Governor’s Details and the Register of Interests
Our Governors
Governing Body’s Annual Impact Statement 2021-22
The Issues faced and addressed by the Governing Body over the last year were:
- Providing a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum for our pupils over the course of the year, whilst identifying gaps in learning for our pupils.
- Providing a safe working and learning environment for pupils and staff whilst following Government directives and guidance.
- Understanding how best to meet the needs of our children and to improve their emotional well-being following the pandemic.
- Establishing ways to improve emotional well-being for the whole school community – particularly where pupils have been affected by the pandemic.
- Ensuring that appropriately designated funding is used to support our disadvantaged pupils.
- Promoting ‘a love and enjoyment of reading’.
- Supporting the school through an Ofsted Inspection.
- Preparing for the return of all statutory assessments for primary aged pupils from 1st September 2021.
- Supporting the whole school community.
The impact of the Governing Body on the school was:
- To complete a full and intensive year that saw a return to near normal timetabled activities, following two years of disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. It was imperative that the Governing Body ensured that the return of pupils to school for this academic year would enable our pupils to develop, progress and re-connect with the school environment. At the heart of our governance was a shared desire to support the children in re-connecting with their friends, peers, staff and school community, to allow them once again to flourish and thrive.
- The autumn term saw the whole school return without bubbles, staggered starts and breaktimes and carefully managed access areas in and around the site. The school staff worked consistently to meet the needs of the children, with adaptions and tweaks being made to the curriculum that would allow staff to support the catch-up requirements of skills and knowledge, after months of disruption.
- The Spring Term saw a visit from Ofsted in February – five years after the previous inspection. The whole school community came together to give an accurate ‘point in time’ snapshot of the school. The school maintained a ‘Good’ rating with a clear target to ensure that the school curriculum was consistently planned with clear progressive steps in each subject. Whilst a number of subjects were recognised as being clearly defined and complete, others were not quite fully established and required further attention.
Key quotes from Ofsted:
‘Pupils say that they love being in school. They say that other pupils are ‘friendly, kind, understanding and helpful.’
‘Pupils run off excess energy at breaktimes. They like the equipment they have, set out by sports leaders. Year 2 enjoy ‘Wonky Wednesday’ break, when they pair up with a classmate they do not usually play with. New friendships are made.’
‘Teachers expect great things from pupils, but pupils also aspire to great things themselves.’
‘Some curriculum subjects, such as design technology and art, are well planned so that pupils’ knowledge builds progressively. In these subjects, pupils connect learning and apply knowledge in different contexts.’
‘The love of reading starts in the Nursery.’
‘Pupils are achieving well in mathematics.’
‘Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. Teachers set work that gives them access to the whole curriculum. Staff spot any issues quickly and give extra help.’
‘Governors know the strengths of the school. They hold leaders to account for tackling the areas that need improvement.’
- Over the course of the spring term there was a steady increase in the number of C-19 cases within the school to both pupils and staff, due to the Omicron variant of the virus. Despite staff absences and the challenge of acquiring agency staff to cover those staff isolating and at home, the school continued to operate with pupils once again accessing remote learning plans when required.
- Congratulations must be given to ‘The Cullercoders’ the school’s Lego-Robotics Team, who attended the National finals in Harrogate (Feb 2022) and returned with the coveted Core Values Award. This is the second time that Cullercoats has won this award and this is once again, testament to the hard work of the pupils in the team and the two staff leads who guide the children.
- Residential visits also returned, with pupils from Year 4 and Year 5 enjoying activities in in the Lake District at High Borrans Activity Centre in the autumn term and Year 6 returning to Dalguise in Scotland for a five-day activity programme.
- This year, we have acquired the services of Kate Broom, a Counsellor who visits school every Wednesday and provides valuable counselling to a number of the pupils within our school. We have also welcomed Nora – our Pets as Therapy dog who visits both the out of school club and school on Tuesday. Both pupils and staff have found Kate and Nora a delight to work with and valuable additions to our school team. Nora was particularly welcome as a calming influence to all during the Ofsted inspection.
All statutory assessments were carried for the academic year 2021-22.
Below are the headline figures:
54.4% EYFS – GLD – Children are defined as having reached a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the Early Years if they have achieved at least the expected level for the Early Learning Goals in the prime areas of learning (Communication & Language, Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development) and the specific areas of mathematics and literacy.
