Meeting started at 5:30 pm

1. Welcome and Apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. JH had sent apologies that she would arrive a little late, AW had advised that she would need to leave early at 18.45. The meeting was quorate throughout.

2. Pecuniary Interests

No Pecuniary interests were declared.

4. Introduction of four potential Co-opted Governors

IM introduced Jessica Glauser Guiver, Annemarie Hankinson, Tonya Modlock and Ailsa Richardson to the meeting as potential co-opted governors. Everyone introduced themselves and the new governors were invited to introduce themselves.

Annemarie is a parent of a pupil at Swanmore. She works in the NHS and has experience in Public Health. Annemarie is interested in improving health within school and feels she has transferable skills.

Tonya has two children at Swanmore. Tonya is a barrister and is interested in policy and education.

Jessica has a child at Swanmore. She has worked in higher education for 20 years and has experience working in the US and Austria. Jessica believes it is important to give back to the community and she is keen to get involved.

Ailsa has two children. Ailsa works in the chemicals industry within European trade. She describes herself as a chemist and a scientist with leadership skills that she would like to apply in a new field.

17.39 All four candidates were invited to leave the room while a vote was held. IM advised governors that he had met with all the candidates and was satisfied they would complement the existing members.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to co-opt JG, AH, TM and AR to the Board.

17.42 The four new governors were invited to return. IM welcomed them to the Board and that they would bring a fantastic range of experience.  

3. SEND Report from SENDco (GTY)

Paper copies of the SEN report already shared on Gov Hub were handed out. The number of EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) had just increased from 43 to 45. There are 8 more requests for assessment from parents currently in process. Parents do think that having an EHCP will entitle their child to things like 1:1 support but this is not necessarily the case which makes it a challenge to manage parental expectations.

There are increasing SCMH (social, communication and mental health) needs being identified. In college, this includes 9 pupils with EBSA (emotionally based school avoidance) who are not currently accessing education in school at all.

17 of the EHCPs are in Year 7. This is much higher than normal. These pupils all came from their primary school with EHCPs and there are 3 more pending.

5 pupils with EHCPs are accessing alternative provision (AP) outside of school. This is from three different providers, as directed by HCC.

GTY has already been asked to complete consultations for 19 pupils due to start Year 7 in 2026. This is to consider which school will be named on their EHCP. Of these, Swanmore has been named on 7 EHCPs even though GTY has responded that only two of these pupil’s needs could be met.

The report sets out many successes this year in the SEN Team. This includes the provision of the Re-set Room for pupils having time out of class to ‘re-group’.

The challenges include knowing that the numbers of pupils with SEN will continue to increase. Lower levels of literacy skills on entry are particularly concerning. Despite this the SEN team has not increased in size, which is a challenge. This is particularly so for support staff who are doing day-to-day firefighting. There is a need for more training to support staff to deal with these increasing levels of need.

Q: What is the percentage of SEN pupils without an EHCP?
A: 10/12% there are 148 pupils with SEN needs in addition to those with EHCPs.

Q: Do you get support from social services?
A: Often parents with children who have an EBSA need do not meet the threshold for support from outside agencies such as CAHMs. This means we have to look for ways to support those pupils internally. Some parents are being advised that the waiting list for CAHMs is 2 / 3 years. Pupils need counselling, which our staff are not trained for.

Q: Has transition from feeder schools improved?
A: Liaison with our local primaries has improved but the jump for children transitioning to secondary school is huge and they do not always have the maturity to cope. The SEN team reflect on this each year but have limited capacity to do more.

GTY was thanked for her presentation and thanks were also passed on to the SEN team for their hard work and commitment.

18.00 GTY left

5. Minutes of the meetings held on 22 September 2025 including the additional confidential minute

1. The minutes of the meeting were approved and will be signed electronically on Governor Hub.
2. Matters arising and Actions carried forward from this meeting

