TAHS Weekly Newsletter.

Dates for your diary

18/03/2019 PTA Meeting

21/03/2019 World Challenge Evening

26/03/2019 Year 10 SEND Evening

12/04/2019 End of Term

 Headteacher blog:

Apologies for the late arrival of Round Up this week. I was fortunate on Friday and Saturday to be able to attend the Association of College and School Leaders National Conference where myself and Mrs Maingay listened to leaders in the field of education as well as meeting Headteachers from across the country. It was a very useful and informative experience but has meant that the Headteacher blog is slightly delayed. 

This week, I wanted to draw your attention to the role of governors in our school. Our current governors come from a wide range of backgrounds and careers. They use their varied experience to support and challenge the school. Schools need governing boards that have a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills and experience to enable it to be effective and at the moment we are looking to welcome 2 new parent governor to our experienced board. 

Election of Parent Governors

Currently two vacancies exist for parent governors on our governing board and I am therefore inviting you to stand for election.  Parent Governors are appointed for a period of four years, irrespective of whether their children remain in school during that period.

Governors play a very valuable and important part in the life of the school and gain an interesting experience for themselves.  There is no need to worry if you do not have any previous experience of such a role as there is plenty of training available.  All that is required is a little time, commitment, the ability to question and analyse, and a willingness to learn.  The Governing Body members have between them a range of skills and experience, and to add to this range we are particularly keen to recruit, if possible, a parent governor with knowledge of ICT, or a member of the business community. 

The governing board provides strategic leadership and accountability in schools. It has three key functions:

• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent
• Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction

Governors or trustees set the aims and objectives for the school and set the policies and targets for achieving those aims and objectives. They monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher. In action, this means:

• Appointing and performance reviewing the head teacher and senior leaders, including making decisions about pay
• Managing budgets and deciding how money is spent
• Engaging with pupils, staff, parents and the school community
• Sitting on panels and making decisions about things like pupil exclusions and staff disciplinary
• Addressing a range of education issues within the school including disadvantaged pupils, pupils with special needs, staff workload and teacher recruitment
• Looking at data and evidence to ask questions and have challenging conversations about the school

Governors and trustees must be prepared to adopt the Nolan principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. 

The Governors usually have one full meeting a term and, in addition, each governor is a member of one of the two committees (Learning and Standards; Managing and resourcing) which meet once or twice a term.  The full governing body meets at 4.00pm and the committees meet at 5.00pm.  

Parents (for the purpose of this election includes step-parents, guardians and other persons having parental responsibility) of all children currently registered at the school are entitled to stand for election or nominate others who qualify.*  Any parent or guardian wishing to stand for election must agree to being nominated.  It would be helpful if each candidate could submit a brief statement about themselves (no more than 200 words) and this will be circulated with the ballot papers.  

Nomination forms can either be posted to school or given in at the Main School Office – to be received no later than 3.30pm on Friday, 5^th April 2019.  Please mark the envelope as  ‘Parent Governor Nomination’ for the attention of Russ Sheldon, clerk to governors.  

Alternatively if you prefer to nominate by email please headteacher@tahs.org.uk and provide the information below. 

If you wish to discuss this matter with myself or Mike Prescott, chair of governors, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

* Employees at the school who work more than 500 hours in a year are not eligible for nomination, but may vote in the election.

Nomination Form – Parent Governor

I wish to nominate Mr/Mrs/Other Title_____________________________________   (PRINT Name please)

Nominees address:-

Email address: 

Proposed by:-

(print)________________________________Signature________________________

Seconded by:-

(print)________________________________Signature________________________

 Signature of Candidate accepting nomination:         

 Signature_____________________________

Please enclose a brief statement of no more than 200 words.

All persons signing must be parents/guardians of a student at Thomas Alleyne’s High School, Uttoxeter.

Countdown is on…

2 weeks until the French GCSE speaking exams. Intervention Tuesday room 10 foundation 3.05 Friday room 10 higher 3.05.

Science Week

Apprenticeships

YEAR 9 –  Dancing on Ice 

BTEC SUCCESS

Well done to BTEC students in years 11, 12 and 13 who received their results from examinations this week. Students in Animal Care, Sport, Health & Social Care, IT and Applied Science studied hard over Christmas and took the exams in January. These results are added to their portfolio assignments to achieve their overall grade.

We were delighted to see so many distinction and merit grades which will help them towards their final qualifications.

News from PE

Parent Guide on Internet Safety

Follow the links to; School Website, Facebook, Twitter & our Online Shop

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