Our School Governors
The Governing Body is a combination of appointed and elected governors. Foundation Governors are appointed by the church and by the Local Authority, and elected governors include parents, staff and community members.
The roles and responsibilities of the Governing Body include:
- helping establish, with the Headteacher, the aims and policies of the school
- control of the school’s budget
- making sure the National Curriculum and Religious Education are delivered
- selecting the Headteacher
- appointing, promoting, supporting and disciplining of staff
- providing advice and acting as a link between the local community and school
Our current Governing Body is made up as follows:
Janice Josiah (Chair) - LA Governor
Adopted Governor for Class GE
Robert Turner (Vice Chair) - Parent Governor
Adopted Governor for all Classes
Helen Craig & Sue Wilson - Headteachers ex-officio
The Revd. Stephen Robertson - Foundation Governor
ex-officio
Adopted Governor for Class JA
Maggie May - Staff Governor
Adopted Governor for all classes
Pauline Spencer - Staff Governor
Adopted Governor for all classes
Susan Walker - Community Governor
Adopted Governor for Class CW
Simon Cox - Community Governor
Adopted Governor for Class LB
John Vaufrouard - LA Governor
Adopted Governor for Class ES
Alan Cotgrove - Parent Governor
Adopted Governor for Class MM
Jonathan Steele - Parent Governor
Adopted Governor for Class VB
Lesley Stott - Parent Governor
Adopted Governor for Class KN
Gary Panaghiston - Parent Governor
Adopted Governor for Class RP
Linda Wright - Foundation Governor
Adopted Governor for all classes
Please visit this page each term for news from the Governing Body.
Governing Body Report - Autumn Term 2011 - 2012
As we started a new academic year, the Governing Body were very pleased to welcome Mrs Newhouse to the staff team. Mrs Newhouse takes over a mixed reception / year 1 class. Following a change in Government policy, from September 2011, all children were able to start school in the September of the academic year in which they would be five. Therefore, for the first time at Downham, we welcomed all 36 of our reception children at the beginning of term!
Mrs Applewhite, Mrs Newhouse and their TA’s have worked very hard to create a happy, safe and stimulating environment for these children and it is lovely to see how well they have settled into school life.
At our first Governing Body meeting of the year, Janice Josiah was re-elected as Chair and Robert Turner elected as Vice-Chair. During the term we have said goodbye to Graham Cook after more than ten years as a school governor. In his time with us, Graham has worked very hard for the school in a variety of roles but is thanked particularly for his work leading the finance committee and as vice-chair. His contribution was celebrated at an assembly in November, where the school presented him with a gift. Following elections early in the term, we are pleased to welcome Mrs Lesley Stott as parent governor. In addition, Mrs Linda Wright has been appointed a foundation governor, representing the interests of the Diocese and Mrs May has taken over the staff governor role vacated by Mrs Thompson. For the first time in many months we have full complement of governors and look forward to working together.
The 2011 SATs results were broadly in line with our targets and reflected a very challenging year group with an unusually high proportion of children with special needs. Our results for writing were disappointing across the school, particularly for boys and so the
School Development Plan for this year is strongly focussed on improving writing. Strategies to develop writing skills have been rolled out by the Headteachers and the Governing Body is actively involved in monitoring the impact of these. The “Big Writing” initiative began after half-term and children have been enthusiastic about it. The school encourages many activities to promote writing outside of the usual curriculum. In the past couple of weeks we have seen many Topic linked and Christmas performances where children have written special scripts and prayers.
Raising standards of reading is another priority and there is a strong correlation between good readers and good writers. You may be aware that next year the Government is to introduce a reading test for 6 year olds (end of Year 1). This is to assess their ability to grasp the basics of reading based on the “phonics” system. The school already uses this system to teach children from reception onwards.
Last year saw an emphasis on improving Mathematics across the school and the success of the strategies employed will be built on this year.
The Teaching and Learning Committee have a schedule of monitoring visits that will track the priorities of the School Development Plan. Visits have been carried out this term to monitor writing, maths and science.
