Report from the Governing Board
On Monday evening the Governors gathered for their March meeting and were delighted to welcome two new Governors, Michelle Nicoll and Pete Wakeling to the board. Even better was the fact that we were joined by our School Parliament members who told us how they were elected, how they run a meeting and what sort of things they do. They also told us about the ideas the children around the school had had for their “dream school” layout. Whilst some of the ideas, like a chocolate fountain, had been popular the School Parliament had come up with a shortlist (the fountain did not make it!) and they ran through the items one by one. The children would like to see some outside toilets to ease some of the issues at break and lunchtimes and the Governors were delighted to tell them that this was indeed possible and works would be taking place in due course.
The children were given the opportunity to ask us questions about our roles which we happily answered. The Governors all agreed that the children represented their classes and year groups very well and we would like to make this an annual visit.
Once the children had left we received Mr Raraty’s Headteacher’s Report for this term and were pleased to note that attendance levels across the school are improving.
March is the end of the school’s financial year. Following a recent meeting of the Finance Committee I presented the meeting with a report on our current position together with a draft budget for approval. Whilst the school is in a good financial position at the present time our three year projections mean that the school will be looking very carefully at what money is spent on over these coming years. The Board have now also completed and filed with ECC our own financial standard report where we assess the procedures, checks and processes we have in place to ensure compliance and financial security in school. We are content that the school is managed and run effectively.
Following a report on health and safety we heard how the school is working with other DEEP schools with a focus on maths, English and science. The partnership we have with those schools is valuable to us in terms of collaborative working practices, peer reviews, and for governors, the opportunity to speak to and understand the issues, questions and practices of other governing boards.
Most of the Board have now completed their Prevent training and have conducted a couple of visits to school during this term with a range of focus points. We look forward to a few more visits next term.
Following the approval of a range of policies we reviewed our governor training providers. It was agreed to proceed with Balance Governance for the forthcoming year. Governors carry out regular ongoing training on a wide range of subjects connected to the school, to education and to governance.
We wish everyone a happy, healthy, Easter break.
Andrea Beard
Chair of Finance, Premises and Health and Safety Committee
Friends Disco 
