Governance at Shenstone Academy 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 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 11 Governors, consisting of 2 parents, 2 Staff (excluding Headteacher), 6 appointed, 1 Headteacher

There are currently 0 vacancies

The Link Governors are:

Safeguarding/Looked after Children - Janine Wooster

Finance and premises -  Stephanie Webb

Health and Safety -   Emmanuel Oduntan

Wellbeing - Wendy Lawson

The LGB has the following Committee Structure

• Full Governing Body
• Finance and premises
• Curriculum and staffing working party

Impact of COVID on the work of the LGB

During the period of COVID, the school continued to support as many children as it could within health and safety limitations and attendance of children throughout lockdown was higher than many local SEND schools. The Governing body held regular meetings virtually and the Chair of Governors maintained contact with the Head teacher on a regular basis. When permitted, the chair attended school face-to-face (wearing PPE) and was able to discuss any issues arising with staff.  The risk assessment was regularly updated and was sent to all governors for review and challenge.

The Governing body continued to meet virtually and was able to complete all necessary business in this way. At first meetings were focused on the COVID response and risk assessments but as the year moved on this moved on to other business and all was concluded efficiently during this period.

A number of new governors were elected over this year and it was challenging to ensure that they were fully aware of school processes and the challenges that are posed by the varying and complex needs of the children. This was difficult to achieve as the best way of doing  this is by school visits and learning walks. On-line tours were conducted but it will be particularly helpful for these governors to be able to visit and spend time in school as soon as they are able.

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

 The Governing body has

• Worked alongside the school to ensure that information has been distributed to the wider school community so that everyone was kept fully aware of what was happening in school over the period of the pandemic.
• 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 body has supported the school to use the community around the school and also to invite the community into school when this has been possible.

Support Directors of Education to improve Academy outcomes

The governing body has

• Worked with the school to develop the School Development Plan and has a section for governing body actions alongside those of the rest of the school community.
• At each governing body meeting an element of the school’s development plan is considered and challenges are made against the actions contained within the plan.
•  Considered the effectiveness of the school curriculum and the progress children are making towards their targets and outcomes.
• Worked with the school business manager to consider the spending plans and the budget monitoring to ensure that money is spent effectively to ensure that the school continues to move forward.
• Worked with school during external reviews to ensure that the outcomes were celebrated and any challenges requiring action supported.

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

The governing body has

• Challenged plans for staffing to ensure that processes are robust and appropriate.
• Been involved in key appointment procedures to ensure that the school has staff ( especially in key management positions) to  keep moving forwards.
• The pay committee considers and challenges all performance management processes  and decisions to ensure that staff are rewarded appropriately but also that the staffing spend remains within the budget envelope available.
• The chair of governors has been involved in the  Executive Head teacher performance management review.

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 year has been a very challenging one as things have been different for all and the school has been open for almost all of the period with only very limited lockdown. This has been very challenging and necessitated a great deal of planning, thinking and changes of plan at very short notice.

The well-being of staff has been a key during this time alongside the commitment to the well-being of families especially those with very challenging children. For many their usual support packages were not available or only in a very limited way.

LGB Priorities for 2021-22

• To closely work with the school to fulfil the ambitions of the SDP which was collaboratively created with the LGB, SLT at Shenstone and staff team.
• To ensure that the values of the school become are rejuvenated to ensure that they are part of our regular and ongoing practice