Governing Body

Welcome to Vale School

On behalf of the governors, I would like to welcome you to our school.

Here, we are determined to offer every child the best foundations to become a successful learner and allow them to grow to be a confident individual. An individual who will be a responsible citizen, able to go on in life and enjoy personal achievement and economic well-being, and in doing so be able to appreciate and contribute to the community they live in, wherever that may be.

Vale School has a governing body of 14 governors, consisting of a mix of:

Co-opted governors – appointed by the governing body
Local Authority governors – appointed by West Sussex County Council
Parent governors – elected by the parents and carers of pupils at the school
Staff governors – elected by the staff themselves

So what is our role ?

The school governors have a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We are responsible for the conduct of the school as a whole and our role is to promote high standards of educational achievement.

Our duties include:

Setting targets for achievement
Managing the school finances and the fabric of the school
Making sure the curriculum is balanced, broadly based and inclusive
Appointing staff
Reviewing staff performance and pay
Communicating with all stakeholders of the school
Ensuring your children stay safe whilst at school

So, whether it is appointing staff, setting budgets, agreeing building development plans or making other strategic decisions concerning the school, the responsibility for getting it right, for the children, rests with the school's governing body.

As a school our academic standards at Key Stage 2 (Year 6) SATs results continue to be good, with our pupils achieving high attainment levels which compare favourably against local, county and national averages.

For greater detail, please see the governors' Annual Statement below.

In February 2017, we had our most recent Ofsted inspection and this graded the effectiveness of the school as GOOD overall. Within that inspection Ofsted commented positively on leadership and management, safeguarding, achievement of the children, quality of teaching and behaviour.

None of this comes about by chance, and when success such as this is achieved, then the full credit and accolades must go to the children, the staff and to you as parents and guardians who support your child on a daily basis to help them succeed. The value of a strong Home / School partnership can never be understated.

In 2010, we began a refurbishment programme of the school buildings and site. This has seen substantial improvements in the fabric of the school. We developed year group areas with significant investment in both equipment and the appearance of the learning environments.

2013 saw further investment into the school with additional classrooms, a hall extension, a new reception and additional playground areas. The new playground areas have provided a lower playground space with an adventure trail and a netball/basketball court. The impact of the additional space for play, PE and sport has had a wonderful effect on the school.

During 2015/16 a dedicated IT suite and a studio for drama and dance were added and accessibility access was improved.

Your governors are determined that planned investment will continue to be considered so that we can further develop and maintain a school that will offer excellent facilities for learning well into the 21st Century.

Attendance at school

How you can help?

We ask that you ensure that your child attends school regularly and punctually. Just a small amount of regular absence or lateness can have a significant impact on their learning and the learning of others around them. Unauthorised absence or regular lateness will not be condoned.

Holidays in school term time

The Government has directed that schools are no longer able to authorise family holidays during term time, except for limited cases with 'exceptional circumstances'. Please adhere to this and plan not to remove your child from the school in term time. The governing body will fully support the headteacher in declining any such requests.

Seeking the views of stakeholders

One of our most important roles is to seek your views about how well the school is doing. What has the school got right for your child, what could we do better, or where we have got it right, how can we now use that knowledge to benefit others?

So we would like to hear from you. We promise to listen. We may not be able to implement everything you suggest and where we can’t we will openly explain why. But if you don’t share your experiences with us then it makes it harder for us to ensure that the school continues to evolve and takes into account the needs of the children and yours as parents and guardians.

Every two years we ask parents to complete our questionnaire (based on the Ofsted model). You can find the full details of the latest results here.

So if you wish to talk to us, ask us a question, challenge us on something, be critical or complementary, then please do so. You can do this in a variety of ways:

Ofsted Survey

Please take the time to complete this survey

This link will take you to the Ofsted ‘Parent View survey’ –

http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/

This is the first source of information that Ofsted will use to understand what your views are about our school. We would welcome all feedback. So I would urge all of you to go online and complete the survey so that we can gain a clear, honest and balanced understanding of how we are doing as a school.

Alternatively :

Send us an email, marked for the attention of the governors, to office@valeschool.org or write to us via the school office.

Complete a school questionnaire based on the Ofsted Parent View survey with opportunity for written comments – available at reception - please hand it in at the reception desk or send it into school via your child in an envelope addressed to 'The Governors'.

Our promise is to acknowledge your communication and provide an initial response within 5 school days. Where greater time or detail is required to provide you with an answer, we will aim to acknowledge your correspondence and reply within a further 10 school days of that initial acknowledgement.

Working with you, we want to ensure that Vale School is a place where every child enjoys their learning and that they are happy and safe when they are here.

Kevin Jenkins
Chair of Governors

If you would like to contact the governing body, you can use one of the following ways:

write to Kevin Jenkins, Chair of Governors, c/o Vale School
email: office@valeschool.org