Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Henry Colthurst, Deputy John Bennett, Rev Dr Martin Dudley, The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor, The Lord Mountevans, Christopher Hayward, Virginia Rounding and Roy Blackwell.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 14 January 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2016 were approved as a correct record subject to a typographical amendment to Item 12 (Questions - Review of the City of London Academies Multi Academy Trust).

A list of outstanding actions was received.

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

Members considered an update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the Education Strategy. The following points were raised.

·         The Director agreed to provide Members with a list of businesses being approached to take part in the planned careers fair in April 2016.

·         Members noted the success of the City Schools Concert held at Guildhall in February 2016.

·         A member noted that the City law firm roundtable to promote apprenticeships had similarly been a success.

·         The Education Strategy Director noted that the City of London Academies Trust had now been constituted and its Board had held its first meetings. The next meeting was scheduled for the end of March, and the current work of the board included academy applications for two new schools in Newham and Islington. He added that the relationship between the City Corporation and the Trust would be kept under review.

·         Members noted that, given the government’s academy target, it was likely that the City Corporation would be approached with a view to expanding its existing academy sponsorship.

·         In response to a suggestion from the Chairman, the Town Clerk agreed to look into convening discussion breakfasts for the Board.

Report of the Director of the Museum of London.

Members received an update on the Learning and Engagement Forum (LEF) and viewed a short video presentation on Special Education Needs (SEN) work undertaken by the Museum of London. The following points were made.

·         The Museum Director (chair of the Learning and Engagement Forum) noted that membership of the LEF was expanding, with St Paul’s Cathedral recently invited to join the forum.

Ian Seaton arrived at this point of the meeting.

·         The Museum Director noted that the creation of the LEF had promoted greater coordination among its member organisations, bringing together a diverse range of skills to create a stand-out programme.

·         The Chairman noted that the LEF model had generated interest from the Arts Council England and Ofsted.

·         The Museum Director noted that the LEF had undertaken a range of pilot projects and was conducting research to establish what demand there was for further LEF projects. She estimated that the total cost of the LEF would be £300k per annum.

·         The Museum Director agreed that the LEF would approach Charterhouse and that at present the LEF was focusing on outreach with the City academies.

·         The Museum Director noted that cultural outreach improved employability prospects through nurturing soft skills. Moreover, the New Museum Project would include the recruitment of an apprentice from each London borough.  

·         The Chairman noted that some schools had been obliged to use their School Visits Fund grant to pay for entrance fees rather than on transport: this issue had now been dealt with through entrance fees being waived.

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

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the Education Strategy Refresh. The following comments were made.

·         Reference to academy clusters should reference south, east or north ‘London’ to avoid the implication that that the City planned to expand its offer nationally. This part of the strategy should emphasise ‘consolidation’ rather than ‘growth’ and it should also be clear that residents were entitled to access City academies.

·         Links to other City of London Corporation strategies should be referenced on the last page.

RESOLVED, that the refreshed Education Strategy be submitted to the Court of Common Council for approval.

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

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on officers as governors. Members noted that officers should be, where possible, provided more time away from work to undertake governing duties, and that staff in the City of London Corporation’s Education Unit should not be precluded from becoming governors in City schools. The Board noted that the proposal related to City academies rather than the wider family of City schools.

RESOLVED, that

·         Subject to the agreement of the Policy and Resources Committee, officers of the City of London Corporation with appropriate experience and skills should be eligible to be nominated or appointed to fill appropriate governor vacancies on the City of London Academies Trust local governing bodies where the vacancy does not require the appointee to be an elected member of the Court of Common Council.

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

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on a City of London Corporation database. Whilst members were happy with the report’s recommendation, they requested that officers remain mindful of the potential to include the Livery when seeking to establish a pool of external governors.

RESOLVED, that

·         Individuals who express an interest in becoming a governor at a City School also be signposted to the School Governors’ One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) so that they are aware of and able to access opportunities to become a governor at non-City schools.

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

Members considered and received an update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on a Quality Assurance and Accountability Frame work.

Ian Seaton and Philip Woodhouse left at this point of the meeting.

At this point, a quorum ceased to exist. There being no likelihood of it being re-established, the Town Clerk dissolved the meeting and noted, as per Standing Order 36,  that the remaining items would be submitted to the next scheduled meeting of the Board for consideration. Any items that, in the opinion of the Chairman, required a decision before that meeting would be dealt with under urgency procedure as per Standing Order 41.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

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

Report of the Chamberlain.

Report of the Deputy Town Clerk.

Report of the Town Clerk.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.

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:-

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2016.

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

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

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

The Chairman of the Education Board to be heard.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.