Annual Governance Statement

for the Governing Board of

Parbold Douglas Church of England Academy

SEPTEMBER 2024

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the three core strategic functions of the Parbold Douglas Church of England Academy Governing Body are:

1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

2. Holding the Headteacher and school to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;

3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

General Comments

In our school year 2023/24, our school leaders, teachers and support staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that pupils continue to have excellent educational provision and support. An ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgement in November affirmed the school’s judgement and celebrated the exceptional nature of the school. The promotion of the Assistant Headteacher to Headteacher has ensured stability for the school community and the school’s vision and ethos remain. Pastoral, mental health support for children remains a high priority.

The school continues to keep the formation of a multi-academy trust on the horizon, however, for the near future it is focusing its efforts on the school community it serves. It has invested heavily into the long-term future and stability of the Academy Trust, approving plans for a new Reception building – which is planning to open by September 2025. This will in turn increase the capacity of Parbold Douglas Nursery and Out of Hours Club.

The Governors would also like to thank the parent community for their wholehearted support.

The work that we have done on the Governing Body:

Resources and Audit

• Throughout the year there were interim Budget reports which detailed the school’s financial position in relation to income and expenditure. Budgets for 2024/2025 in addition to three year budgets were presented, and agreed.  

• The Academy’s External Audit report shows that the financial position of the school is secure.

• The Governors considered the Pupil Premium spending as well as examining the impact of this in the previous school year.

Standards

• The Governors considered many issues over the course of the year, in particular ones related to pupil achievement, so that they could be sure that the school was on track to fulfil its ambitious targets for all pupils. With regard to assessment information, the Governors were kept informed of our procedures relating to pupil progress and how these are used to support future learning. Governors were encouraged by the very high standards maintained in the Phonics Screening Check, Y4 Multiplication Tables Check, an Key Stage 2 SATS. Pupils outcomes were excellent and well above national averages in all areas.

• We underwent a very successful Ofsted inspection, attaining (and retaining) the judgement of Outstanding. The report was clear in how our school is exceptional in meeting the needs of those it serves.

• The Governors were kept informed of curriculum decisions via detailed and insightful presentations from subject leaders. In 2023/24, the governors heard presentations on: PE, Computing, History and Art.

• Updates to the Three-Year Plan and School Development Plan were discussed at length. The Governors wholeheartedly approved of the aims of the four main ‘Golden Threads’ of the SDP – ‘Preparing Children for the Future’, ‘Striving for Academic Excellence’, ‘Developing Leaders of Change’, and ‘Equity, Diversity and Justice’.

• Governors noted and discussed the wider strategies to support children’s wellbeing through the school’s excellent provision in this area (and via external links). The governors were delighted by the impact of the Pastoral Lead, Wellbeing Coach and external support.

• Governors noted and celebrated the superb strategic work the school has delivered to provide an exceptional personal development offer for all pupils. This included continuing to deliver the school’s exceptional extra-curricular programme with a varied range of opportunities each half-term. Participation rates at these extra-curricular clubs were exceptionally high.  

• The Pupil Curriculum Committee continued their great work in school and spoke to Ofsted during the inspection. Their findings were fed back to the committee at key points during the year.

• Reports from the meetings between the SEND lead teacher and the link Governor were received. Reports from Link subject governors were received. Additional support was provided by increasing the staff team to meet the need of learners – this was discussed at length and approved.

Premises, Health and Safety

• There was a review of the Risk Management Policy.

• Health and Safety issues were reviewed and updated.

• Issues related to the school buildings and premises were discussed with forthcoming plans for improvement, namely the regeneration of the ‘hub’ and looking forward to the new Reception 2025 building.

• The nursery was effectively expanded to offer more places.

Governance arrangements:

• There are 12 Governors, consisting of 8 Foundation Governors, 2 Staff Governors, 2 Parent Governors.

• The Full Governing Body met four times this year.

• Full meetings of the of each of the Resources/Audit, Premises and Standards Committees were held three times during the year.

• The Remuneration Committee met in October to fulfil their statutory responsibilities.

• The Headteacher’s Performance Management meeting took place in September, supported by an external LA advisor.

• A Safeguarding external audit took place during the year. This was very successful and praised the systems and training in place at Parbold Douglas.

• Also, there were regular meetings of the following committees; Audit & Resources, Budget, Nursery and Wellbeing.

Training:

Governors attended sessions on safeguarding, (provided by school safeguarding lead). These sessions were for the full Governing Board. In addition to this, our Training Governor facilitated the attendance of individual courses to Governors based on identified training needs. All governors completed the self-evaluation skills audit (from the National Governance Association) in August 2024. Actions from this are reported In the Annual Governance Plan.

A separate document in the Governors’ section of the school website details the attendance of each individual governor at these meetings. Governors had good attendance at meetings.