CLERK TO GOVERNORS

Trust GS Tower House, 269 Walmersley Road, Bury BL9 6NX.  Contact: Julie Lawson, Head of Service 0161 348 7188.

COMMITTEES   Sept 2018 – Sept 2019

Remits for the Committees are available on the school website and upon request. Some committees or named Governors receive specific training to be able to carry out their functions effectively.

COMMITTEES continued

Governors attend school events such as: church services, performances, sporting events or to see the children learning in school.  Each Governor is assigned to a class and follows the children’s progress throughout the school. This approach allows Governors to get to know the children’s journey from Nursery through to leaving us for secondary school.  

ATTENDANCE Sept 2018 – Sept 2019

TRAINING UNDERTAKEN BY GOVERNORS Sept 2018 – Sept 2019

During the academic year Governors have attended training sessions run by TrustGS, training sessions held at school and e-learning modules. When considering the skills and training Governors require, particular attention is given to three core strategic functions of the Board of Governors:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

The following training has been undertaken:

• GDPR
• Safeguarding
• Building and Monitoring School Budgets
• Governor Hub briefing - Induction
• Safeguarding Workshop for Governors
• Getting the most out of being a linked Governor
• Mental Health in Schools
• Supporting Young People and Children Mental Health
• Joint staff and Governor training celebrating the school’s successes
• CHAIR’S STATEMENT / STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD

This has been another busy year for the Board of Governors as we strive to continue to support the work of the school. We have worked together in our strategic role:

• to ensure pupils enjoy school, feel valued and part of the school community
• to ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• to ensure pupil attainment is monitored and maximised
• to oversee and approve the school’s budget
• to ensure the staff are supported as needed
• to approve policies and procedures
• to oversee admissions of Reception pupils
• to attend school events such as: termly Church services; pupils’ performances and the annual Tea Party for volunteers, where year six pupils bake and then serve afternoon tea.

By carrying out the strategic, monitoring role the Board are enabling the senior leadership team to focus on the day to day running of the school.

Much of our work centres on the governors’ own development plan and that of the school.

In line with this, we regularly review our roles and the experience, knowledge and skills we individually bring to the Board, ensuring there are no gaps that could have affect our efficient governance of the school. We continue to identify suitable training and were able to attend training sessions provided by Trafford Governor Services and through an online training portal.  We have access to an independent training and clerking service who are available for advice if needed, and who provide training and meetings to help us to remain well informed.  Most of us attend at least three or four training sessions each year.

We have recruited new members to the Board and have provided support and mentoring as needed to help these new governors to fulfil their roles.

In order to ensure all governors can enhance their governance and leadership skills, we continue to look at the membership of committees and have ensured that there are different chairs and vice chairs on each one. In addition, we have introduced a system whereby at least one member of each committee moves to another committee each year so all governors will gain experience on each committee. This helps us to ensure there is appropriate succession planning in place should vacancies arise. Following a review of the number of committees and their functions we have restructured our committees to ensure a more efficient system of governance.

After the successful re-vamping of the junior playground equipment, we have begun to plan the refurbishment of the infant one. We have received reports from staff members about the provision in school for children who use more than one language and from the youth pastor at St Mary’s Church to hear about her work in school. We also worked with staff, during our annual joint governor and staff training session to celebrate the school’s successes and consider further ways to improve our school.

Each governor is assigned to a different year group or ‘Angels’ afterschool and breakfast club and we endeavour to meet our class at least once each year as they progress through school, and to attend their class worship as well as other events in school.

We continue to review policies and procedures to ensure that these are fit for purpose and meet not only our legal responsibilities but also our vision and aims for the school and our pupils. The children and staff remain at the forefront of our decisions as we try to provide the best educational environment for them.

We continue to closely monitor the school budget to ensure the school can cope with reduced funding and rising costs. This has a constant challenge and we have had to make some hard decisions but we strive to ensure that staffing levels and resources have not suffered as a result. This means that the children's learning and development will continue to be of the highest standard.  We continue to be grateful to the PTA for the fantastic support they give the school in terms of fund raising, resources, time and commitment. It is reassuring too that our breakfast and after school clubs are so popular and provide a vital and comparatively inexpensive service to many parents.

The school has achieved most of this year’s School Development Plan (SDP), including:

• Curriculum: Enhance cross-curricular links
• English reading: Revise and enhance current school reading strategy
• Distinctiveness Plan: Introduce two year rolling RE scheme

Items for the SDP 2019/20 include:

• Foundation Subjects Assessment: Revise the criteria for assessment to match the amended curriculum.
• English reading and writing: consolidate reading domains at KS1 and handwriting and redrafting at KS2.
• Relationships Education: Plan for the commencement of the new statutory Relationships Education from September 2020.
• Early Years Curriculum and Baseline: Prepare for the statutory Reception baseline.
• Distinctiveness Plan: Incorporate the Understanding Christianity resource into year B of our two year rolling programme.

MEETINGS

The Full Board of Governors meets termly. The Resource Committee meets at least termly.  The Admissions Committee meet after the closing date for admissions to school and prior to any consultation period where a change to the admissions criteria is considered.   Other committees meet as required.

OTHER DOCUMENTS

Other document available from the Governor’s section of the school website:

• The Board of Governors Code of Conduct
• The Board of Governors profile
• Committee remits
• Register of Business and Pecuniary Interests