Actions carried forward from 22 September 2025

Reference	Action	When	Who
10/3/25 Item 3b	MT to speak to HR manager to set up access to the GDPR and Data protection training. 7/7/25 – MT has sources training from The Key and from the National College. The chosen training will be sent out to all governors to complete by the end of term. This is an item on the Safeguarding Audit, so it is important to complete it asap. 22/9/25 – MT has organised the GDPR training and has shared links to this with governors. Another course is also now available on Gov Hub, which takes 30 mins. Any governor who has not done this yet should ensure this is done and noted on their training profile on Governor hub by the end of this half term (24/20/25). On-going to check full compliance.   1/12/25 – Most governors have now completed the training and outstanding training is being chased up. There is also a need for all governors to complete the safeguarding training some have and a reminder has recently been circulated. ACTION ON-GOING to check full compliance	July 2025   August 2025             24th October 2025       By the end of December 2025	MT   MT   All Govs                   Governors who have not yet completed the training
7/7/25 Item 5	HH and PHB to meet the nominated SLT member to review and recommend what data should be included in the HT report. 22/9/25 – HH and PHB are dealing with this and will arrange to meet GRS to identify KPIs for the HDT Report. At this stage it will not be a full set of KPIs, but these will develop from the initial set. On-going   1/12/25 – GRS, HH and PHB have met. The framework has been agreed and GRS is now preparing the first draft.   ACTION ONGOING document to be available for the WGBT on the 2nd March 2026.	Sept’ 2025   By the end of half term 24/10/25             2/3/26	HH / PHB   HH, PHB GRS               PHB, GRS, HH
7/7/25 Item 9	PBR to liaise with safeguarding lead to add a section regarding allegations against college users to the Lettings Policy. 22/9/25 – No up-date available c/f   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	August 2025	PBR
22/9/25   Item 5	SB to add the outstanding payment for Alternative Provision Costs from HCC to the Risk and Opportunities Register.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	By Nov Resources	SB
22/9/25   Item 6g	HDT to arrange for the links on the Child Protection Policy to be made live or removed and for the reference to KJ on pg. 28 para 3 be replaced with ‘Headteacher’.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	asap	HDT
22/9/25   Item 6i	HDT to arrange for the reference to ‘someone’ on p3 para 2 in Designated Teacher Policy to read ‘an appropriate school representative’.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMLETE	asap	HDT
22/9/25   Item 6j	HDT to arrange for the words in headers 5.1 and 5.2 highlighted words to be put in brackets (and remove highlighting).   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	asap	HDT
22/9/25   Item 6	HR Manager (Michelle Smith: MS) to be asked to review Policies to ensure consistency of layout and font – size and style and also how accessible the document is to readers.   1/12/25 – IM has also agreed a front sheet for policies with MS which will include the file reference. ACTION COMPLETE	As policies reviewed	Michelle Smith
22/9/25   Item 7	All governors to complete the safeguarding training shared on a link on Governor Hub recently and to note this on their training record.   1/12/25 – Not all governors have completed yet reminders have been sent out. ACTION ONGOING	By end Sept 2025   By end of December	All Govs     Governors
22/9/25   Item 8	Clerk to add an item to the next full Standards and Wellbeing meeting agenda to debate the approach to the EBacc qualification.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Feb 2026	Clerk
22/9/25   Item 8	GRS to provide a report on the EBacc to Standards and wellbeing to inform the debate.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Feb 2026	GRS
22/9/25 Item 8	Clerk to add PP Pupil Attendance to the Board agenda for 1st December.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Dec 2025	Clerk
22/9/25 Item 10	Clerk to add discussion of New Ofsted Framework to the Board agenda on the 1st December.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Dec 2025	Clerk
22/9/25   Item 11b	GRS to upload the 2025/26 CIP to Gov Hub.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	asap	GRS
22/9/25   Item11b	Clerk to add formal approval of the CIP to BoG agenda 1st December 2025.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Dec 2025	Clerk
22/9/25   Item 12 c	Clerk to add TOR and Protocol for link visits to December agenda.   1/12/25 – ACTION COMPLETE	Dec 2025	Clerk

18.05 JH arrives

6. Finance Report (PHB)

The budget for 2025/26 was set in April and this is reviewed in November in accordance with HCC procedures. SB had shared the reports in advance of the meeting for governors to read. The current overall position is set out in the document called ‘the Big Picture’. There has been minimal change since the budget was set in April. The budget this year is in deficit due to the unfunded part of the staff pay awards this year. Currently the deficit is £348k (three hundred and eight thousand), This figure has increased by £47K (forty-seven thousand) in the re-budget. Some of this comes from £87K agreed so far this year as investment proposals to support the CIP (College Improvement Plan). Both the J Code (RSA) and Y Code (Swanmore Leisure) have improved slightly at the re-budget. The revised figures have been considered by Resources and PHB recommends the November Budget to the Board.

