What have Governors done this year (2023)?

 The Chair of the Governing Body, David Borland, writes:

The Governors have continued to support the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and all the staff in maintaining the standards in respect of behaviour, safeguarding, attendance, and quality teaching delivered across the entire spectrum of a bespoke and creative curriculum.

Work the Governing Body (GB) has undertaken includes:

·         Continuing to support a clear faith and community school vision based on Proverbs Chap 22 v 6. The Whalley Way recognises that we are all on a journey starting with the culture and ethos to ensure that this is an inclusive school providing equality of opportunity for all its pupils and staff.

·         Conducting a Governor Skills Audit to enable the GB to explore its overall effectiveness in supporting the delegation of specific tasks and the identification of training needs.

·         Ensuring accountability by engaging with parents/guardians, holding the SLT to account for educational performance and for staff performance management and contributing to school self-evaluation.

·         Providing support to Nicola Peach as Acting Headteacher whilst Richard Blackburn HT assisted Bolton by Bowland Primary School on a part time basis during the Spring and Summer Terms.

·         Keeping under review academisation with a particular focus on the Scheme of Delegation to ensure that every opportunity is explored as part of our vision which shapes the present and future objectives of our school.

·         Maintaining a school fit for purpose and providing staff with professional development opportunities and wellbeing support in times of busy and demanding workload.      

·         Allocating money for a new part time SENCO assistant role providing support to Mrs Woodburn so to free up her time to deal with an increasing number of cases that need her expertise.

·         Reviewing the statutory guidance entitled “Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023” particularly in respect of the Safeguarding and our Child Protection Policy, and ensuring staff training involving early help, filtering and monitoring and low-level concerns.

·         Keeping under review the School Admission Policy to ensure that it continues to serve the village and catchment area.

·         Monitoring the school website: www.whalleyprimary.co.uk to ensure that it is informative and Ofsted compliant.

·         Arranging and reviewing the yearly Parent Questionnaire to ensure that we listen and act upon the good ideas and constructive criticism.

·         Working closely with our professional clerk to ensure that meetings are timely and effective.

·         Setting and monitoring a balanced budget in a challenging setting where it has been necessary to use our reserves despite a full intake of 45 pupils joining the school in the reception year.

·         Continuing to receive in depth termly reports (including attendance currently at 96.04%) from the Headteacher as we monitor the School Development Plan prioritising Teaching and Learning and the Progress/Achievement of all pupils. 

·         Monitoring the various improvement and repair projects, for example, the children’s play area  

·         Attending virtual Chairs’ Forum, run by Lancashire, to keep up to date with current affairs.

·         Setting and measuring performance objectives for Mr Blackburn 

The GB welcomed a new Staff Governor, Mrs Suzanne Nutter in place of Mrs Debbie Holgate and was pleased to note that Mrs Maria Ellel accepted a further 4-year term as the Local Authority representative.

Governors paid a morning visit to school and had the opportunity to attend worship/assembly and observe work in action. The highlight was a question and answer session with the new school council. Further visits will be arranged to cover those classes that missed out.

As part of their commitment to the school the Governors do not claim out of pocket expenses and register with the Lancashire Education Authority to benefit from the various training courses, via the Service Level Agreement, at a competitive cost. This is overseen by our Training Governor.