2021-22

Governing Body Report for 2021-22

As we come to the end of the 2022 school year I’m pleased to provide an update on the work of the governors of Priory.

The year has been one of increasingly getting back to normal as the coronavirus pandemic has receded and become more manageable. The governors continued to meet, to start with again in virtual format but by the summer term we’ve returned to meeting in person and resumed our visits to oversee the work of the school.

We have been particularly focused again on the welfare of staff and children, and how covid absences have impacted on attendance and of course teaching and learning. It’s pleasing to report that allow attendance has been impacted our strong track record in this area has supported us in remaining significantly above the levels of absence seen nationally. It’s also been good to see delivery on a number of longstanding priorities including refurbishment of a number of areas of the premises and the wonderful new building for the BASE before and after school club.  

The governors were very pleased with the level of planning and attention to detail that was shown as the school returned to normal gradually and safely and activities beyond the core curriculum resumed. Governors individually take responsibility for oversight of important areas such as safeguarding, arrangements for children with special needs and the individual subject areas in the curriculum.

Despite having no formal SATs results to review from the last 2 years, the governors have also spent much time and effort understanding the progress pupils are making and that the school is taking sufficient additional steps to help those that have fallen behind to catch up.

In our final meeting we were able to review the SATs for this year and other progress measures for children throughout the school. It’s clear that in reading and writing good results are being achieved and progress made but that there has been a greater impact in maths so we’ll be focusing our efforts next year on the schools plan to help pupils catch up.

I’m also pleased to report that the school’s finances remain in very good shape. We still have a healthy surplus and are starting to see our income normalise so we are well placed to continue to invest in the school’s equipment and of course the staff. Our financial spending and income for the year are set out below:

 

Teaching Staff 

£854,791

 Education Support Staff

£271,741

 Other Staff

£183,175

 Premises and Occupation Costs

£144,934

 Learning Resources

£168,912

 Professional Services

£22,327

 Catering

£66,700 

 Capital

£25,472

 Other

£116,588

 

 

TOTAL EXPENDITURE

£1,852,640

TOTAL INCOME

£1,844,386

SURPLUS

£397,748

 

We continue to be grateful for the work of Friends of Priory to support our work, and their contribution to the life of the school has once again been very important.

Alongside all of this the governors have also again

.    Set a budget for the next three years and regularly monitoring performance against this

.    Ensured the school fulfils its health and safety, and safeguarding requirements

.     Set and monitored performance objectives for Mrs Keefe