Annual Report

Governors’ Annual Report to Parents

2021-2022

Introduction

This report had been prepared to provide details of the core functions completed by the LGB during the 2021-2022 academic year under several key headings.

Composition of the Local Governing Board (LGB)

For the 2021-2022 academic year, the LGB of Redhill Primary Academy comprised of the following members: -

• Fiona Seddon (Chair, appointed 8 November 2021)
• Dara Carroll (Deputy Chair)
• Donna Jenkins (resigned 27 January 2022)
• Phillip Nicholls
• Yogesh Patel
• Ian Rawlings (appointed 8 November 2021)

The LGB continues to undertake processes of self-evaluation to highlight development needs and to assist with governor recruitment.  The LGB is cognisant of the requirement to have an appropriate range of skills amongst governors, principally to enable the LGB to meet its core functions and to effectively support the Headteacher to address the Academy’s priorities. Recognising that the composition of the LGB has changed during the year and that additional members are required, it is, therefore, anticipated that at least two new governor appointments will be formalised ahead of the new academic year.

COVID-19

In preparation for this year, the Academy reviewed and revised its COVID-19 risk assessment, as necessary, and developed contingency plans recognising that alternative arrangements might be needed in response to the national and local context.  Measures were taken to mitigate the risk of virus transmission in the school, particularly during periods when positive cases in the local community were high. Staff absence, caused by the rapid transmission of the Omicron variant during the spring term, presented some resourcing challenges which required significant flexibility by staff as the Headteacher endeavoured to minimise the disruption to pupils’ education.

The later easing of government restrictions enabled the Academy to return to more ‘normal’ in-school routines and to reintroduce its activity programme covering parental, community, and extra-curricular events, including educational enrichment visits.  It was also possible to recommence the ‘in-person’ interim monitoring programme which enabled Governors to visit the Academy.

 
Core Function report

During the year, the LGB has:

• Continued to work with the Headteacher to further support the Academy’s transition to TTMAT’s systems and controls and to promote further collaboration with other affiliated schools.
• Reviewed the Academy’s vision, aims and values, as clearly published via the Academy website.
• Undertaken, as far as practicable, monitoring and evaluation assessments of areas specifically relating to the Raising Attainment Plan and ensured that improvement plans have continued to be focussed on those areas identified for improvement.
• Reviewed data and reports from monitoring sessions within the Academy to identify strengths and weaknesses and to ensure these were documented in the Academy Improvement Plan.
• Agreed, reviewed, and monitored performance targets for the Headteacher, ensuring that these were appropriate and relevant to the Academy Improvement Plan.
• Considered, reviewed, and updated key policies to ensure these remain appropriate in accordance with statutory guidance, including those relating to Safeguarding & SEND, Health & Safety, Behaviour, Home School Agreement and Pay & Performance Management Policy.
• Sought out and acted upon the views of pupils and parents through direct discussion and through questionnaires. Results of the parental questionnaires have again been collated and analysed by the Chair of Governor.
• Attended relevant training courses to improve their skills in order to support the whole academy community and ensure that we continue to be effective in our role.

During the year, the LGB has:

• Reviewed the Inspection Summary Report, and internal assessments to determine the areas of strength and weakness, and actively challenged the Headteacher to ensure robust systems are in place to address areas of weakness.
• Actively questioned the Headteacher regarding progress towards the Academy Improvement Plan to ensure that resources have continued to be directed effectively to areas of need.
• Monitored teaching and learning within the Academy, where possible, to ensure that the quality of teaching remained good with many outstanding features.
• Visited the Academy, where possible, to complete learning walks and scrutinise pupils’ books, alongside senior and middle teachers, to gain an understanding of pupil data and tracking methods, pupil progress and attainment.
• Carried out comprehensive audits of the safeguarding provision and safeguarding records, such as the Single Central Register.
• Continued to specifically consider the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND
• Reviewed reports provided regarding the Curriculum provision, Pupil Premium provision, Schools Sport Funding, teaching standards, Behaviour and Safety, Progress and Attainment, to gain a clear and broad understanding of the context of the work and help to shape strategic questions and decisions.
• Considered the Academy’s remote learning provision, specifically designed to support learning and teaching during the early lockdown period and further developed over the year to ensure that all pupils were being appropriately supported to continue their learning.

During the year, the LGB has:

• Worked in collaboration with the TTMAT finance team to set a budget which clearly demonstrated that expenditure plans were appropriate in line with the Academy’s priorities.
• Ensured that resources for intervention support have been maintained and continued to have a positive impact.
• Ensured that all expenditure had followed ‘best value’ principles.
• Ensured that strategic expenditure plans have been formulated to appropriately allocate other grant income to have a positive impact on pupil outcomes.
• Reviewed the termly risk management reports to identify potential problems before they occur so that risk-handling activities may be planned to mitigate adverse impacts on achieving the Academy’s objectives

4. Statutory responsibilities:

During the year, the LGB has: 

• Supported an audit for the Academy website to ensure that it remained current and compliant with statutory regulations, including, but not limited to, the publication of key policies and governance information, the allocation of funding, safeguarding procedures and the provision for SEND pupils.
• Continued to have a Designated Governor for Safeguarding to ensure that all safeguarding responsibilities continued to be met through comprehensive auditing of the provision.
• Updated the Academy Safeguarding policy to include the requirements of new statutory guidance and other topical issues.
• Maintained a robust schedule for monitoring compliance of the LGB’s statutory duties in respect of policies.
• Ensured that there has been a named Governor with responsibility for Health & Safety and to overview Health and Safety audit reports.
• Maintained a schedule of business interests in respect of Governors and reviewed the termly schedule prepared to record interests declared by the Academy’s senior leadership team.

Plans for 2022-2023

Redhill Primary Academy continues to be successful and a popular choice of local school.  The LGB, the Headteacher and all staff continue to be committed to driving improvements in pupils’ progress and attainment.

The LGB will continue to undertake routine monitoring activities during 2022-2023, as broadly set out in this report, and it will continue to provide support to the Headteacher to ensure that pupils are provided with an appropriate learning environment and every opportunity to reach their best possible potential.  This will include the opening of the new nursey building which is anticipated in September 2023. The LGB will also review progress towards the Academy’s improvement targets and will particularly monitor those which were formulated to address issues arising from the pandemic situation.

As part of this report, the LGB would like to take this opportunity to express its gratitude to the Headteacher, Senior Leadership team and all members of the teaching and administrative/support staff for their hard work and commitment during another challenging year.  As a Board, we are immensely proud of the Academy staff who have worked tirelessly throughout to ensure that we continue to provide the best education and care possible for our pupils, regardless of the difficulties presented by the pandemic.

To discuss any aspect of this report, or to find out about opportunities which may be able to join the Local Governing Board, please contact the Chair of Governors via the Academy.

Fiona Seddon

Chair of Governors

September 2022