Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Randall Anderson, Deputy Keith Bottomley, Alderman Sir Peter Estlin, Caroline Haines, Alderman Nicholas Lyons, The Rt Hon. The Lord Mayor, Alderman William Russell, Ruby Sayed.

The Chairman noted the disappointing lack of attendance and was encouraged to write to the Education Board membership in that regard.

Henry Colthurst noted his trusteeship of Governors for Schools in respect of item 12 on the agenda.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 14 November 2019.

The public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 14 November 2019 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Education Board’s Public Outstanding actions. The following matters were raised:

·         8/2019/P – this action was due to be presented to the Board under item 12 of the agenda

·         9/2019/P and 10/2019/P – both actions would be reported to the March 2020 meeting.

·         15/2019/P – The matter was closed on the understanding that advice on the Education Board’s specific involvement with the City of London Corporation’s Sports Strategy would be provided at a later stage.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Education Board’s annual review of its terms of reference.

Members considered the recommendation of the Policy & Resources Committee and further advice from the Comptroller & City Solicitor’s representative. It was agreed that paragraph 4 (j) be amended as follows: “assist with promotion of skills training and education-business link activities, in line with the City of London Corporation’s Skills Strategy.”

RESOLVED, that

·         The terms of reference of the Board be and approved for submission to both the Policy & Resources Committee, as set out in Appendix 1, with an amendment to paragraph 4 (j);

·         Any further changes required in the lead up to the Court’s appointment of Committees, be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman; and

·         The frequency of meetings remains at six per calendar year, noting that one of these meetings may be converted to an informal away day.

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

NB – This item features a Non-Public appendix at item X.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding an update on Governor Appointments at the City of London Family of Schools.

Members discussed the implementation of their recommendation that all governor appointments within the Family of Schools should align with the academic year. It was felt that the same parameters ought to be set for appointments to the Academies Trust Board, however Members were advised that this process would require further approvals.

This recommendation to appoint governors in line with the academic year was approved by COLAT at their Trust Board meeting in December 2019 along with a number of other governance recommendations proposed by the Education Board at its meeting in July 2019. The only recommendation that was not agreed, related to the imposition of a minimum of two, and a maximum of four, Common Councillor governors on each Governing Body.

It was noted that the Boards of Governors of the City’s independent schools had, for their co-opted governors, adopted the recommendation to align terms of appointment to the academic year.

RESOLVED that:

·         the appointment of Caroline Haines as Chair of Governors to the Local Governing Body of Newham Collegiate Sixth Form, City of London Academy (NCS), be noted;

·         the appointments of Anna Foreshaw, Andriea Vamadevan and Catherine Danner to the Local Governing Body of NCS for four-year terms, be noted;

·         the appointment of Sarah Matthias, Naureen Bhatti and Neela Moorghen to the Local Governing Body of City of London Primary Academy Islington (CoLPAI) for four-year terms, be noted;

·         the resignation of Ann Holmes as Chair of the CoLPAI Governing Body, be noted;

·         the appointment of Shireen Fraser to the Local Governing Body of City of London Academy Highgate Hill (CoLAHH) for a four-year term, be noted;

·         the reappointment

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

Members received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding an update on the City of London Corporation’s Education Activities.

Following a question, it was confirmed that the newly established Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Forum was attended by colleagues from each of the City’s Family of Schools, including the independent schools.

Members briefly discussed the benefits of sharing learning with livery companies with educational responsibilities, particularly in relation to safeguarding. Given the infancy of the DSL Forum, it was agreed not to invite such external participation until a culture of sharing was fully developed. Other methods of shared learning were also being explored.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

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

Members received a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding an update on the Education Board’s Budget for the 2019/20 financial year.

RESOLVED, that the report, including spend to date, be noted.

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

Members received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the City of London Schools’ Conference 2019.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

10.31 – Deputy Philip Woodhouse left the meeting. The Town Clerk announced that the Board was no longer quorate, and the meeting was adjourned for 10 minutes under Standing Order 36 (3).

10.41 – The meeting was declared inquorate. Members present agreed to hold an informal meeting to consider the remaining items on the agenda.</AI9>

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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 City Premium Grant January 2020 funding round for academies.

It was noted that impact of City Premium Grants is reported to the Board at its November meeting, on an annual basis.

Members present fully supported the applications and noted that the recommended approvals would be sought from the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

10.44 – Tijs Broeke joined the meeting.

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 annual report of the Virtual School for the 2018/2019 academic year.

The pupil roll of the Virtual School had grown significantly over the past year. of the cohort at present is predominantly male unaccompanied asylum seekers. There had only been boys within the most recent intake, but the School did have girls within its cohort.

