Hello and Goodbye!

This term we have said goodbye to two of our members – Huw Bowles has stepped down as Community Governor and Sue Wild as Staff Governor. We would like to thank them both for all their input and commitment to the governing body over the last few years. We are delighted to welcome Colin MacLeod as the new Staff Governor and Simon Bird, who is replacing Huw on the finance committee as a Community Governor.

There have also been a number of changes to some of our committees – Isabelle Picken has taken over as Chair of Curriculum and Suzie Power & Sally Clayton will be looking after the PR Committee this term. A full list of the Governors and their responsibilities can be found on the right hand side of this blog in a document entitled “Who does What”. Our photos are also posted up on the governors’ noticeboard in the foyer. Do please check the noticeboard and visit the blog regularly for news & information about our work at the school, and of course do also post up any comments/feedback that you may have.

Governing Body Objectives

Objectives 2010 / 2011

We are pleased to report that we had a successful year and achieved a number of the objectives that we set at the beginning of the last school year. In particular, we completed the Early Years Canopy and our school meals daily uptake was consistently above 80 meals on average per day. Communication has been improved at the school with additional noticeboards in the foyer and regular newsletters. This is set to improve again this year with initiatives such as a new school website.  We also made some progress with reviewing the role of Teaching Assistants at the school. Significant improvements were also made in the quality of assessment data and overall standard of teaching, however, as noted by OFSTED, these areas do require further work. If you would like to see a more detailed breakdown of our objectives from last year, please visit http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/objectives-2010-11-review.

Objectives 2011 / 2012

Our objectives as a Governing Body for this year are based on the feedback from OFSTED and the SIAS report, which are also linked to the targets that we have set in our School Development Plan (SDP).  We have also considered your comments and feedback, for example in the parent survey last year, in helping us to set the SDP and objectives. We will be reporting on our progress in meeting these objectives in our newsletters throughout the year.

Staffing

1. To ensure that all teaching is rated at least ‘good’ by July 2012.

2. To formally define the responsibilities; membership; reporting format of the SMT and set its objectives for the forthcoming educational year.

3. To ensure that the overall standard of Teaching Assistants (TA) in the school is effective through the creation and implementation of a formal TA policy and training matrix.

Curriculum

1. To ensure that all staff are fully conversant with the School’s updated Able, Gifted and Talented (AG&T) policy and that they have the confidence and understanding to implement in relation to stretching the ‘more able’ pupils.

2. To ensure that the use of the outdoor classroom is maximized.

PR and Admissions

1. To maximize the school’s profile within Sherston and surrounding villages to help balance the larger number of leavers in 2012.

2. To help implement a new website for the school.

Finance

1. To ensure that budgetary constraints do not restrict the improvement in the standards of the School’s appearance.

2. To find an appropriate alternative to FMSiS to ensure that we are undertaking best practice.

SEN

1. To ensure that the School improves its communication with parents of SEN children.

2. To ensure that all staff receive comprehensive SEN training so that they are confident of maximizing a SEN children’s educational needs.

SIAS (objectives for the next 3 years)

1. In consultation with all stakeholders, to unpick and explore in detail the school’s Christian vision and values.

2. To aid pupils in their spiritual development through the establishment and use of reflective spaces in the school environment.

3.  To create a more coherent values based plan for collective worship within which there are greater opportunities for pupil involvement in leadership and evaluation.

SIAS Inspection

We started the new academic year with another formal inspection – the Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools (SIAS). It looks at the school’s distinctive Christian character, the impact of collective worship and the effectiveness of leadership and management of the school as a church school. Happily, the inspector found us to be ‘good’ in each category and was particularly encouraged by our Christian vision, our relationships between all members of the school community, our meaningful links with schools in other cultures and our leadership of RE. We would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and input into the inspection, and especially all the staff who were directly involved with the preparation for the inspection.

We will continue to work hard with all members of the school community to further improve our status as a Church school and our new objectives for 2011 reflect this.  We’re also very fortunate to welcome the support of Becky Fisher who is working for the Diocese to help the pupils and teachers of Sherston School in all aspects of Christian faith, worship and education.

School crossing & car parking

We have had a number of meetings this term with representatives from Wiltshire Council and the Highways Agency. We are very pleased to report that it has been agreed that new traffic calming measures will be introduced outside the school on Knockdown Road in the Spring Term. We will keep you informed of progress.

The new car parking arrangements at school do now seem to be working well – thank you for your continued co-operation. As you know, we consulted with the parish council on this issue and parents/carers were also invited to comment on the governors blog about the new parking and drop-off arrangements.

New school website – thank you for your feedback!

