Governors’ Newsletter January 2012

GOVERNORS’ NEWSLETTER

Learning together, Forgiving one another, Caring for all

January 2012

Welcome to the Governors’ Newsletter!

This is our first newsletter of 2012, which aims to update you on what is happening within your Governing Body:

Changes with the Governing Body

We said goodbye to two of our school governors in December, who have been part of the Governing body for over 7 years – Mrs Rachel Edwards and our ex-chair Mrs Sarah Allewell. On behalf of the Governing body and School, we would like to thank them again for the huge contribution that they have made over the years to the Governing body and the school.

I am pleased to announce that Mr Will Garrett and Mr Alan Marshall have been appointed to the Governing body, both as Foundation Governors. These appointments have been approved by the Diocese of Rochester as they have both demonstrated a firm commitment to the church and to support the school in its observance of the Christian faith and values.

Our Goals for this year

At our first Governing body meeting of the academic year, we agreed four key objectives that the FGB would maintain focus on throughout the year and we would like to take this opportunity to give you a quick progress report:

1 Improved progress and attainment

The SATs were published early this year and in case you missed this, Platt had a fantastic set of results. Our Y6 pupils of 2010/11 achieved 100% at Level 4 in both English and Maths. This ranked us 3rd out of the 40 schools in the Tonbridge and Malling Partnership and we were 2^nd on the Primary League Tables of Kent and even got a mention in The Telegraph newspaper on the 15^th December 2011.

A number of pupils (Y6 pupils of 2011/12) took the Kent Test for grammars school and are awaiting confirmation of their places. As a Governing body we want to build on this success and continue to work in partnership with the Headteacher and teaching staff.

2 Attendance

This is a key area of focus for the Governing body and further to the communication of our new Attendance Policy back in July, the Governing Body, as a result of a continued high number of requests, is reviewing the policy again. At our last Ofsted inspection it was highlighted that attendance was an issue that needed addressing and as a result of the continued requests we need to act. Please expect to see separate communication on this in the next couple of weeks.

3 Headteacher recruitment

We have this month commenced the process to recruit a Substantive Headteacher for the school to start in September 2012. In the meantime we are pleased to confirm, following our announcement in December 2011 that Mrs Ruth Doughty has joined us as our Interim Headteacher.

Please join us at the open meeting on the 31^st January where you will be able to meet Mrs Doughty and the Governors and ask questions in relation to the process.

4 New School Project

This remains a priority for the Governing body and negotiations continue positively. You will have seen in a separate letter in response to the recent newspaper article that overall the whole project is continuing as planned and we are currently in final negotiations to complete the works for the new school playing field and car parking on the new site. This phase will include highways work to provide a safe crossing facility on the Maidstone Road.

We would also like to take this opportunity to clarify that during the construction of the new playing field, the school will not be left without a playing field. We will continue to use the existing playing field until this is handed over to the developer, the exact time of this handover is still under discussion. In the period between this and the new site being ready we have secured the unlimited use of Stonehouse Fields and/or St. Georges Field so that all existing and future sporting events are not affected and continue as normal.

Fundraising

As a follow up to the September newsletter, I am delighted to confirm the final amount raised from the Dragon Boat Festival was £2,769.69 and in November we had our annual Firework and Bonfire Night and this event raised £2025.10. The money raised from both events has been placed in the Governors’ General fund.

To remind folks, Governors’ General fund is used for many purposes, the main one being the 10% contribution that the Governors must make towards any capital expenditure and it also covers the funding of hardship cases or discretionary spends within the school budget.

Most recently money from the fund was put towards recent building improvements to the school such as converting the old ICT suite into an additional teaching room.

Our other fund is the new school fund and this is used to fund the project costs that the Governors need to cover such as professional fees and contributions to some project costs such as ecology surveys or planning application costs etc. To support this fund we hold approximately one event a year, last year it was the Platt Village Festival, within which we were a major organiser of a wider community event and this year our event is Platt’s Party in the Park which is a joint fundraiser with the Memorial Hall Trustees.

The governors have a third fund which they manage and this is the Enrichment Fund. The School Governing Body has charitable status and is therefore able to claim gift aid on donations made and it is for this reason only that the governors maintain the Enrichment Fund. We ask parents to contribute £15 for the first child and £10 for each subsequent child to the fund. The school then requests a contribution from the fund towards activities that enrich the curriculum. The governors do not decide how this money is spent; that is the preserve of the teaching staff.

School Website

We would encourage you to use our website www.plattprimaryschool.co.uk as it holds much valuable information, including news, diary dates and policies, as well as featuring images of the life and work of the school.

Where they are now

It is always interesting to know where the year 6 children go when they leave Platt Primary. The class of 2010/11 began their new school careers at the following places:

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys Wrotham School Invicta Grammar School

Bennett Memorial Diocesan School Knole Academy Oakwood Park Grammar School

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls Sackville Holmesdale Technology College

Maidstone Grammar for Boys Walthamstow Hall Mascalls School

We wish them every success for the future and hope that they will return from time to time to let us know how they are getting on.

Be involved

There are many ways in which you can become more involved in your child’s school-life:

Easy-fundraising – shop on-line (great time to remind you, the school and your child can benefit by using this website) – just use the links on the Easy-fundraising site to access your online store and, at no extra cost to you, we will receive a donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make. It’s free to register and you won’t pay a penny more for your shopping. In fact, you can even save money as many retailers offer discounts exclusive to Easy-fundraising. All you need do is visit http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/plattschool and register selecting Platt School Governors’ Fund – St. Mary’s Platt and use this link each time to enter your favourite online shops.

Enrichment Fund – please support the Enrichment Fund this year if you haven’t done so already. This fund really supports the school to enrich the curriculum for all the children with items such as various workshops which all the year groups attend and benefit from.

Fundraising – become a 200 club member – for just £1 a month your lottery ticket will go into the draw and you have a chance of winning £50 first prize or £25 second prize every month except December when prize money doubles!

Governor – become a Governor or an Associate Governor – although there are currently no governor vacancies on the Governing Body, we are always happy to have people register their interest in becoming a governor as it helps for planning for the future. If you cannot commit to being a governor, but you believe you have a skill or experience that may benefit the school, please come and talk to us about the role of an Associate Governor. If you are interested please speak to us and we can explain further.

Parent Helper – Volunteer your time as a parent helper at school (regulations will require the school to make a CRB check on regular volunteers working with children). This is a hugely worthwhile activity and very rewarding for both child and volunteer!

PTA – Join the PTA and help with their fantastic fundraising efforts in events such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs. Janet Hewitt is your PTA Chair and would be happy to hear from you with offers of help. You can contact Janet on hewittjanet@aol.com

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, we would like to wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.