OFSTED – Wow, what a way to finish the autumn term! Congratulations to everyone associated with the school on receiving the "Outstanding” grade from OFSTED. This is a fantastic achievement.
The whole school performed exceptionally well under very close and rigorous scrutiny – a real team effort. Thank you to all the staff who worked extremely long hours over those days and to the pupils who were a credit to the school throughout the inspection. We do hope you have taken the opportunity to read the full inspection report.
Below are just a few of the comments made by the inspection team:
– Teaching including that for children in the early years, is outstanding. Teachers have very high expectations of the academic standards pupils should achieve.
– The headteacher provides outstanding leadership. With the highly effective deputy headteacher, she has established a strong sense of teamwork amongst all the staff and has sustained the high quality of teaching seen in the last inspection.
– The behaviour of children in the early years and of pupils throughout the school is outstanding.
– Pupils have outstanding attitudes to learning and work very hard.
– Pupils are extremely proud of their school and want to take an active part in its work.
Also, thank you to those parents who completed the OFSTED survey, in a very tight timescale. The inspectors were very impressed with the number of responses. You can find all the results on the OFSTED website.
SATS RESULTS – We are really pleased with the academic progress and achievement of our pupils. The SATS results for last year’s Year 6 cohort were the best ever for the school. In addition an impressive 95% of pupils achieved a “Good” level of development in Early Years.
PROJECTS – The Governing Body has an Asset Management Plan to identify and prioritise projects. The two areas of most concern are the 40 year old boiler and 30 year old mobile classrooms.
The Local Authority (LA) has agreed to fund the replacement of the boiler and work has now started. The school is currently using a temporary boiler to ensure a constant supply of hot water and heating.
We are on the LA’s replacement mobile classroom scheme but are not a priority as there are other schools in the area with a greater need. The Governing Body has been actively engaging with anyone and everyone who may be able to influence this decision and as a result we managed to secure a visit in late November from our MP, Peter Lilley, who saw the school in action and viewed the mobiles with Mrs Driver and Mr Hankin, our Chair of Governors. Mr Lilley kindly issued a press release which made an edition of The Hitchin Comet, supporting our cause.
Looking to the future, the window wall replacement, IT suite roof replacement and Wymondley Road zebra crossing are projects we will still be focusing on. County has informed us that the zebra crossing is feasible and they are trying to secure funding for it but we will continue to put pressure on them to speed things up!
SKILLS AUDIT – All the Governors recently completed a skills audit to ascertain areas for development and help identify the skills needed when looking to appoint new governors. This will aid the Governing Body to ensure we have sufficient expertise to carry out all core duties effectively.
We are therefore pleased to announce the appointment in November of Tracy Ryan as a Community Governor. Tracy may be known to many of you. She is a former pupil of the school and parent of three sons who previously attended William Ransom. Tracy’s background is in retail banking and the Finance Committee will benefit from her expertise in this sector. Tracy is also an active member of the community, holding the position of Treasurer for a number of local voluntary groups including FC Comets football club and Hitchin Youth Trust.
WINTER WONDERLAND – Thank you to the SPA for another successful Winter Wonderland, raising a magnificent total in excess of £4,000, for the school’s ongoing IT upgrade programme. This could not be funded solely out of the School’s budget and we are greatly appreciative of the SPA Committee and all of you who support their fundraising events.
OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD – Please be mindful of our neighbours, when dropping off and collecting from school, by not blocking the pathways or parking across the driveways. Thank you.
We hope this newsletter has been of interest to you. Please email us with any questions or comments at governors@wransom.herts.sch.uk.