YHGSA
YHGSA Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday 16th April 2008

1.00pm at the Friends Meeting House, York

Notes of the meeting and action points

Present:

Sylvia Usher (Chair)
Margot Brown (Vice Chair)
Yvette Fox (Board Member)
Charlotte Hunt (Board Member)
Ray Kirtley (Co-ordinator)
Mike Smith (Board Member)

Apologies:

Anne Barker (Secretary)
Alan Holmes (Board Member)
Bob Huey (Treasurer)
Gavin Townsend (Board Member)

1. Welcome to the Board

SU welcomed Yvette Fox to the Board and introduced the other members present.

2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting 16th January 2008

The minutes were approved as an accurate record and will be published on the YHGSA website and circulated to the Working Groups.

3. Matters arising

RK confirmed that the issue relating to the YHGSA website and Leeds DEC would be discussed under item 6 on the agenda.

4. Interim report on the sustainability of the YHGSA (SU & MB)

SU and MB had met and subsequently drafted a paper (‘Sustainability of YHGSA’ - for discussion by the Board) which was circulated to all present and was discussed in detail.

The Board expressed confidence that real progress has been made by the YHGSA in most aspects of its programme both in the past 5 years and in the new framework. With only 3 years of funding remaining it is now an appropriate time to consider longer term sustainability. RK pointed out that this was indeed mentioned by DFID as a comment when they received the current one year plan. The Board decided that it was appropriate to consult with the YHGSA membership to gain their views and opinions on the future following the end of funding by DFID.

It was therefore proposed that RK contact Bob Hirst to draft a questionnaire for completion by YHGSA members and Local Authorities. This should look at whether YHGSA should continue and if so which model (some will be provided) is preferable. Bob Hirst will also be asked to provide an analysis of the results for presentation at the November AGM. The Board suggested various models which could be included in the questionnaire such as:

• A similar organisation to that which exists at present. This would require alternative funding of an equivalent amount.
• A small secretariat which would fundraise for their own salaries and additional funding for which regional groups tender in order to deliver region-wide initiatives.
• Plans for partnership initiatives where the partner holds a joint responsibility for fundraising.
• Plan for work by all DEC's on a common theme with regional outreach and delivery.

RK felt that Bob Hirst would be able to add to the points above but that the questionnaire should also give the option of:

• Should the YHGSA be wound up as an organisation and company after the 10-year period of DFID funding?

Due to the short timescale, it was decided that SU, MB and RK meet with Bob Hirst before July to discuss the draft in more detail. SU to ask representatives of the Consultative Committee (Alan Holmes and Kae Sinclair) to join in the meeting and pass on comments and suggestions. RK to circulate the draft questionnaire to the Consultative Committee by email for comments.

5. Report from the Consultative Committee (to include a decision on the theme and venue for the YHGSA 2008 conference)

SU reported that a proposal was received from Adam Ranson and Mick Bradley recommending that the Millennium Development Goals be the theme of the 2008 conference. There was some concern in the Consultative Committee meeting that since public awareness of MDG is low this theme would not in itself attract teachers to attend the conference. It was agreed therefore that the theme of ‘Active Citizenship through the MDG’ would be more appropriate as the working title of the conference with a focus on ‘Responsible Citizenship’ also included in the description.

It was agreed that the conference be held in York with the venue to be confirmed by RK as soon as possible. The conference will take place on either 6th or 7th November 2008. A date had been agreed for conference planning with Adam Ranson, Mick Bradley, RK and others from the Consultative Committee attending.

Each Working Group had also given an overview of their work which was found to be useful and was relayed to the Board. The Board had some concern that this update although vital to the WGs might not be relevant to the teachers attending the consultative meeting. If this proves to be the case it might be possible for the Working Groups to meet before the Consultative Committee meeting. The WG updates will be included in the minutes of the Consultative Committee but three ‘headline’ activities were discussed by the Board in more detail:

• Resources and Communications Group: the value of the YHGSA newsletter for getting information out to the region.
• Curriculum and CPD Group: the good take-up and positive feedback received from their courses.
• North/South Group: the idea of organising meetings of a school linking network would be useful as teachers often feel unsupported maintaining links.

