End of Year 2023/24

WHO ARE WE:

We are a team of people who are elected from:

The local and business community

Professionals : currently employed and retired

Members of staff

Parents

We are all  volunteers and are committed to being  involved in your governing board

SO WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO:

• We’ve had lots of fun being in the classroom with the children.
  For example, we’ve been on trips - Jodrell Bank,
  We also looking forward to many other visits with the children.
   
• We  had Christmas lunch with the children and thanks to the staff in the kitchen and Mid Day Supervisors who provide that service for the children day on day.
• Some of you will have seen us at the children’s performances and assemblies. The introduction of values assembly demonstrates those values of aspiration and perseverance.  It is good to see how well attended they are and the excitement on the children’s faces when they see that it is their parent who is sitting in the hall.
  We enjoy the excellent concerts.
   
• We have supported our new headteacher,  Mr Patel, through his first year at Weddington. We are delighted that he has established himself so quickly and we have a shared vision that we are all working towards.  It seems as if he has always been here – not new any more.
• We have visited classrooms to see learning in action. We see well behaved children who are curious, asking questions, solving  problems, finding  out more and enjoying success.
  We see staff who care about the children and want them to achieve the very best that they can.
• We have met with individual members of staff to receive reports about their areas of responsibility. There is a new SENCO and she has been working hard to establish her role in  making sure that children are able to access the opportunities they have at Weddington.
• We have had meetings where we have been monitoring the School’s Budget so  that the best resources that we can afford are provide for the children.
  We discuss the School Improvement Plan and are pleased to be able to report good progress in all areas  this year.
   
• We have been involved in the appointment of new staff this year. They have settled into Weddington really well and on our visits to school we see how they are contributing already to achieving our vision.  We are also involved in the professional development of existing staff  and we have made sure that there are opportunities for them to  be the best teachers that they can be. The well being of everyone at Weddington is important to us and we make sure that we consider that in every policy we agree.
• Safeguarding is one of our highest priorities and we ask questions, receive reports and make visits to be sure that everything is in place to ensure that children are safe.
  Recently we have been involved in developing AI policy and Cybersafety
   
• And we make sure we keep ourselves up to date and develop our skills .
  We attend courses on line,  with other schools, in school.
  Here are some examples:  Child Protection, Health and Safety, Induction for new governors, School Visits, Parent Governor, Attendance, SEND.
   

So all that is left is to thank everyone in our school community for your perseverance this academic year. Weddington’s vision is for all to thrive and as a governing board we have seen that in action through all the activities we have been part of.

Have a great summer break and see you in September.

June 2024

It does seem a while since we posted anything but we have had Easter and half term amid all the activity.

SATs, Phonic tests , multiplication table tests, YR assessments are all done and dusted. Lots of hard work by children and staff who have worked with them. Gareth Foden,  visited during Year 6 tests and said "huge praise to the behaviour (and calmness!!) of the children and exceptional work by all staff involved .... "

I , Gwyn Evans, had the privilege of being invited to Reception and Key Stage 1 Values Assembly. It was a delight to see the children's pleasure at receiving their awards and seeing family there to congratulate them.

All governors visited school in June and saw how focussed the children were on their learning and how well they were able to explain what they were learning to us . Outdoors we saw children using  balance bikes. 

We have seen the curriculum intent on paper and our visits are a great opportunity to see the implementation, what is actually happening in school.

We continue to read and approve the policies that leaders are developing and on our visits we look to make sure that they are being implemented.  Policies have included Cybersafety and AI and Jack Collins is having a governor overview of these relatively new strategic aspects of safeguarding.

Duncan College takes part in School Council meetings. He is impressed with the views and ideas that the School Council offer and the fact that the children have a voice in the decisions taken by school leaders.

As you will know, there is a new SENCO and the governor responsible for SEND has met with her and supports her in her new role.

Jane Hanson, a new governor to our school is also working alongside the SENCO as the governor lead for mental health.

Finance: governors receive  regular reports of different financial aspects. Duncan College attended a finance monitoring meeting. 

