Minutes:
John Constable explained that the terms of office for a number of members had ended in the summer or at the beginning of the current academic year. Following a proposal agreed at the July Forum meeting, a letter had been written to the Headteachers and Chairs of Governors of Slough maintained schools seeking their agreement to extend their terms and, as a result, Carol Pearce, Navroop Mehat, Angela Mellish and Maggie Waller had been reappointed as members for a term of two years until July 2019.
A similar letter had been written to academy proprietors and, as a result, Gillian Coffey, John Constable, Helen Huntley, Jo Rockall and Nicky Willis had been reappointed for a term of two years ending July 2019.
Of the three remaining vacancies on the Forum for academy representation, agreement had been received for two of these to be filled by Kathleen Higgins and Valerie Harffey, School Business Manager at Ryvers Primary School. The one further vacancy was open until 20 October, 2017.
One school response had commented that only one of the Forum maintained members was a headteacher. Cate Duffy queried the membership balance as governor representation was low from the academy sector. It was noted that this was not the case for the maintained sector where, as the number of academies had increased, the current maintained provision had decreased and maintained school members now comprised one Headteacher, one School Business Manager and two governors. John Reekie was also a governor, representing an academy school: all agreed this was an issue to be mindful of.
One academy response also emphasised that having the capacity for full attendance was particularly important given the likely discussions around the impact of the national funding formula arrangements.
It was felt it was important that governors had an understanding of Schools Forum, particularly during this challenging period for schools. Members were asked to encourage their governors to attend meetings of the Forum, in the role of observer.
It was felt there was an issue around communication as emails sent to school general or enquiry email addresses did not always reach their destination. The Clerk would create an accurate list of Headteachers and Chairs of Governors and Cate Duffy indicated that the LA is drawing up an up to date list of academy proprietors.
Due to reappointments, nominations were invited for the position of Chair and, following due process, Maggie Waller agreed to take the Chair until June 2018.
Maggie Waller in the Chair
Nominations were invited for the position of Vice Chair and, following due process, John Constable agreed to take the position of Vice Chair for a one year term.