DECISION: The November re-budget was unanimously approved.

PHB went on to advise the meeting that there was £700k currently held in Reserves. Of this, £500k (five hundred thousand) is kept for contingencies. This year the Reserves have covered the unfunded element of the staff pay awards. This means that there is £150k available for investment. This is a sign of a well-managed budget and SB and her team were commended for this.

b) The debt from Swanfest 2024 is now being repaid on a monthly basis.

c) The Alternative Provision investment proposal reviewed by Resources in November was discussed. The committee had agreed the proposal in principle on the basis of a trial period for one year. This involves employing an additional member of support staff to co-ordinate external alternative provision from online sources.

DECISION: The Investment Proposal was approved in principle subject to the adjustments to the proposal discussed at Resources.

7. Policies and Procedures for Approval

1. First Aid Policy (Res Com’) - APPROVED
2. Health and Safety Policy (Res Com) - APPROVED
3. Suspension & Permanent Exclusion Policy (direct to BoG) - APPROVED

Q: What does the reference to ‘gaming’ and ‘off rolling’ in this policy mean?
A: It refers to a practice that has been used in some schools where parents had given the impression that their child should move schools. This has been used by some schools to improve their attendance figures. Schools should not do this.

4. Agree and adopt the HR guidance and policies set out in the HCC Manual of Personnel Practice (MOPP) Policies to be adopted individually (Res Com Sept ‘25)

IM advised the Board that the Union Rep has contacted him about the Sickness Absence Policy saying that this had not been agreed by the unions and asking for an amendment to be included. This needs further consideration and discussion with the HDT so that policy will not be approved at this stage.

ACTION: IM to review with Michelle Smith what Policy approvals can be made in other committees.

IM

All the other HCC MOPP Policies were approved

5. Agree and adopt Financial Policies and guidance HCC -EFS (Res’ Com Sept ‘25) - APPROVED

SLA’s (Resources Com) – All the SLAs below were APPROVED

f.  Hampshire School Staff Absence Scheme
g. Hampshire School Library Service
h. Insurance
i.  Occupational Health and Wellbeing Service
j.  Shared Services (Transactional HR and Pay, Finance and Cash Management)

8. Headteacher's Written Report

The report had been shared for governors to read in advance of the meeting. This started with the College Vision and Values. (Innovation, Collaboration, Challenge).

Pupil attendance was discussed and the data in the report reviewed. Attendance at Swanmore is in the middle of the range for secondary schools in Hampshire even though pupil outcomes are towards the top. This is a disconnect that is being looked at. Attendance of PP pupils (Pupil Premium - disadvantaged children who had received free school meals (FSM) in the last six years) was 88.1% slightly below National figures 88.9%. As the number of PP is increasing year on year this could have a negative impact on overall attendance rates in time as PP attendance tends to be lower than other pupils.

As Swanmore is a rural school and many pupils travel by bus this can have an impact. If they miss the bus, they are not able to attend that day. There is a group of rural schools that meet to look at ways to improve attendance.

The Re-set Room is new and is being trialled this term. Rather than going immediately to the Learning Hub for behaviour infringements, pupils spend a short time in the Re-set Room to de-compress and then return to class. Feedback from staff and pupils being gathered so that the provision can be evaluated. There are pros and cons.

The report also included data on complaints and the enrichment activities offered on Wednesday afternoons. There are 54 different activities that pupils can choose from. Time is available for enrichment activities as pupils at Swanmore do 8 GCSEs rather than 9 this is because college ethos is to value other aspects of education.

The teacher training provided on site in the RSA (Rural Schools Alliance) is still a great benefit to college. Four teachers had been appointed from this in September and having student teachers in school meant good practice was in evidence all of the time.

The report celebrated all the successes for the 2025/26 year so far.

9. College Improvement Plan (GRS / HDT)

The current version of the CIP had been shared with the meeting papers. IM outlined the purpose of the plan for the new governors.

It was agreed that it was important to spend the available money wisely considering carefully how this is allocated to the CIP priorities. This was made more complicated by the overlap of the financial, academic and calendar years.

