The Saints’ Federation
St Peter’s C.E. (A) First School All Saints’ C.E. (C) First School St Augustine’s CE (C) First School
Town Head Oak Road Pipe Hay Lane
Alton Denstone Draycott in the Clay
Stoke on Trent Uttoxeter Ashbourne
Staffordshire Staffordshire Derbyshire
ST10 4AW ST14 5HT DE6 5BY
GOVERNORS’ NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2016
School budgets
Despite being an unusually short term, the last couple of months
have been busy ones for governors. Being the end of the
financial year, it is a time to review the expenditure of each
school and set a budget for the forthcoming financial year.
Although the three schools are now in a Federation, each still
retains its own separate budget, calculated mainly on pupil
numbers, from which its costs for the coming year have to be
met. However, being in a Federation allows schools to share
some of those costs and make savings. Some items need only be
purchased once for the Federation instead of for each school
and the money saved ploughed back into supporting the
children’s education. The finance committee of the governors
are delighted to have agreed a balanced budget for each of our
schools for the coming year. A big thank you to Tracey
Pemberton, Emma Sandbach and Jo Goodwin, the office staff at
our schools, who have spent a considerable amount of time
preparing data and information for this very important exercise.
Being a Parent Governor
My name is Ben Cunningham. I am the parent governor
for All Saints Denstone. Since being elected last summer, I have quickly realised just how much work is involved! I have
attended training, visited the schools and sit on various committees which help to ensure that the schools are the best that they
can be. I have been impressed by the dedication and wide range of experience and skills which the various governors bring to
the federation. It is still very early days for the federation but I am excited by the opportunities that it brings to make all three
schools even better for the children. I hope that over my term as governor we will see the benefits of this approach.
An ‘Instead’ not ‘Ofsted’
Under the leadership of Sarah Robson and our three
Heads of School, we are continually striving to improve
the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Over
the last few weeks, each school has undergone a mini
inspection by an Ofsted Inspector commissioned by the
Federation —a sort of ‘health check’ before a real
Ofsted inspection takes place. Each mini inspection was
rigorous and included not only scrutiny of pupil
achievement but classroom observation, interview of
subject leaders, discussions with pupils and parents and
a probing of the effectiveness of governors and school
leadership. We were pleased and reassured that each
school came out well from this exercise, the Inspector
being complimentary about what was seen whilst also
giving valuable advice and pointers for further,
continuing development. Each of our schools is due an
Ofsted Inspection in the foreseeable future and,
although in a Federation, would still be inspected
separately. Currently, All Saints and St Peter’s are
graded ‘Good schools’ whilst St Augustine’s is graded an
‘Outstanding school’. We are determined to maintain
and further improve these standards.
ANGLO SAXONS AND THE
SAXON HOARD
Pupils in Years 3 and 4 at St Peter’s, St Augustine’s and All Saints
have been studying the Anglo-Saxons this term. As part of their
studies, they jointly
visited the Potteries
Museum in Hanley
to view the display
of artefacts from the
‘Saxon Hoard’ and
learn more about
how our ancient
ancestors
lived.
During the
day visit,
pupils
mixed
together
to play
battle
games, try
out costumes, make helmets and lots of other activities.
FEDERATION CONFERENCE
Held earlier this month, this unique event was an opportunity for all the staff in the Federation to
come together with governors to spend time discussing how we want to see our Federation develop
over the foreseeable future. Topics ranged from how the school day is organised, strengthening the
links between the schools, enabling pupils to write confidently and develop their skills in speaking
articulately with an increasing command of standard English. We also looked at strengthening basic
mathematical skills and being able to apply these to real life situations such as shopping and
budgeting. Another interesting idea for discussion was identifying experiences each child should have
before they leave our schools—something along the lines of ‘50 things you should do before you’re 9’.
As you may imagine, this created much discussion and debate and was generally felt to be of value and
could be incorporated into our curriculum without compromising the time needed for literacy and
numeracy. The occasion was also used for teachers with subject responsibility across the Federation to
report back on current developments and initiatives in their subject. This mirrors the role of governors
who have been nominated to monitor individual areas of the curriculum and have to report regularly
to the full governing body.
On behalf of the staff and governors of the Saints Federation, I wish you a
very Happy Easter. Terry Davies, Chair of Governors