Governors Annual Statement for 2019 - 2020

Holly Hill Infant School Governors Annual Statement 2019-2020

Holly Hill governors have the job of supporting Miss Taylor in her role as Head Teacher at Holly Hill and in holding the school to account in three areas, finance, educational performance of the children and ensuring the Christian values, ethos and vision of the school are met.

We are asked to produce an annual statement setting out the key issues that have been faced and addressed by the Governing Body over the last year.

2019-2020 has not been a “normal” year and many of the key issues we have supported and monitored have arisen from partial school closure, health and safety, safeguarding issues and remote learning resulting from the Covid pandemic. We recognise that this has put significant additional pressure on the head teacher and her team and we have tried to support Miss Taylor, Mr Carr and the staff as they navigate through the changing government requirements and the complex needs of the children, their families and the staff.

In the Autumn term we look closely at school finance to make sure that the money received by the school is well spent. The Board were satisfied that the school is currently in a sound financial position. Decisions were supported around staffing changes in caretaking, cleaning and lunch time supervisors to maximise efficiency and to improve the children’s behaviour over the lunchtime period. Decisions to spend money on enrichment and additional teaching assistants to support the high number of Pupil Premium and children with special education needs were also supported. High priority, and a substantial part of the budget, is given to ensuring the school has high quality leadership and experienced teachers who can deliver quality first teaching and enable the children to reach their full potential in line with and above national expectations. The Board was delighted with the appointment of Mr Carr as Deputy Head teacher and Mrs Jones as Assistant Head.

In Autumn the Governing Board looked at the achievement and progress from the previous year. The decision to prioritise high quality school leaders, teaching and support staff has been justified by the high levels of achievement (above National averages in most cases) and especially high levels of progress made by children. Holly Hill is within the top 10% of all primary schools in the progress of the children in most areas. Pupil premium children achievement is also above national average. The achievement of boys in reading is an area for focus and the Governing Board were satisfied that appropriate actions had been taken to address this.

Also in the Autumn term we looked in some detail at the new curriculum and were satisfied that it is broad and balanced, relevant to the children and in line with the schools Christian values. Staff involvement in development of and taking responsibility for the new curriculum was commended. More work is being carried out to further embed the Christian values into the curriculum in line with our values and expectations as a church school. At this stage of the year the children were experiencing a wide variety of trips and experiences outside the classroom to enhance the curriculum and children’s life experiences.

Children’s attendance was an action on the school improvement plan and it was disappointing to learn that, in spite of significant effort, this remained below required level and will continue to be monitored by the governing board.

Holly Hill  staff have been involved in supporting other schools this year. The board feel this has been of benefit to the schools supported and to the staff involved, however we have been careful to monitor the impact on work load for staff involved and the impact on Holly Hill.

The Christian values of the school are clearly evidenced throughout the school and a prayer walk by governors identified improvements in the worship areas inside and outside school,  especially the new prayer garden. The introduction of “the big question” has challenged the children and started conversations around the school.

The Spring term Covid lockdown meant a temporary suspension to some of the governors’ committee meetings and priority was given to health and safety issues, supporting staff still in school teaching key worker and vulnerable children along with supporting children’s learning and mental health as far as possible remotely. The governors were impressed with the way this was managed and commended Mrs Taylor and Mr Carr for their work throughout lockdown and on working with families and children when the school was opened for Year 1 children.

Safeguarding concerns were followed up by the school safeguarding team who worked conscientiously throughout.   

It was very sad that Year 2 children were unable to return to school before moving on.

The school has had some staffing difficulties, in part Covid related, through the year. The governing board has been made aware of the implications and solutions to these and has supported the decisions made.

We believe that the board has been able to support the school through prayer and in decisions made in all areas, to help it to fulfil its mission of “life in all its fullness” recognising the importance of education and the school environment for our children and their families.