Lucy James chairs our Performance and Standards Committee and she has had a particular focus on pupil premium this month. The pupil premium report is published on our website.

Jack Collins, who is coming to the end of his first year as a  parent at Weddington , (his child will be Year 1 in September,) supported. the meeting for new reception parents

I think that is enough for this month.

I intend writing an end of year   report in July.

I am looking forward to our Year 6 concert , The Summer Sensation and all other end of term activities. 

Plenty to do for Children, Staff, Governors and for Parents.  
Governors look forward to seeing you at an event over the next couple of weeks.

April 2024

The Spring term was a successful term for Weddington Primary.

The football team did very well.

Gareth Foden spent a wonderful day at Jodrell Bank with Year 5.

Governor training has included Monitoring and Evidence. One of the roles of governors is to see the School Improvement Plan in action. One way we do this is by visiting school and seeing all the wonderful learning that happens at Weddington. The leadership team have been telling us about the interesting curriculum plans that they are developing and visits such as Jodrell Bank is the implementation part of the plan.

Gareth's comment on the trip was:

"Ten out of Ten for me …. education and fun personified" For us as Governors, it says it all. 

We have agreed a budget for 2024/2025. You will be aware that school budgets across the country are very tight. Duncan Colledge and myself joined Mr Patel, Mrs Chamberlain and WCC Finance Officer, to analyse spending and propose to the Full Governing Board a balanced  budget.  Governors are committed to providing a good quality of provision for your children within the budget parameters we have.

Governors have also been involved in staff interviews this term. You will be aware   that there is a new pastoral team, SENCO, teachers and teaching assistants and a new member of the admin team.

And there have been improvements to the building. More resources for the children and the new windows make a more pleasant environment for staff and children.

I would like to say welcome back to a sunny Summer term, but as I sit here that rain is still there. 

We cant do anything about it so we make the best of it. 

Have a good summer term.

January 23/24

Its been a very full month and has seen the start of the Values assembly. Governors were thrilled to be invited, not just because they are governors but they were invited as parents and were privileged to be able to attend.

One governor said:

“The children who received the awards definitely enjoyed the assembly, as did the adults/parents. The children were well behaved and certainly celebrated the achievements.

Impressed with it all. “

At our January meeting we had a health and safety update and were pleased to hear that the majority of you are parking in safe places for the benefit of the children. Thankyou for your support.

Governors visited the school one Monday  morning and saw children working hard at their learning. There was a lot of maths happening in this session. Not in year 6 though, where we left the hall before the child, who was the model for the lesson, had been completely mummified .   Only role play!!!!

Governors have also been involved in interviews for new staff and I am sure you will see more of the people appointed when they start their posts next month.

2 board meetings have taken place this month. 

One of the meetings was an update of school finances and how they are being used to make sure that the school is resourced as well as we are able.

The next meeting is in March.

Governors have also attended training in Health and Safety, and roles and responsibilities of governors.

We also have a new governor, Jane Hanson. She lives in Weddington and her daughter attended the school. She , the daughter , is now at university doing her degree.

Also, we are sorry to lose Jen Haw from our board due to other commitments. We are now recruiting a staff governor replacement.

I hope you were able to listen to  Star School of the Week on BBC CWR Radio . Another example of Weddington firmly on the map.

Have  a very good half term. The forecast for this weekend is snow but currently it just   looks wet.

December 2023/2024

Even though everyone was getting ready for Christmas activities , there was a lot of business for governors this term.

A full meeting of the board took place at the beginning of the month. 

There was  a national agreement on teacher pay so the board reviewed the current pay policy and implemented the agreement accordingly.

All governors are keen, not only to keep themselves up to date but also to improve our skills as governors. Examples of training this month are: training for your new parent governor, financial management, health and safety, and safeguarding.

G Foden , our health and safety governor, observed a fire drill.  He reports that "I was extremely impressed with the overall organisation and the calmness of staff and the children (without in any way panicking, quite a few children asked me when the fire engines were due to arrive!!)"

The SEND governor met with SENCO . The most recent SEND newsletter is published on the website.

