retention
-
Budget pressures in schools
-
Seconding heads to help schools in
difficulties
Havant - Sylvia Vine had written to the
Chairman concerning Forum anxiety about cash
protection for GM schools which was still in
place.
HGRG believed that it may well disappear
under new funding arrangements from 2003 and
the question would be asked at CGF in June
under the funding discussion.
V1723227 RFTD A1 3
6. National Governors' Council - David Chiswell
had attended the Council meeting in
Birmingham recently and his comments had been
circulated with the Agenda in a Briefing
note. David spoke of his anger at having his
Saturday wasted by what had been an unruly
and badly organised event. The NGC was in
his view bringing itself into disrepute and
his sense of despair had been re-inforced by
subsequent e-mail exchanges on the web-site.
HGRG members referred to the Times
Educational Supplement Report on the same
meeting which also indicated that it was a
shambles.
HGRG debated at some length the 'pros' and
'cons' of Hampshire remaining in membership
of NGC of which it had been a founder member.
It was still felt that the voice and views of
governing bodies needed representation at
national level. Whilst in its early years
NGC had developed this voice relatively
quickly and effectively it had deteriorated
in the last 18 months and was losing its
reputation as an effective mechanism for
transmitting governors views to Government
and others nationally. It was hard to
disentangle the extent to which the DfES
decisions on re-framing funding on a project
basis and the consequences for NGC, or the
disquiet with the current leadership of NGC
were responsible for the current situation.
It was suggested the DfES should delegate to DC
GBs that money which had funded NGC and allow
GBs to choose which body should represent
them nationally. David felt the election of JS
Chair should be a matter for Local
Associations rather than the Executive.
However, whether either or both much damage JB
was being done.
It was felt that Hampshire's resignation was
not likely to have much impact on the
situation either way. If Hampshire was to
continue in membership then it had to find
like-minded Governors Associations and work
to bring NGC back on track.
It was agreed that Hampshire would continue
in membership and that David Chiswell would
approach Governors Associations in the
South-East Region with a view to arranging a
meeting to discuss concerns about the current
situation and explore ways forward. Janet
Sheriton would inform colleagues in the
SECOGS network that HGRG intended to do this
and seek their support in respect of their
own local associations.
John Brailsford will write to Chris Gale
reporting the concerns of HGRG at the
standard of the Conference, its conduct of
business and the current direction of NGC.
V1723227 RFTD A1 4
7. Hampshire School Organisation Committee
The Chairman had been informed on a vacancy
for a governor member on the Committee before
Easter. HGRG had appointed the governors to
the SOC when it was set up. Members serve
for a 3 year term which will finish in the
Autumn. Karen Widdowson who services the SOC
had established the wishes of the current
governor members in respect of a further term
of office. The following have indicated that
they are prepared to serve a further term:
-
Geoffrey Newsome (Foundation Secondary
School - Partnership Governor)
-
Alan Fender (Community Special School
- Co-opted Governor)
-
Tom Wickstead (Community Primary
School - Parent Governor)
-
Sylvia Vine (Community Primary School
- Co-opted Governor)
-
Rev John Buxton (Community Primary
School - Co-opted Governor)
Dr Claude Bamber (Special School - LEA
Governor) wishes to stand down and there
is one existing vacancy.
The School Governor Group on the SOC JS/KW
should ideally consist of
-
3 governors Primary Schools JS/AD
-
2 governors Secondary schools
- JB
1 governor Special school
-
1 governor Foundation school
HGRG agreed that those governors prepared
to serve a further term should be
re-appointed.
As community secondary schools were
unrepresented the Chairman would write to
all secondary school governing bodies
seeking nominations for the two vacancies.
HGRG agreed that if there were more
nominations than places the Chairman
should decide who is appointed so as not
to delay the decision to the next HGRG
meeting.
V1723227 RFTD A1 5
8 HGRG Representatives feedback from meetings
NGC - See item 6 for David Chiswell's report.
Education Policy Review Committee - Martina
Humber reported on the last meeting which had
received many delegations concerning the
re-building of Beechdown School (destroyed by
fire). Though unable to vote, in debate
Martina had supported the position of the
governing body. It had been in her view a
very good and fair discussion.
It has since been reported that the Education
Portfolio holder has decided that the school
will not be re-built.
Answering a question HGRG was told that EPR
papers were available on request from Colin
Hinxman and were also on the Hampshire
website.
HGRG discussed whether because Hampshire
carried its own risk in respect of fire there
was always a temptation not to re-build.
Clarification was sought about the progress
on the election of a further parent governor AD
representative to EPR. JS reported that as
far as she knew a ballot was underway or
imminent.
Numeracy Strategy - This group had not now
met for a year and this item should be
removed from future HGRG Agendas
Asset Management Plans - There had been no
meeting.
Conference - Funding Schools - 2003 and
beyond -
Jim Duckham had attended this Conference in
London on behalf of HGRG. His report was
tabled. The Conference organised by DfES
examined in detail the proposed new funding
arrangements and the report of the Education
Funding Strategy group. It is on the basis
of the proposals in this report that it is
expected that Ministers will prepare the
detailed plans for introducing the new
arrangements in 2003. Item 4 on CGF deals
with the new funding arrangements.
9 Correspondence - The correspondence log was
noted.
V1723227 RFTD A1 6
10 Chairman's Items - John Brailsford reported:
-
Discussion with Lynn Elliott on
Schools Forum (Item 4 above)
-
A request for an HGRG rep to join Don
Allen and Andrew Seber to attend a
national conference on 'Governance
Matters' in London in September. It
was agreed that John Brailsford should All HGRG
attend. members
-
John had decided that he will not
stand as Chair of HGRG in the Autumn
and asked other members to consider
whether they may themselves be prepared
to take over.
11 Treasurer's Items
The 01/02 budget outturn was £7255 from a
budget of £8000.
The 02/03 budget showed expenditure to date
of £168 from a budget of £8000.
The mileage rate from 1/4/02 was 31.2p
12 Future Meeting Dates
These were agreed subject to CGF agreement of
their dates. SK
13 Any other Business - An HGRG member had
recently attended a Pupil Discipline
Committee where 2 LEAs were represented at
the hearing as the child resided outside the
LEA boundary. This had caused some disarray
at the meeting. No other members had
experienced anything similar and the
discussion was not pursued.
The meeting closed at 9.00 pm
V1723227 RFTD A1 7
Top of this page
Hantsweb Homepage