Kintbury St Marys CE Primary School Creating memories
Kintbury St Mary's CE Primary School Creating memories; building futures Unrestricted
Governing Board Annual Report 2019/2020 Each year the Governing Board of Kintbury St Mary’s school reports on the previous years successes and the development areas and priorities for the academic year ahead. Despite the enormous challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, we are once again delighted to share many school achievements evidenced through meetings and governor monitoring activities throughout the year. 1. Vision, Ethos and Strategic Direction Effective Governance Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction Holding the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils and the performance management of staff Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent • Following the extensive work around the parables of Jesus, throughout the summer term of 2019, which involved all stakeholders, the values of Hope, Friendship and Respect were chosen by the children to best represent the Christian ethos of our school. Evidence that these values are embedded in daily school life was clear when governors spent a full day in school in November 2019 to monitor aspects of the curriculum and spend time talking to the children. • Our caring ethos at Kintbury school was further highlighted during lockdown with the staff proactively reaching out to all in our community. Staff adapted to maintain close communication with families, provide welfare support and resources for remote learning; all of this whilst continuing to offer a safe and welcoming environment. Our school remained open throughout lockdown to 30 key worker families and 91% of all children accessed school after the phased reopening in June. This is an amazing achievement which effectively supported the successful transition and full return to school in September 2020. • Whilst the pandemic has undoubtedly presented huge challenges, these have emphasised the significance of our school values and allowed senior leaders and governors to reflect on and further refine the school’s aims and vision: Our caring ethos is based on our Christian values of hope, friendship and respect. These, together with our rich and diverse curriculum underpin our vision. We believe that everyone in our school community can develop a sense of self and understand their place in our world, and in so doing achieve and flourish. 'Love your neighbour as yourself' The parable of the good Samaritan, Luke Chapter 10, verse 27. Governing Boards must be ambitious for all children and young people and infused with a passion for education and a commitment to continuous school improvement that enables the best possible outcomes. Governance Handbook October ‘ 20 2
2. Educational Performance and Pupil outcomes Key priorities for the school last year were to: • Develop the curriculum to exceed the expectations of the National Curriculum for England Wales and to meet the requirements of the new OFSTED and SIAMS framework in order to give the very best learning experiences to the children. • Invest in new books and curriculum resources to improve the opportunities for enjoying quality texts and promote a love of reading. • Support and make a difference for all children through careful tracking of individual needs and maximising opportunities. Impact made in these areas include: • All teachers have taken lead roles to support and monitor whole school performance in their allocated subject area(s). Throughout the year, subject leaders reviewed the whole school curriculum and learning grids to ensure they provided rich knowledge, diverse learning and cross-curricula links to consolidate learning goals and offer opportunities for challenge. • Our Parent Teachers Association (PTA) supported investment in new books for Reception and KS 1. Funding was also devoted to valuable interactive teaching resources; Story Time phonics to support early reading, Now, Press, Play and Cornerstones to support teaching of the wider curriculum, and Jigsaw to support PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education). • Teachers reported on class attainment and progress to Governors providing evidence of success in reading, writing, maths and phonics across the year groups and clearly identifying further development areas. 3. School Financial Performance • The Governing Board, reviews the school finances, including the impact of pupil premium grant and sports funding. As a maintained school we are also audited regularly by West Berkshire Local Authority to ensure that the finances are well managed. • With national funding continuing to be squeezed, and the need to achieve more with less, financial management is an ongoing challenge. The focus of senior leaders and governors remains the continued investment in the curriculum; this will raise standards and ensure that every child and adult can flourish. • Investment in the schools buildings and grounds has also continued including Early Years playground improvements, change of catering organisation to improve lunchtime food standards and new KS 2 toilets. Grant applications will continue to 3 support further improvements.
Priorities for this academic year 2020/2021 • Identify and address any gaps in learning in the Autumn term as a result of lost learning in the 2019/20 academic year and support well-being as part of the return to the full curriculum. • Continue to encourage a love of reading for all, through the new English curriculum and resources. • Highlight the importance of equality and diversity, including the Black Lives Matter agenda through Worship, RE and PSHE/RSHE sessions, to include areas that children have a direct influence on such as House system, School Council, Charities etc. Along with many West Berkshire schools, develop our behaviour management policies and practices to reflect recent training on Therapeutic Thinking • • Develop a blended learning system which will enable an online accessible curriculum for all should remote learning be necessary. • Regularly evaluate effectiveness of provision in the curriculum across all subjects • With grant funding, refurbish the KS 2 library and develop a nurture area. • Continue to develop and monitor the school website and processes to ensure compliance. • Maintain efforts to re-brand market the school to support the vision to be the school of choice for families living in Kintbury and surrounding areas. A huge thank you from the Governing Board In such an exceptionally challenging year, we would like thank all members of our school community; Mrs Cantwell and her team of staff for their energy, boundless commitment and generosity with their time, parents and carers for their support, patience and flexibility, and the children for their continued efforts, determination and hard work to do their absolute best at all times. We look forward to continuing this strong community partnership with a renewed sense of pride in all we do. Please contact us via the school office if you have questions, concerns or suggestions. We very much value your support and feedback. Strategic Priorities in our 5 year plan Alison Mitchell Sue Wigmore Kevin Fry Kate Wright Roy Hutchings Gill Hornby Martin Bakker Challenge and Enrichment Behaviours for learning Gerry Heaton Jenny Veasey Anna Floyd Curriculum & Assessment Community Links Marketing Sue Cantwell Emmeline Bird (Clerk) More information about our governors visit: : http: //www. kintbury. w-berks. sch. uk/about-us/our-governors/list-of-governors
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