Governors
A Note from the Chair
I am delighted to welcome you to our governing body and to our school. At Whitecote Primary School we are very fortunate to have a dedicated team of governors. We believe that effective school governance is at the centre of a good school. We do all we can to promote and develop our governors to be skilled in their role askey strategic decision makers and vision setters.
Our governing body consists of 13 governors and they serve a term of office for four years. The main aim of our governors is to ensure that school provides an outstanding education and progress to all its children and to improve standards.
Learning is at the very heart of everything we do at Whitecote Primary School and we work really hard to make sure that all our children are excited and curious about the world about them and develop the life skills they will need to be happy, successful, confident and resilient young people.
I am extremely proud of the school, its pupils and staff. Standards at Whitecote have risen over the past few years due to a tenacious approach in improving the quality of teaching, learning and pastoral support for our children. The children are well behaved and keen to learn as they feel safe, supported and secure in our School. Parents and Carers understand they have an important role to fulfil in supporting our aims and aspirations for their children ad are encouraged to play an active part in school life.
Exciting new opportunities to become involved with school life include our new Community Group which has some fun and interesting events coming up! The Friends of Whitecote groups has seen numbers grow and lots of ideas for fundraising are coming from that important and valued group.
We hope to see you in school soon!
Suzanne Hawkshaw
Chair of the Governing Body
Meet the Governors
The Governing Body of Whitecote Primary School have an important role to play in supporting the strategic direction of school. The Governors act as both a critical friend, whilst providing challenge and facilitating debate with School Leaders to ensure children at Whitecote achieve the best possible progress in their learning.
We have wide range of skills and backgrounds which makes the governing body an interesting mix of people who all share the same drive to support school improvement.
The Governing Body consists of 13 Members:
- Headteacher
- 2 Parent representatives
- 1 Local Authority representative
- 1 Staff representative
- 8 Co-opted representatives
Chair: Mrs Suzanne Hawkshaw
Headteacher: Ms Frances Stead ex-officio
Parent Representatives: Ms Tracey Nicholson
Mr Paul Briscoe
Staff Representative: Miss Vicki Routledge
Co-opted Representatives: Mrs Sue Hawkshaw
Mrs Rachel Tobbell
Mrs Helen Burling
Mrs Jennifer Armit
Mrs Anessa Rush
Cllr Kevin Ritchie
Mr Jonathan Graham
LEA Representative: Vacancy
Areas of Monitoring Responsibility
The governors share the responsibility to monitor key areas of school. Feedback is given at committee and full governing body meetings regularly. Governors regularly visit school and speak with staff, children and parents.
* Complaints - Suzanne Hawkshaw
* Child Protection/Looked After Children - Tracey Nicholson
* SEND - Tracey Nicholson
* Attendance - Paul Briscoe
* Equalities - Rachel Tobbell
* Health and Safety - to be advised
* Bramley Cluster - Rachel Tobbell and Tracey Nicholson
* Training - Suzanne Hawkshaw
* Pupil Premium - Anessa Rush
* Literacy - Rachel Tobbell
* Maths - Jennifer Armit
* Sports Funding - Suzanne Hawkshaw
* Website Compliance - Paul Briscoe
* Parental Engagement - Jennifer Armit
* Pupil Voice - Cath Broadhead
* Foundation Stage - Suzanne Hawkshaw
* Key Stage 1 - Tracey Nicholson
* Lower Key Stage 2 - Anessa Rush
* Upper Key Stage 2 - Rachel Tobbell
Governors' Declaration of Interests
All governors declared no interests
Committees
The governors have two committees which allow for further in depth discussion on key areas of the school.
The Governing body is split into two committees, who undertake projects under delegated authority from the main body.
The committees are as follows:
- Resources (Finance, Personnel and Buildings)
- Teaching and Learning and Pupil Support
Committee Members
Teaching, learning and pupil support
Frances Stead
Rachel Tobbell (Chair)
Anessa Rush
Vicki Routledge
Helen Burling
Kevin Ritchie
Resources
Frances Stead
Jonathan Graham (Chair)
Suzanne Hawkshaw
Tracey Nicholson
Paul Briscoe
Helen Burling
Jennifer Armit
Supporting the School Priorities
The governing body support the school in identifying priorities to deliver school improvement. Below are the priorities for this year.
The Senior Leadership Team and Governors have agreed the following priorities for the school:-
- To close the gap in attainment of KS2 pupils to be in line with national averages at the end of Year 6 by 2019
- To narrow the progress gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children across school
- To increase the proportion of pupils working beyond ARE in English and maths through pitch and challenge
- To improve use of in-class marking and checks
- Improve use of assessment data so that analysis of data identifies all groups of learners and tracks their progress within and across key stages rigorously
- To improve attendance levels to be in line with the national average