HADRIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Governors Annual Statement and Impact Report 2021 – 2022

The Governing body at our school endeavours to fulfil the role defined by Government supported by the Local Authority. In doing so we hope that we can help to make our school the very best it can be for the benefit of our children and be even better today than we were yesterday.

The Department for Education guidance specifies that the annual statement should explain how we have fulfilled our responsibilities, including:

• the governance arrangements that are in place, including the remit of any committees;
• the attendance record of individual governors at board and committee meetings
• an assessment of the effectiveness and impact of the board and any committees with details of any particular challenges that have arisen

Before covering these areas we should firstly explain that the Governor role is intended to be strategic in nature while being a “critical friend” to the Head teacher and the school leadership team who are responsible for the day to day operational running of the school. In reviewing the way the school works, the Governors have gained an enormous respect for all the staff in the school. The amount of effort, care for our children, and “going the extra mile” we see on a regular basis from all our staff, is nothing short of inspirational. It is not only academic progress that is in evidence in the school, but all the clubs and other activities such as Christmas shows, trips, residential trips, sports events  and the Summer Spectacular,  that show what a broad and fulfilling education our children benefit from in our school. We would like to take this opportunity to give a huge thank you to all our staff for the level of effort and care they all contribute.

Governor Meetings

At Hadrian Primary School members of the governing body have played, and continue to play, a strong role in driving the school forward. The current governors who are all listed on the website, are all volunteers, giving up their own time to fulfil the roles for the benefit of our children.

There have been six formal governor meetings for the year 2021 – 2022. These have all taken play virtually, due to COVID restrictions.

Governor attendance has, as always, been of a very good level, with any absences having been fully explained and accepted and approved by the governing body.

There are no causes for concern at the level of commitment shown by any member of the governing body. On the website, the governor’s section highlights governor attendance at meetings.

We have a very experienced clerk that helps us to ensure all the topics we are required to discuss each year are covered, and we have a number of sub-committees that perform much of the detailed work in accordance with their terms of reference:

Finance Committee

Responsible for monitoring and reviewing the school budget and the school funds at regular intervals;

Staffing Committee

Involved in the selection and recruitment of staff, and dealing with issues relating to existing staff;

Full Governing Body

Responsible for setting and monitoring the budget for the school, and overseeing the financial management of the school. The full governing body is also responsible for the maintenance and health and safely aspects of the school buildings, and decisions on the use of the premises outside school hours.

The major concern to the governors is ensuring that our pupils progress appropriately in their education and appreciate that for this to happen the pupils must be supported by a well led, enthusiastic, professionally competent and motivated staff all working together within a safe, supportive but yet relaxing environment.

Governors appreciate too, the requirements of our children’s parents and carers and their need to be satisfied about the overall leadership and management of the school and how it affects safety, learning and enjoyment of their children.

To achieve their objectives governors too must continually evaluate the role they have played within the life of the school, and publish relevant information to all interested parties.

This statement and report are part of that evaluation and publication process.

School Development Plan (SDP)

Governors work co-operatively with the head teacher and senior management in writing and monitoring the School Development Plan. The School Development Plan sets aims for the forthcoming year. The SDP for 2021/22 was based on priorities identified from data, school self-evaluation and Ofsted priorities. The SDP is set out with clear aims, the key tasks which will be completed in order to achieve these aims and the success criteria in order to measure outcomes. The SDP is monitored and reviewed termly, with an evaluation overview being completed and presented to governors alongside the Head Teacher report. This academic year the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a profound impact on school targets.

The targets of the school development plan 2021/22 were identified as

Priority 1: To improve outcomes in SPaG for EAL children at the end of Key Stage One to 55% at expected level.

Priority 2: To improve outcomes in writing for disadvantaged at the end of Key Stage One to 66% at expected level.

Priority 3: To improve writing for girls at greater depth at the end of Key Stage Two (Reading 30%, Writing 25%, Maths 20%, EGPS 30%).

Priority 4: To implement a catch-up curriculum with a focus on essential skills.

Priority 5:  To consider children’s mental health and wellbeing and identify those who may need additional support so they are ready to learn

Priority 6:  Improve the standard of teaching, so more lessons are outstanding across the school

The governors visit the school as part of their monitoring of the SDP and of specific issues. These visits are considered a valuable opportunity for governors to be able to work closely with staff members across the school. Link governors follow a cycle which sets out the monitoring activities which they will be undertaking with the subject leader. Guidance in terms of the roles and responsibilities of governors during their visits are provided and regular training is available in order to up-skill our team.

Examples of the impact of these visits include

Co-operative working to prepare and introduce new policies and working practices on Special Educational Needs, Keeping Children Safe in Education and progress towards achieving the Key Objectives in Literacy and Numeracy. The Literacy and Numeracy governors have also ensured school have a programme of effective interventions which show sustained progress and positively impact on learning in Reading, Writing and Maths. This in turn has allowed school to demonstrate continued year on year improvement in basic skills.

