First Edition of the Berkeley Primary Governors’ Newsletter
Welcome to the first Berkeley Primary Governors’ Newsletter. Our intention is to keep parents and carers informed of the school’s Governing body.
What We Do
As school governors we are responsible for the vision and strategic direction of Berkeley Primary. We hold the Headteacher to account for how well pupils achieve and progress educationally, and for the quality of teaching. We also oversee how the school spends its money, making sure the school stays in budget and receives value for money.
The structure of our meetings is as follows:
- Full Governing Body (FGB) meets once a term
- School Improvement Committee meets once a term – responsibilities include the curriculum, reviewing assessment data, quality of teaching, Pupil Premium and Sports Premium.
- Resources Committee meets twice a term – responsibilities include safeguarding, finance, premises and personnel.
- We also have learning walks termly and one-off meetings for training or to discuss issues as necessary.
We pride ourselves on being a very active team of governors and we love being present in the school to see first-hand what is happening and monitor the impact of the decisions we make. After a long time of having to monitor remotely, due to the pandemic, we are delighted to be getting back into school this term. We have put a huge focus on building our profile back up amongst the students, parents and staff.
Come and Meet the Governors
This term we have done some reflection on the school vision. Our school vision was written just after the amalgamation of the Infant and the Junior schools to become Berkeley Primary and we feel we’ve come a long way on our journey to integrate these sites. We now need to look forwards and determine our future goals for the school. Everybody’s thoughts are really valuable to us on this, so we will be holding a Governor Stall at 3pm on Friday 20th May outside the Junior School Entrance and would love to meet as many parents and carers as possible to give us your thoughts and insights.
New School Motto
Whilst looking at the school vision we also thought we would like to have a school motto, something to really capture the essence of our school. After collaboration with the staff and feedback from the student council our school motto will now be:
Every Child, Every Chance, Every Day
Our Recent Activities
Reading Learning Walk – John (Chair), Jocelyn (Vice-Chair), Angela (Parent Governor), Jamie (Parent Governor) and Emma (Co-Opted Governor) participated in our termly Learning walk. The focus of this was to monitor phonics and reading lessons to ensure that the school is continuing to work towards a priority on the school development plan; To improve outcomes and progress in English. The Governors enjoyed spending time in all classes within the infants and juniors. We got to look at the lovely work displayed around the rooms, the reading areas, children’s’ work in books as well as watching lessons being delivered for reading and phonics.
It was positive to hear that the children’s love of reading has been enhanced through Book Club in Key Stage 2, the children spoke very passionately about this. It was lovely to watch the teachers and TA’s deliver the lessons and it was evident they had a vast subject knowledge in this area.
The Governors were able to highlight some areas for development including; investing in more reading materials as well as more poetry books, investigating the use of Book Club in Year 2 to continue the love of reading and we suggested looking to improve the library areas and reading areas in classrooms and to freshen up the stock of books available to the children. We would also like to encourage the development of some outside areas that can be used for some fresh air reading time.
Class teachers are now able to reintroduce the reading corners in each classroom, which sadly had to be put away during Covid restrictions, so we will be reinvesting in these for use during DEAR time.
The school would really appreciate the donation of any excellent condition books you may no longer have use for at home.
Health and Safety walk-round – John, Jocelyn, Michelle and Jamie conducted a Health & Safety audit throughout the site. While no major issues were identified there were many small areas for improvement which are all currently being actioned by the caretakers where possible and we are currently looking at further investments in the outdoor areas. Whilst on the walk-round Governors met some KS1 children who are currently working on tidy up and planting vegetables in the wild garden, we can’t wait to see how this progresses.
School Council Meeting –Emma, Jamie, John and Jocelyn attended a school council meeting. The main focus of the meeting was behaviour. Each class representative had done a survey within their individual class and we discussed these findings at length with a small group of children each. It was very encouraging to hear, most of the feedback was positive, children felt behaviour around school was good and they were rewarded for doing the right thing. It was suggested the children would like some more activities around friendship and kindness, which were fed back during our School Improvement Committee and will be implemented.
School Lunches – Several Governors have attended lunch in both the Junior and Infant buildings, this has been an absolute pleasure for all. It’s a wonderful time for us to speak to the children, who were all very excited to show us round the hall and playground.
Science Week – During the recent National Science Week John carried out several workshops looking at various properties or materials in line with the KS1 curriculum while Jocelyn delivered an assembly to both KS1 and KS2 on the day in the life of a Mechanical Engineer. Both found the children fully engaged and asking some brilliant, well thought out questions and their enthusiasm for the subject was infectious.
Year 3&4 Sports Hall Athletics– Jocelyn and John had the pleasure of helping to supervise a group of Year 3 and 4 students at The Pods to compete in an interschool athletics competition run by Get Ahead Partnership. The children were incredible and managed to come first out of 13 schools, retaining the title for a sixth year. This is a testament to all the hard work they and the teachers put in during the run up to the event. The behaviour throughout the day was exemplary. On the same day children also took part in the North Lincs Schools Championship swimming gala and took first place in both the overall boys and girls. We are exceptionally proud of the efforts made throughout these events.
Memorial Day – Jamie, our newest Parent Governor, accompanied children of year 5 at the workers Memorial Day ceremony to remember those who lost their lives at work. A safety representative from British Steel spoke about the importance of safety in the workplace before our children took to the stage and read out a poem about the irony of putting production before safety.
In attendance were the local councillors, the deputy mayor & parents who joined in as the children led a hymn during the service.
The children then attended the memorial stone where civic dignitaries laid wreaths whilst bagpipes were played by one of our parents. The children were incredibly well behaved during the whole visit which the deputy referenced in his speech which closed the ceremony. A massive well done to the children of Year 5.
Parent and Carer Involvement
As well are Governors getting back into school we want to try and open the door again to parents, to make sure you feel included in your children’s’ education. Recently we have had the open classroom, the Big Talk parents meeting and we have the Year 4 multiplication check meeting this week. The Reading Cafes are also starting in Key Stage 1. There are more events in the pipeline as we know how important these are to everyone. Please get involved and get back into school.
For more information on the Governors, visit our Governors page on the school website:
