Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting – 23 May 2024

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STEAM ACADEMY CONFERENCE ROOM AND VIA GOOGLE MEET – 4:30pm

PRESENT:

Jeff Greenidge – Chair (up to and including agenda item 3) – stood down from the Governing Body after agenda item 3
Emma Adamson – Chair (from agenda item 4 onwards)
Viv Buckley – Principal
Joe Castle
Lisa Dobbs – Staff Governor
Judith Evans
Marion Evans – Staff Governor
Teodora Grancea – Student Governor
Dawn Lewis-Whelan – left at 5.30pm
Hayden Llewellyn
Joanne Oak
Lloyd Tandy – Student Governor
Helen Verity

IN ATTENDANCE

Joe Baldwin – Deputy Principal (Future Generations)
Nicola Eyre – Clerk
Andrew Gibbs – Deputy Principal (Resources)

The meeting opened at 4.30pm

1. CHAIR’S WELCOME AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Joe Castle’s appointment as a Governing Body member and member of the Resource Planning Committee was ratified having been approved electronically by the Governing Body.

A special welcome was given to Joe Castle at her first Governing Body meeting and a roundtable introduction was held.

Apologies for absence were noted from Trish D’Souza, Claire Marshall, Stephne Puddy and Shelley Wyatt-Williams.

Gemma Carr-Evans – Director of Curriculum (Cowbridge Road and Queens Road), Catrin Sullivan – Director of Curriculum (Pencoed) and Hayley Thomas – Vice Principal (Curriculum & Quality) all submitted their apologies as they were supporting the Discovery Event taking place on the Bridgend and Pencoed campuses that evening.

Dan Biddle did not attend the meeting.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None declared at the start of the meeting.

3. APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR OF THE GOVERNING BODY

Emma Adamson and Joanne Oak left the meeting

The Governing Body had received notice of the nomination of Emma Adamson for the role of Chair and Joanne Oak for the role of Vice-Chair two weeks before the meeting. A copy of their CVs and supporting statements had also been shared at this time.

The Principal said that she is very grateful to Emma Adamson for being willing to take on this role. The Principal added that Emma Adamson has a genuine interest in Bridgend College and is an excellent advocate for the College. Similarly, the Principal said that Joanne Oak is a strong supporter of the College and brings a different perspective to the Governing Body as she’s from a different sector albeit still within the public sector so understands the funding pressures.

The Governing Body unanimously approved the following:

The appointment of Emma Adamson as its Chair for a term of three years with immediate effect.
The appointment of Joanne Oak as its Vice-Chair for a three year term with immediate effect.

Emma Adamson and Joanne Oak rejoined the meeting

Jeff Greenidge congratulated both Emma Adamson and Joanne Oak on their appointments and said that he felt privileged to have held the position of Chair. He said that the College has a special culture and that this has been achieved through the efforts of its staff and the Governing Body.

Judith Evans, the outgoing Vice-Chair, thanked Jeff Greenidge on behalf of the Governing Body and wished both Emma Adamson and Joanne Oak the best of luck in their new roles.

The Principal gave a final word of thanks and said that Jeff Greenidge’s contributions had taught the College a lot about culture and that he had made a difference both to her personally and to the College.

4.46pm – Jeff Greenidge left the meeting and Emma Adamson took over the chairing

Emma Adamson thanked the Governing Body for putting their trust in her and said that she is pleased to be working alongside Joanne Oak. Joanne Oak echoed this sentiment.

A special thank you was given to Judith Evans for all her support and guidance as Vice-Chair.

4. MINUTES OF THE GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON 11 APRIL 2024

The minutes of the Governing Body meeting held on 11 April 2024 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

5. MATTERS ARISING

5.1 Action Tracker

There were five actions on the Action Tracker – one red, three amber and one ongoing. The amber actions were not yet due.

[REDACTED]

The members noted the other actions and the update given against each of the actions on the Action Tracker.

5.2 Presentation on Lead Practitioner role

Marion Evans, Staff Governor and Lead Practitioner: Teaching, Learning and Assessment (Welsh and Bilingualism) gave a presentation on her Lead Practitioner role and how the Welsh language and bilingualism is being embedded into the curriculum.

