Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Jude Chin, Reverend Dr Martin Dudley, Stuart Fraser, Alderman William Russell and Ian Seaton.

The following standing declarations were made relating to the other bodies which Members of the Education Board served on.

Deputy John Bennett

Board of Governors City of London Freemen’s School

Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Nigel Challis

Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors The City Academy, Hackney

Castle Baynard Educational Foundation & Alderman Samuel Wilson Fund

Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment Educational Foundation

Oxford University Council Integrity Committee

Henry Colthurst

Board of Governors, Mossbourne Community Academy

Board of Mossbourne Federation

Member of Court of the Worshipful Company of Grocers

Alderman Peter Estlin

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

Alderman Jeffrey Evans

Board of Governors City of London Academy – Islington

St Paul’s Chorister Trust

Council of Almoners, Christ’s Hospital

Deputy Catherine McGuinness

Board of Governors 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

Virginia Rounding

Board of Governors City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors The City Academy – Hackney

Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Management Committee

Philip Woodhouse

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

Board of Mossbourne Federation

Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy, Hackney

Chairman of Governors of Wellesley House School

Member of the Court of Worshipful Company of Grocers

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 4 December 2014.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December be approved as a correct record, subject to ‘Principal’ being spelled correctly under item 6.

The Chairman welcomed the Chairman of Policy and Resources to the meeting and invited him to deliver some comments. The Chairman of Policy and Resources addressed the Board and made several points:

·         His personal strategy as Policy Chairman included the desire to substantially increase the City Corporation’s contribution to dealing with London issues, particularly education, employment and cultural opportunities.

·         He had instituted a review of the City Corporation’s approach to education as he felt there was potential to improve the City Corporation’s role as academy sponsor; improve cooperation between the City’s independent schools and the City Academies; improve the City Corporation‘s approach to appointing governors; explore the potential for collaboration with the Livery on matters of education; ensure the City’s support for its independent schools was in line with the City Corporation’s wider strategic priorities, and that the schools were in turn supporting the work for the City Corporation.

·         He was satisfied that the Education Strategy Working Party had examined these issues, and with the Working Party’s outcomes, namely the Education Strategy and the Education Board.

·         As Policy Chairman, he was committed to working with colleagues on the Court of Common Council, London Councils as well as the Mayor of London on a range of initiatives to improve the lives of all Londoners, through employment programmes, infrastructure initiatives, sharing costs and the work of the City Bridge Trust.

·         By delivering on education, the City Corporation would be able to demonstrate some of the substance of its wider contribution to London, with its members making best use of the resources that their predecessors had bequeathed.

·         He wanted to do more on education through the family of City Schools and through outreach. He wanted the current outreach programme to be bigger. He wanted the City Corporation to be a leader in fostering

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

The Director of Community and Children’s Services introduced an update report on recent Education Strategy implementation activity. He noted that officers had received positive feedback from the Education Funding Agency on the City Corporation’s two applications for free schools in Islington and Southwark and that interviews for both applications were scheduled for 5 February 2015.

The Chairman noted that the Department for Education had recently been in touch with Redriff Primary School to notify it of its Pupil Premium Award, and separately to thank the City Corporation for its commitment as an academy sponsor to raising standards and improving the education of students in London.

RECEIVED

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Assistant City Solicitor introduced a report on the City of London’s obligations in relation to disclosure and barring requirements for chairmen and governors on the Board of Governors of the City’s independent schools. He noted that there was little flexibility in the application of the DBS requirements and that both chairmen and governors were required to register with the disclosure and barring service (DBS). Moreover, it was the responsibility of the chairman of each school to ensure that each governor was registered with the DBS. He concluded by noting that DBS requirements were the same for both academy and free school governors as they were for the independent schools. He concluded by noting the requirements were more relaxed in the maintained sector, where under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 only governors engaged in regulated activity were obliged to register with the DBS.

During discussion of the report the following points were made.

·         The Assistant Town Clerk noted that members using the DBS would be registered with the DBS Update Service, allowing them to use their DBS clearance on more than one Board of Governors.

·         The Education Strategy Advisor noted that in the maintained sector, where only governors engaged in regulated activity with children were required to register with the DBS, there was nevertheless some ambiguity over what ‘regulated activity’ was and therefore DBS checks for all governors was considered best practice.

·         The Assistant Town Clerk noted that the City Corporation currently appointed over 70 governors to Boards of the City’s independent schools, City Academies, other schools such as Prior Weston Primary School, but only 2 governors to the Sir John Cass Primary School, a maintained school. Given the vast majority of City Governors were required to register with the DBS, there was an option to make it City

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

The Head of Finance introduced a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the Education Board’s draft budget allocation for 2015/16. During discussion of the report the following points were made.

·         The Director of Community and Children’s Services noted that the City Academies would be required to submit proposals to the Education Board for consideration before funding was agreed. Members concurred with this point and made clear that a defined budget was not an authority to spend – therefore proposals for spending had to be fully justified.

·         The Chairman emphasised the report outlined budget allocations in draft form only, and that there remained flexibility. For example it was unlikely that the livery initiative would require the full [£50,000] allocated.  Members also queried why the Learning and Engagement Forum (LEF) would require a research fund.

·         The Chairman went on to note that it was important to give the City Academies certainty over their level of funding, particularly in light of the financial assistance afforded to the City’s independent schools.

·         In response to a member’s query over how much planning had been undertaken on the proposed Headteachers’ Conference, the Chairman noted that this was a matter for the LEF rather than the Education Board.

·         In light of the Board’s desire to commit to longer term funding proposals for the City Academies, the Assistant Town Clerk and the Director of Community and Children’s Services noted that the City Corporation had two open applications for free schools in Islington and Southwark, and that it was advisable for flexibility in the academy schools allocation to be maintained for future years. The Deputy Chairman suggested therefore that the draft allocation for 2015/16 be agreed with the understanding that longer term funding for the City Academies be revisited in the

Report of the Town Clerk.

This report will be circulated separately.

The Town Clerk noted that this report had been withdrawn.

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 4 December 2014.

RESOLVED: that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2014 were approved as a correct record.

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

The Board received a joint report of the Chamberlain and Director of Community and Children’s Services.

There were no questions.

Nominations Working Group Meeting - 15 January 2015

The Board considered one item of urgent business regarding the meeting of the Nominations Working Group held on 15 January 2015.