Governors

Academy

Shenstone School

Chair of Governors

Janine Wooster

Date

September 2022

Governance at Shenstone School within TKAT

Shenstone School is part of TKAT, a Multi-academy Trust. The Trust is a charity and its board of trustees must ensure that it complies with its charitable objects which relate to the provision of education in its schools. As such it is the Trust board which is accountable for the performance of the Academies in the Trust, and in turn, it is held to account by the Department for Education. The Trust has chosen to appoint committees for each of its academies and these are known as a local governing bodies (LGBs). The LGB’s responsibilities are set out in a document known as the Scheme of Delegation which is available on TKAT’s and Academy’s website.

Vision

The LGB is responsible for ensuring that the Academy’s long-term vision reflects the needs of its community beyond current postholders and in line with TKAT’s vision and values.

In support of the vision and values of TKAT, at Shenstone School the vision continues with the following:

With children at the heart of all that we do, we provide high quality education in a safe, respectful and engaging environment that builds a foundation for life-long learning.

We offer a highly effective learning and therapeutic support environment, which enables pupils to interact with a wide range of opportunities so that they may secure their most aspirational outcomes. 

• support and enable children to create and maintain positive relationships.
• encourage and celebrate achievement in learning and development for pupils at every opportunity.
• provide a safe, happy and engaging learning environment for everyone to facilitate continuous self-improvement. 
• promote and value a sense of teamwork across the entire school community.
• work to engage and be a positive influence within the local community.
•  work in partnership with families. 
• take a therapeutic approach and work closely with outside support agencies.

Organisation of LGB

Shenstone’s LGB has 10 Governors, consisting of 2 parents, 2 Staff (excluding Headteacher), 5 appointed, 1 Headteacher

There is currently 1 vacancy for a community governor

The Link Governors are:

Safeguarding/Looked after Children, Disadvantaged and SEND - Janine Wooster

Finance and premises -  Stephanie Webb

Health and Safety -   Emmanuel Oduntan

Wellbeing - Wendy Lawson

Pupil Premium – Hannah Thompson

The LGB has the following Committee Structure

• Full Governing Body
• Finance and premises
• Curriculum and staffing 
• Other short term working parties set up as needed with focused task and finish agenda.

Impact of Covid on the work of the LGB

The Covid pandemic continued to affect the school over the year with some periods of high infection meaning that whilst school continued, visitors to the school were not admitted and some functions were moved online / virtual. The governing body continued to operate. During the period of Covid the school continued to support as many children as it could. The Governing body held regular meetings virtually and the Chair of Governors maintained contact with the Head teacher on a regular basis. When it was permitted the chair attended school and was able to discuss any issues arising with staff.  The risk assessment was updated regularly and sent to all governors for review and challenge. It was only at the end of the school year that governors were able to attend school in person. The very hot weather again meant that meetings were moved online.

The Pandemic proved a stressful time for all staff and issues around well being were particularly important at this time and the LGB checked in with the school team regularly.

Represent the Academy’s local community and stakeholders by ensuring that the Academy’s policies and practice meet the community’s needs.

 The Governing board has

• Worked with school in particular senior leaders to ensure that the local community is included in school activities.
• The summer fete this year offered an opportunity to share activities with the local community on a face to face basis.
• The community of the school is very wide as children come from the whole of Bexley and beyond, the governing body has reflected this in its policies and signposting.
• The governing board supported the collaborative plan between Bexley and TKAT to expand Shenstone to become an all-through special school with a third secondary site being established in Belvedere.
• The governing board has begun to discuss how we ensure that the new secondary school will link with the local community as much as it possibly can.

Support Directors of Education to improve Academy outcomes

The governing board has

• The school development plan is now on line where it can be updated on a regular basis and governors can log in to view progress whenever they wish to do so.
• At each meeting flagged the plan and explored the progress being made.
•  Invited Staff to give workshop style opportunities to governors so that they can experience activities rather than just discussing them. This has resulted in more informed discussions around areas if development with a focus on curriculum.
• Considered the progress of each child towards their individual targets. An emphasis has been placed on the communication with parents about their child.
• Any suggestions from external reviews about changes or amendments to programmes are discussed and put into place as appropriate with monitoring from the governing body.

Support the Senior Leadership Team to ensure staffing is efficient and effective

The governing board has

• Been involved with staff appointments if appropriate and that fair appointment processes have been followed at all times.
• Considered the staffing requirements alongside the spending plans to ensure that the best possible staff appointments are made but that they are also affordable within spending planes.
• The key elements of staff performance reviews have been discussed to ensure that any issues are followed up.
• The chair of governors has been involved in the Executive Head teacher performance management review.
• Local authority requests to create new spaces and make provision for individual students are considered   to ensure that requests are reasonable and that resources are appropriate to the requested action.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

This is a key focus on the current SDP as the LGB are working towards:

All staff actively gain understanding of the diversity within the local area, especially gaining understanding of sensitive issues they may find uncomfortable. These issues may be from the school community or the wider community.

Other areas of Impact / challenges during this period.

The school has been very busy as always over this school year with the added challenge of planning for the new secondary school.

The school will operate over 3 sites which has benefits for staff and for pupils but also presents challenges.

There are always very challenging pupils who need the most skilled staff to ensure that their needs are met appropriately.

As the SEND provision within TKAT develops Shenstone will link with all aspects of it to ensure that quality if always high.

LGB Priorities for 2022-23

• Gaining the accreditation from the National Autistic Society to be recognised for the work and practice we carry out with our pupils who have autism.
• Support the on-going expansion of the Shenstone Secondary site, both with its construction plans, student number increase and staffing needs to support this growth.
• Ensure that Well-Being remains a priority for our Shenstone Community through the Well-Being award and regular governor check-ins

How to contact the Governing Body:

Letters should be posted or handed in to the School Office addressed as follows:

Private & Confidential
Mrs J Wooster - Chair of the Governing Board
c/o The Clerk to the Governors
Shenstone School
94 Old Road
Kent DA1 4DZ