Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting – 6 November 2025

View this document in Welsh

STEAM Academy Conference Room and via Google Meet – 4:30pm

PRESENT:

Jo Oak – Acting Chair
Hatti Bluff – Student Governor
Viv Buckley – Principal/CEO
Joe Castle – joined at 5.13pm
Jo Creeden
Ceri Dixon
Lisa Dobbs – Staff Governor
Marion Evans – Staff Governor
Claire Marshall – joined at 5.17pm
Tomos Owen
Lloyd Powell
Stephne Puddy
Susan Smith
Helen Verity
Mihindi Wimalasoma – Student Governor

IN ATTENDANCE:

Joe Baldwin – Deputy Principal (Future Generations)
Gemma Carr-Evans – Director of Curriculum (Bridgend)
Nicola Eyre – Clerk
Andrew Gibbs – Deputy Principal (Resources)
Catherine Luff – Director of People – present for agenda items 1, 2 and 8
Kevin Punter – Head of Finance
Matthew Rees – Vice Principal (Work Based Learning and Commercial Activity)
JoAnna Singh – Success Hub Manager – left after her presentation
Catrin Sullivan – Director of Curriculum (Pencoed)
Hayley Thomas – Vice Principal (Curriculum & 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 a special welcome was given to Jo Creeden at her first Governing Body meeting. A roundtable introduction was held.

The appointments of Jo Creeden, Hatti Bluff (Student Governor), Emma Roblin (Student Governor) and Mihindi Wimalasoma (Student Governor) onto the Governing Body were ratified.

Apologies for absence were noted from Emma Adamson, Emma Roblin and Shelley Wyatt-Williams. Donna Ali did not attend the meeting.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None

The order of the agenda was rearranged.

8. COLLEGE POLICIES

The Chair explained that both the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the Financial Regulations had been reviewed by the Resource Planning Committee and recommended by that committee for approval.

The Governing Body were invited to ask questions on both documents.

8.1 EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

There were no questions from the members on this policy.

The Governing Body APPROVED the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

8.2 FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

There were no questions from the members on this policy.

The Governing Body APPROVED the Financial Regulations.

Catherine Luff left the meeting

PRESENTATION – All Things Success

The Chair welcomed JoAnna Singh, Success Hub Manager, to the meeting. JoAnna gave a presentation to the Governing Body on the work of the Success Hubs, the Success Centres, the role of the Progress Coaches and the Digital Badge Scheme.

The Chair thanked the Success Hub Manager for the presentation and asked for reflections from the Student Governors. One of the Student Governors confirmed that they had never heard anything negative about the Success Hub or its programme, describing it as a positive and helpful resource. The Principal recalled a previous Governing Body meeting three or four years prior where a Student Governor held the College to account with a very different, negative view of the Success Centres which led to action being taken to turn this around.

It was agreed that the current positive feedback is a direct link to the College’s values and its strategy of enabling learners to “be all that they can be”.

JoAnna Singh left the meeting

3. MINUTES OF THE GOVERNING BODY MEETING HELD ON 3 JULY 2025

The minutes of the Governing Body meeting held on 3 July 2025 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 and this was noted by the Governing Body. No further discussion was held.

5. PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

2025-30 Strategic Plan

All members were given a printed card which gave digital access to the new Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan video was played and the Principal talked through the Plan and its ambitions. The Principal thanked the Governing Body for agreeing to be braver by not including hard metrics in the Plan but approving goals to be achieved in five years’ time beneath each of the four pillars – People, Place, Planet and Purpose. It was noted that progress will be published regularly and that the College Operational Group (COG) has begun setting hard metrics for Year 1 which will be shared through the Corporate KPIs and the Balanced Scorecard.

It was agreed that the branding is very fresh and modern. A special note of thanks was given to the Marketing Team for their work on this.

The members fed back that they thought the Plan is bold, brave and outcome-focussed with ongoing progress being measured through the annual reports. The College was congratulated for developing such a professional, digital Strategic Plan and it was described as “fantastic” and “sector leading”.

Principal’s Report

The Principal gave the following update:

Student enrolment – the year started at XXX% of full-time FE funded learners. REDACTED
REDACTED
FE funding is received two years after delivery so the situation has arisen whereby there are more learners than ever at a time of one of the lowest funding points. It was noted that this will correct itself in time but in the meantime, the Welsh Government (WG) are funding an additional 5% so that colleges can meet the increased cost pressures.
Junior apprenticeships (JAs) – the College is the largest provider of JAs in Wales

The Principal gave a special thank you to the Vice Principal (Curriculum & Quality), the Directors of Curriculum and their teams for the rigorous enrolment process which has resulted in the lower withdrawal rate.