Views and ideas about the new school website are coming in thick and fast. Thank you to everyone who has added a ‘post-it’ to the graffiti board in the school foyer. We will be analyzing the responses of parents, pupils and staff over the next few weeks, to help us to decide on the design and layout for a new website. We hope to be able to make a final decision at our next meeting in November, with a view to launching a new school website next term. We’ll keep you posted on the blog and in our next newsletter!

Parent survey

Every year we send out a parent survey, and we’ll soon be sending out this year’s survey. Last year’s responses and feedback from the Headteacher are posted on our Blog – do have a look if you haven’t already done so. When you receive your survey, please do complete and return it – we’re aiming for a response rate of over 70% this year.

Open Day for Prospective Pupils

We will be holding an open afternoon at the school 1:30 – 2:30pm on Thursday 17^th November. This is a new initiative where we will offer prospective pupils and their families a chance to see the school in action – meeting current pupils, teachers, staff and other families. Those of you who have children at pre-school, please do come along and help us spread the word!

Staffing

1. To improve the overall average standard of teaching in the school through the allocation of appropriate financial resourcing in providing a structured training matrix for the staff.

Conclusion: The overall standard of teaching was improved but our Ofsted report clearly highlighted this as an area that requires further ‘work’.

2. Through the process of consultation with all parties to review the role of the Teaching Assistants in how they can best assist in the delivery of the National Curriculum to our pupils.

Conclusion: Progress was made with the introduction of TA appraisals, but this objective was not fully achieved as we have not yet formally reviewed the roles of TAs at the school. Further work is needed and a TA policy will be introduced in September 2011.

Curriculum

In Literacy and Mathematics, to collate and review all sanitised assessment data from each Year group and to ensure that the pupils are meeting or exceeding targets in these subjects in line with the National Curriculum.

Conclusion: Significant improvements were made in the quality of assessment data received. The curriculum committee now needs to ensure that this information continues to be received and is acted upon by the school (where necessary). Majority of objective completed.  

PR and Admissions

Through discussion and consultation, to review how all stakeholders within the school can communicate effectively and appropriately with each other including maximising use of Information Technology.

Conclusion: There has been significant improvement in aspects of communication within the school and this looks set to continue with initiatives such as a new website, additional noticeboards in the foyer and regular newsletters. In hindsight, this objective was too broad to be achieved but some good progress was made. Partially completed.

Finance

1. Subject to our capital funding allocation in 2011, to specify, tender and finance the Early Years Foundation Stage canopy in 2011.

Conclusion: Completed

2. To investigate the costs and benefits of introducing a cashless payment system to the school.

Conclusion: To be completed as part of new website in 2011/2012.

Catering

To maintain the average number of pupils having school meals in excess of 80 per day.

Conclusion: Completed.

a)      through this website blog here, or

b)      for a period of time after half term, a section of the noticeboard in the foyer will be devoted to a comments board, where you can write-up your thoughts on post it notes.               

 All this will be taken on board, along with requirements from teachers etc to help us select the best website company for our collective needs.

Please leave your comments below

The governors are liaising with the relevant agencies to find a sustainable and long term solution to the school crossing problem. We will keep you updated as soon as there are any developments.

We would welcome your views about these arrangements, so do please leave any comments below….

Changes to the Governing Body

Roles and responsibilities are always changing in the governing body! Congratulations to Richard Hulme who was re-elected as Chair of governors for the 2011/2012 academic year and to Judy Laddle who was elected as Vice-Chair. We extend a huge thank you to outgoing Vice-Chair, Richard Langley, who has served in this capacity for many years. Richard will remain on the governing body where his role in the PR committee will continue.

A full list of the Governors and their responsibilities can be found on the right hand side of this blog in a document titled “Who does What”.

OFSTED inspection

The Governing Body are very pleased with the recent Ofsted result. We would like to thank all teaching and non-teaching staff for their hard work and effort in achieving this result. Our efforts will now concentrate on improving on this grade even further and this will be communicated to you in the next few newsletters.

Parking issue

As you are all fully aware the Governing body in consultation with teaching staff decided on closure of the car park to parents during the last two weeks of term. This was in response to several near misses of injury to children by moving vehicles and congestion in the car park. After some initial teething problems parking appears to have improved. Parents have largely been supportive and co-operative which has resulted in a much safer car park area especially during peak times. In the autumn term, signs will be erected so that everyone is clear on where not to park, again to ensure safe passage to and from school. Discussions with the local authority are ongoing and these concern the crossing area and road markings within and around the school. There has also been a proposal for a parent consultation meeting early in the Autumn term so that you can have an opportunity to put forward your views on the parking issue.

