Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Rehana Ameer, Alderman Emma Edhem, Soha Gawaly, Sylvia Moys, Deputy Richard Regan, Deputy James Thomson and Deputy Philip Woodhouse.

Apologies for lateness were received from Alderman Prem Goyal.

The Chairman advised the Committee that Sir Michael Snyder had recently stood down from the Board of Governors and thanked him for his exceptional contribution to the City of London School for Girls over many years.  Shravan Joshi had been elected to the Board of Governors by the Court of Common Council on 5 March 2020.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 2 December 2019.

In considering the minutes of the previous meeting, Professor Anna Sapir Abulafia requested that her apologies for absence be recorded.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting be approved as an accurate record, subject to the above amendment.

To receive the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020

RESOLVED - That the public minutes and non-public summary of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020 be received.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk outlining Outstanding Actions.

RESOLVED – That the Outstanding Actions report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding the Annual Review of the Board’s Terms of Reference. 

RESOLVED – That:

·         The Terms of Reference be referred to the Policy and Resources Committee and the Court of Common Council for approval;

·         The frequency of meetings of the Board remained appropriate; and,

·         Any further changes to the 2020/21 Terms of Reference be delegated to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk presenting updated terms of reference of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee of the City of London School for Girls for approval. 

RESOLVED – That the updated terms of reference for the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee of the City of London School for Girls be approved.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered the report of the Headmistress which provided an update on forthcoming events, lettings and health and safety and the following points were made:

·         Due to ongoing concerns around COVID-19 (Coronavirus), all educational visits up to Easter 2020 had been cancelled and the situation would be reassessed at the start of the Summer 2020 term.  There would be a cost implication to cancelling trips and work was underway to recover costs wherever possible.

·         The School was always delighted to welcome Governors to spend a day attending lessons in a specific subject or shadowing a particular year group.  The Assistant Head, Teaching, Learning and Research would be contacting Governors to arrange visits for the forthcoming term, and the Chairman asked Governors to consider how visits could help them in the delivery of their designated Governor roles.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a report of the Headmistress providing a compliance update and the following points were made:

·         The City of London School for Girls had appointed a Compliance Manager, shared with the City of London School, to provide additional capacity to deal with the increasingly complex compliance requirements in schools.  The Compliance Manager was now in post and was working to coordinate levels of compliance across key areas of the School’s functions including meeting the requirements of the Independent Schools Standards Regulations, health and safety, fire safety, human resources and risk management.

·         The Audit and Risk Management Committee of the City of London Corporation had met on 28 January 2020 to consider outstanding audit recommendations of the City of London School for Girls at which it had been confirmed that action had been taken on all 23 outstanding recommendations, and that six items had been closed.  Work to close the remaining outstanding recommendations remained on track.

·         In considering the detailed Risk Register:

·         Consideration was being given to whether a specific risk should be added for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) or whether this should be escalated to issue management.  The Chairman requested that an update on COVID-19 be added as a standing item to all future meetings of the Board of Governors. 

·         A risk had been identified around the robust management of Tier 2 and Tier 4 visa applications, required to enable a small number of the School’s pupils to study within the United Kingdom, and the Board agreed that this be added to the Risk Register.

RESOLVED- That the current Compliance position be noted.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Bursar of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and Bursar presenting the Risk Register 2019-20 for the City of London School for Girls Bursary Fund incorporating the City of London School for Girls Scholarships and Prizes Fund and the following point was made:

·         Risk 1: The Income from Investments in the Charities Pool may Decline had been RAG-rated as ‘Amber’.  This had been identified by the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee at its meeting on 14 February 2020, and the Committee had agreed to look at this in more detail at its next meeting.

RESOLVED - That:

·         Members’ comments on the Risk Register 2019-20 for the City of London School for Girls Bursary Fund incorporating the City of London School for Girls Scholarships and Prizes Fund be noted; and,

·         It be confirmed that the register satisfactorily set out the risks facing the charity and that appropriate measures were in place to mitigate those risks.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk outlining changes to the City of London Corporation’s Teachers’ Code of Conduct relating to the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition on Anti-Semitism.

RESOLVED - That the amendment to Paragraph 44 of the Teachers’ Code of Conduct be noted.

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 Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2019.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the previous meeting be approved as an accurate record.

To receive the draft non-public minutes of the Academic Working Party held on 12 February 2020.

RESOLVED - That the non-public minutes of the Academic Working Party meeting held on 14 February 2020 be received.

To receive the draft non-public minutes of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020.

RESOLVED- That the non-public minutes of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020 be received.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk outlining non-public Outstanding Actions.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board approved the report of the Headmistress which provided information on non-public matters in relation to the School.

The Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls to be heard.

The Board considered a presentation by the Senior Consultant, RSAcademics outlining the findings of the recent School Pulse Survey.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a report of the Headmistress regarding the management of arrears of fees at the City of London School for Girls for the Autumn 2019 term.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Bursar of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Bursar on the Financial Information Dashboard.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a report of the Headmistress on the emerging estate strategy of the City of London School for Girls.

To receive a resolution of the Finance, General Purposes and Estates Sub-Committee of the Board of Governors of the City of London Freemen’s School to the Establishment Committee.

The Board considered a resolution from the Finance, General Purposes and Estates Committee of the Board of Governors of the City of London Freemen’s School to the Establishment Committee on notice periods.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board received a report of the Town Clerk regarding action taken under urgent or delegated authority since the last meeting.

The Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls to be heard.

The Board heard the Headmistress on the Year 13 Leavers’ Ceremony 2020.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.

All other officers except the Headmistress, the Bursar and the Clerk left the meeting during consideration of the confidential agenda.

To receive the draft confidential minutes of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020.

RESOLVED - That the confidential minutes of the Finance and Estates Sub-Committee meeting held on 14 February 2020 be received.

Confidential Appendices to be read in conjunction with Agenda Item 18.

The Board considered confidential appendices of the Report of the Headmistress.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

(Appendix 3 – To Follow)

The Board considered a confidential report of the Headmistress on the staffing structure at the City of London School for Girls.

Report of the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls.

The Board considered a confidential report of the Headmistress outlining the findings of the Teaching Salary Benchmarking Review.