5.13pm – Joe Castle joined

Social Partnerships – Medr has invited the College to be the pilot FE institution. The Governing Body endorsed Bridgend College being the pilot FE institution as it was agreed that it would be beneficial to help shape and influence the outcome.
Medr – the second phase of the consultation is now live. The members noted that the Principal is due to attend an event in mid-Wales in the coming weeks where a sector-wide response will be collated as well as the College submitting its own response.
Medr’s consultation on Welsh Apprenticeships – this has just closed and the general consensus is that apprenticeships need to be more agile and flexible. It was noted Medr doesn’t want to disrupt the sector, however, there is a concern that funding may change to a regional model. REDACTED
ColegauCymru Manifesto – this is based on three missions – growing the economy, improving participation and tackling inequality, which align well with the College’s values. The manifesto has been written to appeal to the wide political spectrum due to the expected changes in the Senedd in the May elections next year.
Beacon Awards – the College is one of six colleges that have been ‘Highly Commended’ in the support category. The College’s bid focused on the College shop ‘Y Siop’, the Working Wardrobe and the provisions for students experiencing food poverty. At the AOC Annual Conference in two weeks, two or three finalists will be selected for a full-day assessment visit.

It was noted that there is strong representation from Welsh colleges in the various AoC award categories.

The Chair thanked the Principal for the update and commented that there is a lot to celebrate in the report.

6. SAFEGUARDING

SAFEGUARDING ANNUAL REPORT

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) presented the Safeguarding Annual Report for 2024/25:

Approximately XXXX learners were supported for some type of safeguarding concern, REDACTED.

There were XXXX occurrences of safeguarding issues, recognising that some learners have multiple interactions with the Safeguarding team. The complexity of cases and the required involvement of other agencies continue to be a concern, but the strong partnerships with external agencies for student support and signposting were highlighted as a positive.
The College monitors both online and offline activity using Smoothwall software and this is proving to be very effective. This has helped identify some staff and learners who need support and gives an extra level of assurance to the safeguarding processes in place.
This was the fourth year of using the Wisdom (student wellbeing) app. Learners can access self-help resources such as 24/7 telephone and online counselling support. Again, within the app, there is continual monitoring of what is being accessed/searched so that interventions can be made if needed.
Food poverty is being addressed by initiatives such as Big Bocs Bwyd and soup stations.
Mental health, online safety and anxiety were the top three safeguarding concerns.
The cases analysed month-by-month and by campus are in line with the previous two years and are also in line with expectations.
The Safeguarding Team was shortlisted as a finalist in the Safeguarding and Child Protection Association Awards last year.
For the first time this year, specific details around racist incidents have been included in the report as this was deemed important due to the implementation of a “Managing a racist incident flow diagram” into the Safeguarding Policy last year, ensuring a through line of reporting.

It was noted that an update on the College’s approach to trauma informed practice is being presented at the Curriculum & Quality Committee meeting being held the week after this meeting.

REDACTED

Another member questioned whether with the increased use of AI there is a worry that some learners will stop coming forward and the College will lose insight into some of their concerns. The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) explained that the student portal has AI built into it and is programmed to flag to the Safeguarding Team if a learner starts to ask a question or explore a concerning topic. The members noted that another measure implemented is the deployment of R;pple, a free browser extension, so that when learners search for something concerning on a web browser, the extension intercepts that and shares resources as a pop-up to check in with the learner. It was discussed that there is uncertainty around how the landscape will develop with the increasing use of AI. The importance of learners feeling safe when they first join the College was stressed and how this is embedded throughout their time at the College.

The Principal informed the members that due to the increases in mental health concerns and suicidal thoughts/attempts there’s work underway via the WG which will lead to FE colleges introducing Suicidal Action Plans. The Principal added that there is growing demand to address homelessness and poverty-related issues so colleges are having to reconsider the ways in which they support their learners.

A member asked whether the College works in collaboration with any external partners e.g. the Samaritans. It was confirmed that the College works with lots of organisations in this field (these were listed on page 11 of the report). It was discussed that learners can access counselling directly through the Wisdom app, however, just prior to the Christmas break, the College signposts learners to the Samaritans if they need support over this period.

Joe Castle and Joe Baldwin agreed to meet outside of the meeting to discuss ways in which the College can help influence political thinking around young people entering FE and their needs (ACTION – JB).

The members noted the Safeguarding Report.

SAFEGUARDING POLICY

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) presented the Safeguarding Policy that had been reviewed as part of the annual cycle. It was explained that no amendments had been made but changes will be made when the update to the Wales Safeguarding Procedure has been published by the WG (expected in the coming months).

The Governing Body APPROVED the Safeguarding Policy.

