BASG Executive Committee Meeting Minutes 10th May 2021

Peter Lerner, Bernadette Allison, Jo Pearce, Martin Baxter, Andrew Brown, Gwyneth Langley (Secretary)

Agenda Item

Action

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no items tabled for discussion under Any Other Business

Gwyneth Langley – BEP

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2021 were approved.

BASG Bank Account (Minute 4) – JP / PR continued to progress the change of names on bank account correspondence.

Networking Groups (Minute 5) – Networking group meeting dates had been signposted this term’s Executive Director briefings.

Networking Groups (Minute 7) – GL would contact Sally Brooks to see if there had been any interest in the Marlow Networking Group.

Schools Forum (Minute 7) – JP had circulated details of Schools Forum, including the constitution.

BASG Event 27 May 2021 (Minute 10) – AS / PR were discussing a potential alternative platform for future events.  The event on 27 May 2021 would go ahead via MS Teams.  There were currently 130 governors registered.

JP / PR

GL

Aylesbury Group

The Aylesbury Group had met on 4 May 2021 and MB had circulated notes from the meeting.  Discussion had included:

·         Headteacher Recruitment. There was input from a Chair who was going through the Headteacher Recruitment process.  There was limited support from the Local Authority.   There was discussion on the options should the Governing Board be unable to appoint.   AB highlighted that the Oxford Diocese gave good support for Headteacher recruitment processes.

·         Feedback on the Executive Directors Briefings this term. These were considered to have been poor.

·         Feedback on the Closing the Gap events, which was more positive.

The Executive Directors Briefings this term were considered to have been rushed.  There had been some confusion with the agenda in the lead up to the events.  It was suggested that the change of name from Leadership Briefing to Executive Directors Briefing had altered the positioning of these session and it was now unclear what the purpose of these sessions was.    It was understood that the LA were planning to keep these meetings virtual in the future and there was some concern with this.

Jordans Group

The next meeting would be on 12 June 2021.

Chesham, Great Missenden, Amersham and Wendover Group

The next meeting would be on 24 May 2021 at 7pm.   This had been communicated out via the LA and GovernorHub.    8 governors had currently confirmed their attendance.

GL gave a brief update:

BEP continued to support a number of Governing Boards with Headteacher Recruitment processes.

Recent events for Chairs had included discussions on governance arrangements going forwards and governor recruitment.  Many Governing Boards had been successful in recruiting governors during the pandemic.

There would be a BEP newsletter published towards the end of term and there was the option for BASG to include information within this. PR / GL would discuss this.

The BEP Chairs Briefing would take place on Friday 28 May 2021 and Annual Conference on Friday 18 June 2021.

PR / GL

AS / PR had met with Hero Slinn regarding the upcoming SEN training for governors. They may be some SEN networking arranged for governors in the autumn term.

There had been some slowdown in feedback and action from the LA. This was frustrating. It was thought this could be linked to the management changes and council election processes. PL highlighted the difficulties of the purdah period for LA employees and the numerous demands on them during this time.   It was agreed that BASG should continue to work with the LA and flag challenges and issues despite the difficulties and frustrations.

It was noted that a Side By Side meeting had been planned for 27 May 2021. An agenda had not yet been received.

PR / GL would discuss this.

PR / GL

The Buckinghamshire Challenge Group would next meet on Monday 17 May 2021 and MB would share notes on this meeting with the group.

Governor training arrangements had not yet been agreed.  Proposals were still being reviewed by Gareth Drawmer and Georgina Masefield.

MB

Approximately 130 governors had registered for the event to date.  This would take place via MS Teams.  A plan for administrative support for the event would be discussed.

PR would contact Adam Boddison to discuss arrangements.

AS / PR

PR

The next meeting of the Consultative Board would take place on 8 July 2021. PL suggested that it would be helpful to get some clarity on the sense of direction from the new cabinet / cabinet member for education at this meeting.

There was no AOB.

A date / time for the next meeting was agreed as follows:

Monday 21 June  2021 5pm