Governor News

Hello from the School Governing Body

In September we began the school year by holding our Business Meeting. This meeting involves much of the organisational processes for the school academic year. We all signed the Declaration of Pecuniary Interest forms, Code of Conduct and Data Protection Forms. We reviewed and accepted the standing orders. We reviewed the governance calendar, our termly monitoring schedule and policy review schedule, to ensure we cover everything at meetings throughout the year. Aligned to the agreed priorities for the school this year and our statutory duties, governors were appointed to link governor roles: Safeguarding, SEND, Pupil Premium, Attendance, Wellbeing, Curriculum, Finance. All governors complete annual training in safeguarding and have undertaken a DBS check for the work that we do in school.

In the autumn term, governors also carried out monitoring during the November inset day as a group, as well as on an individual basis for the roles to which they were assigned. The governing body sat again at the end of the term, which involves considering all the data and insights gleaned from the Autumn Term, reviewing policies and agreeing actions for the following term.

Academic Year 2022-2023

The school received a huge investment from the Education Authority which upgraded our learning premises. The new facilities enable our school to grow to two-form entry to continue to serve the needs of our growing local community, with modern fit-for-purpose facilities. Governors observed that the school team and contractors minimised the impact of the construction work on the school day.

Governors again spoke with parents, pupils and staff during their monitoring visits this year; governors wear their ID from a yellow lanyard so you can spot us easily in the playground during monitoring visits. This is one of the ways the governors collect feedback from the school community to support us in making useful contributions that improve outcomes for pupils.

This year, our link governor roles were for Safeguarding, SEND, Pupil Premium, Finance, Parent Engagement, Attendance, Curriculum, H&S and governor training. Each link governor holds the responsibility for ensuring the focus remains strong on these areas of school development throughout the year.

The governing body provides the clarity of vision and strategic direction that shaped this year’s school development plan, to enable all pupils reach or exceed their full potential.

Academic Year 2021 – 2022

We welcomed our new headteacher and the wealth of experience that she brings. We also welcomed new governors this year and voted in a new Chair. We have a tailored induction and training package with buddy system for new governors. Informed by a recent skills audit and questionnaire, we provided the scrutiny and accountability to help secure better outcomes for pupils. We attended training, monitoring in groups, observed other governing boards so we can continue to grow as a board and be as effective as possible in our roles.

Every year, we consider which areas require a particular focus for monitoring and give a governor responsibility for ensuring that focus remains strong throughout the year. Our link governor roles this year were aligned to Safeguarding, Wellbeing, Finance, Sports Premium, SEND, H&S, Data Protection, and governor training.

Academic year 2020 -2021

Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, the governing body made sure pupils and staff were safe and could continue teaching and learning, and that the school’s finances were distributed to maximise the effectiveness of those activities.

We commenced discussions with the county education authorities, who selected our school for expansion with funding secured from local residential developments, to provide 100 more school places for our community.

We welcomed in new governors Sharon, Julia, Tessa and Louise, whose skills and experience are a real asset to our board. As a group, we now have experts in Finance, HR, secondary school transition, Community Engagement, Leadership, Estate management, city governance and school data.

Governors are very appreciative of how bravely all staff embraced the new ways of working forced upon them by the pandemic. It’s a testament to the altruistic nature of their vocation that they continued to support pupils even through the most challenging times. For this we will always be grateful.