The Finance, Personnel and Premises Committee have met twice this term. There have been changes to the procedures for auditing finances in schools and the school was subject to an external audit in October. The school received a very positive report with only minor issues raised which have been addressed and approved by the committee. A health and safety inspection was carried out in October.
Other work this term has included:
Approving the 2013 SATs targets.
Approving attendance targets for 2012/2013
Representing the school at meetings of the Billericay Community Trust.
Child Protection Monitoring visit
Meeting with the School Improvement Partner and receiving an analysis of results for progress and attainment and key priorities.
As always, school is very busy at Christmas time and there is a real buzz about the place. The Governing Body thanks the Headteachers, Staff and PTA for all the hard work they put in to give both the children and their parents some wonderful experiences and memories at this special time.
On behalf of the Governing Body, have a happy Christmas and a healthy and successful new year.
Janice Josiah
Chair of Governors
Governing Body Report – Spring term 2011
In January, following a ballot for the parent governor vacancy, Mr Gary Panaghiston was duly appointed to this role and welcomed to the governing body. We also welcomed 17 new children to our Foundation class. I took the opportunity to visit classes JA and ST at the end of January to see how the new children were settling in and also to chat with those children who had moved over to class ST. It is fantastic to see how quickly these children adapt to their new environment; making friends and enjoying school life.
The Teaching and Learning Curriculum committee have met twice this term and are focussing on monitoring the standards of attainment and progress across the curriculum, particularly Maths. Robert Turner, our maths governor , has been specifically looking at the work that is going on with year 6 children.
In addition, we have been monitoring children’s writing and the Foundation stage provision. As you will know, the school has made efforts to provide parents with information about the way English and Maths are taught and how you can help your child at home. Teachers have conducted parent workshops which governors have also attended. It is a shame that so few parents attended these sessions.
Governors have also been into school monitoring “excellence and enjoyment”. It was a pleasure to take part in the “Multicultural Week” activities and “VIP” days. The feedback from parents, grandparents and other visitors who came into school for these events was very positive and complimentary. It was clear to all who came how much the children enjoyed these events and took great pride in showing their “VIP’s” their school and work.
This sense of engagement and enjoyment has also been visible through the new “topic” based approach to curriculum delivery. Parents and governors have had the opportunity to come into school and view special work and attend performances linked to each class’s half-termly “outcome”.
The Finance committee has met twice this term. The spring term is largely concerned with the school budget. Sadly, public spending cuts impact on us and many of the education services offered by the Local Authority. We have been reviewing all our costs to ensure best value and have now set our budget for the 2011/12 academic year. As always, the Heads and the Finance committee have the interests of the children and quality of their provision at the heart of budgeting decisions.
Governors have attended training courses on self evaluation, health and safety, monitoring and preparation for Ofsted. New governors have attended induction training. We are also in the process of conducting a governor skills audit so that we can plan where individual governors’ skills can be used to best effect.
Many of the school policies have been reviewed this term and we would remind parents that they are welcome to view any of the school policies on request.
You will have received a copy of a letter from Ofsted advising us that, from their interim assessment, we are still considered a “good” school. As a result we do not expect a full Ofsted inspection until after summer 2012. The governing body and the Heads are committed to sustained improvement and it still remains our long term target to move the school towards an “outstanding” grade.
As the term reaches its end, the school has enjoyed Easter celebrations. The Easter service at Emmanuel Church was a wonderful showcase for the whole school and a reminder of our Church distinctiveness.
On behalf of the Governing Body, have a happy Easter.
Janice Josiah
Chair of Governors
Governing Body Report - Autumn Term 2010 - 2011
As we started a new academic year, the Governing Body were very pleased to welcome Miss Bannister to the staff team. Miss Bannister was trained through the Billericay SCITT with which Downham is actively involved as a training school partner. We also welcomed 27 new children to the Reception Class.
At our first Governing Body meeting of the year, Janice Josiah was re-elected as Chair and Graham Cook re-elected as Vice-Chair.
The 2010 SATs results met our target for English with 83% of Children achieving level 4 and above and exceeded our target for Maths with 85% of children achieving level 4+.
