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YHGSA
YHGSA Board Meeting Minutes
21st September 2007
10.00 AM at Skell 1, York St John University
Notes of the meeting and action points
1. Present:
Sylvia Usher (Chair)
Bob Huey (Vice Chair)
Charlotte Hunt (Board Member)
Margot Brown (Board Member)
Ray Kirtley (Co-ordinator)
Gill Sanderson (Minutes)
Apologies:
Anne Barker (Secretary)
John Errington (Board Member)
2. Matters arising
Correction to the minutes of the meeting of 8th
June 2007: The QCA meeting ‘Teaching Controversial Issues’
was attended by Mick Bradley and not Margot Brown. Notes from
the meeting will be requested. The minutes of the meeting of 8th
June 2007 were approved as a correct record and will now be published
on the YHGSA website.
RK confirmed that two new bank accounts have been
opened for the new Working Groups) one already existed). The letter
confirming the 5 year funding period has now been received from
DFID.
3. Work in progress (RK)
i) DFID Evaluation Report (2006-2007)
Copies of the report had been circulated to Board
Members. There has been no reaction to the report so far from
DFID. A meeting for EES Co-ordinators will be held in October
in Birmingham where a synthesis of all the reports from the UK
will be discussed.
ii) Transition work prior to the establishment of
Working Groups
Kathryn Tissiman, Yvette Fox (CCPD Group) and Ray
Kirtley met in late August to adjudicate the current batch of
applications to run courses. By the July deadline, 23 applications
were received and logged by RK. Courses which received approval
will take place between now and the end of March. (A list of these
courses was circulated to the Board.) The courses up to December
have also been advertised (briefly) in the British Council newsletter
and details have been sent to YHGSA members. The forthcoming YHGSA
newsletter will carry all of the approved courses in more detail.
iii) Other activities
The YHGSA Member’s Conference will take place
at The Cathedral Hall, Leeds, on November 15th. Registration forms
have been sent out to all members. Invitations will also be sent
to non-members, such as Working Groups, Local Authority partners
etc.
The Board took the opportunity to thank RK for his
inspirational work achieved in a year of tight deadlines.
4. Approval of the existing YHGSA membership by
the Board
A list of existing YHGSA members was circulated
to the Board and received approval. The Board felt that as part
of the future application process there should be a clearer appreciation
by the applicant of the purpose of the YHGSA. Potential new members
will, in future, join the YHGSA in two stages. Firstly by filling
in an initial form requesting details of the YHGSA then by being
sent an ‘application pack’ which will include the
membership form and a new leaflet which will indicate the nature
and aims of the YHGSA. Finally members will receive their membership
number.
There will be a paragraph on the application advising
that the YHGSA complies with articles as set out in the Memorandum
of Association of the YHGSA. The members can request a copy of
this document if they wish.
Action: Hazel Parker at Hull DEC should be advised
of the new, two-stage procedure prior to producing the next YHGSA
newsletter (which usually includes a request for new members).
Future new members will be approved at each Board
meeting.
5. YHGSA Board and Consultative Committee - procedures prior to
and at the AGM
A letter has been sent to all YHGSA members outlining
the procedure for the election of the Board and of the Consultative
Committee. This letter was circulated at the meeting. The Board
discussed the issue of members missing Board meetings. It was
decided that should Board members miss three consecutive meetings
they will be deemed to have removed themselves from the Board.
RK reminded the Board that the plan is for the Consultative Committee
to meet on the same day as the Board. This group will include
the leaders (or a representative) from the 3 Working Groups and
the suggestion has been made that a further meeting of these three
workers with the Co-ordinator would also be useful. This would
cut down on travel costs but make a long day for anyone having
to attend all three meetings!
6. Consideration of remaining Working Groups and LA Support Applications
The Resources and Communications Group has now responded
to questions raised by the panel. RK stated that all concerns
had been answered and this group should start work without delay.
This was agreed.
The North South Partnerships Group has produced
a second, revised, application which was circulated to the Board.
The application was discussed and RK described how many points
raised by the Panel had been tackled. He also mentioned that the
group intended to use the underspend (of the previous Strategy
Group) to run a series of training courses. It was understood
that this group will submit a final version in the near future.
The Curriculum and Continuing Professional Development
Group has not completed their final application yet, again following
questions from the Panel. RK reported that a second group planning
meeting had taken place on the previous day and a revised application
will be received by 11th October. Concerns were expressed over
the large underspend retained by Leeds DEC as the former leader
of the predecessor group from last year. The Board understood
from RK’s report of the group meeting that this will be
divided and allocated to the sub-regions to be used as an initial
payment to support schools in the Global School Award scheme.
RK also reported that initial interest in the GSA will be addressed
to RK who will pass the school’s details on to the relevant
DEC contact.
Like the other groups the CCPD Group will submit
an evaluation report after the first year. However the Board requested
that details of the funds spent by each group to be given by RK
at future Board meetings. This will be possible now that the budget
monitoring is more centralised. In response to a question raised
by two of the groups the Board confirmed that invoicing will be
done retrospectively unless a rationale is received for the advance
of funds. Any such requests will then be referred to a Board member
before approval is granted.
It was agreed that final approval for the remaining
groups will be the responsibility of a Board member meeting with
RK. This will enable these groups to be given the go-ahead speedily.
There was a discussion about the extra funding from
the Fair Trade foundation which is being handled by the CCPD group.
RK stated that some funding has already been allocated to two
proposed courses. Mick Bradley has now attended a training session
and will be managing this part of the CCPD budget.
One completed Local Authority support application
has been received from DEC (SY) in respect of Sheffield and Rotherham
LAs. This was recommended for approval by RK. The appointment
of a worker is proceeding in North Lincolnshire but the formal
application for funding has not yet been received by the YHGSA.
There has been no application from Leeds DEC (but it is understood
the partnership will be with Bradford Education). The Centre for
Global Education is working with one AST in York for one year,
in addition there will be a small amount for work with North Yorkshire
but after one year this funding pattern will be reversed and North
Yorkshire will receive the majority of the work with a lesser
amount going to York LA. RK had been involved in the York process.
The Board requested that this LA budget should be
monitored closely and that the subject of potential underspends
in any of the new activities be included on the agenda for the
next meeting.
7. The future sustainability of the YHGSA (MB)
It was decided that this should be a major discussion
point for the YHGSA meeting on 16th April.
8. A.O.B
There were no further items for discussion.
9. Date, time and place of Board meetings*
*The following dates were previously agreed to follow
the AGM on 15th November:
16th January 2008
16th April 2008
9th July 2008
These will be afternoon meetings, the Consultative
Committee will meet in the morning.
Ray Kirtley
YHGSA Co-ordinator
3rd October 2007
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