Governors’ Link
Lower Park School Governing Body
Summer Term 2015
New Deputy Head
Governor Profile
Developing Lower Park
The Governors are
delighted to announce the
appointment of a new
Deputy Headteacher
Our series of Governor
profiles continues with two
of our governors: Paul
Banford and Amy Beasley
A brief overview of how we
have improved our facilities
with the new classroom and
improving our on-line
resources.
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Welcome
Welcome to the fifth edition of Governors’ Link – our
newsletter intended to keep you informed of the activities of
the Governing Body of Lower Park School.
We are delighted to be able to announce the appointment of
Mrs Emma Cunha as our new Deputy Headteacher from
September 2015.
Mrs Cunha joins Lower Park from
Outwood Primary School in Stockport
where she has developed an expertise
in Primary education and the Early
Years and a speciality in outdoor
learning. Mrs Cunha will lead the Early
Years and Key Stage 1 (Reception to
Year 2) team of teachers and teaching
assistants whilst also teaching three
days a week in Year 2 and one day a
week in Reception/Year 1.
We wish to express our gratitude to
Mrs Gallagher and Mrs Ripper for
stepping up to cover the absence of a deputy head; they have
demonstrated outstanding effort and dedication and we congratulate
them on their excellent achievements during the past 18 months.
Parent Governor Wanted
Look out for an invitation for nominations for the role of Parent
Governor early next term. Elections will be held before the October
half term holiday. If you are interested in standing for election as a
Parent Governor, please speak to Mr Coulson in the first instance.
School-run Safety
We are concerned about the
safety of the children on
Hazelbadge Road before and
after school. Clearly the road
is narrow and parking quite
restrictive, but we would
remind you that stopping on
the yellow zig-zags (even just
to drop off a passenger) is
illegal, as is parking on the
pavement – this presents a
major risk of hitting a child.
Mr Coulson has proposed an
idea for a drop-off area at the
end of the council-owned
recreation field adjacent to the
playground. We hope to
make some progress on
exploring the feasibility of this
project with Cheshire East
Council next term.
In the meantime we would ask
that you consider walking your
child(ren) to school if at all
possible. If you do drive to
school, please take care and be
considerate to pedestrians and
our neighbours when turning
and parking your vehicle.
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Annual Report of the Governing Body of Lower Park School
Membership Update
The Governors voted in
September 2014 to amend the
Constitution of the Governing
Body to ensure it meets new
regulations ahead of a
September 2015 deadline. Our
membership now consists of
the Headteacher, one Local
Authority-Appointed Governor,
one Staff Governor, five Parent
Governors and six co-opted
governors. One of our coopted governors is a Director
from the Hollies.
We conduct a regular skills
audit of the governing body
and identify any gaps that we
would seek to fill when
appointing new governors. In the
last 24 months we have appointed
Mr P Banford and Mrs Leanne
Johnston as a Parent Governors,
Mr S Hardicre (co-opted - a
Director of the Hollies) and Mrs
Clara Kenyon (co-opted). The
next Parent Governor elections will
be held in September 2015.
Committee Structure
2014/15
Finance
Committee
Chair:
Mrs L Johnston
Financial planning
and management
Personnel
Committee
Chair: Ms S Sharpe
Staffing, policy,
procedures, protocols
and frameworks
Lower Park School
Full Governing Body
Chair: Mr C Richards
Vice-Chair: Mrs C Parrott
Environment
& Community
Committee
Chair: Mr L Podmore
Premises, buildings,
grounds, resources; links
with parents, church and
local community
Pupils &
Curriculum
Committee
Chair: Mrs A Beasley
Curriculum and
standards, assessment,
more able pupils, SEN,
learning to learn
Staff Recruitment
Governors delegate powers to the Headteacher to
make many appointments, however, governors are
actively involved in the recruitment process for key
positions in the school. Throughout the Spring
Term of 2014 we sought to recruit a new Deputy
Headteacher, but failed to find a candidate with the
skills and experience we required. We decided to
begin recruiting again in January 2015 for a
September 2015 start when we successfully
appointed Mrs Emma Cunha. Governors are also
assisting in the recruitment process for the Site
Maintenance Manager post. Our thanks to Mr
Richards, Mrs Parrott, Ms Sharpe, Mrs Kenyon and
Mr Banford for all the time and expertise they have
freely given to these processes.
New Classroom
As we reported in our last newsletter, we
were delighted to receive a £119,000 grant to
build a new classroom. This has allowed the
creation of a new staffroom and additional
small group teaching areas. Our thanks to Mr
Coulson and Mr Podmore for driving this
project and ensuring it was completed in time
for the start of the new term. Governors
were impressed by our tour of the new
classroom in September. Thank you also to
Mr Coulson for his resourcefulness in
furnishing the new staffroom for only £125!
