Agenda and minutes

With the Board’s consent, the order of business was amended as follows.

Apologies for absence were received from Randall Anderson, Tijs Broeke, Alderman Nicholas Lyons, Rachel Bower and the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor, William Russell.

Alderman Sir Peter Estlin noted that he was Chair of the Association of Apprentices.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 1 July 2021.

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 1 July 2021 were approved as a correct record.

At this point the Chair took the opportunity to express the Board’s thanks to Daniel McGrady, outgoing Lead Policy Officer (Education, Skills & Culture), for his contribution to the Education Board over the previous three years, particularly in relation to the Tomlinson Review. The Board noted the success of the projects he had contributed to during his time at the Corporation and wished him well in his new role.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Town Clerk regarding outstanding public actions of the Board.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Nomination Sub-Committee’s proposed changes to the Co-Opted Member appointment process, including the introduction of a skills audit.

RESOLVED, that the proposed skills audit and Co-Opted Member appointment process be approved.

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

The Director of Community and Children’s Services was heard relative to the COVID-19 and return to school update. The following points were noted:

• The Education Unit were committed to ensuring that all pupils experienced as much normality and stability as possible in the return to school and remained hopeful that the upcoming academic year may experience less disruption to education, especially with most adults having been vaccinated and those pupils aged 16 and above or Clinically Vulnerable and over 12 years of age being urged to be vaccinated.
• Schools were being contacted via their local authorities to participate in the rolling young persons’ vaccine programme. The Unit would keep schools updated of any changes in Governmental directives regarding staying safe and healthy in school. By now, schools should have received extra supplies of PPE and home test kits. New lateral flow test devices were being delivered to schools that make the testing quicker and easier, requiring nasal swabs only. 
• Maximising face to face attendance in education settings in the new academic year would aim to counter the detrimental impact of the last 18 months.
• There had also been changes to requirements around periods of isolation which was hoped to make organising pupils and staff a little easier.
• Face coverings were no longer recommended in education and childcare settings, but still recommended on dedicated school or college transport in line with Government expectations to wear face coverings in crowded areas when prevalence is high.
• On Saturday 21 August it was announced that CO2 monitors would be provided this term to state-funded education settings, including early years, schools and further education providers, backed by £25 million in Government funding.
• These would enable staff to identify areas where ventilation needs to be improved and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working, helping

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

The Director of Community and Children’s Services invited representatives from the City Family of Schools to present to the Board their recent progress in relation to tackling racism.

The Co-Headteacher of Redriff Primary School provided a brief presentation outlining the school’s approach to identifying and providing interventions for underachieving groups, which consisted of three waves of intervention. Members noted the success of the school’s focus on improving reading in the school and that behaviour policies were being developed to aid their longer-term strategy.

A Member sought further clarification of one of the charts used in the presentation slides and it was confirmed that it represented percentages of those that were in groups of higher risk of underachieving.

Another commended the school on the steps taken to recover the previous reading standards following a temporary decrease one year but enquired what lessons could be learned from the year before this which would allow the school, as well as others, to pre-empt any future declines. It was confirmed that staff had identified previous changes in school staffing and reading routines that may have led to this and that it had been addressed in their longer-term strategy.

The Principal of the City of London Academy, Highgate Hill then offered a presentation to the Board highlighting concerns regarding the English Literature curriculum offered across Key Stages 3 and 4 (KS3 and KS4) and how the school was working to address this. Students within the schools had identified a lack of diversity in the pieces studied which led to the school inviting the student body to suggest alternative books for inclusion in the KS3 curriculum. Members noted that KS4 curriculum pieces were currently restricted by the AQA Board.

One Member raised the question of how the Board could offer support to the City Family of

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’s educational, cultural and creative learning, and skills related activities.

The Board were reminded of the upcoming away day, scheduled for Monday 11 October 2021, and that the agenda would be circulated shortly.

The Chair thanked the Lord Mayor for his recent activities in supporting educational skills and representing the Corporation at relevant events.

The Chair also reminded those who wished to attend any listed events to contact the Education Unit. Calendar invitations were due to be sent to Members’ City email addresses shortly.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

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

Members received a joint report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the Chamberlain regarding the Education Board’s Budget update for the 2021/22 Financial Year.

It was again highlighted that there was a predicted overspend on salaries. Officers were looking at mitigating actions and the Board could expect an updated balance sheet in due course.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Director of Community and Children’s services.

The Chair requested that Item 10 and Item 11 be considered together.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services regarding an update on Governor Appointments and a report of the Town Clerk regarding a Governor Appointment that was ratified under urgency procedures.

The Clerk began by offering a clarification that the appointment of the Chair of the City Academy Hackney was ratified by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair, rather than approved by them as it stated in the report at Item 10.

