Governors Annual Report 2022-2023
On behalf of all the Governors, we want to thank you for your support during the academic year.
The last 12 months has seen some changes in the make-up of the Governing Body. We have said goodbye to Andrea Wilson, Emma Roberts and Pete Evans. They will be equally missed and our thanks go to all of them for their time and valued contributions. In their place we have welcomed Rachel West as Staff Governor and most recently Carolyn Small joined us following her election as parent governor.
Our full Governing Body meetings take place every half term. Alongside this we all hold positions on either the Resource Committee or the Standards and Curriculum Committee as well as undertaking other roles. Details of all our members, their roles and how to contact us can all be found on the school website. I am keen to continue to build on the relationship between Governors, Staff and Parents over the coming year, with a focus on
collaborative working, and welcome your comments or suggestions.
As the Chair of Governors I am confident that I have a dedicated team behind me, all of whom are passionate about our school and committed to providing the best opportunities for our pupils to flourish. Each supports and challenges the school in equal measure and ensures our core responsibilities are met:
· To ensure there is clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
· To hold leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its’ pupils.
· To oversee the financial performance of the school and ensure its’ money is well spent.
The chronic and sustained underfunding of education continues to impact the school, and the obligation to manage our budget and provide a high standard of education remains a delicate balancing act. Budget restrictions mean that difficult decisions often have to be made, particularly in regards to classroom resources and support staff within school. However, please let me reassure you that the wellbeing of our children remains at the heart of our decision making. We highlight the issue at a higher level at every opportunity and will continue to strive to deliver the best we can for our pupils.
In spite of the challenges, the broad wealth of knowledge and expertise of both staff members and the governing board meant we were well placed to lead our school to a ’Good’ OFSTED rating in July. There was no stone left unturned during the two day inspection, and whilst we were exhausted by the end of it, we felt that the inspectors left with a true reflection and understanding of our school and its pupils. I would like to reiterate how proud we were of each and every child. They were commended on their mature, respectful views and contributions during conversations and classroom observations and couldn’t have represented the school any better.
Our school priorities this year incorporate the recommendations from OFSTED as well as areas that have been highlighted by subject leaders and class teachers.
The school website is updated regularly by teachers and is a great way to keep up to date with the day-to-day activities and learning of our children.
Our governor led nursery provision, Wrens, has gone from strength to strength since opening in 2016 and is an asset to the school. Work on a new purpose built, permanent building is well underway and is hoped to be completed in December.
Quackers is also thriving and attendance at before and after school clubs is now back to pre-pandemic levels. Flexible booking remains in place; please do contact the school office should you need to use the service.
I cannot thank the staff and parents enough for their ongoing support and feel incredibly privileged to be a part of Bishop Monkton School and we look forward to welcoming you to our Governor Open evening on the 22nd January 2024.
I am excited to build on the success of last year, and wish you all the best for 2024 .
Ashlea Costelloe
Chair of Governors
Achievement
In the Summer term 2016 the DfE introduced new tests for Key stage 1 and 2 children which reflected the new national curriculum. Outcomes for tests are reported as scaled scores, rather than levels, with scores ranging from 80 to 120. 100 is the national expected standard that a child should achieve. Children may be working towards this standard (WTS), working at the expected standard (EXS) or working at a greater depth within the standard (GDS).
EYFS and Key stage 1 comparative data
This shows Early Years Foundation Stage (Reception), Phonics (Year 1) and Key Stage 1 (Year 2) results and compares it with the attainment of other pupils in these year groups in schools across England.
Subject and year group | Percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard: Bishop Monkton | Percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard: National 2023 |
EYFS: GLD* | 69% | 67% |
Year 1: Phonics | 87% | 79% |
KS1: Reading | 86% | 67% |
KS1: Writing | 79% | 58% |
KS1: Maths | 93% | 68% |
KS1: Reading, writing and maths | 79% | 54% |
*A good level of development is achieved when a child reaches the expected level in the prime areas of learning as well as the specific areas of Maths and Literacy.
Key stage 2 SATS test report
This shows end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) results and compares it with the attainment of other pupils in this year group in schools across England. Pupils scoring
at least 100 will have met the expected standard on the test. There has been no published threshold for greater depth this year, but this is usually 110.
