Ingram Road Primary School: Annual Governance Statement, September 2023

Introduction

The governing board at Ingram Road works to ensure that our vision for Ingram Road becomes a reality. We do this by challenging school when we think things could be better and supporting school when things go well. We also make sure that the schools finances are managed well and that we get value for money.

We began the school year with a full team of Governors including parent Governors, which was cause for celebration as this has not always been the case. During the year, two governors retired from the governing board due to changing work commitments but we quickly recruited two new governors who bring with them a sound knowledge of the community and a range of skills and knowledge that will be useful to us. This was also cause for celebration as recruitment to the governing board has been difficult in the past. We believe that our increased contacts with community organisations has helped us with recruitment.

During the year we worked on the action plan to develop good governance at Ingram Road that we had developed with a National Leader of Governance following an audit of governance and development day last year. The main changes we have made are that we have improved our ability to challenge school when things could be done better; we have increased the number of opportunities for governors to speak to staff and pupils and we have increased the amount of data we are given about school. 

To help us in our role of monitoring the school development plan we are now able to draw on a wide range of data from the school’s management systems, which we receive as part of the Head Teacher’s Report every term. As well as data on attendance, behaviour, safeguarding and progress, which we have always received, we now receive data about inclusion and interventions from a system called Provision Maps and data about performance management from a system called Blue Sky. Although it is true to say that we are still coming to terms with what this data is telling us, it will provide a useful back up to the information we gather on school monitoring visits.

In order for us to check whether the school development plan is on track, we have developed a list of Key Performance Indicators: evidence that will tell us that school is improving. We were disappointed to see that pupil progress was not as good as we had hoped although this fits in with what is a national trend following the pandemic. The quality of teaching met performance management targets but we have seen that mobility of staff and pupils affected progress. Parents have been more involved than ever in attending school meetings and we hope this will contribute to future progress.

Attendance was also an issue for governors this year when this has not been a problem before. Governors who work are coping with extra demands placed on their time while governors who are retired are catching up on missed opportunities to travel. To address this issue, we have reduced the number of meetings that governors are required to attend by combining the Pupil Support and Teaching and Learning Committees so that there will be fewer meetings to attend and more governors available to make each meeting quorate.

What follows is a summary of headlines of what we have done to monitor each part of the school development plan.

The Quality of Education 

Each governor is linked to a subject leader and we have been meeting with them on school visits and have also invited them to committee meetings so we can question them about their work. We have also accompanied school advisors on their visits and listened to their feedback. We have also attended a variety of school events so that we can see the plan in action. We have learned that some inconsistencies in the delivery of the curriculum are due to staff changes and staff absence. We have discussed this situation with the Headteacher and support the action she is taking to work on this. We have seen that while pupils with an EHCP are well supported to access the curriculum, some pupils with mild learning issues are not fully engaged and supported by all staff. Governors have challenged school to show us that work is being done on differentiation in order to engage all pupils.

When we have spoken to pupils, they have all been able to think of a subject that they really enjoy and understand what their teachers are doing to help them to improve.

Behaviour and attitudes 

Having spoken to a range of pupils, including School Council, we know that pupils feel safe at school and know who to turn to if they are worried or upset. Pupils acknowledge that some pupils misbehave sometimes but most pupils understand the consequences of bad behaviour and feel that it is always dealt with by staff although there are some inconsistencies in the way consequences are applied. When we asked the Senior Leadership about this, it was acknowledged that the changes in routine during the Pandemic had undermined consistency in the application of the behaviour policy and action would be taken to rectify this.

We have seen that attendance is not as good as it was before the pandemic. Older children who can get themselves to school themselves attend better than younger children who need an adult to bring them to school. Many pupils attend well and some of the poor attendance data is produced by just a few families. Poor attendance is a nationwide problem since the pandemic with increasing anxiety levels contributing to this. Conversations with parents and pupils tell us that this is the case at Ingram Road. The Attendance Service has visited school and feels that everything possible is being done to support good attendance. However, governors have said they would like school to explore the possibility of setting up a Walking Bus to help younger children get to school safely and on time when there isn’t an adult to help them.

Personal development 

Governors at Ingram Road want staff to be ambitious for their pupils and equip them with the tools they need to have a successful life, so we have encouraged the wide range of after school activities that are on offer again following the pandemic. Pupils have spoken to us about how being in a school team brings them enjoyment and increased confidence. School makes every effort to provide teams with smart kit to wear and team photographs provide palpable evidence of the pride and confidence our pupils have in wearing them.

We have spoken to pupils and staff to satisfy ourselves that the partnership with Slung Low provides our pupils with cultural opportunities and personal development that supports them on their learning journey. Our team of Imagination Warriors have worked with staff at Slung Low to develop ideas into final events. Hearing our pupils talk to a Look North Reporter about how they helped the artists to develop the theme of equality for the mural at the end of our street demonstrated to us that Ingram Road is developing citizens for the future.

Seeing so many pupils from KS2 participate in a performance of Noah’s Flood with the Manchester Collective showed that our pupils can work with discipline and meet a challenge and that we are an inclusive school that offers quality experiences to all pupils. They have worked with professional opera singers, costume designers, make-up artists and directors and impressed them all. Parents at our school come from diverse backgrounds and speak many different languages. Waving their children off to perform at such a prestigious event and enjoying seeing them look so cute in their costumes has united our parents in a shared pride. Governors share this pride – it is the essence of what makes Ingram Road special.   

Leadership and management 

Governors have been impressed by the performance of the Senior Leadership Team which has consisted of four assistant headteachers for the last two years. We have visited them in school and spoken to them in meetings in order to understand how they are contributing to school improvement. The leadership team have increased the capacity of subject leaders to lead their subjects. Despite this success, Governors support the Headteacher in reviewing the makeup of the leadership team with a view to increasing capacity to bring about change more quickly. We are all the more keen to support this development because it has arisen from the Headteachers willingness to listen and respond to concerns about staff workload.

Early Years 

Governors are aware that provision in EYFS has improved over the last few years and that pupils’ learning journeys now begin in a purposeful way as soon as they join us. Governors have challenged subject leaders to show that they have all contributed to the development of the EYFS curriculum so that the learning journey from EYFS to Year 6 is a continuous, joined up process. 

Deryn Porter, Chair of Governors