Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting – 21 May 2026

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Bridgend Boardroom and via Google Meet – 4:30pm

PRESENT:

Emma Adamson – Chair
Viv Buckley – Principal/CEO
Joe Castle
Trish D’Souza
Ceri Dixon
Tomos Owen
Stephne Puddy
Neil Robinson
Susan Smith
Helen Verity
Mihindi Wimalasoma – Student Governor – joined at 4.50pm

IN ATTENDANCE

Joe Baldwin – Deputy Principal (Future Generations)
Gemma Carr-Evans – Interim Assistant Principal (Curriculum)
Nicola Eyre – Clerk
Claire Flay-Petty – Interim Director of Quality
Andrew Gibbs – Deputy Principal (Resources)
Rachel Lewis – Curriculum Manager (Construction) – OBSERVER – joined at 4.50pm
Catherine Luff – Interim Assistant Principal (People)
Kevin Punter – Interim Director of Finance
Matthew Rees (Interim Chief Operating Officer)
Catrin Sullivan – Interim Assistant Principal (Curriculum)

The meeting opened at 4.30pm.

Prior to the start of the meeting, the Governing Body received two presentations:

Supported Employment Routes – Two learners – Wyatt and Richard, Will Richards (Supported Employment Tutor) and Kathryn Sweet (Curriculum Manager Care, Childhood Studies and Independent Living Skills) attended the meeting to give an overview of the College’s supported employment pathways.

The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the journey that began in 2019 with the first supported interns being employed at the Princess of Wales Hospital and how this was followed in 2021 with a second pathway in the phs Group and the opening of Clwb Coffi. It was noted that later this year, there are plans to start a third pathway with BCBC.

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) explained that the purpose of this provision is to provide fully immersive, meaningful paid employment opportunities with the aim that these learners can then progress into paid roles outside of the College on completion of the programme. It was celebrated that over 70% of interns have secured full time paid employment after they’ve completed their internship which is a fantastic achievement when compared to the national benchmark of 52.8% of disabled people being employed.

Will Richards explained the various pathways run by the College and highlighted the success and impact of these.

The Big Bocs Bwyd initiative was explained to the Governing Body and how this community pantry offering has helped save nearly £18k of food going into landfill this academic year whilst also helping to tackle food poverty for staff and learners.

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) informed the Governing Body that Will Richards had represented Wales in the Global Pastry Chef’s Challenge on the weekend and came fourth overall. The Governing Body congratulated Will on this amazing achievement.

REDACTED

The main meeting began at 5.50pm

1. CHAIR’S WELCOME AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were noted from Hatti Bluff (Student Governor), Jo Creeden, Lisa Dobbs (Staff Governor), Claire Marshall, Jo Oak, Cath Pickett (Staff Governor), Lloyd Powell, Emma Roblin (Student Governor) and Hayley Thomas (Vice Principal (Curriculum & Quality)).

Mihindi Wimalasoma was presented with a certificate and gift card to show the Governing Body’s appreciation for serving as a Student Governor for the 2025/26 academic year. Mihindi had given her advance apology for the July meeting.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None

3. MINUTES OF THE GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON 19 MARCH 2026

The minutes of the Governing Body meeting held on 19 March 2026 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

4. MATTERS ARISING

4.1 Action Tracker

The Clerk gave an overview of the actions on the Action Tracker:

Action 1 – Presentation on Supported Employment Routes – this presentation was received before the start of this meeting
Action 2 – Invitation for members to join the Carbon Literacy training sessions – COMPLETED. The training is being delivered on three dates in June and July. Four members are due to attend.
Action 3 – Sustainability discussion at the September Away Day meeting. This is not yet due.

5. PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

The Principal and Chair highlighted the following from the Principal’s Report:

The College has been ranked 6th in the Sustainable Development Goals Teach-In Pledge 2026; this is up from 9th place in 2025.
The College has been awarded College of Sanctuary status which recognises the College’s strong cultural values and its commitment to people seeking sanctuary. The Chair commented that the Governing Body is very proud of this achievement.
The ALC (Adult Learning in the Community) Estyn Inspection took place 11-15 May. The findings are embargoed until the report has been published.

The Principal thanked Susan Smith for representing the Governing Body in the feedback session with Estyn. Susan commented that it was a pleasure to be part of this as it was a story of excellence from the quality to the offering to the learner experience.

Values Badges – 69 badges have been awarded since March.
Medr’s Regulatory Framework was published in early April. There is a lot of work taking place to review the requirements of this and a further update will be presented at a future Governing Body meeting.

The members noted the update.

6. SAFEGUARDING UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) gave an overview of the safeguarding report and the work that has taken place since the March meeting. The following were noted:

The total number of student concerns and unique students is in line with expectations for the time of year.

Redacted
As a result of the UK terrorist threat level increasing on 30 April from ‘Substantial’ to ‘Severe’’, the College reviewed its risk assessment and Action Plan and carried out a week-long check on student IDs during the week commencing 4 May.
Redacted

The members noted the update.

7. GOVERNANCE MATTERS

Matters for Approval

The Terms of Reference for the Curriculum & Quality, Remuneration and Search & Governance Committees were approved.
Following a recommendation from the Search & Governance Committee, a second four-year term of office for Claire Marshall was approved; effective date – 6 September 2026.

Matter for Noting

An Appeal Hearing meeting was held recently to hear a staff member’s appeal against a dismissal for gross misconduct. The panel was made up of three Governing Body members and the outcome was that the Principal’s decision to dismiss was upheld; the staff member’s appeal was unsuccessful.

8. FINANCIAL UPDATE

The Interim Director of Finance explained that the aim of the paper is to provide assurance between the February and May Forecasts that everything is in line with expectations and that there are no matters of concern to make the Governing Body aware of. It was noted that there might be a slight improvement on the February Forecast.

The Principal commented that it has been an impressive financial turnaround redacted

The Chair thanked the Interim Director of Finance for the update. There were no questions from the members.

The Governing Body noted the Financial Update.

9. TOWN CENTRE CAMPUS UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the following highlights from the report:

There are no issues to report.
Building 2 is now out of the ground and the metal frame should be completed by the summer in readiness for the cladding.
There are no changes to the budget or cashflow forecasts that were presented in the March meeting.
Redacted

The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Resources) for the update and no questions were asked.

10. CLEAR AND CHALLENGING GOALS AND BALANCED SCORECARD

Redacted

The Governing Body NOTED the update.

11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

None

12. VALUES CHECKER

The members were asked to complete the online Values Checker.

The members, SLT and Rachel Lewis were thanked for attending.

The meeting closed at 6.12pm. A Reserved Business meeting was held after this meeting for eligible members.

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