This is lower than previous years. Our records show that the children lack independence and still require adult reassurance in a number of areas. Key areas of development have been affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns and the school is working hard to ensure that these recover as we move forward.
- Phonics Year 1 – 85% of pupils attaining the test.
- Phonics Year 2 98.3%
End of KS1 – Our results were moderated (Checked for accuracy by the Local Authority)
Reading TA 85% 51/60 Pupils GDS 25% 15/60 Pupils
Writing TA 83% 50/60 Pupils GDS 12% 7/60 Pupils
Maths TA 87% 52/60 Pupils GDS 23% 14/60 Pupils
- Year 4 Tables Test – this was the first time that this was completed by school. There were 25 questions and no threshold (pass mark) set.
End of KS2
Reading Test 93% 57/61 Pupils GDS 41% 25/61 Pupils
Writing TA 84% 51/61 Pupils GDS 21% 13/61 Pupils
Maths Test 90% 55/61 Pupils GDS 23% 14/61 Pupils
GP&S Test 89% 54/61 Pupils GDS 54% 33/61 Pupils
We have a fantastic set of results, which have been supported through catch-up funding, which has allowed for additional staff. The pupils and staff have worked tirelessly over the last two years and have been well supported at home. A great set of results – well deserved.
Platinum Jubilee for the Queen and Cullercoats School
- Cullercoats Infant School opened on our site officially on 18th July 1952. 70 years to the exact date, the school held a celebration event with a decade themed procession (50’s, 60’s 70’s 80’s 90’ 00’s and 10’s) around the local environment (St George’s Church) along Beverley Gardens. The children enjoyed a special Jubilee muffin in the afternoon and received a specially designed Queen and Cullercoats Commemorative Jubilee Mug. A plaque to mark the event was also unveiled by our School Council in the entrance hall. It feels very poignant now, following the death Her Majesty that the school was able to celebrate the exceptional life and commitment to public service of HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
- Our wonderful and supportive Parents’ Association have worked creatively throughout the year to help raise valuable additional funds for the school and were very keen to support visits, once these were allowed. Our pupils saw the return of our disco day and they thoroughly enjoyed the music, fun and refreshments.
- On behalf of the Governing Body, I would like to extend our best wishes to those members of staff who left us in the summer – Miss Stewart, Miss Mearns and Mr Youldon. We thank them all for their support, commitment and service to Cullercoats Primary School over many years.
- We are grateful to everyone connected with Cullercoats Primary who make this community school a wonderful, caring and happy environment for our pupils.
Mrs C Black (Chair of the Governing Body) & Mr G Storey (Headteacher)
October 2022
Links
Publication of Governor’s Details and Register of Interests 2023-2024
Publication of Governor’s Details and Register of Interests Draft Statement
In the interests of transparency, all schools and academies should publish, including on their website, up to date details of the structure of the governing body and any committees, together with the names of their governors and their particular roles and responsibilities within that structure.
This information is required for each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months. They should also publish relevant business and pecuniary interests.
This information must be published in a readily accessible form which means that the information should be on a webpage without the need to download or open a separate document.
Schools and academies should also publish an annual statement setting out the key issues that have been faced and addressed by the governing body over the last year, including an assessment of the impact of the governing body on the school.
Mrs Christina Black (Chair)
A former Headteacher in Northumberland and North Tyneside who is currently working as a School Development Partner in Northumberland, Christina has a wealth of experience and knowledge within the education sector. She is also Chair of our Curriculum Sub Committee and also a member of the Finance and Staffing Sub Committee.
Mrs Kristy Regan
A Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Sunderland University, Kristy has a wealth of knowledge within adult and social care having previously worked for the local authority. Kristy has been a parent of the school for eight years and is Chair of our Safeguarding, Premises and Health & Safety Sub Committee.
Mr Gavin Storey
Headteacher. Born and bred in Whitley Bay, Gavin has worked in North Tyneside for his whole teaching career having spent 17 years teaching in Killingworth before being appointed at Cullercoats in the summer of 2008. Gavin has been involved with schools’ football since the early 1990’s and is a Youth Sports Trust Headteacher Ambassador.
Mr Andrew Bell (Vice Chair)
Andrew is Department Head for DT in a secondary school in South Tyneside and has three children within the school. He has a good working knowledge of the curriculum, data, safeguarding and reporting. Andrew volunteers for Sustrans and has a keen interest in sustainable travel, safer streets and the environment.