7. GOVERNANCE MATTERS

Matters for Approval

The Clerk presented the following documents that had been recommended for approval by the Search & Governance Committee:

Clerk’s Report
Governing Body Self-Assessment for 2024/25
Governing Body Skills Analysis
Committee structures for 2025/26
Approval of Committee Terms of Reference:
1. Audit
2. Selection
Standing Orders
Instrument & Articles
Code of Conduct

The Governing Body approved the above documents noting that Jo Creeden will join the Audit Committee not the Curriculum & Quality Committee.

Matters for Noting

The Corporate Seal was used for the purchase of Brackla House on 18 September 2025.
The new ways of working that were approved at the Governing Body Away Day held on 25 September 2025.
The approval of the following policies and procedures at the Search & Governance Committee meeting held on 22 September 2025:
1. Senior Post Holder Disciplinary Policy and Procedure
2. Senior Post Holder Grievance Policy
3. Governing Body Disciplinary Policy
4. Appointment of New Governing Body Members Procedure
5. DBS Procedure for New Governing Body/Co-opted Members

The Governing Body noted the three Matters for Noting.

9. UPDATE ON YEAR END ACCOUNTS 2024/25, MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS AND KPIs

The Head of Finance informed the members that the vast majority of the audit testing had been done on the year-end financial position but stressed that the numbers he’s presenting are still DRAFT until they have been signed off in December. It was noted that no concerns had been raised by the auditors.

The highlights from the year-end position that was presented was as follows:

REDACTED

The bridging table between the May Forecast REDACTED to the draft year-end REDACTED was explained. REDACTED

The financial KPIs were presented and these were very positive. REDACTED

REDACTED

Another member commented how pleasing it is to see that staff have had the collective will to secure cost efficiencies and questioned whether the WG will fund the increase in NI costs. It was confirmed that the WG has agreed to pay these up until the end of July.

The Governing Body noted the year-end financial position.

10. DELIVERY/FUNDING UPDATE FOR 2024/25 AND ENROLMENT UPDATE FOR 2025/26

The Deputy Principal (Resources) presented the following information:

REDACTED

The Chair thanked the Deputy Principal (Resources) for the update and raised the issue of political uncertainty, especially in relation to the implications of the WG’s published standstill budget for next year. The Deputy Principal (Resources) acknowledged the risks and opportunities of this but explained that the only planning tool that the WG has is the current funding model. REDACTED. It was noted that the WG is trying to address the funding situation of additional vocational learners in FE colleges in this interim period and updates will be provided to the Governing Body when known.

6.07pm – Mihindi Wimalasoma and Hatti Bluff left the meeting

A short comfort break was held

11. ANTI-RACISM ACTION PLAN

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) provided an update on the Anti-Racism Action Plan which has been in place for three years. It was noted that a full review day in the summer involved governors, learners and staff.

The Deputy Principal (Future Generations) explained that the plan focuses on three key areas which are RAG-rated:

Staff confidence and skills
Curriculum
Optics and representation

It was noted that Medr has requested a copy of every colleges’ Anti-Racist Action Plan.

The Governing Body approved the Anti-Racism Action Plan and commented on the positive work and actions taking place.

12. TOWN CENTRE CAMPUS UPDATE

REDACTED

6.30pm – Tomos Owen left the meeting

REDACTED

The Governing Body noted the update.

13. CORPORATE KPIs AND BALANCED SCORECARD

The Governing Body noted the Corporate KPIs and Balanced Scorecard for 2024/25 which were both very positive.

The Deputy Principal (Resources) explained that due to the introduction of the 2025-30 Strategic Plan, this is the last time that the KPIs and Balanced Scorecard will be presented in this format. As was discussed above, COG is devising a new set of performance measures for the 2025/26 academic year.

The Chair congratulated the College for the “sea of green”, REDACTED

14. COLEGAUCYMRU MANIFESTO AND THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

The Principal had outlined the key aspects of the manifesto in agenda item 5 (see above) and emphasised that the College values will remain paramount regardless of the external political factors affecting the environment in which it operates.

REDACTED

15. COMMITTEE MINUTES

15.1 Search & Governance – 22 September 2025

The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Search & Governance Committee meeting held on 22 September 2025.

15.2 Resource Planning – 16 October 2025

The Governing Body RECEIVED the minutes of the Resource Planning Committee meeting held on 16 October 2025.

16. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Clerk explained that Hatti Bluff and Mihindi Wimalasoma had been interviewed by the Deputy Principal (Future Generations) for a presentation that he gave at the ColegauCymru Conference on ‘Engaging Learners in a Culture of Belonging’. It was agreed that the videos will be shared with the Governing Body and co-opted members as they are very impactful. (ACTION – NE).

17. VALUES CHECKER

The members were thanked for attending and asked to complete the online Values Checker.

The Chair said that the meeting had highlighted lots of success at the College, noting specifically the launch of the Strategic Plan, the progress on the Corporate KPIs and the increased enrolment numbers.

The meeting closed at 6.58pm.

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