Dear Carers and Parents,
Welcome to this annual report from the Governors, which sets out some of the key information we consider is important for you. We recognise that a child’s education is a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance which we aim to make as fun and successful as possible. We also set out our plans for the coming year. The school has had an extremely successful 2017/18 with pleasing results across both key stages as well as Early Years. All staff continue to focus on pupils’ development of the skills of reading, writing and numeracy as well as ICT and the wider curriculum.

As governors we recognise the efforts and good work of all staff in contributing to the school’s continuing progress. Thank you to all children, parents and members of the community that make our school successful. This report sets out some of the highlights from our recent year and shares with you our ambitions for the coming year.

I would like to take this opportunity to say how proud I am of Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery. The team work evident between pupils, staff, parents, carers, the PTA and Governors ensures that our pupils receive the very best opportunities throughout their education here with us. The Governing Body wishes to thank all who are part of the ‘Lickey Hills family’ for the huge role they play in helping the school achieve its goals.
Our school continues to grow from strength to strength and when we all work ‘hand in hand’ together, every learner is supported and encouraged to believe in themselves and achieve their goals successfully. I look forward to continuing to work in close partnership with you. Should you wish to contact the Governing body at any time, please use the School Office who will pass on any correspondence.

Our mission
Our motto ‘Dream Together, Believe Together, Achieve Together’ is embedded in our philosophy and permeates our whole school ethos on a daily basis as well as the teaching, extra-curricular activities, our new before and after school club ‘The Hive’, and the focus for our governor agendas.

All of our pupils deserve a safe, secure and stimulating environment, where they are interested and motivated to learn. Our pupils are given every opportunity to develop an enthusiasm for learning – about themselves, their friends and the world around them in an environment where their natural development can be nurtured. At Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery we positively encourage a stimulating, broad and holistic curriculum which recognises a wider range of achievements from our pupils. We recognise that achievements in any aspect of life, and however small should be celebrated to make every pupil value themselves and others within their school community. It is our responsibility to ensure each and every pupil is equipped with ‘life-long’ skills which will prepare them to face the 21st century with independence, confidence and success.
“The school is strongly led by a head teacher with high aspirations and expectations for continual improvement of school performance. She is effectively supported by equally ambitious senior leaders and a skilled governing body” Ofsted November 2014

Our Governing Body
Our school governors have legal duties, powers and responsibilities. They make important decisions about how the school is run. They meet as a Full Governing body at the end of every half term and review school policies and procedures, challenge performance against the objectives in the School Development Plan and support the SLT in managing their budgets, staff and the premises. Our Governors include parents, support staff, local Council representatives, teachers and co-opted members from our local community who work closely together to support and shape our school for the benefit of the children. Details of all our Governors may be found on our school website and on the notice board at the front of school. Our clerk to the governors may be contacted at any time using the school telephone number and address.

Our highlights from 2017/18
2017/18 has been a busy year. Achievements against our priorities include:
The Hive – This year has seen the school take over the before and after school provision from ‘Magic Moments’ to see the birth of ‘The Hive’. This project has been managed extremely well and our sincere thanks go to both Miss Salisbury for leading this initiative and Miss Lynch for project managing the transition. This has been a significant project for the school with oversight from the Governors throughout the process. A focussed governor group has been formed to provide challenge and support as required.

The Hive has launched with an excellent and successful start since in September. The whole Hive team, led by Miss Lynch, has worked particularly hard to facilitate a smooth transition, create a warm and friendly environment and everyone is committed to the continued success of The Hive. 

Our visits to The Hive have seen a dedicated staff body ensuring all the children are well supervised, supported and involve themselves in the activities available. One of the most encouraging signs is the number of children attending has increased by 20% – 25%. We are most pleased to have seen the positive atmosphere, organisation and supervision. We will continue to work closely with Miss Lynch and her team to support the continued success of The Hive. Strategic lead of ‘The Hive’ governor group – Calvin Frost

S106 monies – As you will be aware, the school received £0.5 million funding in 2017 under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Developers of new build housing provide contributions to provide and improve community and social infrastructure. There were significant restrictions on how we could use this money, but the School worked with an experienced architect to enable improvements to be made to our EYFS provision, provide dedicated Key Stage 2 breakout areas and refurbish the vacant caretaker bungalow as a dedicated training and learning resource area. As Governors we are particularly interested in making sure that the School makes the best use of its facilities and have been pleased to see the refurbished areas in action when we visit. The newly appointed School Business Manager will review how the Bungalow can be used to support the wider community and generate further income for the school.
Maths No Problem – Mr Greenwood led a proposition to introduce a new maths scheme throughout the School. The Governors were really keen to support this initiative and allocated monies from two financial years to pay for the training and materials required. We are excited to have seen the new scheme introduced over the past academic year for the majority of our pupils and have attended the interesting workshops for parents which have been held, showcasing the children demonstrating their new ways of learning. The School has also prioritised maths to the first lesson of each day across the school to ensure that it receives a positive focus whilst it is embedding.

