Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting – 15 May 2025
Bridgend Boardroom and via Google Meet – 4:30pm
PRESENT:
- Emma Adamson – Chair
- Joanne Oak
- Viv Buckley – Principal/CEO
- Joe Castle
- Ceri Dixon
- Ben Fisher – Student Governor
- Claire Marshall
- Tomos Owen
- Lloyd Powell
- Stephne Puddy
- Susan Smith
- Helen Verity
IN ATTENDANCE
- Joe Baldwin – Deputy Principal (Future Generations)
- Gemma Carr-Evans – Director of Curriculum
- Nicola Eyre – Clerk
- Andrew Gibbs – Deputy Principal (Resources)
- Catrin Sullivan – Director of Curriculum
- Hayley Thomas – Vice Principal (Curriculum and Quality)
The meeting opened at 4.30pm.
Generative AI (Google Gemini) was used to help draft these minutes.
1. CHAIR’S WELCOME AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the members who attended the site visit to the new town centre campus held immediately prior to this meeting.
Apologies for absence were noted from Lisa Dobbs (Staff Governor), Marion Evans (Staff Governor), Hayden Llewellyn, Shelley Wyatt-Williams and Matthew Rees – Vice Principal (Work Based Learning and Commercial Activity). Charlize Cosker (Student Governor) and Noah Murray (Student Governor) did not attend.
Ben Fisher (Student Governor) and Helen Verity agreed to feed back on the Values Checker at the end of the meeting.
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None
3. MINUTES OF THE GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON 10 APRIL 2025
The minutes of the Governing Body meeting held on 10 April 2025 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING
4.1 Action Tracker
There were four actions on the Action Tracker:
- REDACTED
- Action 2 – Presentation on Sustainability – not yet due.
The members noted the update.
5. PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE AND PRESENTATION ON THE 2025-30 STRATEGIC PLAN
The Chair informed the members that the Principal had attended the Cardiff Capital Region Skills Partnership Stakeholder Engagement Event that afternoon and had given a keynote speech on the supply of skills solutions from the further education perspective (two other representatives gave addresses on higher education and apprenticeships).
Principal’s Update
The Principal highlighted the following from her report:
- Honorary Fellowships – two nominations were presented for approval:
REDACTED
- Estyn:
- Thematic review on behaviour in FE colleges – the report is balanced and the Curriculum Leadership Team are working through the recommendations. It was noted that the College is cited as an example of good practice for the regular support fairs held involving external agencies and organisations to ensure that the learners can access the resources and help that they need.
- Two Inspections have been announced:
- Bevan College – 19 and 20 May (monitoring visit)
It was noted that Bevan College, as a separate entity, is very new and the College is welcoming the first Inspection under the Bevan College name as it will have its own Inspection Report and recommendations.
- B-wbl Consortium – two weeks starting 2 June. Pembrokeshire College is the lead provider in the consortium but Bridgend College has the largest contract value and the best quality profile. The Inspectorate team will be based at Bridgend College for the second week of the Inspection.
- Future Generations Report – the Principal and Deputy Principal (Future Generations) attended the launch event of the report into the progress against the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
It was noted that the College has a real commitment to this Act and this is evidenced in the Deputy Principal’s job title, job description and role’s strategic focus. The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) informed the members that the event gave an honest appraisal of the progress made and the challenges faced in trying to achieve the goals set out in the Act.
Presentation on the Draft 2025-30 Strategic Plan
The Principal presented an update on the status of the 2025-30 Strategic Plan:
- 25 stakeholder engagement sessions have been held and this resulted in 205 pages of feedback. These have been incorporated into the Plan and the first draft has been presented to both the College Operation Group and aspiring leaders group.
- Drop-in sessions will be held for staff and governors to provide feedback on the draft Plan in early June.
- The aim is to approve the Plan in the July Governing Body meeting for launching in September.
The Principal then presented an overview of the draft 2025-30 Strategic Plan:
REDACTED
The Chair thanked the Principal for all of the work involved in creating this draft Plan.
A Safeguarding Update was not presented at this meeting due to the close proximity with the April Governing Body meeting. Instead a presentation on Bridgend College’s Anti-Racism Plan was given.
6. PRESENTATION – ANTI-RACISM ACTION PLAN – ACHIEVEMENTS AND PRIORITIES
The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) presented the following information:
- The Welsh Government (WG) published the Anti-Racism Action Plan in 2022 and FE colleges were expected to formulate their own two-year action plan.
- The College worked with the Black Leadership Group to develop a two-year action plan for 2022/23 and 2023/24.
- The WG has recently published a 2024 Update and the College has tried to align its own action plan to the WG’s plan.
- Lots of progress has been made but there are still areas where more work needs to be done. The example of the learner diversity data matching the census data but the diversity of the staff body not being representative was given and how the HR Team now tracks recruitment data in order to address this.
- Other examples of positive action were given:
- Updated ‘Be You’ videos where staff share their stories about their lived experiences has helped with recruitment.
- The employment of an Anti-Racism Curriculum Practitioner whose work is to decolonise the curriculum.
- The Policy Positioning Statement at the front of every College Policy and Procedure states that “We want to be an anti-racist College”.
- There has been a big focus on curriculum developments within the Hair and Beauty curriculum area and an accredited qualification has been developed in working with textured hair.