The Board noted that all appointments were now up to date and officers thanked the Clerks of the relevant Local Governing Bodies for providing prompt updates.

A Member informed the Board that, contrary to the report, Jonny McIntosh was an elected Parent Governor at the City of London Academy, Shoreditch Park.

A Member of the Board, also Chair of City of London Primary Academy Islington, informed the Board that the school had recently been awarded the honour of ‘Governing Board of the Year’ at the Islington Education Awards 2021. The Chair, on behalf of the Board, congratulated the Governing Body on this achievement.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

Members received a report of the Director of Open Spaces providing an overview of the Open Spaces learning programme from 2019 to 2021, highlighting how it adapted and engaged audiences throughout the pandemic.

Highlights included:

• A series of activity sheets, designed to help those with limited resources, having been delivered via food banks
• Virtual Epping Forest exploration sessions for young refugees, and
• Adapted Covid-safe outdoor only programmes for schools which placed an emphasis on improving mental health during lockdown.

RESOLVED, that the report 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 an evaluation of the London Careers Festival 2020.

Officers gave a brief presentation outlining the key outcomes of the festival which included:

• Over 20,000 bookings were made and, with many bookings being for large numbers of students, it could be estimated that the number of children with bookings reached around 50,000 in total. No cancellations were received.
• 55 webinars took place with over 50 employers involved.
• 181 schools engaged with the festival, with 25% of these being from outside of London.
• Feedback received had been very positive, with many being complimentary of the virtual environment.

The Board congratulated officers on the success of the virtual event and noted that plans were underway for the 2022 festival, with hopes for a hybrid format which would allow three days to be dedicated to engaging in person attendees and a further three days to take place virtually, allowing a wider outreach.

A Member suggested that the feedback forms should be split into separate forms relevant to each stakeholder, to gain more meaningful results. The Chair confirmed that it was recognised that there were some areas for improvement in evaluation techniques but that officers were already working to develop these for the following year.

RESOLVED, that the report and presentation be noted.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Chief Financial Officer, Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust, the Director of Innovation and Growth, and the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members received a joint report of the Chamberlain and Chief Financial Officer, Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust, the Director of Innovation and Growth, and the Director of Community and Children’s Services presenting a combined annual report of the Responsible Business, Social Mobility, Digital Skills and Climate Action Strategies for 2020-21.

The Board were reminded that reporting on these strategies was not a statutory requirement but that officers volunteered to provide meaningful evaluation of their progress to Members. They noted that ongoing work resulting from the Tackling Racism Taskforce recommendations complemented the strategies well.

Members were reminded that the upcoming away day would focus on issues surrounding social mobility.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

There were no questions.

There were two items of urgent business.

Outreach Programme

A Member informed the Board of a recent meeting with the Senior Outreach Officer at St Anne’s College, Oxford about trialling a new higher education outreach programme at the City of London Academy Southwark. The Board would be kept updated as this progressed.

Livery in Education 2021 Booklet

The Chair reminded the Board that the latest edition of the Livery in Education 2021 Booklet and offered copies to those present at the meeting. Those unable to attend in person would receive a copy either by post or in their Guildhall pigeonhole.

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 1 July 2021.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2021 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Board’s non-public outstanding actions.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Report of the Heads of the City of London School for Girls and City of London School.

Members received a report of the Heads of the City of London School for Girls and City of London School providing an update on the progress of the City Junior School.

The Chair to be heard.

The Chair invited the Chief Executive of CoLAT to address the Board, providing an update on the CoLAT Sixth Form Strategy.

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 standards scrutiny meetings of City Sponsored Academies.

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 2021 results data for the Family of Schools.

There were no questions.

There was one item of non-public urgent business.

To agree the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2021.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2021 were approved as a correct record.

A Member asked for further detail regarding the overspend mentioned at Item 9. It was confirmed that this was an overspend on salary for the role of Director of Academy Development - it was planned for this role to have expired as a result of the Target Operating Model, but due to unforeseen delays in the process this was not yet able to occur.

A Member also raised a point of concern regarding Item 21, the sixth form strategy update. They recognised that attracting pupil numbers at sixth forms was a challenge faced by many schools and could result in budgetary complications, but felt that it should continue to be monitored closely by the Board in the coming months due to the financial and reputational risk of the Corporation as sponsor to CoLAT. They suggested that as well as high quality education being offered, the sixth forms must work to provide a diversity of curriculum and a strong marketing strategy for secondary school leavers to ensure that numbers were achieved.

The Chair recognised that this was a concern shared by many but confirmed that it would continue to be monitored closely by the Board. It was highlighted, however, that it was difficult to maintain a balance between adequate scrutiny (as a key responsibility of the Corporation as sponsor) and not exceeding this by adding unnecessary additional layers of Governance.