Acorn Early Years Foundation
Trustees’ Meeting
Agenda

Date: Friday 3rd November 2023

Time: 9:30 - 12:00

Location: Westcroft Training Centre (MK4 4DE)

Present: Eva Lloyd (Chair), Carolyn Norfolk, Vanessa Gwynn (9:30-11am), Allawee Albaghdadi, Laura Faulkner, Hema Kotecha-Clarke, Damien Beedham, Robert Prosser, Narendra Laljani, Giles Chilton, Katy Pillai

Attending: Potential trustee to be appointed: Gareth Hulley-Carter, Zoe Raven (CEO), Emily Hepden (Head of Finance), Laura Tingey (Head of Early Years & Compliance), Santa Svike (Governance Lead), Sue Fenton (HR Manager)

Apologies: 

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Meeting agenda (Word document version)

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Rolling actions

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Meeting minutes

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9:30 - 10.00am:

1. Decision on the re-appointment of Giles
   
   
2. Approval of minutes
   • Approval of minutes from 28th July 2023
   • Approval of minutes from 20th October 2023 (extraordinary)
     
     
3. Matters arising
   Action points from meeting (not on the agenda):
   
   
4. Declaration of interests – items on the agenda
   
   
5. Verbal update from committee chairs & safeguarding trustees 

Items for Discussion, Action, or Decision

10.00 - 10.10am:

6. Approval of the revised social impact model
       - Social impact model supporting document

10.10 - 10.35am:

7. Review of draft strategic plan (v10), including approval of 2024 KPIs

10.35 - 10.45am:

Coffee break

10.45 - 11.00am:

8. CEO report and Kents Hill expansion
    - Feasibility study
    - Appendix 1: Kents Hill site plans

11.00 - 11.10am:

9. Approval of key financial policies/frameworks:
(reviewed by the FAR committee in Sep-23)

• Financial Authority Framework
• Risk Management Framework
• Risk Register
• Reserves Policy

11.10 - 11.15am:

10. Approval of committee terms of reference:
(already reviewed by each relevant committee)

• FAR committee terms of reference
• CLD committee terms of reference
• Gov & HR committee terms of reference

11.15 - 11.20am:

11. Review of Trustee Code of Conduct
(reviewed by the Gov. & HR committee in Oct-23)

11.20 - 11.30am:

12. Finance report: MI for Q3 2023

11.30 - 11.45am:

13. Review of board's development plan and draft 2024 governance calendar

Reports – To Note Content

 14. Operations report

 15. HR report

 16. Marketing report

 17. Early Years report

 18. Safeguarding report

 19. AOB

Gareth to leave the meeting.

11.45 - 11.55am:

20. Decision about trustee appointment

11.55 - 12.00pm:

21. Review of effectiveness of this meeting

• Click here to access the online feedback form
  
  

Dates for next meetings:

• Wednesday 7th February, 5pm - 7:30pm
• Friday 26th April, 9:30am - 12pm
• Friday 21st June - Strategy Day
• Wednesday 17th July, 5pm - 7:30pm
• Friday 8th November, 9:30am - 12pm