Governors

Welcome to our Governors’ section.

Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.
We have also provided a Register of Governor Interests and an Annual Statement of Issues for your information.

Weyford Infants School

Governors’ Details 2016/17 and 2015/16

Weyford Infants School -Register of Governors’ Interests

Governors impact statement 2015-16

In the academic year 2015-16, the governors of Weyford Infant School and Nursery have taken the opportunity to consider the best way forward for the school.  Following the retirement of the substantive headteacher in December 2015, the governors worked with the local authority to secure the services of a very experienced interim headteacher from January 2016.  At this time, they also worked with the local authority and the governors from Weyford Junior School to explore the best way forward to ensure the best possible outcomes for all the children served by the Weyford Schools.  This had led the governors to ask the local authority to undertake a consultation to close the infant school and extend the age range of the junior school to become a through primary with effect from September 2017.  This consultation process was well underway by the end of the academic year.  In the meantime, the governors have worked to secure stability for the school through the extension of the interim arrangement with the interim headteacher becoming the interim executive headteacher over both schools for the academic year 2016-2017.  The governors continue to monitor the impact that last part of the transitional period has on the school in terms of its vision, aims and outcomes for children.

During this period of change the governors have worked hard to build capacity within the existing staff team, specifically in terms of leadership.  They have asked the interim headteacher to work to develop the middle and senior leaders across the school in order that they are secure in being able to measure and articulate the impact of their leadership.  This ensures improved provision and outcomes for children.

During the academic year, the school faced some significant budgetary constraints, and the governors worked with the interim headteacher to retain a good level of high quality staff, continue to raise standards and to set a balanced budget.  During this process, there were also opportunities to promote some of the existing staff and thereby achieve an even stronger staff team.

A key issue this year has been to oversee the implementation of the new assessment system following the abolition of “levels”. This has been difficult for all schools and the governors agreed with the interim headteacher to follow the Hampshire Assessment model.  This has been phased in over the academic year and is now fully in place, allowing staff and governors to confidently evaluate the progress and attainment of pupils, and different groups of pupils.

The governors have been clearly focussed on outcomes for children over the academic year.  They were delighted that improvements to the Early Years provision led to improved outcomes for children and that the school was achieving in line with the national average in this area.  The school had focussed heavily on phonics provision during the year and this led to an increased number of children achieving at the expected level.  Although the governors were disappointed that this is not yet at the national average, they were heartened that the cumulative data for year 1 and year 2 phonics tests showed that, by the end of year 2, the school is operating in line with the national average in this area.

This was the first year that year 2 children were assessed against the new curriculum.  The cohort had been low achieving in foundation stage and the governors were delighted to see that most children who had been in the school from the end of reception made expected or better progress from their starting points.  The governors are aware that there is still a need to improve provision for our disadvantaged children and the aim of becoming a through primary school is to ensure that all our children have an enjoyable learning experience throughout their primary years and achieve the best possible outcomes.

With regard to the nursery provision, the governors are delighted to continue to cater for children from two years old and to secure for them the best possible start to their educational journey.

Overall it has been a very busy year for the governors of Weyford Infant School and there have been some changes to the governing body over this period of time.  However, collectively the governors have worked with the staff and the local authority to ensure that the school continues to move forward and to meet its vision of “Working Together for Excellence.”