EYFS Local Authority Audit – observations to share with you made by Gill Deakin EYFS External Review – Babcock
“One child was on his own agenda; however, he was supported well by an adult to help him settle, to feel safe and welcomed. Throughout the day, he was ‘hard’ work but his adult support never stopped giving him the best support and access to the provision at his level, and the opportunity to explore alone and risk take. Very commendable, well done.”

Reception – “The learning environment is really spacious, clean, bright, and tidy and has been set out with designated areas, which are a good mix of being small enough for individuals or pairs of children to play in but also has areas that support learning in larger groups such as the creation areas, the roleplay and the construction zone.”

Nursery – “What a fantastic layout and space for these children. Such a wide range of opportunities for the children to choose from, that immediately ‘grab’ you when you enter the room. The children were moving confidently between activities and also staying at each area for a good length of time to be able to explore and embed their learning.”

Developing wider networks – Governors are keen for staff to extend their relationships and networks both locally and regionally, with other schools and outside the Education sector. The School has forged good relationships within the Bromsgrove Learning Network, consisting of the twenty-one Bromsgrove District schools. Arranged into smaller groups of similar schools, Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery is proud to be part of the Grove partnership of primary schools within Bromsgrove Learning Network which also includes: The Coppice (Wythall), Holywell (Rubery)
and Beaconside (Rubery). The opportunities that this collaborative approach provides is used to develop school leadership, teaching and learning, administration and governance. The children gain from the shared expertise of staff across the network and wider opportunities within the network for collaborative experiences. The Governors value collaboration to further school improvement, whilst retaining uniqueness and individuality.

Parent Questionnaire – we’ve listened and responded
Each year we ask parents to complete a short questionnaire to help us as Governors to ensure that we have the right priorities, that we are appropriately challenging the school and that there is an opportunity for parents to bring things to our attention. Last year’s Annual Parent Questionnaire outcomes show the greatest satisfaction around strong partnerships with parents (94%), good teaching (93%), promotion of good attitudes and values (93%), staff supporting and encouraging pupil progress (90%). and parent’s views that their children are making good progress (89%). Lowest percentages were around methods of communication, extracurricular provision, and access to extra- curricular clubs.  We also used the 2017 questionnaire to assess the impact of the school’s earlier access to classrooms in the mornings in 2016. This was welcomed by parents with very positive comments, particularly from those with children in different stages of the school.

Communication – The Governors were keen that the School explored and introduced a way that would communicate with parents through their smart devices. Parentmail was introduced in 2017 which allows parents to receive communications and make payments. We currently use another online booking system for parents’ evening and booking into clubs which provides a fair and equitable way to book through technology.

Extracurricular activities – All members of teaching staff voluntarily provide an after school activity, encouraging a breadth of clubs and bringing the skills and diverse interests from our talented staff body to support children’s extracurricular opportunities.

Access to your child’s teacher – We also welcomed the School’s ‘Meet your child’s teacher’ evenings which were new for 2018 and enabled staff to share curriculum themes and expectations for the year in the first half term, developing and strengthening the relationship whilst your child is in that class.

Please complete the Autumn 2018 Parent Questionnaire when it is released shortly. This is your opportunity to provide feedback to the governors on what you think we are doing well and where you think we can work with the School to make further improvements. We value your comments and do make every effort to respond through actions. 

Reporting against our core themes
The governing body is structured into three core themes, reflecting the focus of our Full Governor body meetings. A report from each is below.

Teaching and Learning
Outcomes for the end of Key Stage 1 and 2 were extremely positive once again and in all cases in line with or above national figures at the expected standards.

In Key Stage 2 all assessed areas performed above national standards for the third year running.
• 87% of pupils met the expected standard in Reading (National average was 75%)
• 88% met the expected standard in writing (National average was 78%)
• 88% met the expected standard in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) (National average was 78%) and
• 77% met the expected standard in Maths (National average was 76%) In Key Stage 1,
• 81% of pupils met the expected standard in Reading (National average was 76%)
• 69% met the expected standard in writing (National average was 70%) and
• 76% met the expected standard in Maths (National average was 76%).
These are fantastic results and credit to the hard work of the pupils and staff.
Paul Moore, Co-opted Governor

Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities
The Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities team (SEND) have worked hard over the past year to bring about the changes set out in the SEND code of Practice 2014. The team, led by main school SENDCo (SEND Co-ordinator) Mrs Williams, have implemented and embedded a range of new strategies to support staff in working effectively with pupils with SEND needs and their families. Links have been built with the National Autistic Society (NAS) as well as continuing a close working relationship with the school Educational Psychologist and the Positive Behaviour team. Mrs Williams ran parent workshops to share updates to SEND at LHPSN. There are also plans to start a series of parent workshops with the Early Help family support team.

With 77 children identified across the school as having SEND and/or additional needs the team have delivered a series of training workshops to staff in developing their understanding of key SEND issues, developing SEND friendly classrooms, effectively identifying pupils with potential SEND, implementing the graduated response and working more closely with the parents of children in their class with needs. New SEND resources have been purchased for each class as well as SEND laptops and iPads. A new SEND room has been set up and is a sensory free area with a range of sensory activities and resources.

