Governing Body membership
Sara Cranfield decided to stand down from her position as chair this year and we would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for all her hard work in this role. Fortunately for us, she is continuing on the governing body as vice-chair and we have elected Ian Hankin as our new chairperson. One of our parent Governors, Chris Maylin has completed his term of office and has now left us and we’d also like to thank Chris for his valuable contribution to the Governing Body, especially to the Finance Committee.
Following a ballot of parents at the beginning of term we were delighted to welcome two new governors – Iain Farrington and Emma Faulkner. David Kershaw also joined us as a Local Education Authority representative. Each of them will serve a four year term. We thought it might be interesting to let you see the background of our newest members:
*Iain is a professional classical musician with a varied career including: performing next to Mr Bean at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics; writing several pieces for the Wallace and Gromit Prom and arranging songs in the 2011 Horrible Histories Prom.
*Emma is currently doing some voluntary work alongside the all-important role of being a mum. She has a background in paediatric physiotherapy and tells me that she is a lifelong Newcastle United supporter (some competition for Mr Mills) and a keen athlete.
*David is also a keen athlete and competes in the triathlon. For his day job, he holds a strategic position in purchasing and supply at a major UK organisation.
As you can see, they all bring new skills to the role and this will ensure that we can continue to operate at the highest level.
Members of the Governing Body work through our four sub-committees – Personnel, Premises, Finance and Curriculum to fulfil our responsibilities and we will report on these during the year.
Single term entry
After one full academic year with some minor in-year adjustments we are pleased to report that all is going well and both staff and children are now settled into the new routine.
Financial Services to Schools (FSS)
Changes in the level of Financial Services support given to the school from the local authority mean that we have now taken on an independent bookkeeper to look after our school budget. Lyn Poole, who had previously been working with us through FSS will also take over the management of some of the smaller funds, which should help out the office staff. We will be monitoring the situation closely.
Solar Panels
We have looked at a report from a company with a view to installing solar panels. Having carefully considered the cost-benefit analysis we came to the conclusion that it was not a viable option for the school at this time. However we are keeping an eye out for sustainable energy solutions that might suit the school.
School Data
This term we have looked closely at the data received from the last parent questionnaire. We have also reviewed the latest KS1 and KS2 results and will be scrutinising these even more closely next term as we compare our data with other similar schools to ensure targets are being met and our children are being supported appropriately.
Communication with parents
We are delighted that the school Twitter account is proving to be such a useful addition to the range of communications with parents and that so many have signed up to receive the updates. Please do though keep an eye on the school website, particularly as we move into the winter period, to ensure you are up to date about the impact of any snowy weather!
And finally… if you have any other matters that you wish to raise with the Governing Body, you can contact us via the school office, the Governors page on the school website or by email: governors@wransom.herts.sch.uk
With best wishes for a happy and peaceful Christmas Break.
Catherine McIntosh