Annual Governance Statement

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

Governance Arrangements

The Governing Board of Melbourn Primary School is made up of:

• 2 elected parent governors
• the Head Teacher
• 1 elected staff governor
• 1 governor appointed by the Local Authority
• 7 Co-opted governors.

Co-opted governors are appointed by the Governing Board and are people who, in the opinion of the Governing Board, have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

The full Governing Board meets at least twice each term and we have two committees to consider Standards and Resources in more detail.

In addition, the governors arrange targeted term-time visits that look at specific areas of activity that are linked to the school’s vision or development plan. Finally, governors will meet in smaller working groups to consider specific problems or to meet statutory need. On several occasions this year, governors from our school have been asked to assist other schools for various meetings, panels or to support best practice.

Our chair of governors sits on the County’s Governor Advisory Panel and we are well placed to help shape the school governance landscape locally and influence best practice.

Governors are volunteers and receive no payment for what we do although we can claim expenses. No governor at Melbourn Primary School has claimed expenses in the last three years.

Most of the work of a Governing Board is not confidential and parents can attend meetings as observers. If you wish to do this, please contact the Chair of Governors. 

Attendance Record of Governors

Governors have excellent attendance at meetings and we have never had to cancel a meeting.  Full attendance records can be found using the link below.

Melbourn Primary School Annual Governance Report

2019-2020

The 2019-20 academic year was a tale of two halves.  During the first half, the Governing Board and the Senior Leadership Team focused on how the school was delivering against our detailed strategic plan.  The school made good progress, including:

• ensuring there were clear curriculum journeys in each subject
• augmenting the approach to guided reading, which has proved incredibly successful
• embedding a comprehensive approach to managing behaviour throughout the school

The Governing Board took a particular interest in inclusivity, the potential barriers to learning for some children and how the school has sought to remove them, and the importance of considering all groups of children to gain a 'real feel' for each child's needs.  The Governing Board concluded that the school does a good job in providing an education to everyone it possibly can in the locality of the school, while recognising that some pupils need specialist assistance beyond the expertise of mainstream practitioners.  It agreed a form of nurture-style provision to assist those children most in need of additional support.

The second half of the 2019-20 school year was dominated by the response to COVID.  Our Senior Leadership Team worked tirelessly with the rest of the school's staff to interpret advice from multiple sources.  While continuing to conduct the many activities essential to the day-to-day running of the school, they also:

• developed approaches to home schooling and safeguarding that could most effectively provide for all of our children
• provided food for children receiving Free School Meals
• trained staff in accordance with advised health and safety procedures, and

The Governing Board are keenly interested in the well-being of our children and staff, so helped by reviewing detailed risk assessments and recovery plans produced by the Senior Leadership Team to ensure appropriateness and consistency with our strategic plan.

Inevitably not all children could immediately return to school, though Melbourn ensured more Foundation and Year 1 pupils were able to do so through the summer term than many other schools in Cambridgeshire.  Our most vulnerable children were treated with priority, and detailed home learning packs were developed for those not able to attend.  The Governing Board supported efforts to celebrate the achievements of our Year 6 pupils, ensuring they benefited from a transition program in preparation for secondary school.   Feedback from the parent body has showed a great deal of support for the actions taken.

Over the summer holidays, the Senior Leadership Team developed contingency plans for the re-opening of school in the autumn.  The evidence indicates that this preparation allowed a very high proportion of children to attend school, with an absence rate much lower than the national average.  This work included the introduction of end-of-day care for students, which the Governing Board sees as an important addition to the school's provision.  The school has worked in partnership with MOOS to deliver an effective system that delivers safe environments for all our pupils needing this service.

Given the challenging circumstances, no Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2 assessments were taken by our children this academic year.  The school has, however, prioritised establishing the extent of any lost learning during the first half-term of the new academic year and the Governing Board has reviewed and welcomed alternative evidence that indicates pupils in these cohorts are showing good progress and would likely have exhibited improved performance compared to previous years if they had sat their assessments as planned.

The school has set a balanced Budget for 2020/21, and adopted a 3-year financial plan, through which the Governing Board has agreed to:

• prioritise a full-time 'nurture' style provision
• purchase new laptops
• adjust the curriculum budget to accommodate the school's strategic priorities for the next academic year - Music, Geography and Design & Technology
• add to the library
• make further improvements to the Foundation Stage outside area.