- Curriculum and business support areas are now being asked to align their quality improvement plans/self-evaluations to the College’s thematic priorities.
- A full-day review of the College’s Anti-Racism Action Plan was held in the first term of 2024/25 which involved students, staff and Governing Body members. Commitments for the 2024/25 academic year were agreed as well as looking further ahead.
It was agreed that the Anti-Racism Action Plan and presentation would be forwarded to the Governing Body members (ACTION – NE).
A discussion was held about how much effort has gone into this area of work and that the plan is bringing action and meaningful change. It was noted that there will be further staff training on this subject to bolster confidence and awarding bodies have been approached to find out ways in which they can support colleges in this area of work.
One member relayed a real-life story (lived experience) of why this work matters so much and how it fundamentally impacts on who you are at your core. She commented that she thought this work was very powerful and that it meant a lot to her to see this work taking place at the College.
The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Future Generations) for the presentation and commented that this work is ongoing and will be a thread throughout the new Strategic Plan.
A short comfort break was held
7. GOVERNANCE MATTERS
The Clerk presented the following:
Matters for Approval
- None
Matters for Noting
- A celebration of 100 years of the Pencoed Campus/Festival of Horticulture is being held on Saturday 7 June between 10am and 2pm.
- Emma Adamson is speaking about Board diversity and the 10-year journey that this Governing Body has been on at the AoC Governor Summit on 11 June.
- Ben Fisher has been shortlisted for Student Governor of the Year Award. The winner will be announced at the Student Governors’ Destinations Conference on 26 June in London.
The Governing Body congratulated Ben for this significant achievement.
- The Search & Governance and Remuneration Committee meetings due to be held on 8 May were cancelled due to lack of business.
- Donna Ali has paused her membership until the start of the 2025/26 academic year.
The Chair thanked the Clerk for the update.
8. FINANCIAL UPDATE
The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the following information:
2024/25
There was no new financial information to be presented for this academic year.
2025/26
- The WG funding allocation has been received and there has been a 1.49% uplift on the 2024/25 amount. However, the College is expected to fund a 3% pay award out of this and therefore this could be seen as a net funding cut.
- Medr has informed colleges that they will fund an over-delivery. Based on the College’s curriculum planning, the criteria would be met and up to REDACTED of in-year funding could be receivable.
- There is likely to be a loss of one-off funding streams that were received in 2024/25 REDACTED
The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Resources) for the update.
9. TOWN CENTRE CAMPUS UPDATE
Town Centre Campus Site Visit Feedback
The Chair invited the members to provide feedback on the town centre campus site visit:
- It was a “fantastic” visit and it was very exciting and helpful to see what’s been presented in meetings brought to life.
- The scale of the project is vast and they’re going to be very impressive buildings when complete.
- The hoardings around the building showing the timeline of the College are excellent.
- The layout has been carefully considered and it already feels like it’s going to be a community hub.
- The two representatives from Willmott Dixon, Tom and Chloe, were excellent and provided a lot of information about the project including:
- Over 2,000 students and school children have already visited the site.
- South Wales Fire and Rescue have done incident response training on-site.
- The initial public hostility and negativity about the project has been turned around and there is genuine excitement now.
- Over 250 trade operatives are involved in the project.
- The vast majority of the contractors used are based within a 40-mile radius of Bridgend. REDACTED A member commented that this commitment to using local businesses and keeping money in the local community should be celebrated and shared widely.
- The visit exceeded expectations and the campus is going to be a real asset to the local community.
The Principal informed the members that the local Town Centre Regeneration Committee chaired by Chris Elmore MP is very positive about the project and there is some work to be done on the impact that it will have. It was agreed that just having more people in the town centre will bring a fresh energy and vibrancy to the area.
Project Update
The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the following information:
- The multi-storey car park (MSCP) demolition is complete and the site has been signed off on 9 May.
- The lease is still outstanding for the MSCP site and this will need to have the Corporate Seal applied to it when finalised in the coming days.
The Governing Body APPROVED the use of the Corporate Seal for this lease.
- There are no known changes to the Variation Bid at this stage but this is dependent on the results of the grounds investigation survey for the MSCP site.
- A topping out ceremony can be planned anytime from September onwards.
Disposal of the Cowbridge Road Campus
The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the following information:
- REDACTED
A member commented that the WG Cabinet Secretary for Education would be very interested to learn about the procurement from local businesses for the town campus site and a potential news story could stem from this.
A discussion was held about partnership working with BCBC and the challenges that this brings. It was questioned whether the grounds investigation team could proceed at risk without a lease/licence but it was confirmed that this is not permissible. For insurance purposes, a lease or licence needs to be in place before access can be granted to the MSCP site.
The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Resources) for the update.
10. REDACTED
- REDACTED
The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Resources) for the update.
11. CORPORATE KPIs AND BALANCED SCORECARD
The Governing Body noted the Corporate KPIs and Balanced Scorecard which were both very positive.
REDACTED
12. COMMITTEE MINUTES
12.1 Audit – 3 April 2025
The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting held on 3 April 2025.
13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
None
14. VALUES CHECKER
- All members contributed to the discussions and there was lots of positive energy in the meeting.
- The meeting was inclusive.
- The presentations on the Strategic Plan and Anti-Racism demonstrated that the College is truly living by its values.
The Chair thanked everyone for attending and the meeting closed at 6.25pm.
