Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

A report of the Town Clerk informed Governors that the Skills Working Party had recently undertaken a skills and effectiveness review. The review had asked all Governors of the Board to comment on various aspects around the work of the Board and the management of meetings with regard to best practice and guidance from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Leadership Foundation. It explored Governors’ understanding of the Board’s role, the input into and quality of meetings, the governance and clerking support received by the Board, and Governors views on communication from the School. It went on to assess personal skills and attributes including specialist and technical areas relating to the School.

The non-attributable results of the effectiveness survey demonstrated that overall Governors were satisfied with the administration of the Board and that the role of the Board was understood. The results showed that Governors felt reports to the Board contained relevant information but could be more concise in nature, the length of Board meetings could be shorter and that a separate Governor’s online portal could be made available to provide Governors with access to relevant material i.e. the Strategic Plan and other key documents.

The results of the skills audit demonstrated that the Board was strong in areas of governance, strategic management and business planning and that Governors had an interest and knowledge of the arts. There was, however, a lack of identified skills with regard to fundraising.

The review also highlighted that the Board was comprised of a number of Governors who had specific and relevant skills and knowledge to carry out their role, such as Governors who sat on other educational governing bodies and some with qualifications in Education, Music, Stage Management and Theatre, which all served to strengthen the governance of the School.

The Chairman explained that following the Skills Working Party meeting a number of actions were agreed for recommendation to the Board which were set out at Appendix C of the report.

A lengthy discussion took place with reference being made to the following points:-

·      The main areas where there was a gap of skills related to both fundraising and specialist experience in the Higher Education sector.

·      When future appointments were considered people with a background in the Higher Education sector would be looked at to include people who may have retired from another conservatoire.

·      The two new Governors to the Board would be invited to complete the skills and effectiveness survey.

·      A working document would be produced to demonstrate the skills each Governor had, along with the expiry date of the Governor’s term.

·      In terms of training opportunities for Governors it was noted that this would take place at Board meetings with an agenda item in the form of a presentation looking at various aspects of the School's operations.,.

·      In relation to the recent Safeguarding training it was pointed out that an extension to the completion date would be appropriate as the process for completing the relevant training was unclear.

·      In response to a question by a Governor, the Assistant Principal undertook to investigate whether students should on occasion be invited to give a presentation at Board meetings to provide insight into the student experience and offer any general feedback they may have.

·      An Away Day would be arranged for late October/early November, offsite, for Governors. It was emphasised that the format of the Away Day should not replicate a Board meeting and should perhaps include a facilitator with the content of the session being carefully devised.

·      Paragraph 1, on page 47, would be amended to remove ‘public relations’ as a skills gap. The third paragraph on page 3 would be amended to show that a lack of identified skills from the skills audit related to fundraising and Higher Education sector specialists.

·      Paragraph 13 under Appendix C would be amended to include reference to a review of issues relating to public and non-public items on the agenda and the sequencing of both public and non-public items with a view to using time as efficiently as possible.

·      In relation to the timing of meetings it was felt that there would be little merit in scheduling an additional Board meeting each year and that the current Board meetings should continue to allow Governors the time to engage in debate on agenda items to ensure that Governors' skills are deployed to the School's best advantage.

RESOLVED – That Governors note the contents of the report.