Governors Report to Parents Autumn Term 2014
PONTARDDULAIS PRIMARY SCHOOL
ANNUAL GOVERNORS’
REPORT TO PARENTS 2014
School Mission Statement:
‘At Pontarddulais Primary School everyone is unique,
everyone is important, everyone deserves the very best’
Headteacher:
Mr J D MEAD, B.Mus (Hons)
P.C.G.E. NPQH
Deputy Headteacher:
Mr G Davies B.A (Hons)
P.G.C.E Grad Dip.
2010, 2012 & 2013 Healthy Schools Award 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2009
NQA 2012 & 2014
Tel: 01792 882383 Fax: 01792 885392
Self –evaluationBronze
2009 / Self-evaluation
Silver
2010 / Healthy Schools Award 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2009
NQA 2012 / Eco-Flag
2010,2012 &2013
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Please find below a full Annual Governors Report to Parents. The Welsh Government has issued revised statutory guidance under section 94 (13) that there is no longer a need for a Governing Body to hold an annual parents’ meeting. However parents have the right to request/petition a meeting with the governing body up to 3 times in any school year.
To summarise the new regulations;
· It will no longer be necessary for school governing bodies to hold an annual meeting with parents
· It will be necessary for an annual report to parents to be produced and distributed
· If 10% of the parents of registered pupils at the school or the parents of 30 pupils registered at the school –whichever is the lower number, request/petition a meeting with governors, the school governing body is required to hold a meeting
· A school governing body can be required to hold up to 3 meetings with parents each academic year
Yours sincerely
Mr Clive Mathias
Chair of Governors
Pontarddulais Primary School
A word from the Chairperson:
I am very pleased to write to you with a summary of the schools many achievements over the past year.
The work of the Governing Body operates mainly through the committees. I, as chairperson, thank the other Governors for their continued hard work for all the children of Pontarddulais.
May 2014 saw the school go through a very successful Dyslexia Friendly Schools Assessment and National Quality Award Assessment for Healthy Schools. You can read more about these great achievements later in this report.
I must also thank the Parent Teachers Friends Association for the hard work which goes into organising the many social and fund-raising activities which so greatly benefit all our children. The P.T.F.A. is a small but very hard working group and has given the school £2,000 this past year to spend on outdoor equipment and wet playtime resources.
As you will see later in this report the end of Key Stage results in Foundation Phase and KS2 are very good and have improved again this year showing that the school is performing at a level in excess of normal standards. The Governing Body wishes to congratulate the Headteacher, staff and pupils on these magnificent achievements. We know that such results would not be possible without the consistent hard work, application and dedication of everyone involved. I know that the school is keen not to rest on their laurels, and I'm pleased and very proud to say that the school has continued in its successes.
Musical and sporting achievements go from strength to strength! In the past year the school choir and instrumentalists have performed at many local venues and at The Grand Theatre for the fourth year running. As you will also read in this report, much sporting success has been achieved during the 2013/14 academic year. I am very pleased to see Pontarddulais children achieving outstanding success at local, county and national levels.
I thank you for your continued support of Pontarddulais Primary- a school that strives for the best. We want everyone involved to be proud to say that they belong to Pontarddulais- we as a Governing Body are certainly proud to be associated with the school.
Clive Matthias
Chair of Governors
The Governing Body of Pontarddulais Primary School consists of 17 members whose role is to guide strategy, review developments and to make decisions about future school development.
Chair of Governors: Mr Clive Matthias
c/o Pontarddulais Primary School
Clerk to the Governors: Mrs E.Abbott
c/o Pontarddulais Primary School
School Address: Pontarddulais Primary School
Upper James Street
Pontarddulais
SWANSEA
SA4 8JD
Telephone: 01792 882383
Email:
School Governors
Governors are like a Board of Directors and make decisions about how the school is run. They meet regularly throughout the year and have legal duties, powers and responsibilities. The Governing Body consists of parents, teachers at the school, local council representatives and community representatives and is elected for a four-year term of office. Every year a parents’ meeting is held to discuss the Governing Body's report to parents.
