Welcome from the Chair of Governors

Dear pupils, parents and friends of Rushton School,

I am proud to be chair of Governors at Rushton Church of England Primary School. We are a small village school at the centre of our community, but have welcomed pupils and their parents from a range of backgrounds and faiths from the surrounding areas who want to take advantage of being part of a small, friendly, happy Church of England school which was judged Outstanding by OFSTED in each of our last two inspections (most recently in 2014).

Our School motto is “Happy Learning Together” and is what everyone associated with the school can relate to and is something that visitors and friends quickly recognise to be true.

As a Governing Body we review our school aims regularly with the staff and believe these to be representative of what we strive for.

At Rushton we believe that learning should be fun, purposeful and challenging. Through our curriculum we aim to equip each child with the skills they need for lifelong learning. We aim to develop confident children, who are proud of their achievements. We will always celebrate success.

We aim to foster a Christian ethos and develop positive relationships with our local church, the village and wider community. Respect, care and kindness are all values that we will work hard to develop.

We believe that every child matters. Through positive attitudes and partnerships we endeavour to develop the whole child, meeting individual needs in a safe and secure environment where differences are celebrated.

We believe that good teamwork and positive partnerships – with individual children, the whole class, our colleagues, governors, parents and the wider community will lead to effective teaching, high standards and successful learning.

We have a full quorum of Governors on our Local Governing Body from all walks of life including parents from families who have had generations of children at our school and from those who have more recently moved here for the quality of life that rural living brings.

The Governing body is very lively and does what good Governing bodies should do; namely setting strategy and purpose, providing fiscal and procedural oversight as well as support and challenge to the Head teacher and staff.  We have link Governors for each of the curriculum subjects as well as for pupils with Special Needs and those who are receiving Pupil Premium. These Link governors meet the staff lead for these areas once a term and report back to the Governing body where we celebrate success as well as resolve any issues.

In 2019 we converted to become an Academy and, like several other Primary and First schools in Staffordshire Moorlands, we joined The Talentum Learning Trust (TTLT) – a multi-academy trust based locally in Leek.  This decision was made after considerable thought, consultation and investigation of several options. We believe that the local focus of TTLT which can look after children from nursery to leaving school with A-levels provides our children with the most seamless structure possible, and is efficient for us in running the school.

Our school takes pupils from reception age to the end of Year 4 when they will normally move to a local middle school. We also run a nursery with free places (30 hours a week) for children who have turned 3 years of age – this class is run with the Reception class so as well as structured play and flexibility suitable for their age, children can get to understand what awaits them when they move to Reception.

Since 2016 we have included Forest School in our curriculum – we are lucky to live in a beautiful part of England and to have substantial school grounds – and so Forest School builds on our environment and the pupils love this way of learning – irrespective of the weather!

Physical fitness is part of our curriculum. We have a new “mile a day” all-weather track that the children use to improve their fitness. There are after school sport clubs and the children have the opportunity to represent Rushton in local inter-school events.  We also offer other after school clubs and evening childcare is possible from a private company which uses the school hall for those whose parents can’t necessarily collect at the end of the school day.

It’s a great little school. Everyone is happy and friendly and looks out for everyone else. The staff are dedicated and constantly strive to meet the needs of every child, and parents and children are fully engaged in all aspects of school life.

If you have any questions, comments or would like to meet with me I’d love to hear from you – please email me at jpears@ttlt.org.uk or leave a message in school for me.

Best wishes.

John Pears

Our governors come from a wide range of backgrounds, and all fully support the school using their wealth of experience and local knowledge.

Governors email: rps.governors@ttlt.org.uk

The governors meet twice termly to ensure the school’s values and ethos are adhered to thoroughly and to ensure we fully succeed in our aims.

Governor Meeting Attendance

Meeting	Date	Present	Apologies	Absent
Summer Term Heads Standards and Budget	25th June 2020	J Pears	R Grindey
		S Cockersole	G Terry
		M Huddy	A Farr
		L Mellor	S Lovatt
		J Goodfellow
		A Lovatt
		E Roberts
		N Hughes
Spring Term Heads Report and Standards	18th March 2020	CANCELLED - due to school closure during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Spring Term Welfare and Resources	5th February 2020	J Pears	R Grindey
		S Cockersole	M Oliver
		M Huddy	A Farr
		E Roberts	S Lovatt
		G Terry
		L Mellor
		J Goodfellow
		A Lovatt
		N Hughes
Autumn Term Heads Report and Standards	27th November 2019	J Pears	J Goodfellow	R Grindey
		M Huddy	M Oliver
		S Cockersole	G Terry
		S Lovatt	L Mellor
		N Hughes
		E Roberts
Autumn Term Welfare and Resources	23rd October 2019	J Pears	M Huddy	R Grindey
		S Cockersole	M Oliver
		S Goodwin	E Roberts
		S Lovatt
		G Terry
		N Hughes
		J Goodfellow
		L Mellor
Autumn Term Admin and Data	18th September 2019	J Pears	G Terry
		S Cockersole	M Oliver
		M Huddy	N Hughes
		S Goodwin	R Grindey
		S Lovatt
		J Goodfellow
		E Roberts
		L Mellor

The Local Governing Body of Rushton  Primary School  ensure that governors and staff are not involved in activities that might conflict with their role within the school. It is especially important to demonstrate that individuals do not benefit personally from the decisions made by the governors, unless such decisions are made openly and legitimately. As such the register of interests must be available on the school website.

This register is updated fully each year and reviewed during the year.

Register of Pecuniary and Business Interests