Annual Governance Statement for the Governing Board of Morton Primary School

September 2019

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing boards, the three core strategic functions of the Governing Board of Morton Primary School are:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
• Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

Governance Arrangements

The Governing Board of Morton Primary School was reconstituted in June 2019 and is now made up of 8 Governors:

• LEA Representatives:  1
• Parents: 2
• Co-Opted Governors: 3
• Staff: 1
• Headteacher: 1

 

Skills and knowledge required that contribute to effective Governance and the success to the school:

• Knowledge of the school and local area
• Finance
• Personnel H/R
• Health and Safety
• Information Technology
• Buildings
• Communication
• Leadership and Decision Making 

 

How to contact your Governors:

 

Information about the school’s governing board to be made available on the governors’ page of the school’s website. Governors can be contacted by the following methods:

Telephone: 01773 872360

Letter: Chair of Governors, Morton Primary, Main Road, Morton, Alfreton, Derbyshire. DE55 6HH

E-mail: info@morton.derbyshire.sch.uk

 

Morton Primary School Governing Board current membership

 

Governor	Category	Term of office expiry date	Committee	Specific Area of Responsibility
Kevin Flint	Headteacher		Resources & School Improvement	All
Sam Watson (Chair)	LEA	15/10/20	Resources
Lisa Baines (Vice Chair)	Co-opted	28/04/23	Resources	Pupil Premium/ SEND
Tina Chipp	Co-opted	03/03/23	School Improvement	Safeguarding/Safer Recruitment
Nick Morrissy	Parent	11/02/23	School Improvement	Safer Recruitment
Hayley Bramley	Parent	22/02/23	School Improvement	Safeguarding/Sports Premium
Jo Forest	Teacher	23/01/20	School Improvement
Cllr Wes Bramley	Co-opted	31/03/23	Resources

 

 

Appointing Bodies

• Headteacher - by virtue of their position
• Staff - elected by school staff
• Parent - elected by parents
• Local Authority - nominated by the local authority
• Co-opted - appointed by the GB

 

Named Governors with specific responsibilities

• Safeguarding – TC/HB
• Pupil Premium - LB
• Sports Premium - HB
• SEND  – LB
• Safer Recruitment - TC/NM

Governor Visits

The governors visit the school as part of their monitoring of the SIP and specific issues. Governors with specific responsibilities meet for regular reviews and updates and then present a report to the Full Governing Board. Governors regularly attend school open evenings, assemblies, presentations and information evenings including sports and musical events in order to engage with parents and seek their feedback. Furthermore, they actively seek opportunities for our children to be ambassadors for the school both within our community and further afield.

 

Governors visits into school for 2018/19:

• Safeguarding S175 Audit and reviews of action plan
• Evidencing the Impact of Primary Sports Premium 
• Pupil Premium review
• The Schools Financial Value Standard and Assurance (SFVS) and budget approval
• Head Teacher Performance Management
• Monitoring administration for SATs
• Curriculum Development Day

 

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interest 2018/19

Governor	Pecuniary	Personal
Kevin Flint	None	None
Sam Watson (Chair)	None	None
Lisa Baines (Vice Chair)	None	None
Tina Chipp	None	None
Nick Morrisy	None	None
Hayley Bramley	None	None
Jo Forest	None	None
Cllr Wes Bramley	None	None

 

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interest 2019/20

 

Governor	Pecuniary	Personal
Kevin Flint	None	None
Sam Watson (Chair)	None	None
Lisa Baines (Vice Chair)	None	None
Tina Chipp	None	None
Nick Morrisy	None	None
Hayley Bramley	None	None
Jo Forest	None	None
Cllr Wes Bramley	None	None

 

The Governing Board have a programme of meetings throughout the school year, and a committee structure that focuses on specific areas of governance.

 

Suggested Dates of Meetings for the academic year 2019/20

Full Governing Board Start 6.00pm	School Improvement Committee Start 6.00pm	Resources Committee Start 6.00pm
18th September 2019	28th November 2019 (Including SIP update)	17th December 2019 Midyear monitoring visit with patch officer 10:00 am
15th January 2020 Present RC minutes from 17/12	05th March 2020 (Including SIP update)	06th February 2020 (Budget review and any other resources)
17th March 2020 (Including SFVS)	25th June 2020 (Including SIP update)	4th March 2020 (Budget setting Annex 1 and 5 with patch officer during day)
14th July 2020 (Including end of year data analysis and setting next SIP for next year)		11th June (provisional if needed)

 

Governor Training 2018/19

New Governors attended new governor training in the summer term.

Attendance of meetings

A record is kept, by the clerk to the governing board, of governors’ attendance at meetings. Apologies for absence are presented to meetings for acceptance. Attendance by Governors to all meetings is reviewed annually. All meetings for the academic year 2018-2019 were quorate.

