Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Reverend Dr Martin Dudley.

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

Stuart Fraser

Board of Governors City of London Freemen’s School

Board of Governors City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors City of London School

Alderman The Lord Mountevans

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

Alderman William Russell

Board of Governors City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors of Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Board of Governors Knightsbridge Schools International

Board of Governors Knightsbridge School

Court of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

Trustee of Place2Be

Ian Seaton

Board of Governors City of London School

Board of Governors Bridewell Royal Hospital

Donation Governor Christ's Hospital

Philip Woodhouse

Board of Governors of the City

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Town Clerk introduced a report on the appointment of two candidates to the remaining co-opted member vacancies on the Board, noting that the two candidates were recommended for appointment by the Board’s Nominations Working Group.

RESOLVED, that members,

·         Appoint Tim Campbell (Bright Ideas Trust) to the Education Board for a four-year term concluding 4 March 2019;

·         Appoint Helen Sanson (Tower Hamlets Business Enterprise Partnership) to the Education Board for a three-year term concluding 4 March 2018.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 15 January 2015.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2014 be approved as a correct record, subject to the reference to £50,000 being removed from the item on the draft budget allocation for 2015/16.

Matters Arising

Education Board Handbook

Following a comment by a member, the Town Clerk noted that a handbook was being drafted covering the remit and membership of the Board, and this would include information, for the benefit of members, on the officers involved in the work of the Board. Furthermore, the Chairman suggested that the Board be provided with name cards, to be placed in front of attendees at each Board meeting to ensure officers and members were familiar with those present.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Chairman introduced a report of the Town Clerk on the Board’s terms of reference, noting that each grand committee had the opportunity to review its terms of reference annually to ensure they remained fit for purpose. The following points were made.

·         The Chairman noted the decision of the Court of Common Council when establishing the Education Board to make it necessary for all appointments of academy governors to be referred to the Court for approval. She contrasted this approach with the fact that the Community and Children’s Services Committee had, before the Education Board was established, the power to appoint academy governors without referring to the Court of Common Council. The Director of Community and Children’s Services agreed that in this context a case could be made for the Education Board to be granted the power to appoint academy governors, without the need to refer to the Court.

·         The Deputy Chairman noted that it was also important that the City Corporation utilise a skills-based selection approach for all appointments made to Boards of school governors.

·         A member commented that it would be useful for a paper on the various boards and bodies that the City Corporation appointed governors to be submitted to the Board for information. The Chairman agreed, and remarked that this was perhaps a matter for the upcoming review of outside bodies.

·         The Deputy Chairman queried whether co-opted members of the Board should be granted a vote in Board matters. The Town Clerk noted that co-opted members had been explicitly granted the vote when the Board was established.

·         The Town Clerk noted the proposed change to the quorum for the appointment of external members: this would change from the current 5 Common Council members plus 1 co-opted member, to 5 Common Council members only. This would ensure

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

The Chairman introduced a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services that updated members on recent activity undertaken in the delivery of the Education Strategy. She then welcomed the Director of the Museum of London to the meeting and invited her to update members on the work of the Learning and Engagement Forum (LEF). The Museum Director made the following remarks.

·         The City Corporation was a great ‘family’ of outreach that had great potential to deliver impact. For example the London Metropolitan Archives had recently received a Stamford Award, the first UK archive to do so.

·         Activity undertaken by the LEF in autumn 2014 had included a ‘Picnic with Paddington’ and a Youth Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, a partnership between the Barbican Centre and the Southbank Centre.

·         Great Fire of London workshops had proved popular, involving 9000 pupils. This project threw up questions around how existing assets such as archaeology were used effectively.

·         The Museum of London had undertaken some items of teacher training following the addition of prehistory to the national curriculum. In addition the Barbican Centre was assisting 3 teachers of school music.

·         The LEF had convened an event at the Museum of London for 240 pupils from the City of London Academy Southwark’s Year 7 on 22 January 2015. The day’s activities were designed to help increase pupils’ understanding of the history of the City.

·         In response to a question from a member, the Museum Director replied that the LEF aimed to roll out its combined outreach across London but was first focusing on building relationships with City Schools.

·         In response to a question from a member, the Museum Director replied that it was the aim of the LEF to ‘engage every school child’, an aspiration first adopted by the Museum of London, an

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

The Director of Community and Children’s Services introduced a report on the Board’s proposed budget allocation for financial year 2015/16. He noted that the proposed budget allocated £500,000 to the City Academies and £150,000 to the Education Unit. There remained flexibility in the budget for the Board to formulate its ‘ask’ for future years.

The Deputy Chairman commented that it would be useful to be given an idea of how much funding was allocated to each strand of the strategy. A member agreed, and noted that some allocations were ill-defined, arguably dissipating value across a myriad of initiatives.

RESOLVED, that members endorse the Education Board’s budget allocation for Financial Year 2015/16 as set out within the report.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board received a report of the Town Clerk on actions taken since the last meeting, namely the recommendation of the Board under urgency procedure to the Court of Common Council, the appointment of Andrew McMurtrie as Company Member of the City of London Academies (Southwark) in the room of Reverend Dr Martin Dudley.

RECEIVED

The Director of Community and Children’s Services to be heard.

The Director of Community and Children’s Services provided a verbal update for the Board on the progress of the City Corporation’s two applications to the Education Funding Agency, noting that a decision was due on or around 17 March 2015.

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

A report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on progress on Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy and Strategy was received.

RECEIVED

There were no questions.

Livery Fair

A member noted the upcoming Livery Fair on [DATE].

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 15 January 2015.

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Nominations Working Group held on 15 January 2015 were received.

RECEIVED

The minutes of the meeting of the Nominations Working Group held on 17 February 2015 were received.

RECEIVED

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

The Board considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

There were no questions.

The Board considered one item of urgent business related to Free Schools.