MATRAVERS School governors have reported on the work they do and the challenges faced this year due to the pandemic.
They say, “School governors exist to set the vision for a school, its medium and long term objectives to achieve that vision and to hold the school’s senior staff to account for meeting them. Our Vision for Matravers School is “Creating the best opportunities for all those in our Matravers family”.
So who are we?
“A couple of parents of current school pupils, a couple of staff members, one of whom is the Head and the rest just ordinary people from the local community.
“Current governors include a pastor, a retired social worker, a retired HR manager, an office manager, a retired teacher, an IT manager and a retired telecoms engineer but most importantly, people who have something positive to contribute to improving the school and a bit of time and commitment to do so.
“As the only senior school in Westbury, Matravers is the channel to the successful future lives of most of Westbury’s young people and therefore vital for the future of the town.
“In “normal” times we would be holding regular face to face meetings at the school with the Head and his senior team.
“On those occasions we would be hearing about performance achieved against local and national standards on such matters as examination results, attendance etc. We would be hearing about trends in the school’s resources such as the vital income from the local authority; what have been the major areas of expenditure; significant changes in staff, an essential resource; developments with the school’s infrastructure such as buildings and equipment.
“They would be updating us on progress towards achieving the objectives set.
“We would be questioning them about a range of achievements and about areas of income and expenditure, as well as what the school is proposing to spend its precious resources on and why.
“On occasions we would be visiting the school during a normal day to see for ourselves how the objectives set are filtering through to the classroom. We would be talking to pupils and staff to get their feedback.
“Then along comes something like a pandemic on a scale not witnessed by any of us in our lifetimes. This is soon followed by major restrictions imposed on the population and subsequently schools.
“Most pupils are to be confined to home, accessing learning on-line; initially the school is to remain open but only for the children of key workers and those pupils who may need a little extra support during these difficult times.
“No-one has any idea how long this will all last but with a virus spread around the world that has the potential to kill many vulnerable people and no effective treatment in sight, it is certain to be a lot longer than a few weeks
“So, how do governors react to that? What is their role now? What do we actually do in this incredible and unprecedented situation? How does all this impact on our vision and objectives for the school?
“At this point, the school’s senior management team developed a Covid-19 response plan and presented this to the governing board. We reviewed this in detail, checking that it looked effective and robust before giving it our approval.
“First and foremost, we wanted to ensure that the health and wellbeing of all students and school staff wasn’t compromised
“The governing board responded by reverting from on-site meetings to meeting ‘virtually’ via Microsoft Teams.
“Our initial approach was to ensure the school had an immediate response plan in place, then to give the school the breathing space to develop and implement that plan. We held a Chairs and Headteacher’s meeting at which we sketched out our joint approach for the rest of the academic year and quickly established a routine of providing effective governance remotely.
“The approach was to plan for the gradual return to normal operation at some time in the future, whilst focusing very much on the wellbeing of more than 1,000 pupils and staff within the school.
“We soon re-established ‘governance as usual’ and continued our focus on our core functions, and on overseeing the delivery of the school’s vision, albeit in extremely challenging circumstances.
“Now of course the school has returned to full operation for all of its pupils, albeit in a school environment completely different from what they have been used to.
“There is no doubt that the school’s ability to deal with this unique situation so effectively is entirely down to the strength of the staff team. Their dedication, perseverance and determination to create as safe a learning environment as possible has been extraordinary.
“As governors, having reviewed and approved the operating plans through the crisis, we had to largely “look on from the side lines” whilst providing as much support as possible to the staff implementing them – an unusual experience for all of us.”
