Governor Blog – Autumn, 2015.
Despite the late blast of beautiful September sunshine, we are very much now rolling our way
into the autumn term. Whether you agree with Keats’s idyllic impressions of autumn as a
‘season of mist and mellow fruitfulness’ or are slightly perturbed by the drop in temperature
and the shorter days there is now no escaping the inevitable descent into the busy school
routine. Before we know it Mrs Kaunhoven and her team will be asking us to think about
attending Christmas events.
The school has seen many changes over the last couple of years, to the fabric of the building
and to the staffing structure. We are delighted that Mrs Kaunhoven applied for and was
successful in securing the position of Head teacher of our lovely village school and she has
already worked incredibly hard on our behalf to start implementing any necessary changes
whilst maintaining the unmistakeably caring and nurturing character of the school. We
welcome back Mrs Horwood and congratulate her on her marriage and wish her well during
her pregnancy. We also welcome new teaching staff members, Mrs Beer, Mrs Kerton and
Mrs Matthew, as well as congratulating the other staff (Mrs Scott and Mr and Mrs Knapp)
who married over the holiday period.
We, as a Governing body, would like to issue a warm welcome back to all of the staff,
children and parents in our school community. We have been able to see yet another very
successful Year 6 start the next part of their learning journey into secondary schools, having
made themselves, the school and parents proud with their amazing achievements at St.
Aldhelm’s. We have also just finished welcoming our new intake of Reception children and
wish them good luck for the future at St. Aldhelm’s along with all other year groups who are
now settling down into their new routines and all the fun and challenge that will bring this
year.
We have decided to trial use of a regular Governor Blog to update you on the work of the
Governing Body and how we try to support the school throughout each year.
We have also seen change in our own Governing body. Our previous Chair of Governors,
Frank Short, has left us to focus on his own demanding work commitments, which left me (as
Vice-Chair) stepping into interim Chair as a short term measure.. We have welcomed
another Parent Governor, Elaine Jeffery and a new Foundation Governor Martin Robinson to
our merry band of Governors. After the first meeting and the yearly elections for Chair and
Vice- Chair, I have been re-elected as Vice-Chair and Mary Newman and Eleanor Wylie
have nobly agreed to take on a Joint Chair position until Easter. The reason for all of this is
that, despite being keen to Chair the Governing Body at St. Aldhelm’s I am now 37 weeks
pregnant with my second child and am realistically not up to that permanent role just yet!
We will keep you updated on the structure of the Governing Body, as and when it is
necessary, but if you see a sleep deprived woman in school with a baby strapped to her trying
her best not to look too confused, it may well be me!
Primarily we would like to use this blog, as a way of updating you on the work of the
Governing Body and we would really like to open communication channels with the parent
body. We have, for some time, had a Governor Suggestion box in the school reception area;
please feel free to continue to use this. Also feel free to email to the school office if that is
your preferred method and the office will re-direct the communication to us. We would also
like to consult you at other times of the year and hope to be a more visible presence at various
school events and even parent consultation evenings. There are some photos of governors
displayed next to the school office in ‘rogues gallery’ style to aid our identification, so
perhaps have a look at those and look out for us on site. We have undertaken some Governor
Self-evaluation exercises and Governor Improvement training and will continue this work in
the coming year. We would, however, welcome your constructive feedback; positive or
negative, in order to improve and strengthen our governing of the school.
We hope you can find ways along with us to support the school in their endeavours to
improve outcomes for each and every one of our children at St. Aldhelm’s. With
improvements in the play areas around the school, resources in classrooms and embedding
the new curriculum along with working towards our targets this year there is a lot to get
involved in and we would urge you to help in any way you can. This could be fundraising
via the PTA, volunteering to be trained as a parent helper or simply lending your support to
upcoming events, I am sure help will be gratefully received.
With recent terrible events in the news it is a sobering and valuable lesson to us to be thankful
for the small wonders in our lives. This is not always easy in the hustle and bustle of
everyday family life, but I know we as Governing body appreciate how very privileged we
are to be working with such a fantastic school as St. Aldhelm’s. Every time I walk into
school I am struck by just how lucky our children are to be part of such a thriving learning
community.
With very best wishes to all in our school community for a happy, successful and enjoyable
term.
Rachel Guest – Vice-Chair of Governors.