Annual Governance Statement

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the three core strategic functions of Barlby Bridge CP School are:

1. Ensuring Clarity of Vision, Ethos and Strategic Direction
2. Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and it’s pupils
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure it’s money is well spent.

The governing body of Barlby Bridge C. P. School shall be made up of 11 governors of
whom 2 shall be parent governors, 6 co-opted, 1 local authority governor, 1 staff
governor and the head teacher.

To effectively contribute to the governance and success of the school the governing body employs a range of attributes in finance, education, business and management helping to provide a strategic view for improvement to ensure accountability and act as a critical friend so that good quality education is provided by Barlby Bridge C. P  School.

The governing body has a programme of meetings throughout  the school year and a committee structure that focuses on specific areas of governance including Standards and Pupils, Performance Management and Personnel, Finance and Buildings.

Ben Harris, Helen Dawson and the Rev. Philip MacDonald were elected to the governing body during the course of the year which was joined by our new School Business Manager, Amy Scholes.

The governing body have a clear overview of the schools’ work on raising outcomes for all pupils with a focus on the following :

• To support the school, ensuring pupils can recover as much as possible  the learning lost from the effects of the global pandemic, with a continued focus on developing an enriched curriculum which includes a rigorous and sequential approach to reading and maths,

•    To oversee the most appropriate use of resources, “recovery funding”, the position of disadvantaged pupils, and to ensure that the allocation of Pupil Premium funding has most impact,

•  To promote staff and pupil well being, considering how the governing body can best support adult work-life balance and listen to children’s voices, helping to set the tone and culture of Barlby Bridge School.

In September 2021 all children were welcomed back to school in a safe way, operating as we were pre-pandemic with some precautionary measures and guidance, including mask wearing in school for visitors  The Governors supported staff ensuring that safeguarding remained a top priority as the school tried to get back to normal.

The Governing Body were able to meet face to face in school and receive the School Development Plan  for 2021/22 which included a number of priorities including a recovery curriculum with a tutoring programme, a focus on early reading and a development of curriculum leadership .Governors agreed a calendar for their monitoring programme with a focus on “catch up” and booster sessions, and budget spending to ensure that the school got value for money.

The Governing Body set their objectives linked to achievement and attainment, finance, health and well being, safeguarding and keeping children safe in education.  Members of the Governing Body were now able to support the school by making regular monitoring visits to ensure oversight and assistance was provided.  However, the school was struck by a Covid outbreak in January 2022 which proved to be a challenge for all but staff and pupils were resilient and resumed normal school life after a few weeks with more “catch up” as a result of lost time.

During the first term the Governing Body received an update on the curriculum which included a report about the CPOMS safeguarding software and the Little Wandle phonics initiative, both well received. I am pleased to report that the school had a very good response from the School Improvement Advisor later in the year and some very pleasing SATS results in the summer term.

The governing body continued to review policies, complete required courses on line and ensure that they had good financial oversight so that the school gets good value  for money.

Congratulations goes out to Mr. Gavin Dyer who was successful in gaining a Interim Headteacher Secondment for twelve months and we say farewell to Mrs Cockerham, Mrs McManaman and Mrs Hosford.

Looking forward to the next academic year the governing body hopes to receive a Covid free environment with little or no disruption to regular school life.

Curriculum planning remains a critical aspect of the whole school development plan monitored by the governing body. Let us hope that as we recover from any lingering  effects of the pandemic we can continue to learn, grow and achieve together next year !

Stephen Walker, B. Phil., B. A. , PGCE     Chair of Governors