Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting for website
Held on Saturday 26th March 2011 at the London Institute of Education
1&2. Attendance and apologies
3. Minutes of 2010 AGM were accepted as a true record.
Proposed J Bray Seconded M Roberts
4. Matters arising
Melissa and Ethel have been looking at the possibilities available to invest £30,000 into a Charity Bond savings Account. There are few on the market at present. They are looking further into one with the Principality Building Society with an interest rate of 2.2%.
5. Resolutions from 2010 AGM
Jill wrote a letter to Michael Gove expressing the Association’s great concern about the probable impact of cuts in Government expenditure on the training and employment of non-teaching staff. In line with the policy of the last ten years, teaching assistants and other ancillary staff have become essential to the delivery of Every Child Matters agenda and it is critical that this is not damaged. Jill received a standard reply letter which was disappointing.
6. Reports:
a) Chair/Secretary Report
The National Executive Committee has met twice and discussion continues to focus on how the Association can best meet the needs of its members. We would be very interested to also have some input about this from members who should send their ideas to the NAPCE administrator via the “Contact Us” section of the website.
The Journal continues to flourish and the Editorial Board is expanding. It has an impressive list of members both from the UK and overseas, including members in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Hong Kong. Ably led by Ron Best as Chair, the Board has oversight of the Journal and regularly reviews the Journal to ensure that high quality is maintained both in terms of articles published and book reviews. We are indeed indebted to the authors and book reviewers who submit articles and to the peer reviewers and editors who help to ensure that submissions are appropriate. After 11 years in post, Colleen McLaughlin has retired as Journal Editor. During this time she managed a change of format and the transfer of the Journal from publishers Blackwell to Routledge. In her last Editorial (Vol 24 Number 4) Colleen writes “I think the Journal has reached adulthood. It has had to grow from a small association journal to an international journal in a highly competitive publishing environment”. We are very grateful to her for the time, effort and energy she has devoted to producing what has become a world class journal. We welcome Stan Tucker as the new Journal Editor and wish him well as he faces the new challenges ahead.
The website continues to evolve and remains an important means of disseminating information and generating debate. We are currently discussing changes which hopefully will be implemented soon. One new development relates to members being able to have online access to past editions of the Journal and discounts on Routledge books.
Mel O’Grady, the NAPCE Administrator, continues to do sterling work in aiding the work of the Association through supporting the work of committees and by liaising with members and publishers.
While cuts in spending are having a great impact of schools and other services, the work of pastoral managers and pastoral support staff has never been so important. With high levels of child poverty in Britain and reports that children in this country are some of the unhappiest in the “worlds rich countries” the role of pastoral care in supporting the education of our young people remains as important today as it was when the association was first formed.
Finally, on a personal note as the outgoing Chair of the association, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the fantastic team who have supported me and the work of NAPCE over the last five years. Margaret Roberts as secretary, Ethel Southern as treasurer and Mel O Grady as Administrator have taken on so much of the day to day work in running the association and their dedication and commitment to the continued success of NAPCE has been second to none. My sincere gratitude and thanks goes to them all.
Jill Robson – Chair Margaret Roberts – Secretary
The report was accepted: Proposed R Best Seconded P Jones
b) Treasurer’s Report
Despite the reduction in members the financial state of NAPCE is quite healthy. Bank interest is minimal and Charity Bond Savings accounts are being looked at for an investment of £30000. There was an Excess of Income over Expenditure of £3306 compared to £1958 in 2009.
It was noted that the accounts did not show anything for Office Equipment/Computers or for depreciation of the same. Melissa has used her own PC since joining Napce in August 2008. It was proposed that the Association contribute the sum of £500 to Melissa towards updating hardware. This was proposed by J Bray and seconded by S Tucker.
The report was accepted: Proposed R Best Seconded A Boyd
c) Journal Editor’s Report
The year was marked by a change of editorial responsibility in December 2010. Stan Tucker took over from Colleen McLaughlin. Colleen’s contribution to the journal was marked by Ron Best in the first edition of 2011. The transition between editors has been smooth not least of all due to the excellent administrative support provided by Lyndsay Upex.
There continues to be interest shown in submitting articles to the journal although few are received from practitioners. The unpredictable flow of articles and turnaround at review stage has resulted in problems in filling more recent editions. This is an issue that has been discussed at Editorial board meetings.
All articles which are submitted are subjected to a Peer Review process and the excellent work of the reviewers needs to be noted. The acceptance percentage is satisfactory and reflects the quality of the work submitted. The majority of articles in Volume 28 (March-December 2010) have a clear connection with classroom practice, management issues, curriculum development etc. It is interesting to note, however, the emergence of more general themes around bullying, bereavement and multi-professional interventions. There is some evidence to suggest that the journal is being targeted by an international audience and it is acknowledged that more work needs to be done in this area. As part of a strategy to increase the international profile of the journal it was decided to invite contributions for the International Associate Editors. The response has been excellent and it is intended to devote a special edition of the journal to their work.
The report was accepted: Proposed J Bray Seconded P Spencer
7. Report on NEC Elections
Phil Jones will take over the role of Chair from Jill Robson. The board are very grateful to Jill for the work she has done for the past 5 years. Jill will remain as a member of the NEC
We currently have 2 vacancies on the board plus 3 Co-opted vacancies.
8. Resolutions from AGM 2011
It was felt that it was too difficult to put a proposal together in light of the changes the government are planning but if and when more information becomes available we will then respond appropriately.
9. AOB
Ron Best and Gerda Hanko are both members of the Caspari Foundation – educational psychotherapy for children & young people who need help to overcome emotional barriers to learning & development. Over the past few months they have been looking for organisations to collaborate with and provide mutual support. Ron thought that this may be an organisation that Napce may be interested in working with.
Action Point: Ron to supply Jill with contact details and further information.
Jill thanked Ethel, Margaret and Melissa for their continued support over the past 5 years whilst she has been in post as Chair.
Phil Jones the New Chair thanked Jill for the last 5 years service and thanked everyone for attending the meeting and bought it to a close.