Annual Governing Body Statement
Annual Statement of the Governing Body: July 2023
What does our governing body do for our school?
We are a good school with a vibrant, inclusive ethos. We are proud of the diverse community we serve. Governors, working in partnership with senior leaders and other staff, are committed to ensuring the creation of inclusive learning environments in which mutual respect is highly valued and promoted. We believe all children should be provided with high quality educational experiences and opportunities through which learning inspires and engages them to achieve their full potential.
2022 23 was a milestone year for our school as our long standing headteacher, Mrs Sykes, told us she was to retire at Christmas 2023. Governors worked closely with advisers from the Local Authority and undertook a rigorous, successful recruitment process. Although we will be sad to see Mrs Sykes leave us, we are excited to have secured a new Headteacher for our school, who will start in January 2024.
We have three core strategic functions, which are:
a. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
b. Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff
c. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
In addition, school holds safeguarding and child protection as the highest of priorities – and a governor is allocated responsibility to monitor this area through regular visits and reports to back to the governing body. The full governing body also reviews and approves key policies relating to safeguarding, curriculum, budget, behaviour and complaints. These functions are reflected in DFE regulations for maintained schools and in the criteria that Ofsted inspectors use to judge the effectiveness of governance.
Our core values
The governing body is committed to ensuring all children fulfill their potential through our underpinning core values of democracy, tolerance, rules and liberty respect which are embedded in all aspects of school life.
Governors focus on ensuring staff demonstrate, and children develop:
- The empathy to recognise and accept other’s views and beliefs.
- The curiosity and confidence to question and investigate.
- The resilience to keep going when faced with challenge.
- The skills to seek different solutions to a problem, analyse and self-evaluate.
We aim to embed these learning habits into the way our children think, so that they have enjoyment of lifelong learning beyond their school experience. Then they can become independent learners of the future.
We call these our 'learning muscles',
We are 'learning together for life’
Our focus for 2022/23
Each year governors play a part in the creation of the School Development Plan which focuses resources, time and training on key areas for the next step as we continuously strive to bring the very best of education and life chances for our pupils. This year, and for 2023/24 our focus, informed by the OFSTED inspection in December 2021 has and will be to see the impact of work undertaken:
- to further embed the curriculum structure, and tackle the gaps in pupils’ knowledge, so that pupils can deepen their understanding in a range of curriculum subjects.
- create more opportunities for pupils to be involved in the wider life of the school and in decision-making, to further develop pupils’ leadership opportunities, confidence and self-assuredness.
In addition:
- To further improve school governance to ensure all statutory duties are undertaken and to streamline processes to ensure roles, responsibilities are clearly understood by existing and new governors
Our Governing Body Membership:
Our governing body comprises 12 governors including
- 7 co-opted governors
- The Headteacher
- 1 Leeds Local Authority governor
- 2 parent governors
- 1 staff governor
Each governor (apart from the Headteacher) joins us with a four-year tenure. All governors commit to working within an agreed Code of Conduct and undertake a programme of training including induction and key elements of Keeping Children Safe in Education. The names and details of governing body members are posted on the school website.
How our governing body is organised and how we use meetings to carry out our role:
Governors attend meetings over the academic year. We have four Full Governing Body (FGB) meetings which all members attend. In order to look at matters in more detail we have two committees which meet three times a year and each governor joins one of these depending on skills, knowledge and personal preference.
Our governing body operates with three main groups:
- Full Governing Body
- Teaching, Learning and Pupil Support Committee
- Resources Committee
Teaching and Learning Committee focused on statutory duties with a particular focus on:
- policy review and approval
- curriculum development including the middle leadership role for subject leaders
- effectiveness of the newly introduced curricula for relationships / sex education and religious education
- an ambitious curriculum for all and evidence of impact of strategies to reduced gaps (e.g. tutoring) on achievement through data and Pupil Progress Meetings.
- accuracy and consistency of teacher assessments and how these are used to inform future planning, including for children from disadvantaged groups, those with special educational needs and English as an additional language.
- provision for children with special educational needs, the impact of autism training and how well pupils are achieving
- monitoring of pupil attendance and strategies employed to maximise this by supporting families
- monitoring the reporting of any behaviour incidents, actions taken and impact over time
Resources Committee focused on statutory duties with a particular focus on:
- policy review and approval
- budget setting, monitoring and approval
- effective use and impact of external grants e.g. Pupil Premium and PE/Sports Premium
- premises health and safety
- responding to feedback from children and staff about how to improve wellbeing in school.
The meeting schedule for FGBs and these committees, including dates, times and venues, is agreed at the annual general meeting at the start of each academic year. At the same meeting there is an election of the Chair of Governors and Vice Chair of Governors for the forthcoming year.
Other key meetings take place once a year involving a smaller number of governors, including Headteacher Performance Management. For additional meetings, the Chair of Governors will call a small number of governors together if a Panel is needed to deal with a specific issue. However, these are only needed should an issue arise.
Governing Body members roles and responsibilities
In addition to attending meetings, governors take on specific roles and responsibilities each year. These are linked to the skills and experience of members, with scope for learning and shadowing others in order to develop and build our team.
Governor attendance at meetings is published on the school website annually, as are declarations of interest and individual roles and responsibilities.
At the Annual General Meeting governors agreed which committee each would attend and individual key roles and responsibilities for the year. During 2022/23 governors carried out scheduled monitoring visits in line with School Improvement Plan priorities as well as statutory responsibilities. Some visits involved meeting staff and children and discussing their work. Other visits gave governors the opportunity to join external reviews, meeting pupils and looking at pupils’ work in books.
In 2022/23, governor visits included monitoring of the following:
- Curriculum and subject leadership
- Parental involvement and pupil responsibility
- Reading
- Raising standards with a focus on closing the gap to national in statutory assessment
- Health and safety
- Safeguarding
After each visit governors complete a record of the visit which is then presented to governors at the next appropriate meeting for discussion and review.
Expectations of governors
Our Governing Body has a Code of Conduct and clear expectations of each member. Governors complete a school application form prior to joining our governing body. References are requested and followed up. All governors undertake Enhanced DBS checks within 21 days as required by ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’. Governors are offered training through Leeds Governors’ Service and also have access to training and resources from The Key and National Governors’ Association.
How governors monitor within school
Governors are confident about school effectiveness because we:
- visit school to obtain first-hand experience, monitor provision, ask questions and listen
- receive governor reports from visits undertaken in school
- receive external reports from the Local Authority or accredited leaders of education.
- Receive impact reports from senior and middle school leaders
Governors are keen to hear the views of children, parents and staff. Questionnaires are sent to parents and staff (particularly relating to safety, workload and wellbeing). Pupils complete the ‘My Health, My School’ questionnaire which provides an insight into their lives within and beyond school with comparative data for the Leeds area. Responses from the questions, and actions taken to address issues arising, are reported to governors.
Governors provide support and challenge in equal proportion giving each other, and school, time to understand reports and prepare in advance of meetings and visits. Our meetings are productive with matters dealt with fully and promptly.
You can find details of our Governing Body on the school website
Interested in becoming a governor?
Over time our governing body changes and vacancies arise enabling new members to join us, bringing skills and expertise of value to our school community.
We undertake a skills audit each year to enable us to consider whether we have breadth of skills we need. We are always keen to include associate governors interested in finding out about school governance prior to applying to join. Do contact school for more information.