Improvement to School Foyer and Hall

We are delighted that the reception area revamp has been completed this term and hope that you will agree that it now looks much tidier and welcoming. A number of governors have been involved, in particular thanks to Isabelle Picken who designed and created the new Christian
symbol with help from several pupils at the school. The governors’ notice board has been moved and has some new mugshots of the current members of the governing body. We will continue to regularly post copies of the minutes, termly newsletters and other relevant GB information. As well as new comfy seating, we also have a new notice board where we can display information about recent achievements and events at the school. Suzie Power has been instrumental in sorting out the display and we are grateful to her. Do let Suzie know if you have any relevant news about your child’s extra-curricular achievements and we’ll do our best to post it up.

Objectives 2010 / 2011

At the start of the 2010/2011 academic year the Governing Body set a series of annual objectives for the school. These objectives are specifically aimed to ensure that the school continues to improve over the long term. Each objective is handled by one of the Governing Body’s sub- committees and below we list our progress to date.

Staffing

One of the Staffing Sub-committee’s main goals this year was to improve the overall standard of teaching in the school through the allocation of appropriate financial resourcing in providing a structured training matrix for the staff.

A second version of the training grid has been received, and it will be revised again in the light of Ofsted’s findings and the appraisal process next term. All TA appraisals have been completed and training needs which have been identified will also feed into the next version of the training grid. A Teaching Assistant policy is currently being drafted to assist with identifying how TAs can best assist in the delivery of the National Curriculum to pupils. Staffing Sub-committee has drafted a new Staff Recruitment Policy to assist with promoting good practice in recruitment at the school. This has been supplemented by a new Equality Policy which has also been drafted by the committee for approval by
the Governing Body, to reflect the changes brought about this year by the new equality legislation.

As a result of the ongoing training needs review, the overall standard of teaching in the school has improved, as recently confirmed by the Ofsted inspectors. We hope to build on this progress, continue to support the staff and further improve teaching standards next year to ensure consistent provision across the school. We will also be looking closely at the Ofsted report to consider any other staffing related implications.

Curriculum

One of the main goals of the Curriculum Committee has been to improve the collection and review of assessment data particularly for Maths and Literacy.

The Curriculum Committee focused this year on improving monitoring and assessment throughout the school, and positive results are already being seen.  For example, the recent Ofsted report noted that ‘since the previous inspection, the quality of teaching and the curriculum have improved and, as a result, so have pupils’ achievement and attainment.’  This will continue to be a major area of focus next year. 

Another highlight was the completion of the outside play area for Reception which helps to fulfil the Early Years curriculum. Finally, the introduction of our new caterers ABM one year ago has been widely recognised as a success based on sustained growth in uptake of school meals and healthy eating related activities, all of which form an integral and important part of the curriculum.    

PR and Admissions

The main goal of PR and Admissions committee was to improve communication between all parties associated with the school.

The committee has created a more proactive Governor blog and would like to encourage parents to use this forum to share their ideas and concerns. We’d like to extend a big thank you to parents who have already visited and left comments. We envisage introducing fortnightly topics that are of interest to parents and trust that parents, carers and staff will air their views. Only by being made aware of all sides of an issue can we hope to understand it and hence address it. Topics will be introduced more regularly from the start of the Autumn term. We are also initiating a complete review of the school website as this has been one of the core components of our future communication strategy.

On the admissions front, we have initiated a feedback process whereby prospective parents visiting the school have the choice to meet with or telephonically communicate with a governor. We are also in discussions with staff as to the feasibility of an Open Day at Sherston. We hope that this will provide an opportunity for parents from outside our catchment area to visit the school and see classes in action. This is a  necessary marketing drive to ensure our number on roll remains healthy.

With regards to PR for the school, we hope you agree that the noticeboard in the foyer is a fantastic way to showcase what pupils at Sherston are up to. We try to keep the noticeboard updated and to represent all achievements so please contact us if there is something your child has done that deserves mention. We have also made regular feeds to the media regarding various issues which has resulted in a stronger presence in local newspapers.

Finance

One of the two goals for this year was to specify, tender and finance, subject to our capital funding allocation in 2011, the Early Years Foundation Stage canopy in 2011.

This has now been completed and the Reception class can benefit from a vast “outdoorsy” curriculum regardless of the weather. This structure was funded jointly by the school and FSS with input from governors at various levels.