Term of office ends
Chairman:
Mr. Clive Matthias LEA 11/01/2016
Vice Chairman:
Councillor P. Downing ACO 09/09/2016
Mr. A. Bevan-John LEA 22/07/2017
Mrs. J. Harris LEA 14/10/2017
Mr. K. Griffiths LEA 10/02/2018
Mr. K. Thomas Co–opted 09/11/2016
Rev N. J. Beynon Co-opted 06/11/2016
Mr. S. Wilson Co-opted 16/12/2016
Mr. C. Marshall Parent 09/11/2016
Mr. C. Jones Parent 09/11/2016
Mr. B. Thomas Parent 27/11/2017
Mrs. A. Jenkins Parent 09/11/2016
Mr. J. Hier Parent 09/11/2016
Mrs. E. Williams Teacher 09/11/2016
Mr. G. Davies Teacher 09/11/2016
Mrs. L. Matthias Non Teaching 06/11/2016
Mr. J. D. Mead Headteacher
Mrs. M. E. Abbott Clerk to Governors
Governing Body Meetings
The Governing Body meets at least once a term to consider and discuss various items concerning the school. The Governing Body has organised a range of committees in order to receive reports, make decisions and make recommendations to the full Governing Body. These committees include:
· Curriculum Development
· Personnel
· Finance
· Pay Policy
· Complaints
· Special Educational Needs
· Premises, Health & Safety
· Performance Management
Terms of reference have been agreed for all committees.
The Governing Body has received a number of headteacher reports regarding various aspects of school development. The Governing Body, headteacher and staff have continued with the process of identifying needs for our School Development Plan.
School Development Plan
The following priorities have been achieved during the past academic year:
Document/Policy Review 2013/14
· School Prospectus Reviewed (annually)
· Teaching and Learning Policy Reviewed (annually)
· Curriculum Policy Reviewed (annually)
· Performance Management Policy Reviewed (annually)
· Child Protection & Safeguarding Reviewed
· Health & Safety, Fire Safety Risk Assessment & Action Plan Reviewed
· Attendance/Punctuality Policy Reviewed
· Updated Accessibility Plan & Additional Learning Needs Policy and reviewed the Strategic Equality Plan
· Updated Home School Agreement & Attendance Brochure
· Updated the School Evaluation Report & School Development Plan
· All Healthy Schools policies reviewed
Improvements to the Premises
· 4 sets of Fire doors replaced
· Junior yard, Infant & nursery gates replaced
· Covered area installed outside Nursery, Yr1 & Yr2
· Roof replaced on Shed in school field
· New sheds (play areas) outside area Yr1, 2 & Nursery
· Flooring area outside replaced and walls decorated in the Yr1/ 2 toilet. Carpet & lino in Yr1 classroom replaced
· 3 outside shelter areas installed for Nursery, Yr1 and Yr2
· Electrical points for storage containers installed (Yr2 cloakroom)
· Gymnasium wall repaired (LA funded)
.
Improvement Plan 2014-2017 - Over the next three years we will look to develop the following targets:
¨ Build on a growing culture within the school whereby pupils regularly evaluate and reflect on their own work
¨ Continue to develop standards in Literacy-Reading & Writing
¨ Continue to develop standards in Numeracy (Problem Solving/Using & Applying)
¨ Continue to develop a challenging curriculum for the Able & Talented pupils at Pontarddulais Primary
¨ Continue to provide Catch-up programmes in Numeracy & Literacy for those children who are between 6months & 18 months behind their chronological age
¨ To reduce the impact of poverty on children
¨ Training for all staff to use the many ICT appliances i.e iPads, iPods, Interactive Whiteboards etc.
¨ Develop standards of welsh as a second language
¨ Produce an annual self – evaluation report
¨ Achieve the ‘Bronze Award for Governing Bodies’ (2015)
¨ Achieve the Swansea standard for self-evaluation- gold award (2016)
¨ Continue to maintain and update the school website
Action Taken by the Governing Body
School Prospectus
The school prospectus has been reviewed, and meets guidance issued by National Assembly for Wales Circular 14/01. It is reviewed annually. We also feel that it is a good representation of the school, and we are very proud of it. Parents have commented about the attractiveness of the document, and how useful they find the information it contains. The prospectus is issued to all parents with children beginning full-time education in Reception in September, and to parents of children transferring to the school mid-term. Attendance percentages (including authorised and unauthorised absences) for 2013/14 and the most recent school comparative information in relation to the school’s performance in end of Foundation Phase and key stage 2 assessments have been updated. The school’s latest sporting achievements have also been updated.