Subject | Percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard: Bishop Monkton | Percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard: National | Average scaled score: Bishop Monkton | Average scaled score: National
|
English reading | 88% | 74% | 105 | 105 |
English grammar, punctuation and spelling | 71% | 72% | 104 | 105 |
Mathematics | 65% | 71% | 103 | 104 |
English writing (teacher assessment) | 71% | 69% | N/A | N/A |
Science (teacher assessment) | 94% | 79% | N/A | N/A |
Reading, writing and maths | 65% | 59% |
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Financial Overview
At a national level, funding in education remains a concern and we continue to be impacted by cost of living increases as well as government incentives that are not funded accordingly and come at a cost to the school. As mentioned in my opening letter, the Governing body have a legal obligation to oversee the financial performance of the school. Whilst this means ensuring that the funding provided to us is well spent, it also includes a responsibility to not go into deficit; something that has become increasingly difficult in recent years. It often feels like an impossible task to both balance the books and provide the outstanding quality of education that we strive for but with prudent budgeting and tough but necessary cuts, we have been able to retain our autonomy and make decisions that are both in the best interests of our school and meet the needs of individual pupils.
We are, as always, committed to providing the best experience for our pupils and are constantly striving to find ways to save money without impacting on their education. An area where parents can help significantly is with contributions towards swimming lessons and trips/visits. The contributions remain voluntary but subsidising these is a financial burden to the school and takes vital funds away from other areas. The plea from the governing body is that parents kindly support us with their voluntary contributions on ParentPay wherever possible.
Learning Outside the Classroom
We have been pleased with the many varied opportunities for learning outside the classroom this year, enhancing the children’s learning and encouraging both physical and emotional development.
We have been able to attend residentials to East Barnby and France. The whole school theatre trip took place along with a whole school trip to The Yorkshire Sculpture Park . Wrens enjoyed a visit to Studfold Adventure Trail, and class trips took place to Allerton Park Waste recycling centre, Ripon Museums, York Railway Museum and Tropical World and the Year 6 pupils also got to enjoy their leavers’ day out to Alpamere.
BeckBusters
We are pleased with the continued success of the now annual BeckBusters 10km and 2km running event, which raises much needed funds for school. As governors, we know how limited the school budget is and how the school uses every penny assigned to them to provide quality education. This years event raised a staggering £5000 which has been used to purchase new laptops for use in the classrooms.
Now that we are an established event within the area, we hope to build on our success year on year in order to raise money for school. We have always received positive feedback and many of our amazing sponsors returned to support us again for this years BeckBusters.
We would also like to thank the army of volunteers that make this event happen. Not only do we have a group of dedicated parents organising the event behind the scenes, we also have support from school parents and villagers on the day when it comes to marshalling, baking cakes, and helping out on our refreshments stalls. Thank you, we really could not do this without your support.
Of course we could not do this without our runners, both young and old. The 2024 event will take place on Sunday 29th September 2024. Watch out for entry details for the 10K race and fun run in the School Newsletter and please do sign up!
If you would like to get involved, even in a small way, please contact the Beckbusters Committee. https://beckbusters10k.co.uk
The BeckBusters team can be contacted on: beckbusters@gmail.com
What do the children, staff and parents say about our school?
Every year the governors ask pupils in years 2 and 6, all staff and all parents their opinion in order to reflect on the school year and to identify priorities for the following year. These results are collated anonymously and help to form our School Improvement Plan. We value your time in completing these questions. Here’s what people had to say.
Year 2 children feel safe and all enjoy being at school and say teaching has helped them develop good skills in communications, reading and writing. They all feel ready for their move to Year 3 (KS2). They would like some more outside play equipment and feel behaviour at playtime could better. |
Year 6 children have enjoyed being at Bishop Monkton School, feel teaching has helped them develop key skills, they have felt safe at school and feel ready for their move to secondary school. They would like more school trips, more play equipment and would like to improve standards of behaviour amongst pupils. |
Parents feel their children are making good progress, and like the community driven nature of the school. That on the whole children are happy and safe. Some would like to be better informed about progress their child is making and school to adopt a consistent approach to managing behaviour of pupils at school. |
Staff are all proud to be members of the school community, agree children are safe at school and feel leaders do all they can to improve standards of teaching. They would like a more consistent approach to managing behaviour amongst pupils and for teachers to be able to have more support with pupils in the classroom. |