Secondly, in response to feedback, the Finance Committee devised a new process for the allocation of discretionary funds to larger scale projects within the school. Working with staff, governors and FSS the following projects have been granted funding:

• Allocation of more funding to the Senior Management Team to allow them to spend more time appraising and developing teaching in the school. This was something our recent OFSTED report recommended and we are delighted to be able to react to that immediately.
• An annual subscription to Educational City.com which will give us fantastic computer based exercises to use in both classrooms and ICT lessons for all years and across all subjects in the National Curriculum.
• Upgrade our website facilities to make it easier to use and manage, more helpful for parents and to provide options for cashless payment and SMS alerts. This will also feed into improving communication between all parties.
• New dining tables for the hall to replace the current cumbersome and heavy ones which present a Health and Safety risk to Catering staff.
• An allowance to maintain the support we get from our School Partners (once centrally funded) who provide excellent coaching and development for our teachers.

Catering

The Catering sub-committee goal was to maintain the average number of pupils having school meals in excess of 80 per day.

Uptake continues to be strong and there are on average 90-100 hot school meals served every day. In particular, the pupil uptake was excellent for the Sports Day BBQ, What’s Cooking in the Wok and Lucky Plate days this term. 

In conclusion………

The past 12 months have seen many changes and a fair number of improvements to various aspects of the school. It has been a busy year and, with the feedback from OFSTED, we envisage an even busier 2011/2012 academic year. We thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement and trust you will have a good summer break. As always, your comments are very welcome.

Governors’
Newsletter July 2011

The end of another academic year – and here
is our last newsletter to round off and report on what we have been up to.

Changes to the Governing Body

Roles and responsibilities are always
changing in the governing body!

Congratulations to Richard Hulme who was
re-elected as Chair of governors for the 2011/2012 academic year and to Judy
Laddle who was elected as Vice-Chair. We extend a huge thank you to outgoing
Vice-Chair, Richard Langley, who has served in this capacity for many years.
Richard will remain on the governing body where his role in the PR committee
will continue.

A full list of the Governors and their
responsibilities can be found on the right hand side of this blog in a document
titled “Who does What”.

OFSTED
inspection

The Governing Body are very pleased with the
recent Ofsted result. We would like to thank all teaching and non-teaching
staff for their hard work and effort in achieving this result. Our efforts will
now concentrate on improving on this grade even further and this will be
communicated to you in the next few newsletters.

Parking
issue

As
you are all fully aware the Governing body in consultation with teaching staff
decided on closure of the car park to parents during the last two weeks of term.
This was in response to several near misses of injury to children by moving
vehicles and congestion in the car park. After some initial teething problems
parking appears to have improved. Parents have largely been supportive and
co-operative which has resulted in a much safer car park area especially during
peak times. In the autumn term, signs will be erected so that everyone is clear
on where not to park, again to ensure safe passage to and from school.
Discussions with the local authority are ongoing and these concern the crossing
area and road markings within and around the school. There has also been a
proposal for a parent consultation meeting early in the Autumn term so that you
can have an opportunity to put forward your views on the parking issue.

Improvement to School Foyer and
Hall

We are delighted that the reception area
revamp has been completed this term and hope that you will agree that it now
looks much tidier and welcoming. A number of governors have been involved, in
particular thanks to Isabelle Picken who designed and created the new Christian
symbol with help from several pupils at the school. The governors’ notice board
has been moved and has some new mugshots of the current members of the
governing body. We will continue to regularly post copies of the minutes,
termly newsletters and other relevant GB information. As well as new comfy
seating, we also have a new notice board where we can display information about
recent achievements and events at the school. Suzie Power has been instrumental
in sorting out the display and we are grateful to her. Do let Suzie know if you
have any relevant news about your child’s extra-curricular achievements and
we’ll do our best to post it up.

Objectives 2010 / 2011

At the start of the 2010/2011 academic year
the Governing Body set a series of annual objectives for the school. These
objectives are specifically aimed to ensure that the school continues to
improve over the long term. Each objective is handled by one of the Governing
Body’s sub-committees and below we list our progress to date.

Staffing

One of the Staffing Sub-committee’s main
goals this year was to improve the overall standard of teaching in the school
through the allocation of appropriate financial resourcing in providing a
structured training matrix for the staff.

A second
version of the training grid has been received, and it will be revised again in
the light of Ofsted’s findings and the appraisal process next term. All TA
appraisals have been completed and training needs which have been identified
will also feed into the next version of the training grid. A Teaching Assistant
policy is currently being drafted to assist with identifying how TAs can best
assist in the delivery of the National Curriculum to pupils. Staffing Sub-committee
has drafted a new Staff Recruitment Policy to assist with promoting good
practice in recruitment at the school. This has been supplemented by a new
Equality Policy which has also been drafted by the committee for approval by
the Governing Body, to reflect the changes brought about this year by the new
equality legislation.