GRS explained that this now includes the cash flow costs of delivering the CIP priorities. There are some elements still to come for example the IT Strategy. Colour coding has been used to show the information more clearly. The total cost so far is £440K (four hundred and forty thousand) over the next two years. £260K (two hundred and sixty thousand) had already been included in the budget so the remaining costs need to be considered. Priorities for this financial year and next need to be agreed.

GRS and SB were thanked for their hard work to adding the cash flow. This is a very useful piece of work.

DECISION: The College Improvement Plan was unanimously approved.

10. Staff Survey (PHB)

Four documents had been included in the meeting papers

• Full outcomes report,
• Summary of key points,
• Initial SLT response,
• SLT response to the biggest issue ‘not enough time’.

In 2024 the process for the staff survey had taken 5 months this year that has been reduced to 2 months. This means a response to staff is much quicker and makes undertaking 2 surveys a year more manageable.

The response rate has increased each year.

• 2023 – 50%
• 2024 - 71%
• 2025 - 89%

This means the responses are more representative of the whole staff.

PHB pointed out key information from the outcomes.

• There were 22 statements in the survey which staff could rate as ‘strongly agree’ through to ‘strongly disagree’.
• Statement number 7 ‘I have sufficient time to do my role’. Is the statement that elicits the strongest negative response.
• There is a variation in responses to some statements in comparing teaching staff and support staff.
• Teaching staff gave a positive response (0.96) to the statement concerning their understanding of the CIP whereas the support staff response was much lower at 0.26.
• HH indicated that as more support staff had responded this time this could have impacted these results.
• PHB had offered face to face meetings to staff who wanted to discuss their feedback. Last year 24 staff had met with him this year it was 12. Lack of time was the biggest concern. The reasons given for this response had been included in the reports.
• SLT now needed to consider actions that could help staff to do their jobs more effectively. It is hoped this will be an impact of some of the investment proposals.

Q: How is the CIP shared with support staff?
A: During whole staff meetings and Monday CPD time. Support staff line managers also share this. This is not reaching where it is needed at the moment which needs addressing. Staff don’t always make the connection between training they complete and the CIP priorities.

The Headteacher advised governors that GRS has already done a lot of work to address the ‘us and them’ attitude that had been present in the past. Support staff cover a broad range of roles – site, admin and pupil support which can affect their level of engagement.

PHB and GRS are planning another survey in the summer term the plan is to be able to have some impact from this survey before that. Levels of support staff pay is always a problem but there is no easy answer to this. Previously staff had questioned whether their feedback was listened to, they do now feel they have a voice that is heard.

11. New Ofsted Framework

IM had shared a summary document setting out the new Ofsted framework. This does still rely on the outcome of a short visit by Inspectors which does not feel like a step forward.

Q: If safeguarding is not ‘met’ what is the impact?
A: Safeguarding arrangements are checked at the start of the inspection. It is an immediate failure if this is not met.

The meeting discussed the Ofsted system and what it covers. The process is now more collaborative with more meetings throughout the process and the headteacher being able to respond. The wellbeing of the headteacher has to be an important factor during inspections now. SEF (Self Evaluation Form) document and the value of this as well as the timing as it needs to be informed by the GCSE results and comparative data is not available until the autumn term. GRS and IM will produce a short paper (two-pages) to recommend a new SEF format. JH advised it was important not to oversimplify safeguarding as the Inspectors will need to be satisfied that everything is covered.

ACTION: IM and GRS make a recommendation for a suitable format for the SEF document

IM / GRS

In the meantime, the current SEF should be reviewed as this needs to be seen by governors annually. This is reviewed termly by SLT to keep it current.

12. College Strategic Risk Register - Approval

IM explained the purpose of this document which enables the Board and SLT to monitor risk to the new governors. It is important to have mitigation actions in place.

After looking at the document, it was agreed that the ‘up’ arrow should be changed to ‘down’ as this seems to more clearly say that the risk is reducing. A summary sheet at the front of the file would provide a useful overview. Another suggestion which IM will look into, is to link this to the CIP.

ACTION: IM to make the agreed adjustments to the Strategic Risk Register (down arrows to show improvement and also include a front summary sheet and consider links to the CIP).

IM

 

DECISION: The Strategic Risk Register was approved.

