Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Stuart Fraser, Christopher Hayward and Philip Woodhouse.

Deputy John Bennett

Barbican Centre Board

Board of Governors of the City of London Freemen’s School

Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Tim Campbell

Bright Ideas Trust

Board of Governors, St. Bonaventure’s School

Henry Colthurst

Board of Governors, Mossbourne Community Academy

Board of Mossbourne Federation

Member of Court of the Worshipful Company of Grocers

Reverend Dr Martin Dudley

City of London Academy Islington

Alderman Peter Estlin

Treasurer, Bridewell Royal Hospital - King Edward's School, Witley

Barclays LifeSkills, Senior Advisor

Guildhall Advisory Board (Business & Law Faculty of City University)

Deputy Catherine McGuinness

Board of Governors of The City Academy, Hackney

Castle Baynard Educational Foundation & Alderman Samuel Wilson Fund

United Westminster Schools Foundation

Board of School Governors and Council of Almoners, Christ's Hospital

Barbican Centre Board

Guildhall School Development Fund

Alderman The Lord Mountevans

Board of Governors of the City of London Academy Islington

Council of Almoners, Christ's Hospital

Virginia Rounding

Board of Governors of The City Academy Hackney

Alderman William Russell

Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Board of Governors of Knightsbridge Schools International

Board of Governors Knightsbridge School

Court of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

Trustee of Place2Be

Helen Sanson

Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership

Ian Seaton

Board of Governors City of London Freemen’s School

Board of Governors City of London School

Board of Governors City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors Bridewell Royal Hospital

Donation Governor Christ's Hospital

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 25 June 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2015 were approved as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Sir John Cass School Expansion

In response to a question from a member, the Director of Community and Children’s Services noted that the issue at stake was the lack of transparency around the Sir John Cass Foundation’s decision to veto the school expansion given their close, positive engagement in the project to date.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members reviewed the outstanding actions and made the following comments.

·         Contingency planning for Sir John Cass expansion should be incorporated as an action.

·         Special Interest Areas should be mapped out and established as soon as possible outside the meeting

·         The timings of meeting should be brought forward to 3.00pm with immediate effect.

·         The current outstanding actions should refer to a ‘bank’ of potential school governors.

·         The Town Clerk noted that the Education Board handbook would be submitted to the September meeting.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Board agreed to vary the order of business so that the item regarding Governance of City Academies was considered after the item on the Education Strategy Refresh.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding additional funding for the City Academies. A member suggested that, in principle, additional funding should not be used to fund academy running costs, such as the capital purchase of IT equipment, though other members suggested caution and considered that each application should be considered on its merits. Another member noted that governing bodies should be made aware of applications before submission to the Education Board.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         note the evaluation reports for the projects carried out in academic year 2014/2015,

·         endorse the proposal to allocate £150,000 to COLAI on the condition that COLAI submits a revised breakdown to the Education Unit detailing how the allocation will be spent,

·         endorse the proposal to allocate £150,000 to COLAS to support the projects outlined in the application,

·         endorse the proposal to allocate £150,000 to TCAH to support the projects outlined in the application, and

·         endorse the proposal to allocate £50,000 to Redriff Primary School to support the projects outlined in the application.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk inviting them to comment on a further iteration of the Education Strategy from 2016. The following comments were made.

·         There should be greater clarity how many new academies the City of London Corporation should consider sponsoring, over what timeframe and in what location. 

·         The vision could be more definitive and linked with the City Corporation’s wider strategic aims.

·         The current strategy provided too much detail and could be pared down to ensuring scrutiny, support and synergy across the City Corporation’s education portfolio. Some of the introductory explanation was no longer necessary.

·         It was important however to build on the current strategy rather than start from scratch, which would risk losing the ground gained so far.

·         There was discussion whether current strands one and two should be combined, as there was considerable overlap.

·         Key priorities for 2016  should be clearly set out.

·         The refreshed strategy should incorporate greater focus on ‘soft skills’.

·         The strategy should reflect the Board’s dual oversight of the City Academies and the wider City Corporation’s education ‘offer’.

·         Post-18 education should feature in the strategy and reference made to any universities, further and adult education with which the City was involved (e.g. the Guildhall School; City University).

·         The Board should examine and evaluate what each of the City Schools was delivering.

·         The strategy should reflect the Board’s role as an oversight body with a remit to challenge existing policy and provide fresh ideas for executive decision-making committees and boards.

·         The strategy should continue to reference the potential of partnership with the Livery in this area.

·         Work-based learning should be embedded within the strategy.

RECEIVED

Deputy John Bennett and Roy Blackwell left at this point of the meeting.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services (to follow).

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the governance of the City Academies. The Chairman noted that, given the accountability of the City Corporation for the levels of performance in the City’s academies, it was important to consider establishing a strategic governance model of the academies that afforded the Board greater control. Members noted that an overarching Multi-academy Trust (MAT) model seemed to be the best solution in the longer term, but that any model adopted would need to take account of the City Corporation’s co-sponsors.

Members then resolved to exclude the public to discuss this item in the non-public section.

RECEIVED

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding the application by City University London to join the University of London Federation.

RECEIVED

There were no questions.

Delegated Authority – City of London Primary Academies Southwark & Islington

The Board considered two tabled requests for delegated authority regarding the academy projects for the City of London Primary Academy Southwark and City of London Primary Academy Islington.

RESOLVED, that Members in relation to the City of London Primary Academy Southwark,

• Note progress made to date with respect of discussions with DfE / EFA and the results of the design team procurement.
  
  
• Delegate approval of the Gateway 4C report to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of the Projects Sub- Committee (Gateway Project Procedure) and Education Board (academy element).

In relation to the City of London Primary Academy Islington,

·         Note progress made to date with respect of discussion with DfE / EFA and the results of the design team procurement.

·         Delegate approval of the Gateway 4C report to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Projects Sub- Committee (Gateway Project Procedure), Community and Children’s Services Committee (housing element) and Education Board (academy element).

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

Items 11-13     Paragraph(s) 3

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2015 were approved as a correct record.

Governance of the City Academies

Further to the public item on governance of City Academies, Members were briefed on the potential for a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) model to govern each of the City Academies in light of two of the academies being jointly sponsored with another party.  

Sir John Cass Foundation Primary School Expansion

The Director of Community and Children’s Services briefed members on the current situation around the Sir John Cass Primary School expansion.