Let’s Catch Up How did the year go? What did we achieve? What’s next?
Wow, I can’t believe a whole year has gone by already. We’re at the end of the summer term! I thought we could use this issue of the Governors’ Newsletter to reflect on the wonderful things we’ve achieved at Grove House over 2016/17.
One of our goals this year was to improve our contact and communication with parents. Hopefully you feel we’ve achieved this. I got the chance to meet some of you at Parents’ Evening, and I know other Governors have attended Open Evenings. We’ll be around at the Summer Fayre too, so come and say hi.
Our School Improvement Partner graded us at outstanding. This is a wonderful achievement. The centre staff have worked so hard over the year, and it’s obviously paid off!
The Governing Body are here to work for you! If you'd like to talk to us then get in touch. You can email the Chair (admin@grovehousecc.com) or meet us in person at Parents' Evenings, Open Evenings, and Centre Fayres.
We look forward to meeting you!
Rakes Parmar - Being a Governor
As Chair of Governors, I am driven by a desire to get the best for all the children who come to Grove House, as well as their families and the wider community in Southall. More than anything else, being a parent I am passionate that Grove House provides for the best possible Early Years experience. I just wanted to highlight the very high-performing senior leadership team I work with which has secured 6 outstanding Ofsted results in the last 5 years – this demonstrates the very high standards we aspire to. I know you will be in good hands. In terms of our values, we embrace diversity and appreciate how important it is to engage with, understand, and respect people from all backgrounds. I work within a Governing Body that makes a positive contribution, at the centre of what is going on and what is going to happen by being accountable and holding to account, dealing with and resolving issues, facilitating decision making, providing guidance with our expertise and managing risks. Our aim is to see that Grove continues to be at the forefront of outstanding practice in Early Years education. Early years is one of the most interesting places to be involved in. It is certainly a privilege to continue to be part of it. I hope that your experience will be as rewarding as mine and that you receive the best start in education for your child.
William Mayor - Governor Visit
One of the best parts of being a Governor is the Governor visit. We get to sit down with the staff and chat about their work; to really see how things work on a day-to-day basis. We then get to visit the classroom; we play some games, maybe do some art, or some cooking, all while enjoying the enthusiasm and joy that the children at Grove project.
This year I organised two visits. The first was to talk to Jo Dabir-Alai about the new Sustained Shared Thinking model that Grove are now using. It’s a very exciting way to run a classroom, where the children are encouraged to not only ask their own questions, but to explore their own solutions. Adults are there to help out, but not to provide answers. There’s a great display board in orange tree that goes into more details. All I can say is, it makes me wish I were a child again (although my wife says I already am).
The second visit was with Helen Mayor, to talk (perhaps less excitingly) about assessments and data collection. It’s an important part of running a school, and an important part of being a Governor is to read and understand the results. I was working with Helen to come up with ways to present the data to the Governing Body in a way that we could all understand. Fun stuff if you’re a stats nerd like me.
I only managed two visits this year, I’m hoping to organise more next year. I’ll keep you all informed of the fun and exciting things that are happening!