Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting – 20 February 2025

View this document in Welsh

STEAM Academy Conference Room and via Google Meet – 4.30pm

PRESENT:

Emma Adamson – Chair
Viv Buckley – Principal/CEO
Joe Castle
Ceri Dixon – joined at 4.45pm
Lisa Dobbs – Staff Governor
Judith Evans
Ben Fisher – Student Governor
Hayden Llewellyn
Claire Marshall
Joanne Oak
Tomos Owen
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)
Matthew Rees – Vice Principal (Work Based Learning and Commercial Activity)
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 gave a special welcome to Tomos Owen and Susan Smith at their first Governing Body meeting. A roundtable introduction was held. It was noted that five new Governing Body members have started this academic year (eight including the Student Governors for 2024/25).

Rachel Rimanti, Office and Governance Manager at ColegauCymru, was also welcomed as an observer. Rachel had attended the Taith funded trip to Seattle with the Principal/CEO and other colleagues from Welsh FE colleges at the beginning of February to explore the role of AI in further education.

The Chair informed the Governing Body that this would be Judith Evans’s final Governing Body meeting as her term of office is ending in March and thanked her for her outstanding contributions over the past four years. Judith Evans thanked the Chair and said that she has thoroughly enjoyed being a member and contributing to the future success of the College. She added that she is encouraged to see new members joining and how the process of onboarding new members has been seamless over the years. It was noted that Judith will be chairing the March Curriculum & Quality Committee meeting on 24 March.

Apologies for absence were noted from:

Governing Body members – Donna Ali, Charlize Cosker (Student Governor), Marion Evans (Staff Governor), Lloyd Powell, Stephne Puddy and Shelley Wyatt-Williams. Noah Murray (Student Governor) submitted an apology after the meeting
SLT – Catrin Sullivan (Director of Curriculum).

Lisa Dobbs (Staff Governor) and Judith Evans agreed to feed back in the Values Checker agenda item at the end of the meeting.

The Chair, Susan Smith, Tomos Owen, Helen Verity and Nicola Eyre had attended a learner walk prior to the meeting with Claire Flay-Petty, Head of Quality. The main points of feedback were:

The wide variety of provision available is outstanding
The College feels a very inclusive place to learn and work
There are very different types of learners on the campus and this is something that is celebrated
The campus is a very vibrant place
The learners seem happy and said that they feel safe
The design of the campus is excellent; it’s open, accessible and the learners who were spoken with said that they feel that they belong.

One of the members said that it has been very helpful to see the College “in action” as it underpins what is discussed in the Governing Body meetings. She encouraged all members to attend a learner walk to be more informed about the learning experience.

It was noted that two Student Governors, Ben Fisher and Charlize Cosker, would be doing a learner walk on the day after the meeting on the Pencoed and Cowbridge Road campuses respectively.

4.45pm – Ceri Dixon joined the meeting

PRESENTATION: 2025-2030 STRATEGIC PLAN – UPDATE ON PROGRESS

The Principal gave a presentation on progress on the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan following the initial discussions at the Strategic Planning Away Day held in September 2024:

23 engagement sessions have been held with a further two more events planned
87% of respondents want to keep the mission statement of “BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE”
The feedback on the six existing core values of being people-centred, inspirational, innovative, inclusive, team player and passionate has been very positive .
The College Operational Group (COG), made up of approximately 40 middle managers, has been tasked with turning the core values into behaviours. The COG has been split into six groups with each group being assigned a core value to consider and then each member of the group being assigned a specific role e.g. Researcher, Quality Checker. The results of this work are due to be presented to the SLT after the February half term.
Lisa Dobbs explained that she is part of the people-centred group and that she has found it really informative and worthwhile.
The feedback on the 3E’s, Excellent, Efficient and Engaging, was that these are still very important to stakeholders and that the aspiration has driven performance.
The importance of how learners and staff feel is key and staff are less motivated by winning awards such as the Mind Workplace Wellbeing Index and the Times Top 100 Survey.
Based on the feedback, the vision for the next five years could be shaped on four P’s – People, Place, Provision and Planet:
- People – staff, learners and partnerships and collaboration
- Place – belonging (including the work doing on the Anti-Racist Action Plan), inspirational facilities and providing solutions, promoting aspiration through innovation. There was a lot of feedback about doing things innovatively and differently.
- Provision – the highest quality provision that serves local and regional needs and provision that is equitable and inclusive.
- Planet – there is a lot of interest in the College really driving the sustainability goals and future generations work forward and leading the way in this realm.
The 2020-2025 Strategic Plan vision lasted but the KPIs quickly became out of date when published. A question was posed about whether the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan should be a series of written statements with annually reviewed operational KPIs that underpin these.
A further question was posed about what the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan should look like and whether it should be accessed via a QR code, published as a glossy document or just made available electronically.

The Chair invited the Student Governor’s views on the plan. Ben fed back that on completion of his studies, he’d like to work in the field of renewable energy and was really encouraged to see the focus on planet and climate change in the plan. He added that his tutors are supporting him to achieve his career goals and that he’d like the College to do more to promote the work that it’s doing around sustainability as, aside from the solar panels on the STEAM Academy building, he’s not aware of the other initiatives in place. The Chair thanked Ben and reminded the Governing Body of the presentation that the previous Student Governor gave at the end of the previous academic year where climate change was the number one concern.