As a
result of the ongoing training needs review, the overall standard of teaching
in the school has improved, as recently confirmed by the Ofsted inspectors. We
hope to build on this progress, continue to support the staff and further
improve teaching standards next year to ensure consistent provision across the
school. We will also be looking closely at the Ofsted report to consider any
other staffing related implications.

Curriculum

One of the main goals of the Curriculum
Committee has been to improve the collection and review of assessment data
particularly for Maths and Literacy.

The
Curriculum Committee focused this year on improving monitoring and assessment
throughout the school, and positive results are already being seen.  For example, the recent Ofsted report noted
that ‘since the previous inspection, the quality of teaching and the curriculum
have improved and, as a result, so have pupils’ achievement and
attainment.’  This will continue to be a
major area of focus next year. 

Another
highlight was the completion of the outside play area for Reception which helps
to fulfil the Early Years curriculum.
Finally, the introduction of our new caterers ABM one year ago has been widely
recognised as a success based on sustained growth in uptake of school meals and
healthy eating related activities, all of which form an integral and important
part of the curriculum.    

PR and
Admissions

The main goal of PR and Admissions committee was to
improve communication between all parties associated with the school.

The
committee has created a more proactive Governor blog and would like to
encourage parents to use this forum to share their ideas and concerns. We’d
like to extend a big thank you to parents who have already visited and left
comments. We envisage introducing fortnightly topics that are of interest to
parents and trust that parents, carers and staff will air their views. Only by
being made aware of all sides of an issue can we hope to understand it and
hence address it. Topics will be introduced more regularly from the start of
the Autumn term. We are also initiating a complete review of the school website
as this has been one of the core components of our future communication strategy.

On the
admissions front, we have initiated a feedback process whereby prospective
parents visiting the school have the choice to meet with or telephonically
communicate with a governor. We are also in discussions with staff as to the
feasibility of an Open Day at Sherston. We hope that this will provide an
opportunity for parents from outside our catchment area to visit the school and
see classes in action. This is a necessary marketing drive to ensure our number
on roll remains healthy.

With regards
to PR for the school, we hope you agree that the noticeboard in the foyer is a
fantastic way to showcase what pupils at Sherston are up to. We try to keep the
noticeboard updated and to represent all achievements so please contact us if
there is something your child has done that deserves mention. We have also made
regular feeds to the media regarding various issues which has resulted in a
stronger presence in local newspapers.

Finance

One of the two goals for this year was to
specify, tender and finance, subject to our capital funding allocation in 2011,
the Early Years Foundation Stage canopy in 2011.

This has
now been completed and the Reception class can benefit from a vast “outdoorsy”
curriculum regardless of the weather. This structure was funded jointly by the
school and FSS with input from governors at various levels.

Secondly, in response to feedback, the
Finance Committee devised a new process for the allocation of discretionary
funds to larger scale projects within the school. Working with staff, governors
and FSS the following projects have been granted funding:

• Allocation
  of more funding to the Senior Management Team to allow them to spend more time
  appraising and developing teaching in the school. This was something our recent
  OFSTED report recommended and we are delighted to be able to react to that
  immediately.
• An annual
  subscription to Educational City.com which will give us fantastic computer
  based exercises to use in both classrooms and ICT lessons for all years and
  across all subjects in the National Curriculum.
• Upgrade
  our website facilities to make it easier to use and manage, more helpful for
  parents and to provide options for cashless payment and SMS alerts. This will
  also feed into improving communication between all parties.
• New
  dining tables for the hall to replace the current cumbersome and heavy ones
  which present a Health and Safety risk to Catering staff.
• An
  allowance to maintain the support we get from our School Partners (once
  centrally funded) who provide excellent coaching and development for our
  teachers.

Catering

The Catering sub-committee goal was to
maintain the average number of pupils having school meals in excess of 80 per
day.

Uptake
continues to be strong and there are on average 90-100 hot school meals served
every day. In particular, the pupil uptake was excellent for the Sports Day
BBQ, What’s Cooking in the Wok and Lucky Plate days this term. 

In
conclusion………

The past 12 months have seen many changes and
a fair number of improvements to various aspects of the school. It has been a
busy year and, with the feedback from OFSTED, we envisage an even busier
2011/2012 academic year. We thank you for your ongoing support and
encouragement and trust you will have a good summer break. As always, your
comments are very welcome.

