County Consultative Committee - Minutes

Summary Report

Meeting: County Consultative Committee comprising of Councillors and East Sussex Governors’ Forum (ESGF).

Date: 12th July 2023

Present: Councillors – Bob Standley (Chair), Colin Belsey, Roy Galley, Alan Shuttleworth

ESCC Officers: Clare Cornford, John Murray, Charlotte Johnstone, Rosie O’Brien (Minutes).

Members of the ESGF: Karen Marr, Denise Kong

Apologies: Monica Pell (JBL unable to access).

 

Item

Decisions and Outcomes

Action

1

Minutes of Previous County Consultative Committee 29/03/2023

The minutes were noted as a true record with no further comments.

 

2

Apologies for Absence

Monica Pell sent apologies. Accepted by all members.

 

3

Disclosure of Interests

No interests were declared.

 

4

Urgent Items

No urgent items.

 

5

Academies Update (Standing Item)

Verbal update from JM.

Since the last meeting:

·         Little Common School is in the process of joining DCAT in Autumn 2023.

·         St Andrews Infant School is in the process of joining DCAT in Autumn 2023.

·         Tollgate Junior School is in the process of joining DCAT in Autumn 2023.

·         Chantry Primary School is in the process of consulting around becoming an Academy with DCAT. Should this go ahead the timescale is to be confirmed.

 

JM stated that proportionately more secondary schools are academies. At primary, proportionately more schools are maintained.

 

6

Local Authority Governor Appointment and Governor Services Update

Update from CC.

Since the last meeting there have been 2 Local Authority Governor Appointments to Pashley Down Infant School and St Philip’s Catholic Primary School and more applications have been submitted and are being processed.

Governorhub has been further updated and there are currently only 212 Governors not signed up. There will be work done over the summer break on this.

Only 1-2 training sessions were cancelled within the year.

 

From September, there will be new sessions added to the list that Governor Services offer.

These include:

·         Governance of the School Curriculum.

·         Evidencing Challenge.

·         Leadership on the Board.

·         SEND.

 

Since September 2022 there has been 199 new governors, and 21 expressions of interest.

Recruitment is an area being picked up in the 23-24 academic year.

 

DK added that she has recruited a good governor from Governor Services recruitment.

KM stated that Governorhub has a lot of positives, it is successful and helpful.

 

 

7

ESCC Education Division Restructure – Further Update

Update from JM.

Phase 3 of the restructure is complete, and the restructure has almost been finalised.

This will create many new opportunities for staff.

 

JM updated the Councillors with the new Inclusion and Partnerships lead – Katie Ridgeway, who will join some future County Consultative Committee meetings.

 

8

ESGF Verbal Update for Councillors

To include:

·         Celebration and Review of Good Governance.

Update from KM & DK.

DK is now the Chair of the ESGF.

Members of the ESGF discussed the upcoming celebration of good governance and expressed how the main focus on the meeting is the positive outcomes of governance within the last academic year.

This includes positive feedback received from networking sessions.

The ESGF has reflected on work with boards over the year and how the networking sessions will be continued into the 2023-24 academic year.

 

One area the ESGF would like to develop is recruitment to the ESGF as several vacancies have opened.

The councillors agree that governor input is essential throughout the academic year.

 

 

9

County Consultative Committee 2023-24

It was agreed that the current set up will be continued into the new academic year.

This includes 3 meetings over the year approximately the same times as the previous year (November, March & July).

 

10

Any other items previously notified under item 4

N/A