Pam and Steve Langmead
Great Wakering Primary School
Working together at the heart of our community
Our Governance Statement 2013 - 14
Annual Governance Statementfor the Governing Body ofGreat Wakering Primary School
September2014
In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the 3 core strategic functions of Great Wakering Primary School’s Governing Body are:
1Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
2Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;
3Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
Governance Arrangements
Following publication of the DfE, ‘The School Governance Constitution Regulations 2012,’ we reconstituted the governing body in order to carry out our Core Functions more effectively.
Our membership, as per The Instrument of Government 3rd Dec. 2012, comprises:
- 3 parent governors
- 1 Local Authority governor
- 2 staff governors (including the headteacher)
- 6 co-opted governors (one of whom is co-opted as a staff governor)
The full Governing Body meets five times each year focusing on a different school improvement priorityeach time,with meetings including:
- a monitoring activity to evaluate progress against the priority;
- a presentation about the priority from a relevant member of staff, and;
- a major focus in the Headteacher’s report to governors on that same priority.
All governors hold responsibility for ensuring policies are reviewed in accordance with our published schedule andin accordance with DfE requirements, we:
- appoint 2 or 3 governors each year to conduct the headteacher’s appraisal supported by an external adviser who also meet mid-year to review progress;
- set up a pay committee of 2 or 3 members to deal with the headteacher’s pay and monitor pay decisions for other staff that meets annually to deal with statutory matters and also meets mid-year to review progress.
Governors also take part in task specific workshops between meetingsto undertake identified actions and report outcomes to the full governing body and, all governors, including staff governors, are linked to a class or classes who we visit at least once each year.
Attendance record of governors
Governors have excellent attendance at meetings and we have never cancelled a meeting because it was not “quorate” (the number of governors needed to ensure that legal decisions can be made). See p. 4 for details of individual governors’ attendance at meetings.
The work of GWPS Governing Body during 2013/14
Alongside ensuring that all our statutory duties are fulfilled, the work of the governing body during13/14 focused on the following improvement priorities determined from our 2012/13 self review.
1Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
2Holding school leaders to account for progress; and
3Improving the effectiveness of the governing body.
(Our Improvement Priorities action plan can be viewed via the ‘Our Governors’ tab on the school website)
A key driver throughout the year has been for governors to ensure the school will be judged ‘Good’ in all areas at the time of its next Ofsted inspection and, in order to do this, we have maintained ahigh focus on ensuring all pupils make expected or better progress across the year.
In addition to including pupil progress as an ongoing agenda item in all our meetings, every governor has monitored the progress of three anonymised pupils across the year,including pupils who are in receipt of Pupil Premium or are on the SEND or gifted and talented register. We have also maintained a high focus on CPD relating to the interpretation and understanding of data and attended regular governor data workshops with the deputy headteacherwhen governorsscrutinise and question data in depth.
Governors have also undertaken two learning walks during the year, the first focused on the impact of the Talk for Writing project, School Improvement Priority 1, and the second on the learning environment for mathematics in classrooms across the school, as part of Priority Area 2.
Additional monitoring has included evaluatingthe impact of improved teaching strategies through looking at children’s writing and maths books and governors have also tracked the impact of the school’s new marking policy through talking to three children from every class about the way that marking has helped them to learn and progress.
The school budget is closely monitored by the Finance Committee and subject spending is scrutinised by all governors when subject leaders present their reports during full governing body meetings. As the PE and Sport Premium was a new initiative last year,governors received two reports from the coordinator, one in the autumn and the second in the summer term so that the impact of the funding on improved provision and performance could be closely evaluated.
Safeguarding is an ongoing agenda item at our full governing body meetingsand our Nominated Governor, who visits the school each month to scrutinise the single central record and check other areas that fall within the remit of her role, reports back on her findings at each meeting.All governors have responsibility for ensuring one or more of the mandatory school policies are in place and regularly reviewed and we are beginning to develop a range of job descriptions for specific roles within the governing body with the aim of improving our overall effectiveness still further.
We have undertaken a number of activities during the year raise our profile amongst staff, parents and children and were delighted by the positive response to our first ‘Meet the Governors’ coffee morning. The ‘Our Governor’ area is now up and running on the school site and provides a window on the many aspects of the school governor role.
Governors are delighted to report that the school’s 2014 results confirm the positive impact of improved teaching on children’s outcomes, with achievement improved for the fourth consecutive year and now meeting and exceeding national levels.
Priorities for governors 2014/15
Priorities for governors during 2014/15 will include the following:
- Monitoring the implementation of the New national Curriculum and Assessment without Levels;
- Developing governors’ understanding of teaching, learning and assessment in the Early Years Foundation Stage
- Appointing a new co-opted governor to fill gaps identified in our latest skills audit
- Appointing a new Clerk to the Governing Body who has undertaken or is willing to undertake the National College Clerks Development Programme
- Developing our capacity through succession planning, building on our recently instigated shadow roles
- Embedding performance Management for Governors
- Developing additional job descriptions for key governor roles
- Continuing to improve school outcomes through increase the percentage of consistently outstanding teaching in order to challenge the more able children and therefore increase the number of children exceeding expected progress.
How you can contact the governing body
We always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents - please contact the Chair of Governors, Mrs Puddick, via the school office.
If you are interested in finding out more about what we do, please click the ‘Our Governors’ tab on the school website.
Great Wakering Primary School
Working together at the heart of our community
Great Wakering Primary School Governing Body
Governor / CategoryPaul Bates / Parent Governor
Jen Burdett / Staff Governor
Steve Farrow / Co-Opted Governor
Claire Friend / Co-Opted Governor (Staff)
Hayley O’Dea (Head Teacher) / Staff Governor
Judith Puddick (Chair) / Co-Opted Governor
Jennet Smeeton / Parent Governor
Anna Stokes (Chair of Finance Committee) / Parent Governor
Barbara Wilkins / LA Governor
Heather White / Co-Opted Governor
Hilary Wilson (Vice Chair, Link Governor) / Co-Opted Governor
Vacancy / Co-Opted Governor
Attendance Record for 2013-2014
Governor / Full Governing Body / Finance Committee / Pay Review CommitteePaul Bates / 80% / n/a
Jen Burdett / 100% / n/a
Steve Farrow / 100% / Steve Farrow / 100% / 100%
Claire Friend / 100% / 75%
Hayley O’Dea / 100% / Hayley O’Dea / 100% / n/a
Judith Puddick / 100% / Judith Puddick / 100% / n/a
Jennet Smeeton / 100% / n/a
Anna Stokes / 100% / Anna Stokes / 100% / n/a
Barbara Wilkins / 100% / 100%
Heather White / 100% / n/a
Hilary Wilson / 100% / Hilary Wilson / 100% / 100%