Governors

Governors' Annual Report

Annual Statement of Key Issues Faced and Addressed by Governors

The Governing Board of Jarrow School works with the Head Teacher to promote and maintain high standards of educational achievement. Our role is to provide the strategic direction of the School and to assist the Senior Team in continuing to improve the standards and quality of our provision. The Governing Board have prioritised the following key issues during the year while recognising this has been a very unusual year due to COVID-19 requiring a level of flexibility in thinking and practices.

1. Safeguarding and Safety: This is our single most important duty. We have reviewed all our policies and procedures in this area including the completion of thorough risk assessments and adjustments to policies with regard to the coronavirus pandemic as this has been our key priority with regard to the health and safety of students and staff. This included reviewing how the lockdown situation was handled with respect to home working and supporting the most vulnerable students during this period. As we move forward out of lockdown we will continue to support and monitor new safety and safeguarding issues / trends that may arise from the unusual last two years of schooling for our students and staff.

Impact: The school has been a safe place for staff and for students to learn throughout the coronavirus period to date both within the lockdown periods and following reopening with extensive testing programs taking place for staff and students following the reopening in March. We had a significant number of key worker and vulnerable students in school during the lockdown periods including Post 11 Centre students and very good practices were in place to maintain hygiene and social distancing for these pupils. Following the wider opening of schools in March, attendance has been good but we will need to keep focus on this moving forward and it remains an area of high priority.

2. Improving Outcomes for Students: We have challenged the Senior Team to continue to improve outcomes at both Key Stages by further improving the quality of education and ensuring a well-rounded education for our pupils with an individual based approach striving to achieve the best education for all our students. We also reviewed and discussed the move to online learning during the lockdown periods and how this could best be achieved for our students. We have monitored the progress of students and we have also monitored staff development and training.

Impact: During the lockdown periods great strides were made in the quality of remote learning the school were able to offer and we hope to work with staff and the leadership team at the school to embed some of the good digital practices and systems learned during this time into the educational offer going forward. We have challenged curriculum leaders to further review the curriculum across the school ensuring it is challenging, fulfils the needs of all individual learners and gives students the necessary skills, understanding and opportunities to successfully progress to the next stage of their lives. A particular area of focus is embedding a higher degree of monitoring for all students throughout their schooling challenging the most able students and supporting students who may be showing signs of struggling in a particular area with interventions and individual support as required. Careers education is now more embedded across the school in every curriculum area. Key Stage 4 results this year are based on teacher assessed grades and we are confident that the processes and procedures in place have been thorough and consistent.

3. Further Improving Leadership and Management: With the number of pupils at the school significantly increasing over the last few years we have reviewed the roles and responsibilities of senior staff and pastoral staff discussing and making changes where appropriate.

Impact: There is increased accountability at all levels across the school which will lead to improved outcomes. There is a revised pastoral structure in place alongside revised procedures to ensure the variety of needs displayed by our students is now more fully met, further developments in this area are planned as we come back to a level of normality following the COVID-19 pandemic (which among other things slowed recruitment of some staff).

4. Responding to National Education Policy Reforms: Throughout the last academic year, there have been several changes to national guidance and policies in education, both short term changes dealing with the issues form COVID-19 and longer-term changes as the new curriculum is embedded in. Governors have ensured that the School meets all statutory requirements including the revised expectations relating to guidance throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Impact: Jarrow School meets its statutory requirements.

5. Governor Monitoring and Evaluation: Governors are linked to particular subject areas and to specific themes (e.g. Special Educational Needs, Maths, English etc.). This was reviewed in the autumn term and some visits took place however unfortunately this year, some of these visits were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is the aim that all governors will make at least one “link area” visit to the school during each school year.

Impact: Governors fully support the work of the School and are able to monitor and evaluate the school based on both primary and secondary evidence.

6. Overseeing the Financial Performance of the School: Governors have worked with the School to ensure continued achievement of the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS). Governors also monitored how the Pupil Premium funding was being used We utilise regular budget monitoring reports to enable us to challenge how spending aligned with the School budget thus ensuring solvency and probity ensuring financial resources were used effectively. As a result of this we have been able to proceed with building work to create some additional classroom space with further work planned for 2021. Partly due to our learning from the COVID-19 pandemic we have also prioritised funding to improve the digital readiness of the school both in terms of remote learning capabilities and by upgrading the digital infrastructure within the school, for example all classrooms now have the latest digital panel technology installed.