The following information was presented to the Governing Body:

There is a Welsh Development Programme for staff which includes the Ein Taith Iaith (Our Language Journey) scheme to teach staff Welsh language skills that they can use in the classroom. There is also an Agored unit ‘Developing Bilingual Delivery Skills’.
32 members of staff have followed the Ein Taith Iaith Scheme with a 100% successful completion rate.
An article has been written for the Welsh Journal of Education on enhancing bilingual teaching practice at Bridgend College.
The feedback from staff who have completed the scheme has been very positive and they’ve commented that they now have the confidence to use the Welsh language with their learners. The learners also fed back during the learning walk week that their tutors are using Welsh and that they liked the bilingual style of teaching.
The Welsh Language Commissioner has requested that a case study is written to share the scheme as good practice.
The scheme will be widened from Health, Social and Childcare to two further priority areas – Construction and Creative Arts and with the aim of recruiting 40 further staff members.
The bilingual Escape Room ‘The Mansion of Secrets’ has been very popular and to date, 232 staff, learners and visitors from other colleges have completed it.
Marion Evans has been nominated for the Innovative Educator of the Year Award (Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Awards ceremony being held on 20 June 2024).
The poster ‘Enhancing Bilingual Teaching Practices: An Evaluation of the “Ein Taith Iaith” Scheme’ if accepted, will be presented in the University of South Wales’s (USW) Teaching and Learning Conference at the beginning of July.
Both the Ein Taith Iaith scheme and the Escape Room are contributing to the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 Strategy of having a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The Chair thanked Marion Evans for the presentation and invited feedback from the members.

A member said that it is very pleasing to see the number of staff involved and how there are different levels of awards depending on proficiency.

One of the members said that she really liked the idea of the Escape Room and how innovative this approach is to active learning as it gives learners confidence and prepares them for real life situations.

One of the Student Governors that had completed the Escape Room said that she thought it was really effective and had made her learning fun. She added that being able to apply the theory taught in the classroom into practice in the Escape Room has given her confidence and taught her how to remain calm whilst dealing with real life scenarios. In addition, she added that her tutors are using Welsh incidentally and how they are encouraging her fellow learners to use Welsh.

Another member commented that it is fantastic to see a bilingual immersive experience being used and that employers really value these types of experiences. It was questioned whether the Escape Room could be offered to external organisations and the Principal said that it is open to anyone who wants to use it.

The Governing Body congratulated Marion Evans on being nominated for the award and wished her luck on having the poster for the USW event approved. The item was concluded with a comment on how Marion’s passion for the Welsh language is infectious.

5.3 Professional Learning Days – formation of annual programme

The Principal explained that the Professional Learning Days are formulated from a number of sources including the Learning and Development Strategy, information learnt from the Quality Improvement Cycle and phenomenological discoveries.

The Governing Body was informed that all middle managers had received two days of training from the Leadership Trust to prepare them for the difficult conversations that may be needed as part of the College’s 5 Step Change Management Plan.

The Governing Body noted the item.

6. PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

The Principal updated the Governing Body on the following:

The ‘Demonstrating the Social Value of FE Colleges in Wales’ report had been published by ColegauCymru; this is the first time that any report has tried to capture the impact that FE is having on the wider community and Wales’ ability to achieve the seven goals set out in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. The Principal highlighted the College’s case studies included in the report on sustainability and healthy food initiatives.
Closure of the Day Nursery:
- This has been a very difficult process but the staff working in the Nursery have been very professional and understanding of the College’s position.
- There has been a lot of social media activity about this but the focus has been on how underfunded childcare is rather than the actual decision to close the Nursery.
- Both the staff and clients of the Nursery understood the reason for the decision. The way in which this was communicated and handled needs to be commended.
New waste management changes introduced by the Welsh Government (WG) from April has meant that a lot of time has been spent talking about rubbish so that the College is compliant with the WG regulations.
Cardiff Capital Region Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) – the College has signed the MoU, the first of its kind in Wales, which will enable co-operative and collaborative working between HE and FE partners.
The policies being presented at the Curriculum & Quality (C&Q) and Resource Planning Committees (RPC) for approval were noted – Admissions Policy (C&Q) and Recruitment & Selection Policy and Procedure (RPC).
The College’s news and achievements were highlighted as well as the Annual Award Ceremony taking place on 25 June. The Principal encouraged the members to attend this event if they are able to.

The Chair thanked the Principal for her update and invited any questions or comments from the members.

