Great Gaddesden School Governors’ Termly Report – Autumn 2014

The Governors at Great Gaddesden School are very active in the life of the school, and are passionate about helping the school deliver its vision.

There is a Governor's visit book in the school entrance where all visits and meetings are recorded. This allows us to look at how the Governors are contributing to the school, and what we could do differently. At the end of each academic year we spent time looking at how we can be more effective as a Governing Body in the future.

The Full Governing Body has three main responsibilities: setting the strategic direction, acting as a ‘critical friend’ and being accountable to the parents and the community.

The report below shows how individual Governors supported the school in the AUTUMN TERM 2014 in these three areas:

Strategic Role :

Developing a vision for the school, and planning so that all pupils can achieve the very best that they can

·         Driving and leading the playground improvement project

·         Carrying out Headteacher Performance Review

·         Attending Local Authority Herts Improvement Partner review

·         Participate in recruitment for Teaching Assistant

·         Meeting with Project Managers on potential building works in 2016

·         Attending Headteacher Performance Management training

·         Improving reading area through window coverings

·         Premises Walk Round (5 Year Maintenance)

‘Critical Friend’ :

Visiting the school to monitor progress and evaluate the school’s work; knowing the school well

·         Accompanying School Council to the Houses of Parliament 

·         Accompanying children to Able Maths Days                          

·         Accompanying children to Able Writing Day                           

·         Attending visit of Mike Penning MP

·         Organising weekly Knitting Club

·         Learning walk focusing on inclusion

·         SEN Meeting with INCCO

·         Leading weekly Collective Worship in Church

·         Commissioning and installing a new archway to the School Garden

·         Attend whole school Science Day (4 Governors)

·         FOGGS Disco

·         Attend FOGGS Fayre

·         Attend Christmas Carol concerts

·         Attend Christingle service

The Accountability of the Governing Body:

Reporting on progress; accountability to the parents and the wider community

·         Two meetings of the Full Governing Body

·         Meetings of the Sub Committees: Finance, Personnel & Premises; Curriculum & Standards

·         Attending Parents Evening as observers and to gain parent views

·         Writing monthly articles for the Great Gaddesden Parish News

·         Health & Safety walk & checklist

·         Carry out induction interviews for two new Governors

·         Review Asbestos Survey

·         Planning Enforcement Visit

·         Meeting with Parish Council re parking and other site issues

·         Working Party to agree pay policy for consultation

If you have any questions about the work of the Governing Body, I can be contacted on awilkinson@greatgaddesden.herts.sch.uk

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

 

Full Governing Body Meeting - 10th November 2014

On Monday 10th November we held our second Full Governing Body Meeting of the term.

I am delighted to welcome two new Foundation Governors to our team:

Mike Tonge is a local Water End resident whose teenage daughter used to attend the school
Carli Wall is a current parent with two young children at the school

I am really looking forward to working with Mike and Carli.

The Agenda for the meeting was very full and varied.

We received the termly update report from the Headteacher focusing on the School's progress in the Ofsted areas of Pupil Achievement, Teaching & Learning, Behaviour & Safeguarding and Leadership & Management. This is a very detailed report (called a School Self Evaluation) which looks at where the school is currently, and what are the next steps for making further improvements. The Governing Body asks many questions about the report, and Mrs Comer always answers with great honesty and clarity.

Other agenda items included:
-reports from the Sub Committees (Curriculum & Standards and Finance, Personnel & Premises);
-approval of policies (including Admissions and Behaviour)
-discussion about potential future projects to improve the school buildings and playground

The Governing Body meetings are an important part of our work, but Governors also support the school on a more regular basis. The purple Governors' Book records all of our visits to the school, and it is very satisfying that in the Autumn Term so far there have been many contributions from all Governors including accompanying children on school trips, running after-school clubs, attending Local Authority training sessions, carrying out small maintenance projects on the building and doing 'learning walks' in the school.

Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors

Getting to Good Seminar

We were delighted that our recent HMI inspection recognized the rapid improvements that are being made in our school: 'The action plan provides you, staff and Governors with an effective structure to accelerate the rate of improvement.'

As a further step in our School's improvement journey, Miss Worsley and I attended an HMI Getting to Good Seminar this week.

Each seminar provides an opportunity for schools to:

• explore and discuss key issues around improvement, looking at Ofsted's evidence about schools that improve and those that don't
• identify, using case study examples, the key drivers for school improvement
• apply learning to plan for improvement in your own school alongside experienced HMI

There were primary, junior and secondary schools from across the East of England at the Seminar. Miss Worsley and I gained some very useful insights from the event.

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Inspired by Science

I really hope that our school focus on Investigative Science will inspire the pupils of Great Gaddesden School to be excited about Science. It was interesting to read the article in the Independent Newspaper about what children aged 9-13 think about Science in school and in their future careers.

What careers inspire you? Would you rather be a scientist or a sports star?

Post by Alison Wilkinson

 

Children would rather be scientists than actors and professional sports stars, a survey of parents has found.

It reveals that the majority of parents (72 per cent) do not think their children find science lessons boring, while more than two-thirds (67 per cent) claimed their youngsters find the subject exciting.

But it also suggests that nearly one in four (24 per cent) mothers and fathers believe their children find science difficult and the same proportion admit their sons or daughters think it is too much like hard work.

The poll of almost 1,200 parents, carried out by YouGov and commissioned by BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force, also asked about children’s job ambitions. The most popular career path that parents said their children were keen to pursue, out of a given list of jobs, was that of computer games designer, chosen by 15 per cent. This was followed by scientist (12 per cent), vet (12 per cent), emergency services (10 per cent), actor (9 per cent), doctor (9 per cent) and professional sports (9 per cent).

What job? Top ten careers children want to go into

1) Computer Game Designer (15 per cent)
2) Scientist (12 per cent)
3) Vet (12 per cent)
4) Emergency Services e.g. police force, fire brigade, ambulance service (ten per cent)
5) Actor/Actress (nine per cent)
6) Doctor (nine per cent)
7) Professional sports person (nine per cent)
8) Inventor (seven per cent)
9) Musician (seven per cent)
10) Nurse/Midwife (seven per cent)

 

 

Finance, Personnel & Premises Sub Committee

The Finance, Personnel & Premises Sub Committee met on Friday. This sub committee meets twice every term and covers issues ranging from the strategic (such as approving the school budget, agreeing staffing arrangements, and monitoring major capital projects) through to important operational issues (such as checking that the fire drill has been carried out correctly).

This meeting was heavily focused on our planned investment in Technology. We need to invest in the infrastructure to make sure that we have robust systems that are easy to maintain and upgrade. However, we are working really hard to try and make sure that as much of our financial investment as possible directly benefits the children. Clare Rudd is doing a great job talking to other local schools about best practice in this area and meeting with IT companies. She also spoke to the Staff and Pupils to make sure that we are meeting their needs. We look forward to telling you more about this project soon.

This is also the end of the Financial Year for the school and we are busy setting budgets for the next year. The Sub Committee regularly looks at the income and expenditure position of the school;  it is in a healthy financial position and we are looking forward to the year ahead.

Post by Alison Wilkinson