I am delighted that our Chair of Governors, Dr. Ahmed, is the guest writer of the blog this week. News of our recent sporting success will have to wait until after half term!

 

"I am delighted to share with you what the Governing Body have been doing so far this year. I am excited to have the privilege of being elected as chair for another year and Nav Kullar as my deputy.

 

The Governing Body is responsible for the strategic direction of the school, and for providing challenge to Mr. Woolf and his senior team. The Governors have been involved with the school since before it opened, and we have added parents and staff to our number over the last two years. This year we have evolved a new committee structure to ensure our support and challenge for the school is even more effective. We have an Achievement and Standards committee and a Finance and Risk Committee, alongside the Full Governing Body. Mr. Woolf and his team provide us with detailed reports on all aspects of school life, and we cross reference these with the numerous inspection reports we receive, as well as our own findings. Scrutiny of these reports take time, but we have a skilled team of Governors who have a range of skills that ensure we can interpret them accurately. We also visit the school to meet with our school links, observe learning walks, sit on interview panels, review data and policies, take part in internal and external inspections and I run student voice. This enables me to hear directly from the students. I feel we have an excellent working relationship with the school and at the foundation of all we do is: how does what we do impact student outcomes. Our Governors reflect the culture, vision and ethos of the school and we are always looking for ways to improve. We have been accepted onto the Department of Education ‘Governor Space’ programme to enhance our own training and evaluation to ensure we can keep the school at the ‘leading edge’, as our inspection report says.

 

I am sure you will agree that the school is in excellent health. We are delighted to have reached almost 500 students and we know the school is becoming a destination of choice for teachers. Our recent Open Evening was a great success!

 

Whilst we are delighted with all of this, and the most recent report from the Department for Education, there is no sense of complacency in the Governing Body about the task ahead. Our opening years have certainly lived up to all we had hoped, but our Trailblazing students are now embarking on their GCSEs, our £4.2 million final phase of refurbishment will begin in the spring, and we continue to grow in size every year. We are excited about the challenges this brings, and the future of Pinner High School. I’d like to thank the dedicated staff of the school for all they do to provide opportunities for the students, and the students themselves for bringing life to the Pinner High School Values. Your support for this is crucial too. Governors’ initial vision for an ‘inclusive school for the whole community’ is one we keep central through the exciting phases of our development."

 

Dr. Ahmed, Chair of Governors