Mr Paul Mason
Paul works for the UK’s largest charitable funder of voluntary and community sector organisations. Paul’s main skills lie in grant making, contract management and procurement and partnership management. Paul has two pupils in the school and is part of the Curriculum Sub Committee.
Mrs Sarah Wallace
A journalist before entering the teaching profession, Sarah is a whizz at ICT and is the joint ICT Co-ordinator and Editor in Chief of the school newspaper – the renowned ‘Cullercoats Chronicle.’ Sarah is Chair of the PR and Communication Sub Committee.
Ms Ann Shuker
Ann has over 15 years’ experience of working in the FE and HE sector with a focus on widening participation and progression to HE. As Access Manager at Northumbria University Ann has responsibility for overseeing the University’s Access and Participation Plan and management of the Widening Participation team. We welcome her knowledge and expertise. Ann is a member of the PR and Communications Sub Committee.
Mrs Karen Clark
Karen is a Health, Safety and Facilities Manager for a large global firm. A former governor for ten years with an SEN School in Newcastle, Karen has bought her governor knowledge and experience closer to home. Karen has a grandson in Cullercoats Primary School. Karen is a Mental Health First Aider and is keen to promote and support mental well-being within the school. Karen is a member of the Safeguarding, Premises and Health and Safety Sub Committee.
Mr Stan Jackson
Stan is a retired Headteacher who has worked in education for 36 years in North Tyneside, Northumberland and North Yorkshire. Stan has a wealth of experience from working in a range of different schools from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. Stan is a member of the Finance and Staffing Sub Committee and is a respected football referee at district and county level. He has recently officiated at two International Walking Football Tournaments.
Mrs Clare Scurr
Clare works locally as a dental practitioner and has two children, the eldest attending Cullercoats Primary School. Clare has a postgraduate certificate in facilitating learning in healthcare. Clare is keen to promote healthy lifestyles both physically and mentally for the pupils and staff within the school. Clare is a member of the Safeguarding, Premises, Health and Safety Sub Committee.
Mr Richard Crulley
A Marketing Manager in the education sector, Richard has worked in schools, a college group and is currently working at Newcastle University. As a Co-opted Governor, he supports the school on the PR and Communication Sub Committee with his promotional expertise and is also Chair of the Staffing and Finance Sub Committee.
Mrs Jennifer Bonham
A primary school teacher in Newcastle and a former pupil of Cullercoats Primary School; Jennifer brings her educational and local knowledge and experience to the Governing Body. Jennifer has three children in the school and is a member of the Curriculum Sub Committee.
Miss Kayleigh Elliott
A teacher within our school. Kayleigh has worked as a teaching assistant and supply teacher before taking up her role at Cullercoats Primary School. She is keen on promoting a broad and balanced curriculum across the school and that every child should strive to meet their full potential in a safe and secure environment. Kayleigh is our staff governor and a member of the Curriculum Sub Committee.
Governing Body’s Annual Impact Statement 2020-21
The Issues faced and addressed by the Governing Body over the last year were:
Providing a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum for our pupils whilst meeting the demands of virtual and blended learning for pupils and class classes during isolation periods and National Lockdown.
Providing a safe working and learning environment for pupils and staff whilst following Government directives and guidance.
Understanding how best to meet the needs of our children and to improve their emotional well-being through the curriculum
Establish ways to improve emotional well-being for the whole school community – particular where pupils have been affected by the pandemic.
Ensuring that progress was maintained across the school despite challenges faced – ‘best endeavours’
Promoting ‘a love and enjoyment of reading’
Managing the impact of the national lockdown (Jan 21) due to coronavirus and rise in delta variant cases (summer term 2021)
Developing Home Learning Resources as a result of individual isolation cases.
Re-opening of school to pupils in March 2021
Preparing for the return of all pupils from 1st September 2021
Supporting the whole school community
The impact of the Governing Body on the school was:
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and further National Lockdown in January 2021 all statutory assessments were cancelled for a second successive academic year (2020-21). The data below is from the previous year’s assessment in the Summer 2019
The attainment and progress of our pupils was generally above or in line with national expectations – our headline figures include:
For the Early Years 82% of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) An increase of 9%. This figure whilst above the National Average it is in line with the National Average of 72%.