The Board commented on the published Terms of Reference for the Consultative Committee. Members were concerned that despite the usefulness of the meeting the Board was not yet receiving much feedback or opinion regarding the Consultative Committee’s agenda item: ‘Recommendations to ensure the quality of delivery’. The Board accepted that the Consultative Committee was a new group and asked that this part of their brief receives special attention at the next meeting.

It was decided that the Board representative attending the Consultative Committee meeting would rotate as follows:

• Charlotte Hunt will attend the meeting on July 9th
• Mike Smith will attend the following meeting on September 23rd.

6. Operational Issues:

The maintenance of the YHGSA website was raised as an operational issue (part of the responsibility of the Resources and Communications WG which is led by Hull DEC). This part of the work had been carried out by a worker at Leeds DEC who has since left. As a temporary arrangement the worker agreed to continue this work as Leeds could not provide a suitably trained substitute. There appears to be some disagreement about how long this arrangement can continue. RK explained that the YHGSA has a contract with Hull DEC to maintain the website and it was entirely up to Hull DEC to decide how that part of the contract is delivered. It was suggested that, in the future, the Working Groups should be advised to issue written sub-contracts to their suppliers.

Financial report at the end of the Financial Year

Copies of the Working Groups financial reports were circulated to the Board. These documents give the actual spending record for each group maintained by RK. Each one showed an underspend of varying proportions. Two of the working groups are also carrying forward an underspend from the previous contractual period. The Board discussed the financial position of the working groups in some detail. Members were concerned that if this trend continued the YHGSA would face difficulties reporting outputs and outcomes to DFID for the 07/08 school year. The Board therefore decided to withdraw group access to the historic underspends and instead to create a series of short term tenders which would create outputs by the end of the current school year. Four suggestions were made

• Produce a travelling exhibition stand to use in conferences (which could potentially also be used as part of a school display)
• Produce case studies to publicise the Global School Award and encourage more schools to get involved
• Initial meetings of school linking networks
• Promotion sessions for the Global School Award

It was also suggested that funds could at times be used to buy teacher time to enable schools to send teachers on YHGSA courses. However it was felt that if the training was not related to core subjects it would still be given a low priority by schools and offers of supply cover would make little difference. RK also pointed out that course attendance was generally good and most of our courses took place as planned.

In respect of the funding devoted to the Local Authority pilots RK was concerned that very little feedback had been received. He proposed a monitoring visit to each DEC/LA partnership. This was agreed by the Board as it will help with the process of gathering information for DFID and the LA partnerships are seen by the Board as a possible model for the future of the YHGSA.

RK then circulated copies of two interim reporting formats he had designed which are to be to be completed by the Working Groups and LA partnerships by July 15th. These are based on the requirements recently produced by DFID. This information will enable RK to produce the annual report to DFID by 12th September 2008. In view of the financial situation of each Working Group it was also decided that the Working Groups will also be required to reprofile their activities and budgets for the next school year and the final year of their contract. If there are still issues around the use of funding and outputs this would provide a further opportunity for funding to be retained centrally and for tasks to be put out for tender.

• SU (as Chair) agreed to write to the groups concerned
• RK agreed to draft an outline and detailed specification for each tender

7. YHGSA Co-ordinator’s contract

A draft copy of the YHGSA co-ordinator’s contract was circulated to the Board for consideration, with any objections or comments to be passed to SU. This had been previously reviewed by Bob Huey (Line Manager) and by Anne Barker.

CH requested that the Financial Management section of the job description annexe be amended to include some responsibility for seeking further funding.

8. A.O.B

SU mentioned with regret that Bob Huey will be resigning from the YHGSA Board following the meeting in July. Suggestions were requested for a replacement Line Manager for RK. SU confirmed that she would be happy to take on this responsibility. She considered though that this did not accord well with being Chair of the YHGSA but she intends to resign this position in time for the AGM. No decision was made but the Board agreed to consider SU’s proposal.

RK reported that the co-ordinator peer mentoring and evaluation process would shortly begin with 2 other regions, North-West and East Midlands. The three EES co-ordinators have arranged a session with a facilitator in June. One Board member will be asked to attend with RK – he agreed to inform the Board when the date and venue were finalised.

9. Date, time and place of Board meetings

The next meeting:

9th July 2008 - 1.15 pm at the Friends Meeting House, York

The following meeting:

23rd September 2008 - 1.00pm also at the Friends Meeting House, York

The meeting finished at 4.30 PM.