NGA East of England Regional Meeting

Priory Hotel, Mildenhall Road, Bury St. Edmunds
8 October 2008 6.30 pm

• Members Present
  • Judy Leggett                Norfolk/ER Director
  • Greta Taylor               Essex
  • Joyce Woodham         Essex/NGA
  • Terry Douris               Herts/ Hon Sec. NGA
  • Cathy Irons                 Herts
  • Stephen Adamson       Norfolk/NGA Vice Chair
  • Martin Sale                Norfolk
  • Pam Dewey                Southend
  • Barbara Howard        Suffolk
  • Mark Fotheringham    Suffolk
  •   

  • Alison Allen                NCPTA, Eastern Region Adviser

     

•  Apologies for absence

Colleen Arnold           NGA Vice-Chair, Regions

Lionel Stewart             Beds

Lucinda Poliakoff        Norfolk

Lionel Pryor                Southend

Margaret Young          Suffolk

Angela Page                Herts  

1. Minutes of 12 March 2008 were accepted  

2. Matters arising

(i) Associations were reminded to send the NGA office the names and addresses of the committee members who are to be registered. 

(ii) Some members reported difficulties in accessing the NGA website. 

(iii) The voting procedure for directors in the current election was clarified. 

(iv) We are working on a microsite for the Eastern Region, and Judy circulated the headings to be used in it. 

3. Assistant Regional Director

The following was agreed for adoption by the Eastern

Region:

Each Region may appoint an assistant to the Regional Director to help with organisation/communication – such an assistant will not be classed as, or have any of the responsibilities/rights of, a Director of the NGA.

The assistant will be appointed at the same time and for the same term as the Regional Director. However, if the appointment is not made at the same time as that of the Regional Director the expiry of the appointment will be the same date as that of the Regional Director.

The assistant should not be a member  of the same association as the Regional Director, nor should the school at which he/she is a governor be in the same local authority as that of the Regional Director.

The post will be advertised to all associations in the region, with a request for nominations and self-nominations. Nominations will also be taken at the next meeting, and voting will be held then of all those present.

4. New Regional Constitution

The proposed new constitution was agreed, with a few amendments from the model sent by the NGA, as per the appendix to these minutes.

5. NGA Update

A paper was circulated describing recent NGA activities.

The NGA, ASCL and NAHT joint document on what governing bodies and headteachers should expect of each other was noted, and it was agreed to post it on each of the associations’ websites.

The proposed increase in subscriptions was noted.

Stephen gave a report on the governance review.

6. Federation and Collaboration

Martin Sale gave an account of his experiences with two schools in which soft federations had worked well.

7. National Association of Parent Teacher Associations

Alison Allen explained how the NCPTA works, and

suggested closer working with the NGA.

8. Updates

Martin (Norfolk) asked if governors would share any initiatives for working better with headteachers, and it was agreed to put this on the agenda for the next meeting.

 

Greta (Essex) said the association has regular meetings with council officers.

Barbara (Suffolk) reported on the work of the Boundary Commission, which was proposing to split the county into two unitaries, and on the reorganisation of education into a two-tier system.

Terry (Herts) reported that local forums had been reintroduced and asked if the regrading of support staff had been a problem elsewhere.

Pam (Southend) said that the association had come back from the brink, now had new blood and was having regular meetings with Children’s Services.

Judy (Norfolk) said that the Boundary Commission had also proposed unitaries for Norfolk: either a single one or two, with one centred on Norwich. The association was campaigning for involvement in the 14-19 Strategy.

9.Next meetings

Tues 28 April 2009 and Wed 7 October 2009. The chair is to decide on the venue, in or near Bury St Edmunds.
4ps will be invited to the April meeting to talk about  Building Schools for the Future.

The meeting closed at 9.20pm