Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor, Henry Colthurst, Deputy John Bennett, Stuart Fraser, Roy Blackwell and Tim Campbell.

Reverend Dr Martin Dudley

City of London Academy Islington

Alderman Peter Estlin

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

Barclays LifeSkills, Senior Advisor

Guildhall Advisory Board (Business & Law Faculty of City University)

The Worshipful Company of International Bankers

Christopher Hayward

Member of the Court of Governors – Christ’s Hospital

Governor – Bridewell Royal Hospital

Governor – City of London School for Girls

Member of the Court of The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers

Deputy Catherine McGuinness

Board of Governors of 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

The Worshipful Company of Educators

Virginia Rounding

Board of Governors of The City Academy Hackney

Alderman William Russell

Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Board of Governors of Knightsbridge Schools International

Board of Governors Knightsbridge School

Court of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

Trustee of Place2Be

Helen Sanson

Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership

Ian Seaton

Board of Governors City of London Freemen’s School

Board of Governors City of London School

Board of Governors City of London School for Girls

Board of Governors Bridewell Royal Hospital

Donation Governor Christ's Hospital

David Taylor

X

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

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 15 October 2015 were approved as a correct record, subject to a typographical error in item 11 (Education and Adoption Bill) being corrected.

Matters Arising

Sir John Cass Foundation

The Director of Community and Children’s Services confirmed that the City of London Corporation had made a further request to the Sir John Cass Foundation for the Sir John Cass Primary School to expand, and that the Foundation’s response had been encouraging. The Director noted that it was also possible to request that the school accept a bulge class in 2016.

To review a list of outstanding actions.

A list of outstanding actions was received.

The Director of the Museum of London to be heard.

The Director of the Museum of London updated the Board on the recently launched City of London School Visits Fund. So far 1,712 pupils had benefited from the fund, of which £10,000 had been committed. 35 schools had applied to the fund, including 21 maintained schools, 8 academies, 5 special schools and 1 free school. The average pupil premium entitlement among applicant schools was 43%. Tower Bridge was proving the most popular venue for visits, followed by the Museum of London.

In response to a request, the Director agreed to circulate a written note outside of the meeting.

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

The Board considered an update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the Education Strategy and the following comments were made.

·         The Chairman noted the forthcoming City Schools Concert was on 26 January 2016.

·         The City Schools Prefects’ Dinner on 12 November had been a success, but nevertheless more Education Board members should endeavour to be present at future events to maximise the positive outcomes of the dinner. Other City stakeholders such as Innovate Finance could be included.

·         A member noted the recent speech at the TUC regarding the future impact of robotics on employability.

·         The City Corporation could usefully engage with youth clubs to explore ways in which to build ‘soft skills’ in pupils of the City Schools.

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

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

·         There was potential for higher education and the Livery to feature more in the refreshed strategy.

·         Overall the refresh was a good synthesis of the City Corporation’s education activity but it arguably lacked aspiration or sense of strategic direction. For example, it did not anticipate the growing importance of digital skills.

·         An informal ideas session involving members and officers to inform the final draft of the strategy would be useful before it came back to the Board for final approval in the New Year.

RESOLVED, that

·         Subject to the comments of the Board, the refreshed Education Strategy and the further consultation with relevant Committees be endorsed.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services – to follow.

The Board considered and approved a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the governance of the City’s sole sponsored academies. The Chairman placed on record her appreciation for the support offered to the proposals by the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the City of London Academies Southwark.

RESOLVED, that the following recommendations be put to the Policy and Resources Committee and the Court of Common Council for approval.  

1.    The City of London will have one legal entity to continue to deliver the academies for which it is sole-sponsor and that this entity should be the City of London Academies (Southwark) (“Southwark MAT”);

2.    The City of London Primary Academy Islington (COLPAI) undertaking should be transferred to Southwark MAT and the COLPAI company be wound up and this recommendation will be made to the members of that company who are all City Corporation officers and elected Members;

3.    Consistent with (1) above the City Corporation would recommend to the Southwark MAT that the company change its name to the “City of London Academies” and that the registered office be transferred to the Guildhall;

4.    The City Corporation as sponsor exercises its rights to make the following changes to the Southwark MAT’s company members –

a.    by replacing the current members (whether by resignation or removal); and

b.    to appoint up to four new members of the company, to be the Chairman and a Deputy Chairman of the Policy Committee, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Education Board.

5.    It be recommended to the members of the company, once appointed under 4 (b) above, that they adopt new Articles of Association effective on a named date (“the transition date”) which reflect the current Department for Education (DfE) model multi-academy trust (MAT) Articles

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered and approved a report of the Town Clerk on the appointment of a City of London Corporation member to the Board of Governors of the City of London Academy Islington (COLAI).

RESOLVED, that

·         Henry Colthurst CC be appointed as City of London Corporation sponsor governor of COLAI for a term of four years, to commence on the date that the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor’s resignation as sponsor governor is confirmed.

Report of the Town Clerk – to follow.

The Board considered and approved a report of the Town Clerk on the appointment of governors to the local governing body of the City of London Academy Southwark.

RESOLVED, that

·         The fact that current arrangements for making governor arrangement to the City of London Academies (Southwark) MAT LGBs will form part of the current review of the governance of the City of London sole sponsored academies.

·         The appointment of Gill Walsh and Jenny Rodericks as governors of the City of London Academy Southwark LGB be endorsed.

·         The reappointment of Deputy Bill Fraser as governor of the City of London Academy Southwark LGB be endorsed.

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

The Board considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding revenue budgets for 2016/17. The Chairman noted that the Board would be seeking a carry-forward of the proposed 2015/16 spend on a teaching conference.

RESOLVED, that

·         Subject to the Chairman’s comment, the 2017/17 revenue budget be agreed and submitted to the Finance Committee for approval.

·         The Chamberlain be authorised to revise these budgets to allow for further implications arising from the agreement by this Committee of specific allocations of funding to academies and central support services.

Report of the City Remembrancer.

The Board considered a progress report of the Remembrancer on the City of London Scholarship. A member expressed disappointment that only five candidates had been considered for the inaugural scholarship and suggested that in future, if take-up remained low, that multiple smaller grants be awarded rather than a single, larger grant.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered and received a report of the Town Clerk on the process for the Presentation of a child to Christ’s Hospital. 

Fairer Funding

In response to a question from a member over the extent to which a fairer funding formula would mean reduced funding for inner city schools such as the City of London academies, the Director of Community and Children’s Services replied that fairer funding proposals were currently out for consultation ahead of implementation in 2017. In the meantime the Remembrancer would be making appropriate representations to the consultation.

Latin American Saturday School – Sir John Cass

The Chairman noted that a letter had been sent to many members of the Board regarding a Latin American Saturday School that was having difficulty in securing funding. Members noted that as a bilingual project, the school could usefully approach a multi-national company with links to the Latin American world.

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.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2015 were approved as a correct record.

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

The Board considered and agreed a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding due diligence reports on new school proposals.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered and agreed a report of the Town Clerk on Service Based Reviews – fees, scholarships and bursaries at the City of London Corporation’s independent schools.

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

The Board considered and received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on Secondary projected examination results for 2016.

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

The Board considered and received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on un-validated KS1 and KS2 RAISEonline data.

Non-public appendix to accompany item 9 – to follow.  

Members received a non-public appendix relating to appointments to the City of London Academy Southwark Local Governing Body.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.