Thomas Willingale School and Nursery
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Governor Blog
Mon 30 Nov 2015December 2015
This is a new item on the website. A blog from the Governors, designed to give you an insight into what we do and why! We are going to blog half termly from now on, with a different governor letting you know what they and we have been up to.
You might see some of us around the school regularly, but perhaps wonder – “What do the Governors do and why?”
We are a group of volunteers who give up our own time to come into the school regularly to ensure the school is providing the best possible education for the pupils. We are the Champions of the Children, who regularly monitor, challenge and support the school.
We have had two Full Governing Body Meetings this term, which we always have in the Autumn Term, due to returning to school in September after a long break over the Summer and it being the beginning of a new school year there is lots to discuss and then again closer to the end of term when decisions need to be made regarding what’s to come! We update and amend policies at every meeting too.
I have had a very busy term, writing to parents to inform you that we had two vacancies on the Governing Body for Parent Governors, and am delighted to inform you that we had two nominations and have accepted them on to the Governing Body and look forward to working with them in the future as part of our team. In my role as Chair of Governors so far this term I have also met regularly with Miss Phillips to discuss various issues and activities that are taking place in the school. Miss Phillips updates me on a weekly basis by email too regarding anything Governors need to know and I have responded to parental correspondence directed to Governors.
Several Governors have conducted their monitoring visits to school. We do this to focus on different areas of the school. All Governors have a responsibility to an area of the school, for example; Safeguarding, Maths, Literacy, Boys, Pupil Premium, Special Educational Needs, Early Years, Community Liasion, to name but a few. Our focus is to a specific area which we visit and monitor during the school year, reporting back to Governors and asking questions of staff while on the visit and the Headteacher or other senior staff after the visit.
Monitoring visits are a vital part of our role, as they give feedback on decisions we have made, such as new teacher appointments. Whilst we support the school, we also challenge where we feel it is necessary.
You can help us with this, by giving your feedback in surveys and attending Parents forums and you can pass a message on to us via the office if you want to discuss anything.
At our first meeting of the year in September we elect our Chair and Vice-Chair on an annual basis and so this was our first action of the evening. I was delighted to be re-elected Chair and Gary Barrett was elected as Vice Chair.
We were pleased with the results from SATs and end of EYFS, KS1 assessments in July, although there are still some areas for focus. The targets for the School Improvement Plan (SIP) have been set and are robust enough to ensure the school builds upon the successes of the last year, bringing about improvements where they are needed.
We are delighted with the infill work that took place during the spring and summer terms and is now complete. The impact is already clear. The children are benefitting from the use of a properly equipped medical room, which is a fantastic addition to the school and ensures that when children are feeling unwell they can be treated privately and comfortably until they are either ready to return to class or go home. The Sensory Room and intervention rooms are getting so much use; in fact it is difficult to find a spare slot! We will be continuing to monitor the rooms as part of our visit.
Also this term we have had a Committee Meeting for the Resources, Curriculum, Pay and Headteacher’s Performance Management.
We had Essex carry out a review of the school in early November and Gary and I met with them in our role as part of the Leadership and Management of the School. The evaluation helped us to identify any areas for improvement and arrange an action plan accordingly. We felt that whilst there are areas we can further improve, the Governing Body is meeting all of the statutory duties placed upon us. The governors have a clear direction in which we are going, and our aims for the school for the future.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very restful and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
If you would like to get to know us a bit better, please take a look at our ‘Meet the Governors’ section on the website!
Rhian Jenkins
Chair of Governors
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SCHOOL COUNCIL
Wed 25 Nov 2015Meet our School Councillors
Y6
Kristen – I am the chairperson and I am very organised. Also, I am always willing to help when people have worries.
Harry – I am responsible and I have had this role before so I know what to do.
Louis – I am very responsible and I like to think about what resources we need around school.
Ellie –I have had experience being a school councillor in Year 3 and I am kind and helpful.
Y5
Samuel – I help to make sure we have a healthy school and I love helping out around the school.
Caitlin – I am a brilliant school councillor and I have an important job supporting the secretary (Samuel).
