2015-May

Meeting Held on TUESDAY 19 MAY 2015 AT 7:14PM

PRESENT:                   Yvonne Hall (Chairperson), Stuart Cameron (Principal), Ann Skelton, Fleur Howard, Darren Wright, Rachel Dippie (Staff Representative).
IN ATTENDANCE: Jill Pears (Associate Principal)
                                    Sally Kent (Deputy Principal)
                                    Mark Lodder
                                    Elizabeth Studholme
                                    Sue Stevens (recording minutes)

APOLOGIES: Paul White
Ann Skelton for lateness
INTRODUCTION / GENERAL

1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
The Chairperson declared the meeting open and welcomed everyone, especially Jill Pears.

2. SPEAKING RIGHTS
Resolved: That J Pears and M Lodder are granted speaking rights at the Board of Trustees meetings until the next election in May 2016.
Moved:            Y Hall             Seconded: D Wright    Carried

3. CO-OPTING OF NEW MEMBERS
Resolved: That E Studholme is co-opted onto the Board of Trustees through until the next election to provide expertise in the area of community liaison.
Moved: Y Hall             Seconded: D Wright   Carried

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Resolved: That the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting held on 21 April 2015, having been circulated, be approved and adopted as a true and correct record of that meeting.
Moved: D Wright         Seconded: F Howard Carried

Resolved: That the minutes from the In Committee part of the meeting held on 21 April 2015, having been circulated to those Board members present at the meeting, be approved and adopted as a true and correct record of that meeting.
Moved: D Wright         Seconded: F Howard Carried

5. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
·   S Cameron has been informed that the data requested from the Ministry at the last Board meeting should be received tomorrow. He will forward this onto members when received. D Wright noted that the lack of financial numbers will have an impact on the submission listed later in the agenda.

6. CORRESPONDENCE

INCOMING
·   ERO Report

OUTGOING
·   None

CURRICULUM

7. SCIENCE AREA REPORT TERM 1 2015
The budget for this area was discussed. The need for a budget will be taken into consideration when putting together the budget for next year. S Cameron will follow-up a specific question asked by D Wright about the 13 Year 7 students who were deemed to not be achieving at the expected level for Science but should be at the end of the year.

7:29 pm A Skelton joined the meeting.

8. CONFIRMED ERO REPORT
The final ERO report has been received. This will be made available to the community via a summary in the Board Talk and the website. Y Hall will write the Board Talk.

STRATEGIC

9. SUMNER SCHOOL SUBMISSION ON PROPOSED CLOSURE OF REDCLIFFS SCHOOL (Y Hall)
This is a draft. Members were requested to forward feedback to Y Hall by the end of this week. D Wright would like to consider the financial implications for Sumner School once the financial information is received from the Ministry tomorrow. Another heading will be added under ‘Financial’. Another draft will be produced following the receipt of members’ comments. The Board will inform the community of the contents of the submission.
An alert will be placed on the Sumner School website reminding the community they have until 1 July to make a submission.

10. BAYS CLUSTER SUBMISSION ON PROPOSED CLOSURE OF REDCLIFFS SCHOOL (Y Hall)
This was written by Redcliffs School. It is the final submission, not a draft. S Cameron and Y Hall meet with the Cluster Principals and Chairpersons two weeks ago to discuss this and other points regarding the technology hub. This document resulted from this meeting. The Board discussed the technology hub and the semantics of the submission. Board members were requested to send any further suggestions to Y Hall within 24 hours. Subject to this the Board will sign it.

11. PECCS UPDATE (A Skelton)
The presentation given to the community last Wednesday by Mark Osborne has been filmed. P White will upload this to the website and the community will be informed it is available to view. Future presentations and the compilation of FAQs for the community were discussed.

GOVERNANCE

12. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT (S Cameron)
The Principal’s report had been circulated prior to the meeting and was taken as read. S Cameron discussed the following:
The school being fully utilised: about 50 Yrs 1 & 2 students play rugby and netball on the grounds.
The China connection – there is a company in New Zealand that brings teachers into schools to work on a reading programme and teach Chinese to some students.

