Thursday 9th January 2025

Dear Parent/Carer,

 Parent Governor Vacancy 

I am writing to let you know that we have three vacancies for parents on the Governing Body of Nettlesworth Primary School and to explain in a little more detail about what the role involves.

The Role of Governors 

Everyone says that the role of governors is increasingly important, especially with the increasing independence of schools as well as the increased scrutiny and accountability of schools and school leaders.

As Governors we are not there to manage the day-to-day running of the school – that is the job of the Principal. We are there to do three main things:

(1) To help set the vision and strategic direction of school;

(2) To hold the Principal to account for the school’s performance;

(3) To monitor the curriculum provision and teaching and learning in school .

Another common way of putting the role of governors is to say that our job is to provide a healthy mix of support and challenge.

The skills and qualities needed by Governors 

Recent Government guidance on appointing and electing governors says:

‘All governors need a strong commitment to their role and to improving outcomes for children; the inquisitiveness to question and analyse; and the willingness to learn. They need good inter-personal skills, appropriate levels of literacy in English and sufficient numeracy skills to understand basic data.’ 

 We have a range of backgrounds including: school and higher education, civil service, finance, and human resources.

Time Commitment 

We meet as a full governing body once a term, ie three times per year. The meetings run at school.  In addition to the meetings, we require governors to come in to school, usually in the school day over the course of the year. These visits usually focus on an aspect of school development. We try to attend various school events and may be called upon for other tasks such as: sitting on senior appointments panels or giving particular attention to a specific issue or policy. As well as these activities there is quite a bit to read and most importantly there is an expectation that Governors will attend training sessions in order to ensure that they are up to date on such things as: school performance data; finance; special educational needs; keeping children safe at schools etc. A comprehensive induction programme is provided.

A term of office is for four years.

Eligibility 

Anyone who has a child on the roll of the school at the time of the election is eligible to stand (and you do not have to resign if your child leaves during your term of office).

If you are still interested after reading all the above, I would encourage you to consider putting yourself forward as a candidate. If you would like to speak with me about the role I can also be contacted via the school office.   .

If you do wish to put yourself forward then you need to complete a nomination form, which can be collected from school or delivered.

Election Process 

If there are more than three candidates an election will be held and this will take place.  More details will follow on this.

I hope this is helpful in helping you decide whether or not you wish to stand as a Parent Governor in order to play your part in helping Nettlesworth Primary not only to retain its very high standards but to be part of the school’s development.

If you are interested in this vacancy, please can you let us know by Thursday 16th January 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

Today we launched our new Cornerstones Topics through a day of imagination & creative writing with the local author and storyteller; Adam Bushnell. It was great to hear how he started his career as an author and all about his dream from a young age – it definitely inspired many children across the school 🙂

Class 1

Our children in EYFS worked incredibly hard with Adam to create their own super-animals based on the interactive and engaging story he told us all about ‘The Wise Old Man & the tortoise”. The children created their own sounds and actions for different parts of the story and had so much fun retelling it with great articulation. They were astonished when at the end of the story a tortoise statue appeared out of Adam’s special cage…. Which then turned into a real tortoise when we thought of our longest and craziest magic word “bomballiniosa”

We had so many children want to write more about their super-animal and some even created sentences for theirs. One of our favourite was the “elephant that had laser power eyes” 🐘

Class 2

Class 2 enjoyed working with Adam to launch our topic of Splendid Skies. e had lots of fun drawing our own characters and describing then in detail. We discussed where our character would go and what they might see in the splendid sky!

Class 3

Class 3 had an excellent time working with Adam Bushnell, introducing our new topic ‘Gods and Mortals’. We looked at some Ancient Greek armour and clothing before creating our very own heroes and monsters. We used our literacy skills to think of noun phrases to describe our heroes and monsters.

Class 4

Class 5

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

A wonderful effort to all our children who have worked very hard this week and earned their Head Teacher Award.

Rights Respecting Gold ethos ethos demonstrated by all our children.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

Fantastic effort by all our children who accessed their Lexia this week and achieved their certificates.

We are all very proud of you.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

A fabulous effort by all our children who accessed their TT Rockstars this week and achieved their certificates for their hard work.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

A super effort by all our children who worked very hard on their Lexia this week and achieved their next certificates.

We are all very proud of you.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

Super work to all our children who accessed their TT Rockstars this week and achieved their certificates.

We are all very proud of you.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

A fabulous well done to all our children who impressed their teachers and achieved their Head Teacher Award.

Rights Respecting Gold ethos demonstrated by all.

UNCRC Article 31 – leisure, play and artistic culture

A fabulous effort by our children (Ben and Harry) for their unbelievable achievements this weekend – you won the U10 Winter Tournament in football. We are immensely impressed with your dedication and determination to succeed.

Definitely potential future football stars and future career.

UNCRC Article 29 – goals of education

A fabulous effort by all our children who have worked very hard and impressed their teachers and achieved their Head Teacher Award.

Rights Respecting Gold ethos demonstrated by all.