One of the members commented that she was really pleased to see the shortlisting for the National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards 2024 and the nomination for the National Diversity Awards 2024. The Chair agreed with this and commented that this is significant recognition of the College’s values and culture.

Lisa Dobbs, Staff Governor and Manager of the Day Nursery, gave a special thank you to the Senior Leadership Team and HR for their excellent support during this difficult time. The Chair said that this is reassuring as, although it was a very difficult decision, it is the way that it is handled that is important.

It was requested that Bridgend College’s role in the Cardiff Capital Region’s MoU is discussed at a future meeting and how the Governing Body can best support this (ACTION – NE).

The Governing Body noted the update.

7. SAFEGUARDING UPDATE

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

A new graph showing a month-by-month analysis of cases and comparison with the previous year has been included in the report.
There is a direct correlation between the introduction of the ‘Wisdom’ app (a student assistance app) and the decline in the number of safeguarding cases; this app provides 24/7 bilingual support to the College’s learners.
Recording is now taking place by case rather than concern. Previously, there might have been multiple concerns regarding a learner and these would’ve been recorded as separate cases whereas now, a case can have multiple concerns logged against it to reflect that it is the same person.

5.30pm – Dawn Lewis-Whelan left the meeting

An internal audit of the College’s safeguarding procedures and approach is taking place in early June and the findings of this will be presented at a future meeting.
The Wellbeing Team is actively supporting learners over this exam period.

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

A member queried how many Safeguarding Officers are employed by the College and whether this number is enough. The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) said that Sion Whitehouse is employed as the Wellbeing and Safeguarding Manager and there are three Safeguarding Leads. He explained that generally this number is enough but the team can be stretched when learners return from breaks and during exam times. It was noted that consideration is being given to employing a fourth Safeguarding Lead so that there are two based in Bridgend and two based in Pencoed.

One of the Student Governors said that she had accessed the Wisdom app and how using it had had a really positive impact on her.

The Chair commended the quality of the report and the Governing Body noted its contents.

8. GOVERNANCE MATTERS

The Governing Body NOTED the following:

The appointment of Lloyd Tandy as a Student Governor for the 2024/25 academic year.
[REDACTED]

9. TOWN CENTRE CAMPUS UPDATE

The Deputy Principal (Resources) provided the following update:

[REDACTED]

10. FINANCIAL UPDATE

A positioning statement was presented and noted by the Governing Body as the meeting was outside the quarterly forecasting.

No new information was included in this update.

11. CORPORATE KPIs AND BALANCED SCORECARD

The Corporate KPIs and the Balanced Scorecard were presented.

Corporate KPIs

There had been no movement in the Corporate KPIs since the April meeting. It was noted that this will be updated as part of the May Forecast.

Balanced Scorecard

The Principal commented that the outcomes being reported are very pleasing, especially against the backdrop of having to introduce and manage a 5 Step Change Management Plan. The current retention rate of [REDACTED] was highlighted and it was noted that students are not feeling the impact of the savings that the College is having to make.

The Chair thanked all of the staff in achieving these results and commented on how impressed she is with the learning environments at the College both indoors and in the green spaces as these take time and effort to maintain.

The Governing Body noted the update.

12. COMMITTEE MINUTES

12.1 Search & Governance – 2 May 2024

The Governing Body RECEIVED these minutes.

13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Governing Body was asked to delegate authority to the Principal and Chair to agree on who the College Fellowships should be awarded to in the October HE graduation ceremonies.

The Governing Body AGREED to delegate authority to the Principal and Chair to decide on the awarding of College Fellowships to be presented at the October HE graduation ceremonies.

VALUES CHECKER

The Student Governors were asked for their views on the meeting and they both fed back that it was very positive and productive. They both especially enjoyed the presentation given by Marion Evans.

Another member also said that she enjoyed and had benefited from listening to the presentation as she doesn’t work in FE. She also said that she found the update received on safeguarding beneficial and how this has made her think about societal problems impacting young people. In addition, she really valued hearing Lisa Dobbs praise the way in which the Day Nursery closure was handled.

The Clerk thanked Teodora Grancea for attending the College’s Fashion Show earlier that week and requested that if any members wanted to attend any College events, to let her know.

The Chair thanked everyone for attending and the meeting closed at 5.55pm.

A Reserved Business meeting was held for eligible members after this meeting.

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