MEETING MINUTES
British Primary Council Meeting
Meeting:
Date:
Thursday 23rd May 2019 Large Conference Room, EPC
Duncan Millward(DM), Aidan Stallwood(AS) Present:
Charlotte Hsu(CH), Emily Rogers(ER), Ed Swift(ES), Jeni Wong(JW), Michael Norris(MN), David Gatley(DG), Elizabeth Bottomley-Chang(EBC)
Location:
Apologies:
Emma Unsworth(EU)
Minutes produced by:
CC.: Minutes Point
1.
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Item Previous Minutes (Matters arising) • DG has followed up with the maintenance team to ensure that tree pruning does not impact shade in the summer time • DM shared that the teacher nominations have been submitted and there will now be a voting process. • Minutes were accepted. Head’s report(DM): DM went through a summary of the Head’s Report: the link to this report is here: May 2019 Head’s Report • Admissions - numbers for next year shared. May 27th Key date for leavers as this is when fees are paid. There will be some more leavers over this period, however figures so far are down on last year. •
Staffing – DM reported that the section is fully staffed for 20192020. MN - questioned over staffing complement, focused on Learning Assistants for PE and Music. DG - shared he is aware and looking to get key Learning Assistant in place Page 1 of 5
Aidan Stallwood
Actions or solution
Responsible Deadline
Complete the Teacher voting process
DM
June 2019
next year. Acknowledgment of a positive recruitment process and that the new 20192020 staffing structure is positive. Discussion items: Curriculum Review 2018-2019 Based on the annual plan created at the start of the year as a Council. Green - made good progress Orange - moving towards achieving them Red - more work needed DM notes that a lot has happened and there has been a great deal of success this year. •
3.
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Try to involve more student voice next year – there have been opportunities in school but for the council next year. CPD continues to be a strength, and money needs to be invested in this each year Curriculum Resourcing has been positive this year Changes to facilities, and the development of the EPC Plan has been slower than we would have liked. Noted councils for all sections will present opportunities for getting things in place. School structure – there is more clarity around line management, however in regards to Board level there is more to be done. Student management system not progressing yet. DG has stated he thinks we will get something in place. MN - questions any new development on the website. DG linked it to online portal with the admin system and working in stages. DM noted PSHE programme and wellbeing programme have had a lot of development thanks to JW. Page 2 of 5
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Area to work on - playtime provision highlighted
Achievement levels – looking at achievement levels from the summative data recently completed, shows the students are performing and progressing well. This information will be shared with the new council in the new academic year.
Share end of year assessment information and analysis
AS/ LC
September 2019
Share in the newsletter information about the new timetable structure
DM
June 2019
Next year - BPS strategy review 2019-2020 DM shared the work that the staff have done with Chris Jansen (Leadership Consultant). This has set out a plan for what needs to be done by the end of the academic year, for next year and also looking beyond. Council members had an opportunity to add to this for areas they would like to see included for next year and the future. Progress reaching these targets are on track. Timetable 2019-20 DM shared that the staff have worked with the French and German section on creating an hour timetable. This has significant implications for positive lesson structure, curriculum improvements and general running of the school. There will be not much impact on parents except they will see more curriculum specialists through the year, rather than split years. Start time of the day needs to be shared as lessons will start at 8.00am and parents need to ensure children are in by 7.55am. Chinese Language and Culture Programme DM and DG shared the setup for this. Driving force is the provision for the students. • Enhancing home language in reception by including a new EYFS teacher Page 3 of 5
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that will work across the 4 classrooms and teach in Chinese, but in line with the Early Years curriculum DG - Met with Eowyn Crisfield - skype session with staff in the future and discussion around use of LA’s effectively. DG would like to roll the new Reception approach into Year 1 the following year. Then in Year 2 have a potential bilingual classroom. DG imagines one group for the year group who opt in. Following English National Curriculum, parts taught in both. E.g. Social studies in Chinese. Children will need to be able to reach a certain level. At the moment extra cost for the school not parents. DG will share this at the end of this year, explain start of next year. Need to distinguish the difference of daily language and language to access a curriculum. DG - one suggestion following talks with EC - LA speaks English, but PSHE problems LA should talk in home language. Give children with no English or Chinese a device with Google translate for communication. CH - make sure DG communicates this clearly and carefully to gain parental support. DG said this would happen and shared his Spanish experience. Y1-Y6 - more links between British section and CLC lessons. Discussion over the ties for areas of learning. Reflection on the CFL group. ESC shared. 2 CFL groups, including transition group, next year to offer more opportunities to build on Chinese. Sharing of great opportunity for CLC with the budget increase from 100,000NTD to 1,000,000NTD.
Share the changes to the Chinese programme to parents and staff
Page 4 of 5
DG
June 2019 and August 2019
CEO’s Report: Thank you from the CEO, learned a lot together. Hopes that next year can be better. Contributed to all of these meetings, but Duncan Millward special mention for his hard work and preparation for the meetings.
4.
DG - proposes he or new head speaks to staff about the council meetings monthly to share what has been discussed. Discussion on developing information communication to parents and using PTA alongside it. Discussion on timing for these meetings. Potential dates to go in for next year and a 3.30pm start time.
AOB:
6.
Send council members proposed dates for 20192020
DM
By end of May 2019
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Conference in May 2019 ‘Families in Global Transition’ NGO based, ER attended this. TCK(third culture kids) good practice being shared. NIST hosting. ER has suggested to DG that TES join as a school - four memberships https://www.figt.org/ .
Join FIGT
DG
August 2019
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Emergency drill Monday: Taipei wide, something in the newsletter this week.
Add to newsletter
DM
24/05/2019
Meeting finished at 8:20pm
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