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