Changes to the Governing Body

We have a number of additions and reshufflings to report. Isabelle Picken, in the role of Parent Governor has joined the Curriculum Committee; Sally Clayton and Suzie Powers are two Associate Governors who have joined the PR and Admissions Committee and Julia Pugh has joined Staffing Committee as a Foundation Governor. Judy Laddle has moved from Curriculum to Staffing Committee and Laura has changed from a Parent Governor to being a Foundation Governor.

A full list of the Governors and their responsibilities can be found on the side panel of this blog in a document called Who does What.

Parent Questionnaire

Once again we had a fantastic response from parents filling in the Parent’s Questionnaire. Many parents also noted issues that were of particular concern to them. In response to this Suzie Powers and Nick Bowditch met and addressed each comment/issue that was raised. These responses are available to you on the Governor blog http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com/parent-questionnaire-summary-of-responses/

School Development Plan (SDP)

Following on from the Parent Questionnaire, governors would like to hear your views and comments on various issues. Recently governors and staff met to review the SDP for instance. (An explanation of the SDP is available on the governor blog). Please visit and share your thoughts and ideas. We would like to involve you as much as possible in this very important aspect of the school.

Catering

We have just come to the end of the first year of our contract with the new school caterers, ABM. We are really pleased with the progress that has been made over the last 12 months to improve the quality and uptake of school dinners. Almost two thirds of pupils are now regularly eating hot school dinners and this is a significant achievement. There is a lot of research which suggests that eating a hot and healthy school meal improves our children’s health, behaviour and performance at school. School meals are subsidized at Sherston and we feel that this is a worthwhile investment from the school budget.

ABM have introduced a range of lunch time initiatives at the school which are very popular with the children – including monthly Lucky Plate and regular Theme and What’s Cooking in the Wok Days, as well as running competitions.  ABM’s nutritionist is a regular visitor to the school and has been working closely with the pupils to promote healthy eating. ABM are committed to serving freshly prepared and nutritious meals to the pupils and we’d like to thank Pam and her team in the kitchen for their continued hard work. We also hope that you will continue to use the School Dinners Blog to find out what’s going on and to let us know what you think about the school dinner service.

Improvement to School Foyer

Some of the governors are currently working with staff to give the school foyer a face lift. Soon there will be a large noticeboard to display important information for parents and to highlight recent developments and achievements at the school. Some of the pupils will be creating a symbol to display in the foyer to reflect the Christian ethos and values of the school. There will also be new comfortable chairs and a small table so that visitors who are waiting can sit in comfort and admire the pupils’ work and snapshots of school life. We would welcome any ideas/suggestions that you have for the reception area revamp. So do please visit the governors’ blog to let us know. http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com.

Staff changes

We are sorry that Mrs Jacqui Muttock will be leaving us at the end of the summer term after 10 years of dedicated service to the school. We would like to thank Mrs Muttock for all her hard work and contribution to the school and wish her well for the future. The governing body has recently appointed Mrs Alison Pegg to replace Mrs Muttock in Beech class in September. Alison has a wealth of expertise and experience, having previously worked in Sussex and Norfolk and we are delighted to welcome her to the teaching staff. There have been a few other staff changes since our last newsletter. The governing body appointed Sally Walker as the new Teaching Assistant in Birch class to replace Mrs Panayides who sadly left us after many loyal years of service to the school. We wish Mrs P the very best of luck in her new role at Malmesbury Secondary School and we are delighted that Sally has joined us at Sherston.

Objectives 2010 / 2011

At the start of the 2010/2011 academic year the Governing Body set a series of annual objectives for the school. These objectives are specifically aimed to ensure that the school continues to improve over the long term. Each objective is handled by one of the Governing Body’s sub-committees and below we list our progress to date.

Staffing

One of the Staffing sub-committee’s goals was to improve the overall standard of teaching in the school through the allocation of appropriate financial resourcing in providing a structured training matrix for the staff. A structured training matrix has been created and we are already working on version 2 of this. As a result of this process, the average overall standard of teaching has improved from the beginning of the year and it is hoped that this progress will continue.

The second goal is to review the role of TA’s and how they can best assist in the delivery of the National Curriculum to pupils. The annual appraisals of all Teaching Assistants have now been completed and the results will form the key part of the proposed consultation. 

Curriculum

One of the main goals of the Curriculum Committee has been to improve the collection and review of assessment data particularly for Maths and Literacy.  Although this sounds dreadfully dull, assessment data is vitally important to improve the delivery of the Curriculum, spot problems (such as dips in individual and overall class performance), inform lesson planning, and track how our children are progressing throughout their years at Sherston. 

A number of tools are used to help teachers and the school’s senior management team to assess pupil performance — SATS are not the only set of data used!  