It was understood that before arriving in England, refugees may have been advised to declare themselves in the City of London.  All pupils without proof of age are required to undertake age assessments and those people determined to be adults, are removed from the Virtual School’s register. These decisions could be appealed. In such cases, until resolved, they return to the School register, until the position is clarified.

Tuition classes had been set up for students who had not yet been placed in schools to enable them to start their learning. Some schools were reluctant to accept students near exam time or at particular key stages.

The 10-week enrichment project with the City of London School had been incredibly valuable for students and teachers of both schools. It was hoped that follow-up projects would take place.

Members heard that one of the biggest challenges for the Virtual School was developing the students’ proficiency in English. It was suggested that additional English language teaching resources would have a big impact for the students.

The report was commended and noted.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (CGO) and Director of City Bridge Trust.

Members considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust regarding the revised eligibility criteria for the City of London Corporation Combined Education Charity (CEC) and the City Educational Trust Fund (CETF).

Members were informed that the proposed changes had been supported by the Community and Children’s Services Committee without further comment.

It was noted that the Charity objects for CEC included provision for persons born in the City of London and that this provision was not reflected in the policy. It was explained that the eligibility policy could be narrower than the objects. Members also reflected on the fact that the City of London no longer had an operating hospital within its limits and therefore the number of individuals that qualified within this category, was diminishing.

Members noted their support of the report’s recommendations.

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

Members received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the evaluation of the Governors for Schools employability project.

It was noted that the impact of the project had been a little disappointing, although it was considered good that 328 governors had accessed the resources and were consequently better trained than they had been.

Members briefly discussed the general systemic underestimation of the power and responsibility a governor holds.

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

The Town Clerk noted that, this being an informal meeting of Governors without decision making powers, it was not open to the public and the note of the meeting would be considered private.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2019.

Consideration of the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2019 was deferred to the March 2020 Education Board meeting for approval.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Education Board’s Non-Public Outstanding Actions.

It was noted that action 10/2019/NP would likely come as part of the annual safeguarding report. It was hoped this report would be ready for submission in November 2020.

This is a Non-Public appendix relating to item 6 on the agenda.

The appendix was noted.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the Chamberlain regarding the Education Board’s proposed itemised budget for the 2020/21 financial year.

It was noted that the COLAT Central Services grant had been reduced following a decision taken by the Education Board in November 2017. This grant was thus due to cease in the Financial Year beginning April 2021.

Members discussed the need for an estimated £20k to be found within the budget to pay for internal and external legal fees that were likely to be incurred in supporting, as sponsor and co-sponsor, the transfer of the  City Academy Hackney and City of London Academy Islington to join CoLAT. It was noted that there is no provision for the academy conversation in the Education Board’s budget and so clarity would need to be provided on where funds would be resourced. The Chamberlain advised that required funding would be allocated through a viament from within the existing Department of Community and Children’s Services budget.

Members supported the proposed itemised Education Board Budget for the 2020/21 Financial Year for submission to Policy and Resources Committee for final approval which can be found in Appendix 2 of the report.

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

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding applications to join the City of London Academies Trust.

Members were informed that not all staff at the City Academy Hackney and City of London Academy Islington were aware of their proposed transfer to CoLAT. A reactive press release on the subject was due to be circulated on 27 January 2020.

Both KPMG and City University were keen to continue their support for the respective co-sponsored academies. It was expected that their on-going support would be formalised in writing in due course. Discussion between the various parties were on-going.

Members were fully supportive of both co-sponsored schools being transferred to the City of London Academies Trust.

Members were in support of the recommendation that the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, provide the City’s written consent as required under the CoLAT Sponsorship Agreement to the expansion of CoLAT by the transfer of TCAH and COLAI, subject to the Town Clerk being satisfied of the outcome of the Due Diligence in each case.

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

This item was deferred to the next meeting.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding an update on the Tomlinson Review. The following matters were raised:

·         The Town Clerk noted that the report would be going to Policy & Resources Committee in February 2020, not January.

·         Members discussed the recommendation for a technical pathway. This proposal was due to be considered within a review of Sixth Form provision, that had already been commissioned.

·         Concern was raised about grant applications being submitted to the Education Board by the City’s Family of Schools for projects that should be covered under core government funding.

·         The question of the funding balance between the academies and independent schools was due to form the focus of conversation at the forthcoming City Grants Education Spending Working Party.

·         It was requested that the Tomlinson Review be submitted for consideration within the City of London Corporation’s Governance Review.

Members noted both the report and noted Sir Mike Tomlinson’s Review, and endorsed the CGES Working Party’s recommendations made in respect of the Review.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.