A discussion was held about moving away from quantitative reporting in the Strategic Plan to qualitative reporting and the use of case studies and examples. The inclusion of ‘Planet’ as one of the four pillars was praised as this is forward-looking and also links back to the year-end presentation. A suggestion was made that the ‘Planet’ and ‘Place’ pillars could be combined.

A member commented that she thought the work being performed by the COG is very collaborative and assigning roles ensures that everyone is included.

It was questioned whether BCBC has been consulted on the plan as it’s important that the College understands what its community wants from it as an anchor institution. The Principal said that the SLT will consider ways to achieve this meaningful engagement.

The Chair congratulated the College on the progress to date and enquired about ongoing employer engagement. The Vice Principal (WBL and Commercial Activity) explained that a review is underway to ensure that the College is working with the right employers and partners. He added that an External Stakeholder Engagement Strategy is being written which will focus on social value and community benefit.

It was agreed that further updates would be given at future meetings.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Claire Marshall – recommendation for appointment of Chair of the Audit Committee from 1 September 2025 (agenda item 7 – Governance Matters).

3. MINUTES OF THE GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON 12 DECEMBER 2024

The minutes of the Governing Body meeting held on 12 December 2024 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

The Chair reminded the members that AI is being used to help record the minutes of Governing Body and committee meetings.

4. MATTERS ARISING

4.1 Action Tracker

There were four actions on the Action Tracker:

REDACTED
Action 2 – Thank Dawn Lewis-Whelan for her service – completed
Action 3 – Details of AI Welsh Government (WG) training available – completed
REDACTED

The members noted the update.

5. PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

The Principal highlighted the following from her report:

REDACTED
Town centre campus theatre – work is ongoing on the theatre design.

The importance of the theatre was discussed and how this will have a beneficial impact on the local community.

Maesteg Town Hall – now that the building has reopened, adult community learning courses will be taught from the Town Hall.
College values badges – there are pin badges for the six core values and also an ‘Extraordinary’ badge that the Principal awards to staff that have done outstanding work. To date, 87 badges have been awarded and examples of the work that the staff have done were included in the written report. A congratulations was given to Lisa Dobbs as she is only one of two people to have received an Extraordinary badge. Lisa said that the way that she felt being recognised with this badge was very special and that it really made a difference to her.
Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) – it was noted that the household income threshold has risen. Currently REDACTED learners at the College are in receipt of this and it is estimated that this will rise by approximately 20%. A discussion was held about in-work poverty and how this is impacting many learners and staff.

The Governing Body gave their condolences for the passing of Joy Tulloch, a Learning Support Assistant at the College.

A member questioned about the number of staff involved in the mentoring scheme for fluent Welsh speakers. It was explained that this is a small group who meet on an informal basis.

A further discussion was held about EMA and the Financial Contingency Fund (FCF). The WG allocates FCF to colleges for them to use discretionarily to support learners in times of financial hardship. The Director of Curriculum explained that there are a large number of learners who fall just outside the thresholds for EMA and FCF and these learners are really struggling. It was noted that the curriculum areas have undertaken significant work in order to remove barriers and a number of initiatives are in place such as free breakfasts, Big Bocs Bwyd, free soup/hot chocolate in January, free sanitary products and the pre-loved clothes shop in order to try to support learners and staff. It was noted that there is an increase in curriculum area spending on supporting learners to be in College and to complete their qualifications.

The Student Governor gave his feedback on EMA and how this enables, encourages and supports his peers to attend College.

6. SAFEGUARDING UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) gave the following update:

The number of learners has increased this academic year REDACTED.
The graph showing the safeguarding concerns on a monthly basis compared with the previous year was presented and this showed REDACTED
When compared to 2023/24, the overall number of concerns is broadly similar but the need and complexity of the concerns is growing.
The College hosted a Home Office Prevent training day two days’ prior to the meeting. There are plans to give a further staff briefing on this training in the coming weeks.
Shout Out UK delivered an event on Prevent and the risks of radicalisation to learners and a range of resources are going to be developed to support learners.
Student workshops are going to be run in April by Connected Futures on the riots and protests experienced across the UK last summer.
Two learners and a member of staff have visited Auschwitz as part of the Holocaust Educational Trust programme.

The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Future Generations) for the update and invited questions from the members.

A member commented that safeguarding is a huge responsibility and the report demonstrates that the College is managing this very well. She questioned about any work being carried out on knife crime as there has been a lot of coverage in the press on this recently. The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) confirmed that there are a range of activities planned for after half term and that the College is part of the newly formed BCBC-led strategic education group on knife crime.

Another member enquired about the support available to the Safeguarding Team who are dealing with these complex cases. It was explained that the College is cognisant of this and the team is able access to external supervision and support at any time. The Director of Curriculum added that herself and the Director of People work closely with the curriculum teams to really understand the issues and concerns that they are managing.

