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Governors' Page

Why not help raise school standards.

"Governors are the bridge between the school and the community" primary school governor

There are about 370,000 governor places in England, making them the largest volunteer force in the country. At any one time around ten per cent of these places are vacant.

As a governor you can make a big contribution to raising standards in school. You don't need any special qualifications ? in fact anyone with an interest in education can be a governor.

All you need is enthusiasm and the commitment to be able to give up a few hours each month attending meetings and working to improve life at your school.

"Governors can, and do, make a difference to children's future" primary school headteacher


Information on the New Ofsted Inspections from September 2005 (posted 22/8/05)

The new Framework has been prompted by the, New Relationship with Schools, and ,Every Child Matters. The underlying purpose is to help schools to improve. The process is very different to what has gone before.

Key Changes

Inspections will occur every 3 years.
Notice will normally be 2 working days. However it could be up to 5 days and they reserve the right to turn up with no notice at all.
Inspections will last no more than 2 days.

The number of inspectors will depend on the size of the school. It will be between 1 to 2 in primary schools and upto 5 in secondary schools.
Subject based inspections will be carried out in between institutional inspections by HMI.

There will be no parents meeting though there will be an opportunities for parents to speak to inspectors if they wish.
A draft report will be ready by the end of day 2 and will be 4-6 pages long. The final report will be sent to schools within 3 weeks.
A notice to improve will replace serious weaknesses and underachieving categories. Special measures will remain.

The New Framework is much shorter and focuses entirely on schools, self-evaluation. It has 4 main judgement areas:

o Overall effectiveness
o Achievement and standards (which includes personal development and well being, the Every Child Matters priorities and SMSC);
o Quality of provision
o Leadership and Management

There is a very strong focus on the "Every Child Matters" priorities, which are woven into all judgements.
Extended services will be inspected for their impact on learners.
The Evaluation Schedule gradings are:

o Outstanding,
o Good,
o Satisfactory,
o Inadequate.

The only documentation the inspection team will have before the inspection is: the PANDA which will be different and will contain contextual value added data tables and graphs; the previous Report; and the SEF which will be at the heart of the process and will need to be kept up to date electronically.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk

News from the Governors,

We meet as a full governing body once a term and manage the day-to-day business of supporting the head and staff in managing the school through two committees -Personnel and Curriculum and Premises and Finance. The committees also meet once a term as a minimum. In our first committee meetings this term we will be setting the priorities for the upcoming year. Individual governors also take lead responsibility in supporting various aspects of school life and activity.

If you have any issues you think we should be discussing at our meetings then do contact any Governors or me. If you have any other ideas about how you would like to be kept up to date on what the governors are doing or how we can gather feedback do let us know.


In the meantime I know that all of the governors are more than happy to answer any questions you may have (drop a note in to Mrs Sherwood if that is easier and she will make sure it is passed on to a governor) although remember the first and usually best point of contact is your childs teacher or the head for anything day to day in school.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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