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GOVERNING BODY

ANNUAL NEWSLETTER

School Year 2008 - 9

This newsletter summarises the main developments and the work of the Governing Body in the school over the last academic year. We will be available to discuss our activities and to hear your thoughts at our Annual Meeting for Parents which is to be held on Thursday 2^nd July at 7.00 p.m. we hope as many parents as possible are able to be there.

Governors have overall responsibility for the running of the school, working in partnership with the school’s staff and Bury Children’s Services. However the day to day running is carried out by Mrs Yarnall and her Senior Leadership Team allowing the Governing Body to take a more long term, strategic role.

In order to function effectively we are organised into 3 main committees focusing on the Curriculum (including targets, progress and attainment), Resources (the finance, staffing and buildings) and Community Liaison (our links with the local community and parents). We also have other committees for dealing with escalations in areas such as admissions, discipline & complaints. A list of our current governors appears at the end of this newsletter.

SUMMARY

Overall the school has made progress, both in the broad curriculum areas and in our physical appearance, building on previous years’ work and objectives.

Our pupils continue to do well against a backdrop of changing targets and initiatives with activities such as music, sport, drama and personal and social development all featuring strongly. We strive to provide a wide ranging experience at school in an environment which is both functional and practical and considerable investment has taken place over the last year across the school site. We have continued to investigate opportunities for closer engagement with parents and the local community through school open days, our website and governor’s attendance at parent’s evenings.

Finance

We met our budget for 2008/9 and were able to set aside funds for further purchases towards the end of this term. New regulations designed to ensure we spend our budget on ‘today’s children’ have caused us to think very carefully about the amount we set aside for future projects and we would welcome suggestions for future purchasing.

Buildings

No doubt you will have noticed our new fencing, extended playground areas and larger staff car park, along with some repairs to the gutters and fascias around school. These are practical improvements which we believe enhance our school and provide a safer environment for the children and staff. The site of the former Adult Education Building on Thorndyke Walk, which is to the rear of the school and belongs to the Jewish Grammar school, has now been fenced and cleared of debris, allowing us to make use of it in the coming months and years.

Staffing

The start of the year saw a full complement of staff returning to Park View – there were some changes, with Mrs Hamilton moving to Year 3, Mr Brierley to Year 6 and Mr Scott joining the staff to teach Year 4.

As usual we have had a number of students working with us from Bury College, based in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and also a number of students undertaking work experience from our local high schools. We have also supported two students on teaching practice from the University of Cumbria.

At the end of this year we will be losing Mrs Plummer as she takes her career in a different direction, but we have appointed a specialist music teacher to replace her (Mrs Katie Walsh). Following the successful introduction to French provided by a member of Parrenthorn High School’s staff this year, we have also appointed a specialist languages teacher to teach French from September (Mrs Kathryn Gaskell).

Curriculum

Every term we use the SEAL materials (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning). Each class follows the themes and we start the work by holding assemblies to introduce the theme to the children and then hold a whole school assembly at the end of each half term when the children can bring pieces of work to share with everyone else. This work has supported our ongoing commitment to improving behaviour in school.

6B took part in the Wider Opportunities Programme this year, having a weekly lesson learning to play a musical instrument. Our music provision has improved year on year and the Christmas performance of Oliver proved to be a stunning success! Watching the children’s obvious enjoyment at taking part was a joy. We were so proud of all our children who took part and also the team work between staff and parents who helped ‘behind the scenes’ was lovely to see.

Classes in Key Stage 2 had weekly French lessons from a member of Parrenthorn High School’s Modern Foreign Language team. This was highly successful and the children thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to learning a foreign language.

Year 4 took part in their intensive swimming programme which meant they went swimming every day for 4 weeks in the autumn term. As always we arranged for a number of visitors to school to support the curriculum – Bury FC did their training week with all classes, Manchester City FC worked with Years 1 and 2, and the road safety staff worked with years 2, 3, 4 and 5. David Woo has taught karate and fitness activities to all classes every Thursday afternoon and a number of sports coaches have worked with classes during the year. All classes have been on trips and visits out of school which have supported work done across the curriculum

Staff have also offered a number of out of school hours activities for the children to take part in – gardening club, computer club, craft club, football, netball, music group and choir and our school magazine club.

We held 2 theme weeks during the year – The Healthy Living Week held in the autumn term was a huge success – the children had the opportunity to learn about the importance of hand washing, eating healthy food and snacks, bread making, sandwich designing (and eating!).  Freddy Fit and skipping workshops were also part of the week’s activities. Our Arts and Performing Arts week was also very successful – the children had the opportunity to paint water colours under the guidance of artist Hugh Templeton, take part in cheer leading sessions, bake pizzas and cakes, paint, draw, sew and make things. It was a wonderful week following our assessment test period and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Community Liaison

Over the year we have attempted to strengthen our links into the local community, helped in part by parents making themselves available to show children their community life, especially linked to the different cultures and religions represented locally. Our website has continued to provide a link to some of our school activity and we are working to further improve its uses. We do struggle at times with traffic congestion causing our neighbours to complain but we continue to work with the Highways Agency and the Traffic Wardens to keep order. Next year we will be further strengthening our Community Governor roles and parental involvement.

FEEDBACK

As the Governing Body, we value the contribution that parents can make to their children’s education and their support for the values and ethos of the school. We particularly welcome the opportunity to obtain feedback from parents, an opportunity which the Annual Meeting provides. This year’s meeting is being held on Thursday 2^nd July at 7.00 p.m. and all parents are welcome to attend. It is held in the hall and we would encourage as many people as possible to feel able to contribute. Of course, feedback at other times is also encouraged via parental questionnaires, forums and the website or via the school office.

Park View Governing Body – Summer 2009

The Chair and Vice Chair are elected annually by members of the Governing Body.

In the autumn term we will be advertising Parent Governor vacancies – should you wish to discuss what the role involves and the commitment required to be a governor please do not hesitate to contact one of the governors through the school office.

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