Dear parents,

A full meeting of the Governing Body took place recently, and this is a summary of the items that were discussed. Please remember that all governors’ minutes are held in the school office for you to view, and that parents can attend governors’ meetings as observers by contacting Mrs Prendergast.

Governors

Harry James was re-elected as Chair of Governors and Gerry Stride was re-elected as Vice Chair. The full list of governors (with their responsibilities), Foundation (i.e. church), parent and staff, is reproduced below. Please feel free to talk to any of them.

Name              Type of gov.             Area of responsibility

Harry James          Foundation                       Inclusion, sport/Olympics,

                                                                Art & DT, target setting

Geraldine Stride    Foundation                       Literacy, Race & Equality,

                                                                   Religious Education

Morag Lucas          Foundation                       Numeracy

Robert Hawker      Parent                             IT, Training, Healthy Schools,

                                                                   Modern Foreign Languages

Claude ScottFoundation                       Science

Trevor Bell            Staff                              Health & Safety

Marie Ashton         Foundation/parent           Foundation Stage

Tony Tresigne        Parent                             IT, Sport

Tina Bland             Foundation                       Music

Michele Marcus      Foundation                       Humanities

Penny Cox              Head Teacher                  Educational visits

Marc Cranfield-

Adams                   Local Authority               Link Governor

Rev. Trevor

Patterson               Ex Officio

Lee Jerwood          Staff

Lucy Ashby            Associate member

Success

The governing body congratulated all concerned with regard to successes for the school over the past year.

Holy Trinity achieved 100% (level 4 & above) in the SATs tests for both English and Maths. This is an excellent result and it is the first time in our history that we achieved 100% in both English and Maths. Not only were these brilliant scores, but we also had 100% of our children who made progress of two national curriculum levels from the end of Key Stage 1 (year 2) to the end of Key stage 2 (year 6). This is probably even harder to achieve. To put this into context, Richmond primary schools have topped the league tables in England virtually every year since SATs results have been published and in Richmond, this year, we were one of only five schools to achieve the 100% progress score.

However, we are determined not to rest on our laurels, and our targets for the next few years are to maintain our 100% scores while increasing our number of very high achievers. This will be checked rigorously throughout the year to ensure we remain on target.

Our wonderful new school has also been nominated for a number of awards. We reached the final of `project of the year’ in the prestigious Construction Excellence awards, which was won by the Olympic Delivery Authority. We have also been nominated for the Civic Trust award, for sustainability, and for the Royal Institute of British Architects project of the year award. And an award we have won is the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools award, which is for our proactive approach to pupil participation.

Surveys

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the school surveys, they really are extremely valuable to us in letting us know how you feel overall and areas where you think we could do better. The response this year was very high and detailed analysis is still being carried out but, overwhelmingly you and your children are very happy at Holy Trinity.

Local Authority inspection

We have recently undergone an intense inspection by the Local Authority. This is carried out by Local Authority inspectors aided by consultants, all of whom are very experienced inspectors. It is, in fact, like a mini Ofsted inspection (although they don’t give Ofsted gradings). We are still awaiting the full report but we have received initial feedback which says that the school is in an extremely strong position. We will incorporate any recommendations into our plans.

Other areas of discussion:

• The governing body formally adopted a Code of Practice. This is something that all governors sign up to so that we ensure the highest levels of confidentiality (where necessary), transparency, commitment to the school, cabinet responsibility and maintenance of relationships.
• It was noted that there was some considerable refurbishment work carried out to further enhance the school. This included;
  • a new gate and intercom (both to the office and the Kingfisher club) at the Upper Richmond Road entrance
  • that entrance was resurfaced and additional lighting has been installed
  • the Kingfisher club itself has been totally refurbished inside, the two rooms are now linked allowing extra space, there is a new play area outside with an all weather grass surface, the disabled and fire exits have been upgraded and they have a new oven and dishwasher
  • the office block has been rendered and painted so that it fits in with the hall and other buildings
  • extra CCTV has been installed
  • new adventure apparatus has been installed in the junior play area
  • a full, independent, fire inspection of all the new and refurbished buildings has been carried out and recommendations will be implemented
  • the school hall has undergone a deep clean to help with any possible allergies
  • solar panels have been installed on the hall roof which should help to keep down our energy bills.
  • work to be completed before next half term includes; the repair of drainage in the nursery and there will also be a fire drill with full evacuation of the school.
• It is worth noting that all these improvements were planned and budgeted for. Over the past few years, because of some low pupil numbers, we have been very prudent in the planning of our budget and have always managed to submit a balanced and positive budget. As pupil numbers have risen we have been able to plan extra resources for the children and the school, however we continue to manage the budget very carefully so that we will continue to submit a positive budget.
• It was noted that the attendance record for the year (September 2010 – July 2011) was 94.92%. We will continue to monitor this figure and aim to get it over 95%.
• It was noted that on 6^thSeptember the school was visited by Lord True, Leader of the Council, Councillor Percival, strategic cabinet member for education, youth and children’s services and Nick Whitfield, director of education and children’s services. They spent some time at the school and were very impressed by the behaviour, creativity and commitment of the children and staff as well as the new buildings.
• Governors have attended a number of training courses over the year to ensure that they have the knowledge and expertise to carry out their duties.

If you would like to discuss any of the matters raised here you can make an appointment to talk to me or you can contact me on 0208 876 9531 or hcjames@tiscali.co.uk

Harry James

Chair of Governors