Dear Parents and carers,
As we enter the Summer term, my fellow governors and I thought this would be a good opportunity to launch a termly governor newsletter to let you know what we’ve been up to in and around the school.
It has been an incredibly busy year for the school, and we’ve seen lots of changes since September, but I can feel a tangible sense of progress and improvement. It has been great when I’ve been into school to see all the changes that have been made and how these have enriched the school experience for our children. I’ve particularly enjoyed listening to our new school song, the work Millie our school dog is doing with children, or the colourful wall displays with their bumblebee themes. I’ve also been particularly impressed seeing the explosion of new and returning lunchtime and afterschool clubs, which are so loved by the pupils. I’ve been most impressed by the fantastic variety of the clubs that are now offered.
Like I’m sure you have, I’ve also been following with great interest and pride the reports on the school Facebook page and Class Dojo of the brilliant achievement by our sporting teams and how proud our pupils are to represent St Augustine’s in competition.
Work is ongoing with the Bishop Hogarth Trust to launch our new school website and plans are being made to capture in a school prospectus what brilliant activities our children enjoy when they come to St Augustine’s. Watch this space…
So, as your Chair of Governors, I’d like to welcome you to our new-look Governor Newsletter, a chance for us to share with you a little bit about who we are and what we do, and to share with you why we are proud to be part of this fantastic school community.
I hope you have a good Bank Holiday weekend!
Jamie Callaghan, Chair Local Governing Committee (LGC)
Meet the LGC - The members of the school’s LGC are listed below. All governors have a link to a specialism of the school and one or more curriculum areas.
Role of the St Augustine’s Governors - Governor don’t have any operational responsibilities in school, as this is a role for school and trust leaders. Our role is to monitor the academy’s key performance indicators and act as a critical friend to school leaders, providing challenge where appropriate. We also play a part in representing the views of the academy’s stakeholders. However, should you have any concerns or comments you should still raise these directly with the school in the first instance.
As a local governing committee, we do still try to play an active role in school life like many parents by volunteering to help the school with things like listening to reader, invigilating assessments, walking the children to school, and helping with sporting events.
Financial Oversight - Governors are responsible for the financial oversight of the school, which includes approving how the budget is spent. The continued pressure on school budgets, rising running and staff costs, with no modest funding increase, makes our school finances challenging. However, we continue to work closely with the school and trust to maximise the funding available and we continue to invest in fabric of the school and learning materials for our children. I hope those of you that were in school recently for the parents’ evening will have seen how well-presented the school is looking and the tremendous efforts of staff and pupils to showcase it in such an amazing light. It is clear to governors how proud St Augustine’s pupils are of the school.
Friends of St Augustine’s - This year we have seen the relaunch of our Friends of St Augustine’s (formerly the Parents and Friends Association). Whilst this group is distinct from the local governing committee, governors have warmly welcomed this development. We are delighted at the tremendous work that is going on both in creating a sense of community at school, but also to generate some much-needed additional funding to enrich activities. Thank you to parents and carers that have supported the many activities that are being led by the Friends of St Augustine’s and we would encourage you to continue to support their excellent work.
Parent Survey - The school has recently undertaken a survey of parents, which was the first such survey since our inspection last year. As governors, it was very pleasing to see so many positive comments, especially that 91% of parent that would recommend the school to their friends and family. This is a marked improvement from this time last year and validates the improvement that has happened in school in that time. Where suggestions for improvement have been made, they have been noted and are being discussed in school. We hope to publish a full summary of the results after Easter when we have digested them fully. Thanks very much to all the parents and carers who took part in the survey. We encourage parents to also express their views on the Ofsted ‘Parent View’ Website - https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk at any time.
Ofsted Inspection - It has now been over a year since Ofsted visited the school. In that time, we have welcomed our new headteacher, Mrs Whitehead, to the school and made a number of staffing changes. In particular, we have strengthened the senior leadership structure in school, and appointed designated leadership responsibility for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stages 1 and 2. Responding to recommendations made by Ofsted, we have invested heavily in our EYFS provision and curriculum to ensure the very foundation for the children when they first being their school journey at St Augustine’s. As a school, we have also focused on developing and embedding the school curriculum, which governors are overseeing to ensure progress with their newly established governor curriculum links.
Governors regularly review and assess progress against the School Development Plan, and we receive reports that enable us to monitor educational performance outside of statutory assessments. We also receive progress reports from the regular school improvement visits and interim assessment carried out by our trust School Improvement Lead. This process has allowed governors to receive independently validated assessments of progress across the school, as well as specifically in EYFS, which was a particular focus of the Ofsted report. We are pleased with the rapid progress that the school is making across all measures.