Governors are now given an extensive Assessment Report in the Autumn Term and a mid-year progress report at the beginning of the Summer Term.  Both internal and external monitoring of assessment throughout the school has increased. 

The Committee will continue to focus on assessment to ensure that the data is consistently used throughout the school to inform lesson plans and help children to achieve their full potential. 

Next the Committee will focus on the delivery of the Curriculum.  Our goal is to ensure that the Curriculum is delivered in a stimulating and creative way, and that Sherston provides an interesting environment in which to teach, learn and achieve. 

PR and Admissions

The main goal of PR and Admissions committee was to improve communication between all parties associated with the school. The committee has created a more proactive Governor blog and would like to encourage parents to use this forum to share their ideas and concerns. We are also initiating a complete review of the school website as this has been as one of the core components of our future communication strategy.

To start with, we have invited parents to comment on the School Development Plan or any other aspect of school life that you feel you would like to comment on. Visit http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com and leave a comment.

Finance

One of the two goals for this year was to specify, tender and finance, subject to our capital funding allocation in 2011, the Early Years Foundation Stage canopy in 2011. This has now been completed and the Reception class can benefit from a vast “outdoorsy” curriculum regardless of the weather. This structure was funded jointly by the school and FSS with input from governors at various levels.

The second goal was to investigate the costs and benefits of introducing a cashless payment system to the school. This is an ongoing project and we hope to make significant progress before the end of the year.

Catering

The Catering sub-committee goal was to maintain the average number of pupils having school meals in excess of 80 per day. Presently about 100 pupils regularly have a hot school dinner!

Other Governor news

Governors have also helped to organise getting most of the school, and some past pupils, to re-plant their ‘tree for life’ in Grove wood in late March/early April.

Secondly, in conjunction with the Environment Area Group, Crispian Huggill is overseeing the building of an outdoor classroom. This is a fantastic addition to the Wildlife Area and means that pupils will benefit from a space that allows the curriculum to be taken out of the classroom.

The SDP is by no means a static document. The aims set out in the SDP are revisited annually to determine how we have progressed and whether we are on track to achieve what we set out to do. This is also an opportunity to set further goals or to adjust goals because of new opportunities or threats that might have become evident.

The governors and staff would like to invite you, the parents of Sherston Primary, to add your input to this valuable exercise. What do you see as the most pressing goals for the school? What sort of issues would you like tackled in the 2 to 5 years to come? These goals could relate to communication issues, SEN issues, AG & T issues or community issues. Here’s your chance to have a say.

We’ve compiled a summary of the results which you can read in full by clicking on the following link(http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com/parent-questionnaire-summary-of-responses/). 

There is some really positive feedback, and of course some areas where you’d like to see improvements.  One area is communication, and several parents took the time to send in their questions and queries.  Nick Bowditch has responded to these queries and again, you can read his feedback by clicking this link

http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com/headteachers-response-to-specific-concerns-raised-by-parents/

Communication is an issue of specific concern to staff and governors. One of the best ways for us to keep communication flowing and discussions aired is for parents to raise issues of concern via this blog. Leave a comment, raise a concern or start a discussion – it is all aimed at improving how we communicate with each other.

Changes to the Governing Body

Dr Rod Moyse has recently stood down as Chair of the Governors. Rod had served as Chair for two years and will be continuing as a Governor, with specific responsibility for ICT. We would like to thank him for all his hard work during his tenure as Chair.

Also after spells of 3 and 8 years respectively, Ness Whiffin and Caty Tappin have both recently stood down as Foundation Governors. The Governors would like to thank both Ness and Caty for all their efforts over the years. We hope to announce the appointment of 2 new Foundation Governors in the near future.

A full list of the Governors and their responsibilities can be found at the end of this newsletter.

SATs

We would like to reiterate our congratulations to last year’s Year 6 pupils on their excellent Key Stage 2 results in July 2010. We would also like to thank Nick Bowditch and all the school staff in helping the children to achieve these fantastic results. These grades continue to provide further evidence that Sherston school is one of the best primary schools in Wiltshire. We are very proud and grateful for all your input and hard work.

New catering contract

One of the significant achievements last year was the appointment of abm as the new school caterers from 1st April 2010. School dinners have been transformed at Sherston during the last six months and the average daily uptake has increased significantly during that time. We are delighted that the children are now enjoying freshly prepared healthy school meals as well as regular Lucky Plate, What’s cooking and Theme days. The launch of the new school Tuck Shop and abm healthy eating events at the school have also been popular. abm do try to source local produce wherever possible and we were pleased when they decided to source Sherston free range eggs as one of their regular suppliers. The new contract would not have been such a success without all the efforts of our excellent team in the school kitchen - Pam, Cilla and Pam. We are extremely grateful to them for all their commitment and hard work and we hope that your children continue to enjoy their hot school dinners at the school.  