Miss Hateley, Language Base teacher and Dyslexia tutor, has gained the Literacy Leap award for the school and has led a series of training workshops for all staff in school in supporting children with literacy difficulties. Through our new partnership with the Chadsgrove Special School Teaching Alliance we have provided class teachers with professional development to build their knowledge and understanding of children with a range of complex needs such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD and Dyspraxia. Miss Salisbury successfully gained her National SENDCo Award through Worcester University and has shared all new learning with the staff team.

Mrs Williams has also worked with key children to write assemblies about the Special needs that they have. These were delivered to all children in KS2 in the summer term, with great feedback from the pupils and staff. These assemblies covered titles such as ‘What is life like for children in school with ADHD/Autism/Dyslexia/Epilepsy and further assemblies are planned for Dyspraxia, visual and hearing impairments, OCD and anxiety needs among others.

Claire Ferguson, Parent Governor, Helen Williams, co-opted Governor

Health Safety & Safeguarding

We continue to be thankful for the efforts of Danny, our School Site Manager, and the rest of the site management team for the improvements they have made to the school site over recent months. Much of their work goes unnoticed with most of the significant work is undertaken during school holiday periods.

Over the summer holiday, Danny and the team completed work which included repairing windows, improving toilet and changing areas and electrical and fire alarm testing. Some of the more noticeable work included some tarmac repairs around a drain on the rear car park and also a number of new signs around the site to remind everyone of ‘No Dogs’ and ‘No Smoking’. Danny reports back to the governors on a regular basis of the work undertaken.

Over the coming months you will also see Danny and the team keeping the school site entrance clear of leaves and more importantly ensuring that grit is put down when the ice and snow appears.

Safeguarding continues to be an essential part of the work of the school, for which all members of staff have a responsibility, but very much led by Ms Salisbury. The legislation and requirements around Safeguarding change on a regular basis – the Government guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ was updated in September 2018. To ensure all members of staff and key Governors are aware of their responsibilities, training was provided by Ms Salisbury and Mrs Williams to all staff members on Monday 03 September 2018, as part of the TED days at the start of term. This training was very well received and demonstrates the school’s commitment to keeping children safe.

The requirements of safeguarding are discussed regularly by the School Governors and training opportunities are taken to ensure that we are all up to date.
Steve Bimson, Co-opted Governor

Finance and Office efficiency

All public services are receiving reduced funding and being expected to deliver more with less. We have been very fortunate in previous years to receive the s106 monies, and have won some small value grants to support, for example, the work to drain the school field. We are also extremely grateful for the monies we receive from the PTA
through their fund raising and also the contributions we receive from you purchasing school photographs and books from the book-fair. All of these help to ensure that our budget balances and we are able to provide as many extras as possible to enhance your child’s education.

We hear of schools who are in much worse financial positions and request direct contributions from parents. Thankfully, through your support for our school trips, purchasing school photos and supporting all the PTA events, we are able to currently manage within our means.
Our office staff work extremely hard to ensure that the school’s administration supports teaching and learning. Following the recent retirement of our School Business Manager, we have been able to work closely with Miss Salisbury to appoint new staff and are looking forward to working closely with the new School Business Manager and Office Manager in driving further efficiencies and seeking additional income to ensure that we continue to be able to deliver such a fantastic opportunity for children to learn and grow whilst at our school.

Next year, our financial focus will be investing in ICT. It is with thanks to our PTA that we have recently been able to purchase 30 chrome books and are looking to ensure that the ICT provision across the school fully supports the learning experience for all children.
Emily Mayne, Local Council Governor

Going forward

Whilst we will continue termly monitoring of the School’s performance and engage with stakeholders both within and outside School, we also have the following strategic priorities.
• Increase visibility of governors within school including assemblies and events
• Use the parents questionnaire to further feed our future direction
• Develop succession planning of key roles and responsibilities within the governing board
• Support school with their plans to develop an unused area of the school field for an all-weather pitch.

All governors are assigned to improvement areas in the school development plan and this is where they focus their monitoring. The purpose of this is to hold the school to account for delivering the improvement plans and focus on next steps. Challenge and rigour are the key themes to drive improvement.The staff and governors work hard to drive school improvement and outcomes, I encourage you to collaborate with them support and encourage your child on their educational journey at Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery.

Our staff work extremely hard, led by an incredible Senior Leadership Team. The dedication of all staff ensures that they support the development of resilient, creative and ambitious learners who will become positive members of the local and wider community. The Governors are particularly grateful for that dedication, and also the strong working relationship they have with the staff. This enables every child to achieve their potential not only in the academic subjects, but also in this arts, sciences, languages and sports. We also pride ourselves in having strong values within the school to drive good citizenship and help our pupils to be valuable members of our future society. This would not be possible without our staff – thank you.

Lastly, we thank the parents and carers for their support and hope this will continue throughout your child’s time at Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery.