About the Governors
Message from the Chair
As Chair of Governors I would like to start by wishing all our pupils who are coming up to their KS2 & KS1 SATs the best of luck and I’m sure that all the hard work put in by the children, ably supported by their class teachers and other school staff, will produce another good set of results.
As this is the first of my messages I’d like to introduce myself and share some of my thoughts on the school.
Firstly a little bit about me. I have been on the Governing Body for 18 months now having joined as a parent governor back in October 2006 and was elected Chairperson in September 2007. I have one child at the school now with another planning to start in September, so you will no doubt understand that I am committed to ensuring that our children receive the best standard of education possible. The past 18 months have certainly been a learning curve for me and I would like to take this opportunity to give a short explanation of the role of the Governing Body and how this interacts with the role of the Headteacher and his staff.
The full Governing Body meets at least once each term and has general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement. The governors are involved in target setting and strategic thinking and planning, as well as evaluating the outcomes of decisions taken, while delegating the day to day running of the school to the headteacher. The Governors are also paired to a class and are encouraged to visit the school and develop their relationship with the staff and children. In essence the Headteacher and his leadership team deliver the education and manage the resources required to do this and the Governing Body act as ‘critical friends’ to support them in their endeavours.
During my 18 months as Governor I am always struck by the ‘buzz’ in the school and it is great to see how the introduction of music, language and environmental clubs after school provide the children with terrific opportunities to expand their knowledge beyond the traditional, and vitally important, primary subjects. I am always pleased to see new initiatives that are proposed and implemented by the children for the children and a great example of this is the Playground Pals.
Before I close this message I would just like to advise that I will be scheduling further Governor Surgeries that we trialled at the October parents’ evenings – further details will be included in future school newsletters.
Glen Ricketts, March 2008