 

Governor	Full Governing Board	Resources Committee
Kevin Flint	100% (3/3)	100% (2/2)
Sam Watson (Chair)	100% (3/3)	100% (2/2)
Lisa Baines (Vice Chair)	100% (3/3)	100% (2/2)
Tina Chipp	100% (3/3)
Nick Morrissy	100% (1/1)
Hayley Bramley	100% (1/1)
Jo Forest	100% (3/3)
Cllr Wes Bramley	100% (1/1)
Vanessa Garcin	10% (2/2) term of office expired

 

Data Analysis

Data is made available to governors through the Headteacher Report with verbal and written presentations followed by question and answer sessions with the Headteacher which includes scrutiny of the data from all year groups in order to heighten their awareness of focus groups and vulnerable areas, whilst maintaining governor knowledge.

 

Policies

Governors review all relevant policies on a scheduled basis to ensure that all guidance is current, relevant and up to date. Specific attention is paid to ensure that the school complies with the Department of Education mandatory policy list

 

Staff Recruitment

The Headteacher and a number of governors are trained in Safer Recruitment. Governors are involved in the recruitment and selection of all teaching staff and use the appointment process to ensure that high quality staff, who share the schools’ vision statement and aims, are appointed. Governors work hard to recruit quality teachers and leaders. They have considered a wide range of strategies to ensure that the right staff are appointed to drive forward the actions that are necessary to improve the school.

 

Financial Management

The governing body has been trained in School Finance management. The governors work with school staff to achieve 'The Schools Financial Value Standard and Assurance' (SFVS) on an annual basis. The impact of the governors’ role in the school ensures that the budget is well managed and improvements are effective and continuous. External audits confirm that finances are well managed.

 

Safeguarding

Governors take responsibility for ensuring that safeguarding arrangements meet current statutory requirements. They evaluate and review the annual safeguarding audit.

 

Strategic Planning for the future

Governors work co-operatively with the Headteacher and senior leaders in the writing and monitoring of the School Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP details aims for the forthcoming year and is based on priorities identified from data, school self-evaluation and Ofsted priorities. The SIP lays out clear strategies and tasks, details who is responsible for carrying these out and the resources required. Monitoring procedures and tasks for the governing body are also included.

 

School Improvement Priorities (SIP) for 2019/20 based on Self Evaluation Summary (SES)

Quality of Education

Provisional Priorities	Why has this priority been identified?
Embed changing curriculum with a focus on developing problem solving/critical thinking skills and building resilience through ‘Growth Mindset’.   Stretch pupils to achieve Greater Depth by raising expectations and challenging learners in all year groups. Ensure adequate support is available in Early Years Provision to give all children the opportunity to meet ELG’s	To build transferable skills in our pupils.         Low number of children achieving GD in some year groups. Explore starting points of all pupils to target high expectations for all. Drop in number of children meeting ELG’s so extra support has been built in to enable those not yet on target to be given the opportunity to catch up.

 

Behaviour and Attitudes

Provisional Priorities	Why has this priority been identified?
Develop children’s understanding of recognising what is meant by bullying and how this can impact on mental health and wellbeing of learners.   Further embed ‘G2BG’ reward system.	Questionnaire identified 10% of pupils believe bullying always happens in school despite no evidence to support this.     Some repeat offenders need extra support understanding consequences for not following the behaviour for learning code.

 

Personal Development

Provisional Priorities	Why has this priority been identified?
Further embed the PHSE curriculum including SRE into school life.   Develop pupils’ outdoor learning experiences and personal development by participation in the Forest Schools project for outdoor learning (led by JF, KA, LW)   To complete Level 3 Forest School Training.	To help us move to outstanding in this area of educating the whole child.   To incorporate this into our evolving new curriculum.       To ensure delivery of Outdoor Learning meets Health and Safety requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leadership and Management

Provisional Priorities	Why has this priority been identified?
To develop and grow role of subject leaders/middle leaders in school.         Subject leaders to undertake a range of monitoring activities, policy review and action planning. They will lead staff meetings to introduce new initiatives and monitor their implementation   To develop the role of the Pastoral Officer in school.	To give subject leaders more responsibility for their subject and to grow self by enhanced knowledge and skills of subject leadership.   To share responsibility for curriculum improvement so subject leaders can identify what areas of the curriculum need further improvements.   To replace removal of Early Help Offer.

 

Quality of Education in Early Years

Provisional Priorities	Why has this priority been identified?
Ensure adequate support is available in Early Years Provision to give all children the opportunity to meet ELG’s   Targeted intervention and support as needed to meet the individual needs of each pupil to enable them to have the best opportunity to reach a GLD.	Additional support needed due to number of children with SLD’s

 

Wider Contribution of the Governing Board

The wider contribution of the Governing Board to the leadership and management of the school this year has involved:

• Monitoring Safeguarding and attending safeguarding briefings.
• Monitoring the current budget and approving the budget for 2018 -2019 including the allocation of Pupil Premium funding, Sports Premium funding and monitoring its impact.
• Reviewing a wide range of existing and new policies.
• Undertaking the performance management of the Headteacher.
• Monitoring regular updates on behaviour, attendance and SEND
• Monitoring new developments within the curriculum such as the continued development of Guided Reading
• Analysing a range of data sources and agreeing targets
• Monitoring the condition of the school building
• Approving various educational visits
• Being actively engaged in the Five Pits Partnership collaboration with all the schools that feed into Tibshelf Community School including the secondary school itself
• Engaging in Governor training
• Engagement in Curriculum Development Day