Governor Update #1

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have all had a wonderful start to the year and enjoyed the school play, Neverland, written by the pupils themselves.  Perhaps my favourite part of the Christmas celebrations at Osborne was helping with the Student Shopping Event with FOS.  We all dressed up in Christmas jumpers and elf hats and helped the pupils choose their family gifts then wrapped them and helped them where necessary with the labels.  Such fun and a great opportunity to use Makaton with the pupils – it is fantastic to see how they have progressed over the last year, especially some whom I have known since they were tiny.

The Governors have hit the ground running this term.  As part of the leadership of the school, we need to have an idea of where we are going and last term we had a whole day session where we planned the direction of the school for the next three years so we could focus our School Development Plan around this framework.  This means that all our governor visits to the school will have clear aims with a clear arc of progress over the next few years. We will also aim to update parents, pupils and staff of our progress via ‘Governor updates’ on the website.

We have also had a good look at ourselves and worked out where our strengths and weaknesses are (some are good at finance, some bring experience of working with county or business, some have greater knowledge about sensory issues or autism for instance and the parent governor experience is vital).  So, as the Training Governor, I can fill any knowledge gaps with courses as needed, and any training notes then become a library for the other governors to use.

All this means that we can monitor and contribute to how your school is developing which is incredibly exciting.  So if you see us going round the school, do stop and say hello – it would be great to talk to you.  And if you would like to join us we are very welcoming.  It is fascinating to have an insight into the school and to realise what an incredibly varied profile our pupils have and what amazing work Osborne does.

You can contact us through the school on admin@osborne.hants.sch.uk

Best wishes,

Marie-Louise Johnson