Impact: The budget is managed effectively and financial resources are used appropriately.

7. Holding the Senior Team to account: A critical part of the governors’ role is to support and challenge the Senior Team of the School. We did this through regular contact, visits, meetings and the work of our committees. There is a strong and robust relationship between Governors and the Senior Team.

Impact: Governors have a strong working knowledge of the School and alongside external quality assurance, have great confidence in the Senior Team. The School continues to be judged as ‘Good’ following a Section 8 inspection on 1 March 2017.

8. Reviewing the Composition of the Governing Board: In the last two years there have been a number of changes at the board level with the retirement of our Chair of Governors and three other governors, we reviewed the skills of our governors to ensure we have the relevant areas of expertise across our Governing Board and will repeat this exercise in 2021 using the NGA skills matrix, a priority is to ensure the new governors have the support and training they require.

Impact: A new chair was appointed in 2020 along with two further governors with relevant and complementary skills, one open governor position remains which we have delayed filling until after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Composition of the Governing Board

2 Parent Governors
1 Head Teacher
1 Staff Governor
1 Local Authority Governor
1 Co-opted Governor
8 Foundation Governors

Committees of the Governing Board

Curriculum, Assessment and Learning
Finance and Human Resources
School Community
Complaints and Appeals Panel

Chair of Governors

Mr M Adamson

Vice Chair of Governors

Mr IT Dalziel

Name	Category	Appointing Body	Terms of Office	Committees	Official Responsibility
Ian Dalziel	Co-opted	Governing Board	02/07/2019 – 01/07/2023	Curriculum, Assessment & Learning Finance & Human Resources School Community	Vice Chair Governing Board Chair of Finance & Human Resources Chair of Curriculum Assessment & Learning
Mark Adamson	Foundation	Trust Board	11/12/2019 – 10/12/2023	Curriculum, Assessment & Learning Finance & Human Resources School Community	Chair of Governing Board
Denise Ewart	Foundation	Trust Board	04/02/2020 – 03/02/2024	School Community
Margaret Henderson	Foundation	Trust Board	17/01/2018 – 16/01/2022	Finance & Human Resources School Community
Julie Hogg	Foundation	Trust Board	11/12/2019 – 10/12/2023	Finance & Human Resources School Community
Kevin Smallcombe	Foundation	Trust Board	04/11/2018 – 03/11/2022	School Community
Brian Stonehouse	Foundation	Trust Board	09/10/2018 – 08/10/2022	School Community
Miss Jill Gillies	Head Teacher	By virtue of position	01/01/2013 –	Curriculum, Assessment & Learning Finance & Human Resources School Community
Bridget McCulla	LEA	Local Authority	27/07/2020 – 26/07/2024	Finance & Human Resources School Community	Chair School Community Committee
Jason Ali	Parent	Parents	15/03/2018 – 14/03/2022	Curriculum, Assessment & Learning
Dawn Lyon	Parent	Parents	11/12/2019 – 10/12/2023
Janet Barclay	Staff	Staff	15/11/2019 – 14/11/2023	Curriculum, Assessment & Learning
Jane Dunford	Foundation	Trust Board	10/10/2020 – 13/10/2024	School Community

Attendance 2020/21

Register of Governor Interests

Name	Position	Nature of Interest	Date Interest Registered	Date Interest Ceased	Notes
Ian Dalziel	Co-opted	Siemens plc employee	24 September 2021
Mark Adamson	Foundation	None	24 September 2021
Denise Ewart	Foundation	None	27 August 2021
Margaret Henderson	Foundation	None	25 June 2021
Julie Hogg	Foundation	None	24 September 2021
Kevin Smallcombe	Foundation	None	02 July 2020
Brian Stonehouse	Foundation	None	13 August 2021
Miss Jill Gillies	Head Teacher	Head Teacher	25 June 2021
Bridget McCulla	LEA	None	13 August 2021		I Work for STC we hold the contract for the catering at the School and I am the Catering Officer for Jarrow School. Governor at Forest View Primary School
Jason Ali	Parent	None	10 September 2021
Dawn Lyon	Parent	None	04 October 2021
Jane Dunford	Foundation	None	27 August 2021