Year 1 Phonics 94% of our pupils achieved the pass mark. An increase of 4% on the previous year. This again was above the National figure of 82%
Key Stage 1 Reading, Writing & Maths Combined (RWM) 62% of our pupils achieved the expected standard combined a 5% decrease on the previous year – this is just below the combined National Figure of 65%
Key Stage 2 Reading, Writing & Maths Combined (RWM) 79% of our pupils achieved the expected standard combined – significantly above the combined National figure of 67%
Our greater depth results at Key Stage 2 were impressive in both Reading and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling.
Greater depth in Maths, Writing and combined Reading, Writing and Maths were broadly in line with National Average. We are very proud of our staff and pupil performance during a challenging year with year group and Key Stage relocations due to the ongoing refurbishment works.
The schools progress level was above the floor standard in Reading Writing and Mathematics.
The Governing Body works hard through support and challenge to ensure the pupils receive a wide and engaging curriculum to enable them to meet the demands and high expectations of the National Curriculum. This will prepare our pupils for the next phase of their educational journey.
The autumn term saw the whole school return after the summer lockdown of 2020. The staff were absolutely brilliant at settling the children back into routine and catching up on core skills and understanding from previous terms. There was some great progress made over the course of that term and we were so proud of the staff and pupils despite this being an anxious time for us all. The staff prepared isolation packs for both individual and whole class scenarios should any isolations be required in the autumn term. On 1st October 2020 a Reception class was the first to isolate. On the whole though, we had a very successful term with regards to progress and relative ‘normality.’
The emergence of the ‘Kent’ variant caused a further National Lockdown the day after we had returned to school on 4th January 2021. One day it was fine to have the whole school in, the next day it wasn’t and a further National Lockdown began.
From here the staff pulled out all the stops to revert to remote online learning whilst also accommodating key worker children within the class at the same time. Throughout this period, there was steady increase in the number of key worker children attending school. It was like playing ‘Pupil Tetris’ trying to adapt week on week to increasing requests to have children return to school but we managed it successfully. Again the staff were brilliant and we could not have asked anything more of them from adapting plans along the way, keeping in contact with pupils and parents and balancing in class and virtual learning. Teachers prepared weekly Home Learning Plans and Resources and embraced the digital way of communication via video conferencing using GoogleMeet. During this time our support staff delivered interventions both within school and online for those pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
From 8th March pupils returned to school once again with staff settling the children back into school life and routines for a second time. I think all of us agreed there was a huge sigh of relief. We all know that children are best catered for in the classroom and this is the natural environment that our staff are used to working in. there was a false sense of security over the next few weeks and into the summer term as cases and hospitalisations fell across the country only to start rising again in the second half of the summer term and more classes had to isolate on a regular basis over a four week period with some of pupils and staff finishing the academic year in isolation.
Below is the chronological isolation of classes for the academic year.
1.10.20 RJM
13.10.20 4AF
23.10.20 5KR
24.11.20 5LF & 2FS
22.03.21 2AJ & 5KR
21.06.21 1RC
28.06.21 6LG
30.06.21 RJE
(8.07 .21 ) 5KR
(09.07.21) N & 5LF
(12.07.21) 2AJ
Over the course of the year the school was very mindful of the impact of the lockdown from 2020 and then the Spring 2021 Lockdown and the detrimental effect that this had on a number of our pupils where it was clear that anxiety levels had increased. Nurture groups were established for these pupils and staff supported pupil through a variety of activities including using the willow enclosure and school garden/greenhouse. Bike4Health also provided our Year 4 pupils with the opportunity to get some much needed physical exercise by exploring our many waggon ways and cycling routes that are in close proximity to the school. The school also took part in National School Sports Week in June and participated regularly with the daily mile over the course of the summer term to enhance and improve the physical and mental well-being of our pupils.
Our school continues to focus on developing a lifelong love of reading and Mrs Wallace, who is leading on this brought a wealth of activities across the school. These included Live Author Workshops, an online event with Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell, a winter mini reading challenge, World Book Day, a Readathon, magazine subscriptions for every year group, launched a virtual library on our website, a KS2 reading questionnaire to help school purchase books for the new KS2 reading scheme.
Our wonderful and supportive Parents’ Association worked creatively throughout the year to help raise valuable additional funds for the school and were very keen to support visits once these were allowed. A huge thank you to ‘The Team.’
We are grateful to everyone connected with Cullercoats Primary who make this community school a wonderful, caring and happy environment for our pupils.
Mrs S Caveney & Mrs K Regan (Joint Chairs of the Governing Body) & Mr G Storey (Headteacher)
November 2021
