Welcome Back!

Welcome to our ‘Governor Newsletter’, which

aims to tell you who we are and what we do.

We will be reporting to you on the work we

are doing within the school and its impact, as

well as informing you of any events that we

are due to be involved with in the coming

term. We would like to offer a warm welcome

to all the children and their families who

started at Hythe Primary School this year,

and a warm welcome back to all the pupils and

staff.

The Role of Governors

The role of the Governing Body

is crucial for the effective

leadership and management of

the school. The Governing Body

complements the professional

leadership of our Head Teacher

and senior staff by bringing a

range of perspectives to bear

on issues facing the school. We

have three committees;

Resources, Curriculum and Pay

and attend Full Governing Body

meetings six times a year. On

the left is the list of your

current school governors. You'll

find photos of all the governors

on the noticeboard in reception.

Your Governors

Rebecca Clark

Graham Duell

Amanda Dunlop

Linda Field

John Gunn

Justine Harnett

Nicky Hopkins

(Chair)

Miss Houldsworth

Helen Mason

(Vice-Chair)

Mr Mitchell-Innes

(HT)

Geoff Newhouse

Mrs Pidgley

Alex Wade

Gill Younger

Michelle Chipper

(Clerk)

Governor Newsletter Issue November 2014

Our Vision

Inspiring every child with outstanding teaching and learning, enabling them to excel with the skills and knowledge for life.

Head Teacher Recruitment

As you know,

we will be

saying goodbye

to Mr Mitchell

-Innes in the

New Year. The

Governing

Body have

been working very hard to ensure we recruit

the right person for the school. A first round

of the recruitment process has already been

undertaken without an appointment being

made. The governors are advertising again,

and are looking towards interviews at the end

of January. We would like to reassure

everyone that we are committed to finding

the right person for our amazing school.

The new build is due to start

shortly.

Page 2 Governor Newsletter Issue November 2014

New Build

We are pleased to say that the new build has gone out to tender, and

work should start just before or after the Christmas holidays. It is

an exciting time and the space will work both as additional teaching

space and a room for community use. It will also enable us to provide

before and after school care for the children of the school. It will

be a fantastic resource and we are all looking forward to our new

classroom. Keep an eye out for more details soon and notification of

any alternative arrangements to take place during the building works.

Training and Development Corner

Chairs of Governors’ Leadership Development Programme.

Nicky Hopkins, our Chair of Governors, is close to

completing the ’Chairs of Governors’ Leadership

Development Programme’, a joint Department for

Education and National College of Teaching and

Leadership initiative supporting the central leadership

role of Chairs of Governors. This has involved college

sessions as well as in school activities, and enabled her to

meet Chairs and vice-chairs from across the county

facilitating the sharing of best practice. Mrs Hopkins

joins Rebecca Clark in completing this course.

Other training attended by some or all governors this

term:

Special Schools Conference

Performance Management Training

Headship Selection

Pay Changes & Reconstitution

Staff training day (SEN training).

School Improvement Plan 2014-2018

The governors have worked with the school to

develop the school’s improvement priorities for this

year, as well as a development plan for the next four

years. For the governors this year the priority is

the recruitment of a new Head Teacher, and the

induction process that will follow. As well as having

our own areas of development, we monitor each of

the targeted school improvement areas. Governors

visit the school and monitor data, to ensure we are

meeting our targets in each area.

Follow us on Twitter Express your views on

Since our last newsletter Rebecca Clark has

finished her term as Chair of Governors. We

would like to thank Mrs Clark for all her hard

work and achievements for the school in that

role. Mrs Clark combined being Chair with her

work as a National Leader of Governance

(NLG), and we thank her for her time and

effort. We also welcome Nicky Hopkins as

Chair (previously Vice-Chair) and Helen Mason

as Vice-Chair of the Governing Body.

We would also like to offer our

congratulations and thanks to Gill Younger who

was presented with a Governor Services award

after completing 4 years as a Parent Governor.

SEN

A new SEN code of practice came into being in

September. All schools must publish a report as

well as a SEN policy on their website, and they

must also ensure their information is on

Hampshire’s Local Offer. Our SEN governor took

part in the staff training day where there was SEN

training, and a chance to look at how the changes

impact on SEN provision.