Role of Governors

We are often asked about the role of a School Governor. The following extract defines the Governing Body role as:

“The governing body has a range of duties and powers and a general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement including setting targets for pupil achievement, managing the school’s finances, making sure the curriculum is balanced and broadly based, appointing staff and reviewing staff performance and pay and many more.”

In more general terms, the Governors’ role is to both ‘support and challenge’ the school. The Governing Body is made up of individuals that represent the school staff; parents; the Diocese and the local community. The full Governing Body meet every half term, with the various sub committees (covering Staffing, PR & Admissions, Curriculum and Finance) additionally meeting regularly throughout the year. The full Governing Body meetings are public meetings and anyone can attend and listen to what is being discussed – albeit you will be asked to temporarily leave should any confidential issues arise for discussion. Approved minutes of the most recent Governing Body meetings will be available for you to view on the notice board next to the school reception, as well as on the Governors Blog (which can be located at http://sherstongovs.wordpress.com).

Please note that the Governors do not have any involvement in the day to day running of the school. Therefore if you have any issues that you wish to raise about your child, then you should initially contact your child’s teacher. If you are not satisfied with the response, then you should speak to one of the Senior Management Team (Mrs Liddle/Mr Stewart) or Mr Bowditch. If you are still not happy with the situation, then you should utilise the complaints procedure on the following link http://www.sherston.wilts.sch.uk/complaints.html. 

Objectives 2010 / 2011

Every year the Governing Body sets a series of annual objectives for the school. These objectives are specifically aimed to ensure that the school continues to improve over the long term. Each objective will be ‘driven’ by one of the Governing Body’s sub-committees and we plan to write to you at the end of the year to report on our progress in meeting these specific objectives.

Our objectives for 2010 / 2011 are:

Staffing

1. To improve the overall average standard of teaching in the school through the allocation of appropriate financial resourcing in providing a structured training matrix for the staff.

2. Through the process of consultation with all parties to review the role of the Teaching Assistants in how they can best assist in the delivery of the National Curriculum to our pupils.

Curriculum

1. In Literacy and Mathematics, to collate and review all sanitised assessment data from each Year group and to ensure that the pupils are meeting or exceeding targets in these subjects in line with the National Curriculum.

PR and Admissions

1. Through discussion and consultation, to review how all stakeholders within the school can communicate effectively and appropriately with each other including maximising use of Information Technology.

Finance

1. Subject to our capital funding allocation in 2011, to specify, tender and finance the Early Years Foundation Stage canopy in 2011.

2. To investigate the costs and benefits of introducing a cashless payment system to the school.

Catering

1. To maintain the average number of pupils having school meals in excess of 80 per day.

Policies

Throughout the year, the Governing Body will review and approve various policies which affect the school and which we are legally required to have in place. We will be making copies of these updated policies available to parents via the school website and the Governors’ blog.  

Communication

One of the key roles of the Governing Body is to facilitate better communication between parents and staff. Some ways in which this is currently carried out is through the “Meet the Teacher” days and Parent/Teacher evenings. The Governing Body believe that more can be done to improve our communication with each other. To this end we will be revising the Annual Parent questionnaire and hope to distribute it to you in the next few weeks. We also want to make better use of the governor notice board in the foyer to post information and we are re-launching the Governors Blog, where parents can find out more about the work of the Governors at Sherston school. The blog is also an important forum for you to provide us with your comments on relevant issues. The blog will contain lots of information about school policies, governor initiatives, newsletters and approved minutes of our meetings. In this way, we hope to reach more of you and make it easier for you to share your views and concerns.

Governors: Roles & Subject responsibility

Nick Bowditch; Head

Claire Browett

Huw Bowles; Finance; Physical Education

Alex Evelyn

Steve Harvey; Special Education Needs; PHSE; Child Protection

Richard Hulme; Chair; Mathematics

Crispian Huggill; H&S and Finance; Art and Design Technology

Judy Laddle; Catering; Science; History & Geography

Richard Langley; Vice Chair and PR & Admissions; Modern Foreign Languages

Rod Moyse; Staffing; ICT

Laura Stevens; Curriculum; Literacy

Matt Paget; Finance; SEN

Suzanne Price; non Teaching Staff Representative

John Thomson

Tahiti van Rooyen; PR & Admissions; Early Years; Able, Gifted and Talented

Jonathan Vaughan; Staffing; Religious Education

Sue Wild; Teaching Staff Representative