Global Schools Association
YHGSA Board Meeting Minutes
5th February 2007
1.30pm at York St John University, Holgate 9
Notes of the meeting and action points
1. Present:
Sylvia Usher (Chair)
Bob Huey (Vice Chair)
Charlotte Hunt (Board Member)
Ray Kirtley (Co-ordinator)
Rob Unwin (DECSY)
Margot Brown (Board Member)
Apologies:
John Errington (Board Member)
Anne Barker (Secretary)
2. Minutes of the meeting of 18th January
The minutes of the meeting of 18th January 2007 were approved as a correct record and will be published on the YHGSA website.
3. Matters arising
Clarification of ‘SEAL’; Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning
Allocation of ‘additional funding’ to Local Authority support and liaison activities: Confirmation was requested by the Board that the money carried over from last year would be spent. Ray reported that until July 2007, each group is expected to work with two Local Authorities, 75% of their grant is to be invoiced immediately with the remaining 25% invoiced by 14th March, with all the funds to be spent by the end of July. Information so far:
Leeds DEC - Leeds and Bradford
DECSY - Sheffield and Rotherham
CGE - York and North Yorkshire and possibly East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull DEC - North and North East Lincolnshire
4. Preparation of the 2007-12 bid
It was agreed that many good ideas were suggested at the Consultation meeting, and it had been an effective way of working out preferences. Thanks were expressed to Bob Hirst for his contribution to the event.
The Board were keen for the Local Delivery element to be continued and after discussion it was proposed to present three different models, with the DEC’s to negotiate with the Local Authorities over the most appropriate:
• Using an Advanced Skills Teacher working with each Authority, funded 50% by DFES, 25% by YHGSA and 25% by the LA/school. Sylvia felt this would have many advantages as the AST’s will know the structures and have good networking contacts. She will discuss this at a meeting with Hilary Benn on 9th February with a view to gaining interest from Alan Johnson
• Learning Networks, choosing a particular common theme by negotiation around Global Education
• Capitalising on existing school clusters, including visits between schools, e.g. Excellence in Cities
It was proposed to introduce this as a pilot scheme as part of the new bid.
Given that we are considering the second and possibly the final 5 year grant Margot suggested that the YHGSA should now consider fundraising from other sources. Bob confirmed that Yorkshire Forward funded the ESD forum and it may be possible to receive regular funding from them at a regional level.
Action for Bob: To use contacts at the ESD Forum to explore the possibility of receiving funding from Yorkshire Forward (support for DfES Sustainable Schools initiative).
Charlotte felt it was important to include training within the bid. Everyone agreed that a new feature of the bid should be to factor in admin time. The Board feels that it is essential to have a better structure over the next five years for administration and support for the Co-ordinator.
Questions raised included:
• What is the overall target after 5 years; looking back will we
have embedded the global dimension sufficiently well for it to continue
at school and LA level?
• What are the expectations of the global dimension from Ofsted?
• How will global dimension fit in with the expectations of parents?
• How can the work of the 5 Strategy Groups help towards these targets
over the coming 5 years?
The Board began to look at the roles of the Strategy Groups and to discuss if any changes were needed to what had now been established for 4 years. There have been considerable changes in the education system, in the importance of the global dimension, the working practices and composition of the groups and in the capacity of the region over the past five years. The Board therefore decided that the structure needed some modifications.
Resources for teachers are increasingly focusing towards being web based, rather than in books and boxes. This is a development that we are not keeping pace with. It was felt that there has been some duplication of effort between the groups and they were also too focused around the same organisations. It was suggested that streamlining of the Strategy Groups would be more beneficial to the YHGSA as a whole and this proposal was discussed in detail. The Board felt that enlarged Strategy Groups should be asked to include new strategic partners and should be seen as a means of growing the influence and reach of the YHGSA, there would therefore be a requirement to be more pro-active.
It was also noted that the role of Co-ordinator has changed significantly and many original tasks are no longer applicable. A new job description would be required at some time to include items such as financial management.
It was proposed that the 5 Strategy Groups become 3 larger groups:
• North South Linking would remain to work with the Local Authorities
and lift the profile of school partnerships
• Curriculum Development and CPD to join, this links in with the
Global School Award which has now a built-in CPD element
• Resources and Promotion and Marketing are also to join –
especially to capitalise on the web-based resources and to enable the
group to research pro-active linking with other educational websites
Action for Ray: To write draft proposal based on these new ideas to include a more detailed rationale behind the decisions for each and to take into account the other sources of information such as the postal and face-to-face Consultation. This to be sent out by Ray to the Strategy Groups together with the results of voting at the Consultation meeting and the overall approach to the DFID bid. He is to invite comments or guidance to receive views back before Friday 9th February. Comments will be relayed to the Board by email and then the bid can be completed by the deadline of 28th February 2007.
It was agreed that Bob Hirst has the expertise to advise on the bid due to his experience with both the YHGSA and with other EES regions. Ray is to contact to arrange to work with him for up to 3 (additional) days.
5. Structure of the YHGSA Board
Discussions regarding this item postponed until a further meeting.
6. Proposal that an ex-gratia payment be made to Ray in acknowledgement
of the extra work undertaken in late November
Discussions regarding this item postponed until a further meeting.
7. A.O.B
Discussions regarding this item postponed until a further meeting.
8. Date, time and place of the next Board meeting
22nd February 2007 10.30 AM. Hull DEC
