Dear all,
It has been a challenging and ever-changing autumn term and staff and have been working tirelessly to nurture and support your children. Governors have continued to meet remotely as they did during the earlier lockdown. Significant changes have taken place within the leadership structure of the school. The following appointments have all been made during the last two terms:
Staffing changes
KS2 leader Miss Warburton
KS1/EYFS leader Mrs Cox
School Business Manager Ms Bayliss
Year 3 / 4 teacher Miss Ratcliffe
Governors would particularly like to extend thanks to Mrs Sweeton who has been covering as school business manager since Mrs Smith left earlier this year.
COVID
Throughout this term the senior leadership team has been regularly updating governors with the ever-changing risk assessment and any actions taken to reduce the risk to pupils, staff, parents, and the wider community. Governors have been informed of any bubble closures and the numbers of children quarantining.
Attainment
After the children had settled in, internal assessments took place to inform staff of how the school closure from March had affected attainment. This data has been shared with teachers and governors. In normal circumstances, the internal assessments take place at the end of each term. However, it was strongly felt that the school needed to find out what particular areas needed focusing on after the initial extended lockdown of the pandemic.
Surveys
The parent survey was distributed via an online form for the first time this year. It makes the collating of the results significantly easier. We will continue to use this format and would encourage as many of you as possible to complete the survey.
We are also holding a pupil survey and it will take a similar format; some of the younger children will need support in answering these questions. The results of these surveys are intended to give governors a clear idea of the feelings of the school community and any actions decided from these will be shared.
Monitoring
Due to Covid restrictions, governor visits to school this term have been reduced. This is an important part of the governor’s role and monitoring has been arranged to take place at the end of each half term. This allows time for the books to be quarantined appropriately. In the new year we have arranged monitoring training for all governors, which will specifically include ideas for monitoring whilst access to school is limited.
On behalf of all governors I would like to wish you a very happy Christmas and New year!
Ben Powell
Chair of Governors
