In the last few weeks, governors have taken the following actions to support school improvement:

• The Salary Review Committee received and agreed salary recommendations for the staff from Mr Catchpool and considered initial feedback from senior staff on how successfully the new pay policy has supported the school’s improvement drive.
• Governors have discussed the school’s strengths and opportunities for development with Morley’s school improvement partner who is part of Cambridgeshire’s Primary School Improvement Service. This forms part of the school’s regular self-assessment and helps to clarify that our development targets are focused on the most appropriate areas.
• Approved a revised “Sickness Absence Policy”.
• Met with the incoming head teacher, Nikki Brown, as part of her planned induction.
• Agreed the design brief for the outdoor space.
• Formally agreed the re-constitution of the Governing Body (GB). Under new government regulations, governors must now be primarily appointed because of the skills they bring and not because they are representatives from different stakeholder groups (e.g. parents, staff, community etc). GBs have been encouraged to become smaller. Appointing governors because they bring specific expertise and experience will enable the GB to better fulfil their roles of:
  • Ensuring the school’s clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
  • Holding the head teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and it’s pupils
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure the money is well spent.