Lower Park on-line
Governors have shown a lot of interest in the
development of the school’s new website and
Virtual Learning Environment. We are grateful to
Mr Mike Gallagher for his hard work. Mr Richards
has created Governors’ pages on the VLE to
improve governors’ access to information. We
approved the purchase of the School Money online payments system and were delighted that the
PTA have agreed to cover the full cost of this.
We also approved the purchase of an iPad for
each teacher to enable them to develop the use
of this exciting technology in the classroom.
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Lower Park School Governing Body
Committee Structure 2014-2015
Finance
Leanne Johnston
Colin Richards
Ian Coulson
Lee Podmore
Roger West
Clara Kenyon
Paul Banford
Environment & Community
Lee Podmore
Ian Coulson
Nigel Jay
Roger West
Jill Daniels
Val Eaton
Leanne Johnston
Headteacher’s Performance Review Panel
Colin Richards
Clare Parrott
+ School Improvement Partner
Reviewed by full GB in Summer 2014.
Staff Appeal Panel
ºTo be chosen from the following as available
(not to include members of Personnel
Committee or members of staff)
Colin Richards
Lee Podmore
Roger West
Leanne Johnston
Bold - Chair of Committee
Special Responsibility
SEN
Looked After Children
Safeguarding
English
Maths
Community Liaison
Training Liaison
Health & Safety
Attendance
Gifted & Talented
ICT
Pupil Performance
Pupil Premium
Governor
Amy Beasley
Clare Parrott
Clare Parrott
Sandra Sharpe
Val Eaton
Colin Richards
Clare Parrott
Lee Podmore
Paul Banford
Nigel Jay
Colin Richards
Amy Beasley
Lee Podmore
Personnel
Sandra Sharpe
Clare Parrott
Ian Coulson
Amy Beasley
Nigel Jay
Paul Banford
Clara Kenyon
Steve Hardicre
Pupil & Curriculum
Amy Beasley
Ian Coulson
Colin Richards
Jill Daniels
Clare Parrott
Val Eaton
Sandra Sharpe
Steve Hardicre
Pupil Discipline Panel
Dismissal (Children) & Exclusion Appeal
To be chosen from the following as available
(not to include members of staff)
Colin Richards
Clare Parrott
Lee Podmore
Amy Beasley
Sandra Sharpe
Nigel Jay
Roger West
Steve Hardicre
Clara Kenyon
Leanne Johnston
Staff
Gayle Ripper
Barbara Chadwick
Ian Coulson
Joanne Jones
Jackie Gallagher
Jackie Gallagher
Ian Coulson
Faye Peart
Ian Coulson
Ian Coulson
Lucy King
Ian Coulson
Ian Coulson
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We continue our series of Governor profiles with two more of our Governors.
Paul Banford
Finance Committee
Personnel Committee
My son and daughter are in Year 2 and I was elected as a
Parent Governor in November 2013. I am a patent
attorney and advise businesses in connection with their
Intellectual Property Rights. I was a partner in a large
firm until I left to set up my own consultancy in 2010.
This means that I have the benefit of being able to set my
own timetable and therefore have the flexibility to be
able to dedicate time to the work of the Governing Body
as-and-when needed. I am a member of the Finance and
Personnel committees and will also be working to find ways for the school to increase its
access to grant funding. In my spare time I am a bibliophile and enjoy hill walking.
Amy Beasley
Chair of Pupil & Curriculum Committee
Personnel Committee
Special Responsibilities: SEN
Governor Profile
Governor Profile
I was appointed as a Local Authority governor in
February 2013 and have spent the last few terms
getting to know Lower Park Primary School. Whilst
formerly a secondary school geography teacher, I now
work for Cheshire East Council in the Major Projects
Office as project manager for a number of
regeneration projects across the Borough. I have used
my teaching experience to get to grips with being Chair of the Pupil and Curriculum
Committee and link governor for SEN. When not at work I enjoy playing squash
(badly!) and planning holidays abroad to seek some sunshine. Next stop, Costa Rica!
What else have we been up to this year?
• Mrs Parrott assisted with planning the 50th Anniversary celebrations
• We appointed Mr Keith Allen to the post of Site Maintenance Manager
• We have reviewed all the school’s policies and set up a cycle of policy reviews
• We have welcomed four new governors: parent governors Paul Banford and
Leanne Johnson (read Paul’s profile on page 4), Mrs Clara Kenyon and Mr Steve
Hardicre – co-opted governors.
• We agreed changes to our Constitution – see page 2.
• Lee Podmore, has worked closely with Mr Coulson on overseeing the new
classroom building project. Further information is on page 2.
• Governors have regularly been seen in school meeting staff and pupils.
• Governors have attended a variety of training courses and conferences.
• Mr Richards has arranged two meetings of the Chairs of Governors of all the
Poynton, Disley and Adlington schools to share ideas on further collaboration.
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