Minutes of the East Durham College Full Board Meeting held on 27th February 2020

D Butler (Chair), J Bromiley, L Crichton, M Curry, S Duncan, G Field, F Harrison, R Harrison, H Lightowler (part meeting), V McFarquhar, E Oughton, R Woodhouse.

J Blower - Director of Estates (part meeting)
B Fitzgerald – Vice-Principal Finance and Business Planning
C Tomlinson – Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance
J Owen – Assistant Principal Curriculum
S Pritchard – Clerk to the Corporation
J Maughan – Committee Secretary

J MacIntyre, K Hartis and I West.

Known and declared conflicts of interest were discussed and highlighted by the Clerk and dealt with appropriately at the relevant agenda items.

• The Chair on behalf of the Board welcomed R Harrison to his first Full Board meeting.

• The Board’s very best wishes were sent to J MacIntyre.

• The Board thanked K Hartis, Staff Governor, for her input throughout the past two years.

AGREED
That the minutes of the Full Board meeting held on 19 December 2019 were approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Page 4) the Chair asked if clarification had been received on whether the overall decline in the achievement rate would trigger an Ofsted inspection. The Principal advised that achievement rates were considered in a desk-based risk assessment by Ofsted to inform the timing of inspections.

The report was presented by the Director of Student Support, Engagement and Wellbeing, who informed of: the results of student election; the positive outcomes following the student class rep meetings; the activation of the annual, sector benchmarked, QDP on programme survey; involvement in newly introduced Curriculum Health Checks; measures to raise the profile of the Student Engagement and Wellbeing Officer and the Students’ Union at Houghall and the imminent launch of the lunch time ‘Have a Go Programme’ with a contribution for resources from Student Union.

Finance - There was approximately £1,400 of NUS cards sales still to be included within the budget increasing income to approximately £4000 but there was £500 of expenditure for education visits. Costs would be approximately £930 against income of £3,500 and consultation would take place with students regarding expenditure to provide enrichment.

An EDC Student had been proposed to join the new Durham County Council Youth Council. (The Director of Student Support, Engagement and Wellbeing left the meeting).

This item was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity. The report was presented by the Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning and Director of Finance. The Vice Principal referred the meeting to the Board report; the letter of complaint from the Sector to Mr M Atkinson, Director of Provider Market Oversight, ESFA, and the Forecast of the budget, and advised the actual budget would be presented at a later date for Board approval. APPROVED The Board approved the submission of the report and accompanying IFCM to the ESFA. (The Director of Finance left the meeting) (E Oughton joined the meeting).

This Included:

This item was presented by the Principal and was regarded as confidential for (a) Update of commercial sensitivities. The Principal advised of performance against KPIs; Sector updates and Student activities that demonstrate the achievement of the College’s mission.

NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

Quality and Curriculum Update: The Director of Inclusive Learning and Safeguarding Officer joined the meeting to present this report which was regarded as confidential for reasons of student  sensitivities. 

NOTED
The Board noted the updates on Safeguarding matters.
(The Director of Inclusive Learning and Safeguarding left the meeting). (H Lightowler left the meeting)

The report was presented by the Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance, who advised the report reflected the previous academic year 2018/19 and 23  complaints had been received. The meeting was referred to paragraph 2.2 which informed of performance against service standards. The area of maths and English received the highest number of complaints. In line with the previous four years more complaints had been received from females than males, however none of the complaints related to gender discrimination. There were eight complaints from learners with disability or learning difficulties two of which were learners with EHCPs who the College, for safeguarding reasons, were unable to enrol. The learners appealed but the decisions were upheld.

A Governor established there was slightly more females attend College than male but not proportionate to complaints. A Governor questioned the complaints relating to maths and English and a summary of each complaint and the resolutions was provided by the Vice Principal.

NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

The report reflected the outcomes of the Student/Governor Focus Group held on 19th December 2020 at the Peterlee campus and was presented by the Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance. Eight Students from various subject areas attended the meeting. Again, the meeting was regarded as very positive and issues reported did not relate to Teaching and Learning. The issues raised related to bus times and routes, air conditioning and heating, laptops, increasing student activities and quality of food. All of these issues had been considered by College Management Group and students had received feedback of actions taken.

Following a governor’s enquiry, the contract of Arriva bus service and comparison to previous arrangements were explained and it was established there was one more year left on this contract.

NOTED
Governors considered the outcomes of the 19th December 2019 Student/Governor Focus Group, management responses and actions taken.

Finance and Resources Update This item was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities. The Director of Estates joined the meeting to present this agenda item.
(The Director of Estates left the meeting).

NOTED
 The Board noted the contents of the report.

This item was presented by the Vice Principal's Finance and Business Planning and was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities.

NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

Engage Admission Policy and Engage Exclusion Policy were presented by the Vice Principal Curriculum & Performance who advised of minor changes to the documents.

APPROVED The Board approved the:
• The Engage Admission Policy
• Engage Exclusion Policy

The report was presented by the Clerk to the Corporation who explained the process to new Governors and the Board reviewed the confidential Items.

AGREED
The Board agreed that the items set out in schedule A and B remain confidential until the next annual review other than those items highlighted in red which were approved to be made publicly available.

The 2020/21 proposed meeting dates were received by the Board.

The report was presented by the Clerk to the Corporation who advised of a very successful staff governor election resulting in two staff Governors to be considered to join the Board, one academic, S Nicholson, and one non-academic, M Etherington.

Link Governors were invited to make contact with appropriate members of staff to set up Link Governor roles. Governors were advised that the link governor role was to inform decision making at Board level rather than be in any way operational. Link Governors were asked to consider how their feedback, as Link Governors, would benefit the decision making of the Board.

The Clerk advised that the committees’ composition had not changed since the last meeting. The Clerk had identified more appropriate Board meetings at which to provide further updates to Governors on issues arising from the last self-assessment questionnaire, so the updates were deferred to those meetings. The self-assessment process was on track. An explanation of the purpose and process of the Governor one to one meetings with the Chair of Corporation was provided. An updated appraisal form would soon be circulated including a skills audit for completion by Governors. Forms were to be returned to Jane Maughan and once received one to one meetings with the Chair would be arranged.

APPROVED
The Board approved the appointment for two years until, 26 February 2022, of S Nicholson and M Etherington as staff Governors.

a) Next Board meeting 21st May.
b) The Principal undertook to inform Board members of the outcome of the TES Awards.
c) The Chair advised of the potential to hold a Strategic Planning event at a later date to be determined, and gave a summary of the emerging issues discussed at the recent Chairs and Principals AoC meeting including: the future of the sector; implications of budget; the concept of the College of the Future and the role of FE Colleges in general. Once further information was known these issues would form the basis of the Strategic Planning meeting and set the direction of the College for the next three years.