Governors

Janine Wooster – Shenstone School Chair of the Governing Body.

I am delighted to have been appointed as the Chair of the Governing body for Shenstone school. I have been involved with Shenstone school over many years, initially working with the students when I was training as a teacher more than 35 years ago. More recently I have been working with the school whilst fulfilling my role of Complex needs manager for the London Borough of Bexley. Having left my post at the council I was asked if I was willing to be co- opted as a governor for the school. I was happy to do this and having attended a couple of meetings I was asked if I would stand as the Chairperson.

The governing body is made up of volunteers from a range of different backgrounds including parents/ carers, school staff and members of the local community. We meet regularly and work hard to fulfil our roles and responsibilities.

We currently have 12 governors:

• 1 Headteacher
• 1 staff governor
• 2 parent governors
• 8 appointed governors

Chair of Governors:           Ms J Wooster, an appointed governor

Vice-Chair of Governors:   Ms A Thompson, an appointed governor

Structure

There are four meetings of the full Local Governing Body each academic year.  In addition to this, there are two committee meetings per term.

The Governing body works with the senior leadership team of the school to ensure that the children of Shenstone school have the best opportunities to develop. It works to ensure that everyone in school is focused on teaching and learning within a caring environment.

I come from a background of teaching in Special and mainstream schools and have been working with many of the parents and carers in Bexley to ensure that those children and young people who needed a Statement of SEN and now an Education, Health and Care Plan received one and were given the educational support that they required. I look forward to working with the staff and parents at Shenstone school to keep up the excellent work that is going on at present and to move forward with new projects.

J Wooster

The Governing Body may be contacted in writing.

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

Please click here to link to the Directors of the TKAT Board.

Please click here to link to Governance information relating to TKAT, including the structure of governance and relevant details about Trustees terms of office, attendance and business interests.

Please click here for key documents including the Master Funding Agreement, Articles of Association and Accounts.

GOVERNORS’ IMPACT STATEMENT FOR  SHENSTONE SCHOOL

The academic year 2017/18  is the first full year of  operating as an academy Governing body. We aimed to build on the successes of the previous year. The meeting structure followed that of the previous year with the full governing body operating in the evening to allow for maximum attendance with the curriculum and finance sub committee’s being held during the day.  The OFSTED assessment of the school is  ‘good’, and Governors meetings are held termly.

The school has two sites and meetings are held at both sites to ensure that full consideration is given to the needs of both parts of the school.

The main work of the Local Governing Body  can be summarised in the following table:-

Activity/subject area	Impact
Finance and Resources
Approval of budget and continuing monitoring and scrutiny of expenditure	The school has a balanced budget, resources are allocated to support those areas of the most need in line with the school development plan and there was no overspend. In addition, the school had a positive financial audit. The school has a fully qualified business manager who is able to give governors clear information on any budget issues as they arise. Governors can also raise any queries relating to the budget and its use.
Approval and prioritisation of proposals for large areas of expenditure for maintenance and building improvement.	A more focused approach to this aspect of expenditure and obtaining value for money in supporting the curriculum and the school development plan. A regular report is given of the buildings and any issues that are arising in terms of maintenance. Routine updates are noted and agreed. Other building issues are discussed and expenditure agreed if possible.
School policies
Scrutiny/review of all school policies on a rolling timetable	All policies remain relevant, up to date and fit for purpose.
Identifying ‘gaps’ in additional policies and procedures	Any new policies are delegated to the appropriate staff member and challenged amended and agreed at the full governing body meeting.
Health and Safety
Ensuring that the school is compliant with the relevant legislation, that effective processes are in place and that risk assessments are undertaken when and where appropriate		Any areas of health and safety concern are discussed and any necessary actions agreed.
Performance management
Scrutiny of attendance management data		More effective procedures for persistent absence and poor attendance leading to an overall improvement of absence figures.
Scrutiny of data relating to progress and attainment		Improved formats for the collation and analysis of data, leading to earlier interventions. The new curriculum design has been a key area for discussion at governors meetings, with regular updates linked to the school development plan.
Classroom visits and attendance of internal meetings by governors		Governors undertake learning walks and visit classrooms as agreed and planned.

Introduction

The school became an academy, joining the TKAT, (The Kemnal Academies Trust) family of schools in September 2017. Whilst the day to day life of our staff and pupils remains unchanged, there has been much to do, at strategic level, to accommodate the different requirements and systems expected by TKAT. These systems and requirements have been discussed and amended to fit the needs of Shenstone school.

Effective governance

The governing body meets each term and there is continued work to ensure that the governing body is  efficient and focused, with all governors contributing to decision making in all areas. The governing body is able to challenge and support the school management team to ensure that they are as efficient as possible.

Governors understand their responsibilities and continue to monitor their own training requirements to meet specific roles and accountabilities through training or through recruiting governors with specific skills.

Vision 

The governors of Shenstone School  hold to the principle of doing what is best for the pupils, and aiming to  support all children to be the most able that they can be. Standards of teaching and support are good across both school sites.

Budget

There has been much work to do to transfer our accounting system to TKAT. However, continuing updates from our Business Manager have enabled governors to keep a clear track of income and expenditure and to ensure that budget targets have been met. Questions from governors have been carefully followed up from meeting to meeting.

Staffing structures

Governors  receive regular staffing reports and discuss with school managers the ways to be most efficient and to ensure that staff are supported, monitored and developed. Governors have been able to support recruitment of new staff.

Staff sickness management has been a feature for discussion at meetings.

Collaboration

There has been a programme of discussion with other TKAT schools to ensure that the schools understand each other.

Performance Management

The governing body  worked closely with Senior managers  review  Pay Award recommendations  these were ratified by the governors’ Pay Committee.

School Improvement

Governors have received regular and detailed reports on progress with the school’s improvement plan and continue to ask probing and relevant questions. Pupil Premium and sports funding has been scrutinised.

Policies and procedures

The governing body has set in place a clear programme for reviewing key policies and procedures, such as safeguarding. The impact of this is yet to be established but governors are confident that this will better facilitate their monitoring of the schools’ effective implementation of policies and procedures.