Anneke Wilkinson will be taking over from R Dippie in Term 3. Kimberley Ristrom has started a New Entrant class, which will be at capacity halfway through Term 3. This is earlier than anticipated. Another New Entrant class will therefore start late in Term 3.

Resolved: That the Principal’s report is accepted.
Moved: S Cameron     Seconded: A Skelton Carried

13. FEEDBACK ON SAMOA TRIP (S Cameron)
This was a fantastic experience. If he was to do it again there would be some minor itinerary and adult:child ratio changes. Feedback and reflection from the students is still being assessed.

14. FINANCE
April Financial Statements
The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Uncommitted Funds Projection for April and the minutes of the May finance meeting had been circulated prior to the meeting and were taken as read.

D Wright commented that banked staffing is much higher than at the same time in previous years. This is due to the change in the way we are utilising it with fixed-term part-time appointments for regular daily teacher release. S Cameron commented that trying to estimate the amount of sickness required is difficult, and this also impacts on our banked staffing use.
The conservative estimate of uncommitted funds at year end is now $462,024 compared to $350,578 at this time last year.
Resolved: That the April financial reports are accepted.
Moved: D Wright         Seconded: A Skelton Carried

The Board decided to provide something special for the staff this term due to the long term. A programme of focusing on the staff was suggested. R Dippie to canvas the staff for feedback.

15. U-LEARN AND STAFF SCHOLARSHIP (S Cameron)
A group of six teachers have approached S Cameron regarding going to U-Learn in the school holidays at a cost of approximately $8,300. This is not able to be accommodated within the 2015 Professional Development budget approved by the Board at the beginning of this year. Options for funding this are:

·   Overspend budget
·   Reduce the number of teachers going to stay within budget
·   Use the staff scholarship

The Board discussed these options and decided to overspend the Professional Development budget.
Resolved: That the Professional Development budget is increased by $5,000 for this year.
Moved: D Wright         Seconded: A Skelton Carried

16. COMMITTEE MAKE-UP (Y Hall)
The make-up is:
Property:                                 D Wright, P White, S Cameron
Finance:                                 D Wright, S Cameron, J Pears
Personnel:                               A Skelton, P White, F Howard, S Cameron
Curriculum:                             Y Hall, E Studholme, J Pears, S Kent
Health & Safety/RAMS:          A Skelton, F Howard
PECCS:                                  S Kent, P White, A Skelton, Y Hall, F Howard, E Studholme, S Cameron

As part of succession planning the Board decided to invite anyone interested in joining the Board at the next election (May 2016) to attend and observe Board meetings.
The Board discussed the number of members and decided to increase them to seven. Y Hall will investigate this process.

17. RAMS FOR YEARS 7 AND 8 SKI TRIP (Y Hall)
To address the concern felt by members regarding the competency of the adult helpers, beginner skiers are not counted as adult helpers. The RAMS have changed so that parent helpers are allocated with the students they are responsible for skiing with all day. The adult:student ratio is 1:5.

The teacher in charge has been corresponding with Travlon in writing. Buses with seat belts don’t go up the mountain. Travlon have responded in writing regarding the competency of the drivers and the criteria surrounding the buses capabilities for ascending the mountain road.

The Board discussed using the Mt Hutt shuttle bus, either from Methven or from the bottom of the mountain. The cost of this versus the safety payback was discussed. The Board has grave concerns with the bus services they have used in the past ascending the mountain. The Board will approve the RAMS on the condition that the Mt Hutt shuttle bus is used to transport the students up and down the mountain.

18. GRANT APPLICATIONS (S Cameron)
S Cameron has discussed options with the Leadership Team. The Board considered shade options for the playground, robotics gear, and ICT equipment.

Resolved: That the Board applies to The Canterbury Community Trust for funding of $10,000 for robotics.
Moved: D Wright         Seconded: Y Hall       Carried

The Board will apply to The Southern Trust for funding for shade sails once the decision regarding Redcliffs School is known.

9:44pm There being no further business the meeting closed.

DATE FOR NEXT MEETING: 23 June