Welcome from the Chair of Governors

10th October 2023

Chair of Governors letter:

Dear Parents and Carers

The new academic year is well underway and, despite the recent warm weather, the summer break is fast becoming a distant memory.

I have been in school several times over the past few weeks and it is clear that the children have quickly and confidently settled back into the routines of school. 

I would like to welcome parents and carers of children who have joined the school this term - governors remain confident that all children will really thrive during their time at Kildwick CE School, enjoying both classroom learning and the wider range of opportunities on offer.

Governors have finalised Year 2 of the school strategic plan for 2022-2025 - the following four priority areas underpin all work in school: 

• Continued development of a broad and inspiring curriculum - from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to Y6, in a planned and sequential approach;
• Environmental sustainability - an issue highlighted by the children, and a key diocese priority; 
• The school ethos - furthering embedding the school vision across the whole school community;
• Resilient school management and leadership - ensuring the school is able to securely manage change and continue to provide high quality education in its broadest sense for all children.

These priorities should be seen within the context of the school vision: ‘Learning to Live, Living to Love, Loving to Learn’, which has strong biblical underpinnings.

The strategic plan, vision and biblical underpinnings, can be seen through the school website.

From this strategic plan Mr Whitehead and the staff team have drawn up a ‘development plan’ for the current academic year with termly milestones to support day-to-day implementation. Termly governor visits and discussions with staff, including around: safeguarding and well-being; the curriculum; special educational needs and disabilities; and Collective Worship, will support the governing board in its monitoring of the planned developments, and importantly feed into the next summer term whole-school review.

The governing board remains strong - we are however currently looking to recruit one new Foundation Governor and hopefully will again have a full governing board before the end of the term.

Governors will continue to give feedback, through a link in ‘Kildwick Chronicle’, on the work of governors. Formal minutes of governing board meetings can also be found via the school website.    

In addition please feel free to contact me to discuss the work of the governing board through [email protected]

Day-to-day issues around your child and school should of course be discussed with the staff team or Mr Whitehead.

I wish you and your children an enjoyable and successful year.

Best wishes

John Perry

Chair of governors