13. Safeguarding (JH)

JH has undertaken the Single Central Register (SCR) check in her role as Safeguarding Link Governor. The report had been shared with the meeting papers. A full check is undertaken annually with more focussed scenario-based checks undertaken in other terms. The register is compliant with one DBS check awaiting completion for a new member of staff. There was nothing concerning to report. JH recommends this document as a very useful source of information on safeguarding in the event of an Ofsted visit when JH was not available.

CPOMs is used as a record keeping system for all safeguarding concerns and information.

14. Governor Matters

a) Elect Community Committee Chair – IM advised governors that, as a result of the previous chair’s resignation from the Board, a new Chair needed to be elected for the Community Committee and he invited nominations. No one came forward at the meeting so this will be followed up afterwards.

b) Approve Final TORs – All committee TORs APPROVED

PHB informed the meeting that at the next Resources meeting a discussion would take place about forming a sub-committee with the role of checking and evaluating progress on significant Investment proposals. Once agreed, this would need to be included in the TOR.

c) Governor Code of Conduct – A questionnaire will be sent to all governors (apart from the newly co-opted governors) by the clerk on the code of conduct. Responses should be made by the middle of January so that these can be reviewed at the next Resources committee meeting. MT would pick up on any identified training needs.

ACTION: Clerk to send out the Governor Code of Conduct questionnaire to all governors to respond by mid-January 2026.

Clerk

d) TOR and protocol for link visits – this item to be deferred until the next BoG

ACTION: Clerk to add TOR and protocol for link visits to March BoG agenda.

Clerk

e) Timings of governor meetings– it was agreed to keep timings as they are now.

f) Marketing and communications (DR and GRS) – work has started with the outside company supporting the development of communication strategies (SPACE). So far this has explored how to get communications and the college vision out into the wider community. There will be a need to change the methods of communication as part of the IT Strategy as there are many platforms currently used.

g) Resignations, vacancies, recruitment – this had already been covered.

h) SFVS Delegation approval – Approval was given to delegating the SVSF to Resources Committee.

15. Link Governors - Pupil Premium Strategy 2025/26 (Approval) (HH)

GRS had presented a very useful paper to Standards and Wellbeing Committee setting out the implications for anticipated changes to the Pupil Premium arrangements. The current levels of funding compared to that received previously was discussed. Overall, the average amount per pupil has decreased in the last year whilst the cost of living has increased. Which means the budget for this covers a lot less than previously. There are 21% of college pupils categorised as PP.

The PP Strategy covers three years and has to be agreed annually in December by Governors and is then put on the website. Standards and Wellbeing agreed the strategy for the coming year as it is still within the current three-year strategy. This will need to be reviewed to consider what the funding priorities will be in future years.

From September 2026, any family on Universal Credit will be entitled to FSMs. The impact on the money received into the budget for PP is not known. At the moment college tops up the allowance for the cost of a meal by £2.50 per child to allow pupils to buy enough food for the whole day. This may not be affordable if the number of pupils increases significantly and there is also the lag in funding to consider.

Data and anecdotal evidence clearly show that 1 to 1 intervention has a big impact on PP pupil’s outcomes however, this is an expensive provision and may not be affordable.

It was agreed that any change in strategy would need to be communicated to parents well in advance to enable them to plan for possible changes to uniform purchase and the cost of some courses – e.g. cooking ingredients for DT.

It is difficult to come up with a strategy without knowing the number of pupils involved and the likely funding.

Q: Is there any flexibility on the definition of disadvantaged?
A: The DfE and Ofsted definitions differ.

Q: Is there any way of getting a possible figure of the number of parents who will be on Universal Credit?
A: Work has been done on this. At the moment, we think this could be 40/50 children.

There was a discussion about whether it might be appropriate to ask parents to let college know with an explanation as to why.

ACTION: Clerk to add future approach to PP Strategy to the Standards and Wellbeing agenda for February.

Clerk

 

DECISION: The current Pupil Premium Strategy was agreed.

16. Matter Arising from Committee Meetings

None

AOB

The meeting ended at 19:50

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Date of Next Meeting – Monday, 23 March 2026

Steering 4:00 pm followed by:

BoG 5:00 pm Note early start to accommodate the Head Boy and Girl presentations.