The School Development Plan for this year is strongly focussed on developing the delivery of the Curriculum, making it broad, rich and varied in content , relevant and fun. We want to see children engaged, enthused and enjoying their work and to this end the GB supported the introduction of a “Topic” based approach to learning.
Another key area of the Plan is to raise the levels of achievement and progress in Mathematics. Along with rigorous assessment, extra resources are being directed towards this area of curriculum. Governors will be focussing our monitoring this year on Teaching and Learning and have set up a new Committee to track this.
The Finance Committee approved the funding of work to replace doors and windows in Classes ES, JB and CW to improve the working environment in these classes.
Other work this term has included:
Approving the 2012 SATs targets.
Attendance at training courses in Staff Well Being and the curriculum review.
Representing the school at meetings of the Billericay Community Trust.
There have been personnel changes within our Governing Body this term. Roy Whitehead, one of our Local Authority governors has stepped down after many years of service. His commitment to the school has been greatly appreciated, not least in connection with the new school extension, where his contacts with the Borough Council proved invaluable to us. We were due to make a presentation to him during one of the celebration assemblies, but unfortunately the snow intervened! This will now happen in the new year.
We welcomed John Vaufrouard as our new Local Authority governor.
Due to ill health and work commitments Ann Dorking, our foundation governor and Sarah Fowler, a parent governor, also stood down. We have been inviting nominations for a new parent governor and liaising with Stephen Robertson and the Diocese for a new foundation governor. Hopefully both these posts will be filled early next term.
We hope you enjoyed the various Christmas events that the children, staff and PTA work so hard to make happen. This is a very special time in school and the enjoyment of the children (and adults!) is a pleasure to see.
On behalf of the Governing Body, have a happy Christmas and a healthy and successful new year.
Janice Josiah
Chair of Governors
Governing Body Activity - Summer Term 2009 - 2010
The Governing Body have had two meetings this term. In May, we received a presentation from Miss Williams, the Gifted and Talented co-ordinator , to hear about the provision within the school for this group of children. The GB is keen to support the school in ensuring that all children with specific abilities whether academic, sporting or creative are given opportunities to engage in activities that will further develop those talents.
At our June meeting we invited the School Council to join us and received a presentation from them about the various events they have organised for charity. This was a good opportunity for us to find out more about the School Council and how it works. It is important that children have a “voice” and the School Council has an important role to play in this. When Governors carry out monitoring visits, talking to children is a priority and brings to light many important issues that we can then progress with the staff.
The Governing Body has a duty to promote the welfare of children in school and ensure they are safe. This term Graham Cook, our designated safeguarding governor, and I conducted an audit of safeguarding procedures in school to identify strengths and weaknesses and highlight areas for action where appropriate.
I have recently been working with the Headteachers to analyse the responses from the Parent survey which went out last month. Parental views are used to inform the planning of school priorities for the future. It was pleasing to see that the majority of parents are happy with the way the school operates. With regard to improvements, several common themes emerged for example, provision of sport , better communication of pupils progress and a wider range of school clubs. Some of your issues, particularly that of assessing pupil progress, had already been identified and will form part of the ongoing School Development Plan. Monitoring pupil progress will form a major part of Governing Body activity next year.
Other work this term has included ;
· attendance at the Governing Body meetings of the Billericay Trust and the Billericay SCITT. SCITT is the Graduate teacher training organisation based in Billericay Schools. Downham mentors two students each year as they carry out teaching practice. The organisation has recently been awarded its second consecutive “outstanding” grade in Ofsted inspection. We are extremely pleased to be associated with this success and have been fortunate to recruit a number of SCITT students over the years.
· conducting the annual pay and performance review for the Headteachers and setting their performance objectives for the coming year.
· supporting the school at the School Fete and at Sports Day. The new venue and format for Sports Day reflects the stronger focus on competitive sport that the Headteachers aim to develop.
As we reach the end of term, we say goodbye to our Year 6 pupils. On behalf of the Governing Body I would like to wish them every success at their senior schools and hope they will retain many happy memories of their time at Downham.
Janice Josiah
Chair of Governors
Spring Term 2009 - 2010