And we had fun, dressed in Christmas jumpers ,

• we went to the Christmas Fair
• we had Christmas lunch with the children 
• and we went to see  the children in their performances.
• we too had tears in our eyes listening to the carol singing.   
• we just loved how much the children enjoyed themselves.

All that's left to say at the end of this term is:

Merry Christmas everyone.

More news in 2024

October 2023/2024

Well, we have reached the last week of this half term. It has certainly been a VERY busy half term for everyone in our school community. 

Children have settled into their classes and I have already seen some of their achievements  in their books. There has also been a  successful Harvest Assembly. A great start to their new year group. 

The weather has been busy, hot sunny days, cooler days and recently those awful wet and windy days. Let's hope the half term week will be fine and allow the children to get some fresh air and have fun outdoors.

Governors have received lots of information from Mr Patel and he and the Leadership Team have reviewed and presented a number of policies to the Governing Board: 

Attendance and Punctuality , in line with  recent DfE guidelines. You will have seen that there is a concern nationally about pupil attendance at school following the Pandemic, so our policy reflects the most up to date national guidance.

Acceptable Use of the Internet, for Parents.   The staff have acceptable use guidance, so do the children, so this policy completes the triangle.   Governors adopt the staff guidance.

Relationships and Behaviour, including Positive Handling and Exclusions. 

Again, some of the guidance the school has  to follow has been updated, particularly with excluding and expelling pupils . So we have made sure that our school policies are up to date.

Mr Patel and Gareth Foden, Governor, were pleased to meet a group of parents and to get feedback. There have already been some amendments as a result of this feedback.

The parent survey is also useful information that is used to inform leadership decisions.

ALL POLICIES ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO SEE ON THE SCHOOL WEBSITE.

There are some exciting things planned , not necessarily immediately but, over the weeks, months and this year you will see new resources in classrooms, Weddy friends events, improvements to the school site, and fantastic learning opportunities.

We also have a new parent governor joining our team, Jack Collins. More from him after our next meeting. He will join Duncan Colledge who is now in his second year  of governance.

Blogs are meant to be short and it seems to me that I have probably written enough.

Just to say in conclusion and  I know you will agree with me that, in addition to children , weather and Governors, the staff of the school have been busy this half term.   By staff, I always mean everyone who works in the school, teachers, support staff, lunchtime staff, premises staff and office staff. They have all settled into the new school year and supported your children in making their transition easier.

And Mr Patel has become our new Headteacher  and is busy getting to know everyone, and everything. Nine weeks is not very long - new born still!!!!!!!

Well done everyone. 

And a final note that made me smile:

*"And where did you go at half term John?"

Asked the teacher.

"  We went to the Weston Super Mare for the day"

John replied.

"  Did you go on the Dodgems?"

Asked the teacher.

John replied

"  No we went on a coach"

Have a great half term.

Gwyn Evans 

Chair of Governors.

Every child Every chance Every day
‘Weddy’ graduates will venture into the wider world as curious, courageous and confident individuals, who are
equipped with the tools for continued success.

*Adapted from  G Phinn   The Day our Teacher Went Batty

2023/2024 September

Hello.

With  the start of a new academic  year , a new Headteacher, new staff, new children and families into Reception and across the school, and new governors,  it seemed a good time for governors to ask:

"How are we communicating with families of children at our school."

We will have the question as an item on our agendas throughout the year.

To reintroduce this blog seems a good first step.

We are updating the governor page on the website.

Governors started the year by refreshing their safeguarding training which also includes on-line safety.

We have had a  meeting where we updated our formal  instrument of governance and began to identify our priorities for the year.

Mr Patel reviewed Weddington's Vision and Values with us and we are all committed to supporting

Every child Every chance Every day
‘Weddy’ graduates will venture into the wider world as curious, courageous and confident individuals, who are
equipped with the tools for continued success.

Gwyn Evans 

Chair of Governors

Thank-you video

Here is a video put together by out governors to thank the staff at Weddington for all of their hard work during the partial school closure and subsequent re-opening.