The Governors’ Annual Report
This report meets new regulations from The School Governors’ Annual Report (Wales) Regulations 2011. New regulations state that this report requires
· Inclusion of a comparative report
· Schools to engage with community
· Better reflect engagement with sporting activities
· Reflect requirements to ensure accessibility
Progress after Inspection
A reminder that Inspectors said the following about our school………
l Enjoyable experience
l Delight to speak to the children
l Impressed by the professionalism and commitment of all staff
l Inspirational Leadership
l Self Evaluation report thorough – no surprises
l Many examples of outstanding practice
l Ethos and Collective Worship provision were outstanding
1. School’s Current Performance (Good)
2. Prospects for Improvement(Excellent)
In order to develop further, the school needed to:
l R1 build on the good standards and raise the attainment of more able pupils at the end of key stage 1
l R2 improve planning to extend pupils’ writing skills in key stage 1;
l R3 further embed Assessment For Learning strategies across the school;
l R4 extend the role of the governing body in monitoring performance and offering challenge
Progress on above
l Action Plans continue to been drawn up and reviewed as part of our School Development Plan. The Action Plans feed in to the school self-evaluation report and School Development Plan. R1-Percentage of level 3s now called outcome 6s are up this academic year (see later in the report). All scores are above the Wales National Average.
l R2-see literacy activities later in this report.
l R3-Assessment for learning (AFL) strategies are becoming established and embedded into current practice. AFL as it is known was a key priority in the School Development Plan 2013/14. It will continue on the SDP 2014/15. Mrs Di Pardoe a leading expert in AFL lead an INSET Day for AFL on 24th October and will continue to work with the school throughout the academic year 2014/15.
l R4-School Governors continue to visit the school to observe lessons, talk to children, link with subjects and evaluate results. School Governors are also working towards the Bronze Award for Governing Bodies. Some Governors were able to attend the Child Protection training at school on Feb 12th 2014 and Dyslexia training on April 3rd 2014.
Special Educational Needs
Pupils have been supported throughout the year both by Mrs. Jenny Hopkins, and in class by teaching assistants. Last year we had 32 teaching assistants (TAs) working with children either on a 1-1 basis, supporting small groups in class or using structured interventions.
Our Educational Psychologist, Mrs. Helen Osborne visited the school on numerous occasions last year to discuss any difficulties, plan visits and carry out assessments. We have also had input from Specialist Teachers working with children who have visual and hearing difficulties. Mrs Tilly McMorran who works individually with pupils who have emotional and behavioural difficulties has also supported us. We are also receiving support from Nichola Russ, who is counselling several children and works for Barnardos.
Finally, we are receiving Speech and Language therapy from Hannah Hook, but we are still continuing to use our Speechlink and Language Link programmes to help those children who have speech and language difficulties.
Staff from EMLAS (English as an additional language) regularly visits the school to work with pupils who have little or no English. D.C.D. activities are being carried out, as well as POPAT groups, Rapid Phonics, Rapid Reading, multisensory activities, and Reading eggs (which is a highly motivational computer programme to help with reading).
The Annual Reading survey was completed and submitted and all IEPs (Individual Education Plans were updated. All annual reviews for statemented children were carried out. There were 164 on our SEN register last academic year.
In July 2014, Pontarddulais Primary School was awarded the ‘Dyslexia Leading School Award.’ To date only one other school in the Swansea Local Authority has achieved this award.
Mr. Steve Wilson is the governor responsible for SEN. Our Accessibility Action Plan and Strategic Equality Plan were discussed and reviewed by Governors.
Permanent disabled ramps are fitted outside the main, junior (Yr6), Yr 3, Yr1&2, Reception, Nursery and entrance to our gymnasium. Access to Disabled toilets is available in the junior and infant departments.
Toilet Facilities
The Nursery and Reception Classes have access to up-to-date toilet facilities which includes provision for disabled children. The Yr1/2 toilets have been refurbished and the junior toilets are in excellent condition having been installed about 9 years ago. All toilets have hand dryers. The staff toilets near the Year 1&2 entrance to school were completely refurbished last year and include disabled provision. The County Cleaning Service under an SLA (Service Level Agreement) clean the toilets on a daily basis. On going minor repairs to all our school toilets have been completed during the year.
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