Data analysis

Data is made available to governors through termly meetings with verbal and written presentations followed by question and answer sessions with the Head teacher, Assessment Leader, members of the senior management team and teachers. By doing this the governors are able to benchmark their data against similar schools, the Local Authority and schools nationally to ensure the schools standards and expectations are high and are able to be closely scrutinised.

Particular scrutiny is placed on pupil progress across all ability groups including vulnerable groups and on the effective use of the Pupil Premium.

Policies

Governors review all relevant policies on a programmed basis to ensure that all guidance is current and up to date.

Specific attention is paid to ensure that the school complies with the Department of Education mandatory policy list and the Local Authority recommended list.

Financial management

Hadrian Primary School has an experienced Chair of the Finance Committee who is fully committed to ensuring that the school money is spent effectively for all pupils. Other governors have also attended Financial Management training and some have a professional background in finance.

The governors have worked closely with the Head Teacher, finance officer and senior leaders to monitor the school budget.

The impact of the governors’ role in the school ensures that the budget is managed effectively and improvements are effective and continuous.

Governor expertise

At Hadrian Primary School the governors bring a wide variety of expertise to the school and this in turn helps to ensure the school continues to move forward and develop.

Examples of the impact of governor expertise on school improvement includes financial expertise; a number of governors have experience of governance in other educational settings.

Our Chair of Governors has been a vice chair within another school in South Tyneside and has been on the board at Hadrian for over twenty years.

Staff recruitment

The head teacher and chair of governors are trained in “Safer Recruitment”.

Governors are involved in the recruitment and selection of teaching staff and use the appointment process to ensure that high quality staff who share the schools mission statement and aims are appointed.

Governor Training

During this academic year governors have received training in a range of subjects including safeguarding, child protection and SEND.

Governor Development Plan

This enables the governing body to demonstrate its focus on its three core strategic functions: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding the head teacher and Senior Leaders to account for educational performance of the school and its pupils; overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

One of the main objectives in preparing the development plan is to align the governors’ focus on its three core strategies with the requirements of the school development plan, training requirements and any requirements arising from the Ofsted inspection.

This is updated in September with the help and guidance of our School improvement partner Enid Fairbrother.

Impact statement – review:

The governing body, the head teacher and senior management team and indeed all members of staff are constantly striving to improve and develop the school.

This level of dedication and expertise has demonstrated itself in our excellent Phonics and KS2 national test results. It is also demonstrated in the allocation and imaginative use of Sports funding so as to further inspire and up skill teaching staff and pupils. This year we were awarded the SMSC Gold Award and also continue to hold the Inclusion Mark, Arts Mark Gold, Healthy Schools Award, ICT Mark, Basic Skills and Early Years Award and the Eco Bronze Award.

Key issues and priorities that the Governing Body have faced during 2021 – 22

This year has been an exceptionally demanding and eventful year, particularly in light of the global pandemic.  Key activities included:

1. Scrutiny and analysis of data within the context of the school and the impact of COVID19.
2. Reviewing a new data collection computer programme for monitoring school pupil performance data and progress and its impact on effective interventions.
3. Scrutiny and analysis of interim in-school results of pupil progress.  
4. Monitoring the implementation of the school development plan.
5. Ensuring the continual updating of the SEF.
6. Discussion of the SIA’s visits to the school, the findings within the reports and the implementation of recommended actions.
7. Managing the short and long term sickness of members of staff and the staff covering the roles in relation to COVID 19.
8. Monitoring the implementation of the computing hardware long term action plan and overseeing the Demonstrator School initative.
9. Improvement of the school learning environment.
10. Ensuring compliance with website statutory requirements.
11. Monitoring changes in pupil numbers and the implications for both budget and staffing.
12. Managing the transience of children, especially those joining with no English or with particular issues affecting challenging behaviour and / or learning difficulties.
13. Budget setting and monitoring and review of school finances.
14. Review of school policies and documentation.
15. Monitoring of the school’s performance management cycle.
16. Overseeing the continual compliance in school with the General Data Protection Regulations.
17. Completion by all governors of the NGA Skills Audit, results collated and shared anonymously with the governing board.
18. Completion by all governors of the SFVS Financial Management Skills Analysis, results collated and shared anonymously with the governing board.
19. Implementation of the Governance Action Plan for 2020 / 21
20. Appointment of a new Early Years Lead and new Early Years teacher.
21. Working alongside the head teacher to ensure provision for vulnerable and key workers children during the period of lockdown and to ensure the safeguarding of all children, particularly those who were vulnerable.
22. Supporting the head teacher in implementing an effective process of provision to ensure school remained open throughout the lockdown period.
23. Monitoring the continued impact on the budget of the COVID-19 pandemic.
24. Working alongside the head teacher to produce a robust and effective risk assessment for children attending school during lockdown.
25. Monitoring home learning provision during the lockdown period of COVID-19.