A Message from the Chair of Governors

As Chair of Governors I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to the Governors’ part of the school website. I hope you find it easy to use and that it gives some useful information about our Governors and their role.

Our Governing Body is made up of local people who freely volunteer their time to support this school in the excellent job it is doing for our children. We believe every child matters and are happy to be part of this school and this community, to promote the Pennington Infant School passion to improve the life chances of all our learners.

We would love to recruit a few more Governors. If you fancy joining us, have a look at what we do and get in touch through the school office or send an email to the school admin@pennington-inf.hants.sch.uk. You can also use this way to let me know if you have any suggestions or queries.

Of course, visiting a website is not quite like the real thing and I hope that by visiting this site you may be encouraged to make a personal visit to our school, where I know you will be made to feel most welcome.

Thank you

Christopher Henderson

Head Teacher

Mrs Kirstie Richards

Authority Governor

Mrs Lorraine Brown (SEN Governor)

Co-opted Governors

Mrs Helen Talbot ( Vice Chair, Development & Training Governor, Health & Safety Governor, Safeguarding Governor)

Miss Sophie Jermine

Ms Pamela Oakshatt

Miss Jen Sollars

Jonathan Barrett

Vacancy

Parent Governors

Rev Christopher Henderson (Chairman of Governing Body)

Vacancy

Staff Governor

Mrs Claire Richie

Quotes from our Governor visits....

Mathematics Learning Walk by a governor on 27^th January 2023 - Governors fully acknowledge that there is evidence of improvement in planning and teaching of mathematics since the last Governor monitoring in May 22....teachers and support staff are providing greater opportunities for pupils to demonstrate their learning in mathematics more clearly.

English Learning Walk by a governor on 15th May 2023 There have been constructive actions put into place that will enable the children to use what they have learned in their English lessons and continue to develop this into vocabulary, sentence formation and comprehension of prior knowledge

Vision and Values Day by a governor on 2nd September 2022 The children learned the importance of understanding the vision and values of the school and knew what each letter of HEART meant. Questioning by teachers and practical activities reinforced this knowledge and understanding. The tasks were fun and gave the opportunity for the children to work together, learn and be creative. Listening to instructions, working safely in a happy environment, being tolerant and considerate to each other and achieving goals through resilience were all included in the planned activities and will impact the future of the children whilst at Pennington Infants and through transition to other schools.

Attendance at Inset Day by a governor on 30^th May 2021 - The outcome of the morning was that both staff and governors can now be fully cognizant of the observable features of Pennington vision and values as they come alive in classrooms and around the school…. The development of vision and values that underpins what we do at Pennington has been a vital first step for the new head teacher, leadership team and staff. It is right that all stakeholders at the school have been involved in its inception.

SEND visit by a governor on 9^th June 2021 A good foundation is in place to move to the next stage of provision of excellent sustainable SEND services within the school. In addition, the joint provision of the SENDCo working across the two schools is proving highly successful for both schools, pupils and parents providing cohesion and continuity.

Pupil Premium visit by a governor on 24^th June 2021 - Investing in Thrive – staff training to help understand and support children’s attachment to adults and role models. This has been undertaken by the Junior School with success and it is important we encourage children to form positive attachments at the Infant School while also supporting their transition of those attachments when it comes to moving to the Junior School.

Health & Safety Visit by a governor on 29^th October 2021 - The new library is conducive to learning and is a well organised, safe, and aesthetic space for children and adults. Irrelevant reading materials have been removed. This will have an impact on priorities including reading, phonics, speech, and language.

Phonics Learning Walk by a governor on 13^th December 2021 Since my last visit, the Phonics Tracker has been replaced by Little Wandle a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) that is enabling staff to monitor phonetic progression and achievement, raise expectations and impact children’s learning.