The Oval, Smethwick, West Midlands, B67 6LE
0121 429 4284
Head Teacher – Natalie Crozier
Chair of Governors – Sharon Hale
Dear Parents,
Well the Summer Term has flown and the children, staff, parents and governors have had another busy and exciting term.
Thank you all for supporting the school in so many ways the children are an absolute credit to you. Visitors to the school are always commenting upon the children’s enthusiasm, politeness, love of learning and the pride they take in all they do.
I would like to say “well done” to all the children who have taken part and completed the SAT’s. The staff have been delighted in the way that the children have approached the SAT’s; many children in Key Stage 1 didn’t even realise they were doing them. All the staff are to be commended for their hard work and dedication in preparing the children over the last 12 months.
I would also like to say thank you to the staff that have been through a moderation process in the Foundation Stage and Year 2(this is when other professionals come into school and validate the teacher’s judgements that they have made of the children and their work). All visitors commented upon the high quality of the work in the school and totally agreed with our judgements.
Governor involvement this term:
After the children returned to school after Easter a Full Governing Board meeting took place, this included the approval of the budget for the next financial year.
At the beginning of May I was lucky enough to accompany Year 2 and Year 3 children to a three day residential at Edmond Hall. It was a wonderful visit; the children were engaged throughout their time there and even slept! The staff who accompanied the trip were extremely well organised and totally committed to the time spent with the children. The weather was warm and sunny which also made the trip seem even better.
Also in May Ali Pemberton, Andrew Griffin and myself attended Governor training on Financial planning (Part 1), there is a second session to follow in November... can’t wait!
Ali Pemberton, Stephen Edmonds and Andrew Griffin have also completed governor training on Performance Accountability and Strategic Direction.
Ali Pemberton and I have also been working with Mrs Crozier and Mrs Rogman to produce a Governor’s Action Plan which we hope will enable the Board to work on the areas which we need to develop and strengthen over the coming school year. This plan will be presented to the board at the July meeting. I hope that once approved we can put the plan on to the school website.
I have also attended Fire Training in May with the rest of the school staff.
Mr E Nsengiyumva and I attended the staff meeting in which a Behaviour Audit was carried out on behalf of the school by a member of the Inclusion Team. The audit will be analysed and in the autumn term suggestions around any areas for development will be worked on by everyone who works in the school.
Ali Pemberton observed Mrs Crozier and Mrs Rogman carrying out the Phonic Screening test with Year 1 children and during that visit she also was able to watch some of the many interventions which take place in school to support individual children or small groups with specific parts of their learning.
In June I met with the school SENCO’s Miss Kealey and Mrs Groves. They reviewed the work they have been carrying out during the current school year and we looked at the Action Plan that they developed to continue to make their support of children with SEND needs in the school as effective as possible.
We have also had a Resources Meeting in June where finance matters, staffing matters and premises and health and safety issues were discussed.
In July I have attended trips to Hatton Park with Year 1 and Twycross Zoo with Foundation Stage.
The 12th July was a very busy day with Mrs Crozier’s Head Teacher mid-term review taking place, the visit by our School Improvement Advisor taking place and our Full Governing Body meeting taking place.
In September we are reorganising our committees to enable us to be more effective in the decisions and actions we take as a governing board.
May we take this opportunity to wish all our children who are moving on to new schools or to new year groups every success in their new settings. I am sure that they will continue to thrive in their new schools and classes because they are well supported by you and have had such a good grounding with their present staff.
I hope the Year 6 children and their parents have a wonderful Prom Night.
Can I also say thank you to Miss Briggs who is leaving us in July after covering in Reception for 12 months and to Mrs Williams who is leaving us from Year 5. We are also losing Ms Turek who has been supporting our children so effectively in Year 6.
On behalf of the governing body, the staff, the parents and the children I would also like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Jean Willetts who has served on our governing body for many years. She has made the decision to retire as a governor but we hope she will continue to come in and support us in lots of other ways.
We have lots to look forward to next year. We will at last have a full complement of governors, our clerk has recruited two gentlemen, Stephen Edmonds and Andrew Griffin, from local authorities who have lots of skills to offer the board and are very keen to join the school on this exciting year ahead.
Enjoy the summer break. I hope you all get some time for a rest and some lovely summer sun. I hope the children and the staff enjoy every minute of their well deserved freedom. See you all in September.
Sharon Hale
Chair of Governors