The Chair asked the Student Governor whether he felt that the College is a safe environment and invited Ben to give any feedback. Ben said that his tutors really listen to him. He explained that he has recently swapped English tutors as a result of discussions that he’d had and how he is now getting the support that he needs.

The Chair thanked everyone for their comments and a short comfort break was held.

5.47-5.55pm – Comfort Break

7. GOVERNANCE MATTERS

Matters for Ratifying

The Governing Body ratified the appointment of Susan Smith that was approved electronically.

Matters for Approval

The Governing Body approved the appointment of Lloyd Powell as Chair of the Curriculum & Quality Committee upon Judith Evans’s retirement (from 25 March 2025).
The Governing Body approved the appointment of Claire Marshall as Chair of the Audit Committee upon Hayden Llewellyn’s retirement (from 1 September 2025).
The Governing Body approved the amended Search & Governance Committee’s Terms of Reference that had been reviewed by the Search & Governance Committee.

Matters for Noting

ColegauCymru Risk Management Training – the Governing Body noted this information.

The Clerk highlighted the next training session on anti-racism being held virtually on 1 April and the ColegauCymru February newsletter that had been shared electronically earlier that day.

The Chair thanked the members for the good attendance from the Governing Body at the ColegauCymru training events.

Use of the Corporate Seal – The Governing Body noted that the Corporate Seal will be applied to the lease with BCBC for Heronsbridge School to occupy R Block on the Cowbridge Road campus (due to end in 2025 but this may be extended) at the end of the meeting.

The Chair thanked the Clerk for the update.

8. TOWN CENTRE CAMPUS UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Resources) gave the following update on the town centre campus:

The build is in week 47 of a 126 week programme.
REDACTED

A short-time lapse video of the site was played to show the progress to date.

REDACTED

9. FINANCIAL UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Resources) gave a financial update due to the timing of this meeting falling between quarterly forecast:

REDACTED
- Additional funding from Medr for inflationary pressures REDACTED
- Additional funding from Medur for increased participation in 2024/25 REDACTED
- Overprovision of clawback for 2022/23 REDACTED
- Awarding of the Adult Community Learning Contract to the College – amount unknown.
If these amounts can all be delivered, without any adverse developments elsewhere, the forecast year-end position would be a REDACTED.
The 2025/26 funding allocations have been received and despite Bridgend College receiving the second lowest allocation in terms of percentage increase from the previous year, it is still a favourable picture when compared to other years. It was noted that a 3% pay award must be funded out of this allocation, although a commitment to increase funding by 5% of the Full Time FE allocation REDACTED would be offered to all colleges as long as they achieved 105% of their delivery target

It was agreed that a presentation on how the WG calculates the funding allocations will be given at a Resource Planning Committee meeting (ACTION – AG).

10. STUDENT TRANSPORT

The Chair explained that student transport had been considered operationally by the SLT and the information presented is for information.

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) gave the following update:

Student transport and its associated costs are an ongoing concern and they have the potential to impact the mission and character of the College and the overall student experience.
Under the WG Learner Travel Measure, there is no duty on the local authority to provide post-16 transport. From September 2025, BCBC is withdrawing their funding of post-16 transport but this hasn’t been communicated widely to the stakeholders affected.
Student transport consists of in county, out of county and shuttle bus services between the two campuses. It is a very complex picture with learners using public transport, College contract buses and varying levels of contributions from local authorities towards the costs.
The current and forecast transport costs for 2024-25 and 2025-26 were presented and the worst case scenario shows that the range of costs to maintain the current transport offer is REDACTED.
The offer for students from September is:
- REDACTED
The risks of increased travel costs could result in negative publicity, some learners not enrolling for College and an increased administrative and financial burden for the College.

The members noted the update.

11. CORPORATE KPIs AND BALANCED SCORECARD

It was noted that performance for the year to date is on target and all metrics are green.

12. COLLEGE COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

It was noted that performance for the year to date is on target and all metrics are green.

13. COMMITTEE MINUTES

13.1 Search & Governance – 2 December 2024

The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Search & Governance Committee meeting held on 2 December 2024.

13.2 Resource Planning – 9 December 2024

The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Resource Planning Committee meeting held on 9 December 2024.

13.3 Search & Governance – 23 January 2025

The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Search & Governance Committee meeting held on 23 January 2025.

Ben Fisher and Helen Verity who joined the committee from this academic year fed back that they have enjoyed the work of this committee.

14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

None

15. VALUES CHECKER

There was a big focus at this meeting on the College’s values and how this is embedded into everything that the College does.
A highlight was the discussion around the work that the COG are doing on turning values into behaviours.
The meeting was very inclusive and everyone had the opportunity to contribute.
It is great to see new members joining the Governing Body.
The verbal updates given by the senior leaders are very important as they bring the reports to life.
The meeting was conducted in a very open and transparent manner.
The two new members said that they felt very welcomed, included and comfortable at the meeting.

The Chair gave a final formal thank you to Judith Evans and the meeting closed at 6.43pm.

Ben Fisher (Student Governor) and Matthew Rees (Vice Principal – WBL and Commercial Activity) left the meeting prior to Part B commencing.

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