Oscar – I think I am a good school councillor because I am a good role model to others.
Emma – I am fun, responsible and help to make the school successful.
Y4
Francesca – I always keep up to date with the worry/idea box and I make sure our school is safe. I also respect our visitors and guests.
Tom – I am a brilliant school councillor because I am kind, caring and confident.
Stevie – I am a good role model and I am respectful to Lime Class and the school. I love to help people and look after them. I don’t mind if people disturb me when I am in a game.
Matthew – I am a good school councillor because I am a caring and confident role model in all subjects and around the school.
Y3
Aaliyah – I am thoughtful and will help people with their worries.
Freddie – I am a good school councillor because I am confident.
Raffi – If someone is lonely on the playground I will play with them.
Ellis – I am responsible and love helping other children and adults in the school.
Y2
Maya – I help to make sure the school is safe and play with children that look unhappy.
Joris – I am kind and sensible. I help to look after the worry/idea box.
Molly –I help people who look unhappy and have no one to play with.
Noah – I wait at the buddy bench and go around asking children who are alone if they want to play with me.
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FACEBOOK ALERT
Wed 25 Nov 2015FACEBOOK ALERT!!!
It has just been brought to our attention that a number of students in a Chelmsford secondary school have been receiving inappropriate messages via Facebook and Facebook messenger. These messages are not coming from other students in the school or from individuals who are personally known to those students. They are, however, persistent and have been sent to a number of people.
We would like to advise you and your child to block messages and/or ‘unfriend’ individuals with the following Facebook profile names. We have reason to believe these are highly unlikely to be genuine profiles and therefore the faces and dates of birth associated with the accounts are unlikely to reflect the true identity of the sender.
Chloe Packard, David Kingston, Neal Caffery, Neal Spinson, Tiffy Gerhardt, Chloe Powell
Please be aware that Essex Police have been advised of this online activity from these accounts.
We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage all students who use social media sites to utilise the profile security settings to ensure that they do not receive unsolicited messages. Students should take care only to befriend individuals whom they know in person and be wary about what personal information they share online.
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NOVEMBER NEWS
Wed 25 Nov 2015We have had a productive time here in school over the last couple of weeks. All of our classes took part is creating a Remembrance Day tribute and these were taken and laid out in our playground for a thoughtful two minutes silence.
Our Year 1 children spent a lovely day at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood and their classrooms reflect this with some fabulous displays of old toys! (Unfortunately they don’t feel old to most of us here!)
Our Pyjama Day collected an amazing amount of donations of different types of bottles for our Christmas Fete as did our Trainer Day for chocolate. This is currently residing outside my office and is taking a great deal of restraint on my part! Thank you for your donations, they will help ensure our fete is one to remember!
Our children did exceptionally well at the recent rugby tournament– coming third; both teams qualified for the partnership finals in December. We are very proud of them.
It seems we have a bunch of young entrepreneurs in school who are using their mathematical skills, their English skills and creative skills combined with their topic work to create small businesses.
Today I had a meeting with some of our year 4 children who presented to me their ‘business plan’, they asked if they could make and sell ‘Mocktails’ at the Christmas Fete. They presented me with their costings and expected profit and asked if we would loan them the money to do this. After consideration and consultation with our School Business Manager they were given the go ahead. You will see them on Friday selling their carefully constructed Mocktails so please support them and buy one.
Yesterday I received a very persuasive letter from a group of Year 6 children who are working with Mrs Collins in Maths. They have asked me to loan them some money for the Chocolate Sleigh product they are creating. I have written back to them with some expectations of a balanced spreadsheet they need to give me after. They will also be selling these on Friday and have worked out their forecasted profits from the sale of them. I know there are some other entrepreneurial ideas taking place on Friday too so look out for them and please do ask the children how they worked on their businesses as they have had to be a full part of the plans. Learning in this way is always fun for children as a ‘real life’ context to our learning always makes much more sense!
Please do support them as I might turn into Alan Sugar on them if they don’t pay back their loans!
I look forward to seeing you on Friday.
With kind regards,
Teresa Phillips
(Head Teacher)
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