N ews from the Queens’
Federation Governing Body
BUMPER EDITION! December 2011
Reviewing past and ongoing achievements and planning for the future
Who are we?
We are a body made up of governors elected by the
Queen s’ Edith and Emma parents, staff, the local authority and the Governing
Body itself
What are we doing?
Our formal role is to provide a strategic view of where the school is heading, and to hold it to account for the educational standards it achieves and the quality of education it provides.
When do we do it?
We hold full Governing Body meetings once every half-term. Three sub-committees meet ahead of the full meeting to focus on these areas:
(1) School Improvement;
(2) Resources; and
(3) Management & Communications.
Children and teaching
This year we say thanks and goodbye to retiring governors Neil Bharadwa, Helen
“There is strong evidence to demonstrate that the provision the school makes for its pupils is good.
Felton and Vincent Freeman and welcome six new parent governors: Nathalie Boyd, Rosie
Attainment is high, and achievement is consistently good. Leadership and management
Humphreys, Alison Maguire, Marianne Monie,
Sven Sewitz and Mark Wilson. are exceptionally strong and vulnerable children are identified quickly and targeted for support.
Teaching and learning is good, as is the
behaviour of the children.
We hope you are as excited as we are about the Science Learning Saturday to be held at
Queen Edith School on 28 January 2012. The pupils and families of Queen Emma and
Queen Edith children will be most welcome.
There will be something there for everyone
(see the bottom of the page for a taster).
“The school's skills-based curriculum is always being reviewed. Teachers have a secure knowledge of what they are teaching within their year groups. There is a balance across the subjects and good use is being made of blocking topics. The curriculum is enhanced by a wide range of extra activities to enrich experiences.
Learning is embedded in meaningful contexts and provision is enhanced by a good range of visits and visitors as well as extra-curricular activities.
At the end of last school year (July 2011)
Queen Edith School received a ‘Keeping-intouch’ report from our independent school improvement advisor Jane Rickell about the school’s performance. We’d like to share with you a selection of her conclusions.
“Pupil voice provides very positive feedback from children about their learning. They are highly engaged with the curriculum and are able to articulate clearly the extent to which they enjoy learning.
SCIENCE LEARNING SATURDAY – 28 JANUARY 2012 – QUEEN EDITH SCHOOL – ALL WELCOME banana DNA... bees... birds of prey... brains... cooking... felt-pen chromatography... ice cream... Inspector
Clueless (theatre show)... insect habitats... medicine... polar ice... rocket launching... seeds... a solarpowered car... sweets... tools and construction... yoga... zumba

Leadership and management
“There is an extremely effective partnership between the Headteacher and her Senior
Leaders and they have an excellent understanding of what the school does well and how it can improve further. This is shared explicitly with all staff and governors. As a result, everyone in the school shares a deep commitment to ensuring continuous improvement.
Good progress has been made since the last [full
OFSTED] inspection [in 2008], priorities are always identified accurately, addressed robustly and there is very good capacity for further improvement.
“Leadership is distributed extremely effectively.
Key senior leaders play a crucial role providing excellent role models and mentoring and coaching other members of staff exceptionally well. There is a tangible learning culture in the school.
“There is significant strength in the complementary skills of the members of the senior leadership team. All of whom demonstrate high levels of ambition for all pupils. Strong management systems are well embedded in the school, including processes for tracking pupil progress and regular pupil progress meetings which focus on any underachieving pupils and discuss any necessary actions to be taken.
“Subject leadership is strong and subject leaders work closely with the Headteacher and Senior
Leadership Team to determine the strategic development of their subjects.
“Self evaluation is accurate and senior leaders know precisely what the school does well and clearly identify what needs to be done next to secure further improvements. Weaknesses are
N ews from the Queens’
Federation Governing Body
BUMPER EDITION! December 2011 relentlessly pursued. The school continues to improve and welcomes the opportunity to open a new federated school. The highly effective distributed leadership contributes significantly to driving improvement.
The Governing Body
“Governors are highly involved in the school and justifiably proud of its achievements. They are highly involved, very committed and hardworking.
They have an extremely sound understanding of the strengths and identified priorities for the school. Their involvement in the process of opening the new school has been significant, demonstrating high levels of skill and commitment. They are well led, well informed and active in their pursuit of continuous improvement.
Governors have continued to be ambitious for the new school and meticulous in looking at detail at every level.
The Federation
“The fact that [Queen Edith] school has been so successful in its bid to open the new [Queen
Emma] school is a reflection of its good practice and reputation within the Local Authority. Strong appointments for the new school have further enhanced the capacity to improve further.
“The structure of the Federation has been successfully achieved through recent strong appointments who bring high levels of skills, knowledge and understanding. The experience of developing the Federation has provided the opportunity to reflect on current practice and the two schools working together will have a very positive impact on provision and outcomes."
SCIENCE LEARNING SATURDAY – 28 JANUARY 2012 – QUEEN EDITH SCHOOL – ALL WELCOME banana DNA... bees... birds of prey... brains... cooking... felt-pen chromatography... ice cream... Inspector
Clueless (theatre show)... insect habitats... medicine... polar ice... rocket launching... seeds... a solarpowered car... sweets... tools and construction... yoga... zumba

Each summer, assessments of children in
Reception, Year 2 and Year 6 are submitted to the Government and used to (a) monitor the school’s performance over time and
(b) compare our results with those nationally.
Below are some of the key highlights from last year’s (Summer 2011) results for Queen
Edith.
Foundation Stage
We were extremely pleased this year with the results of our Reception children in their endof-year Foundation Stage Profile. Overall,
81% of pupils reached at least the expected average score. The percentages achieving both average and above-average scores in
Reading and in Writing all rose significantly thanks to developments in our literacy teaching. In 2011-12, we will be developing our teaching of early calculation, as well as supporting those children who need additional help with their speech and language development.
Key Stage 1
By the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2), most children are expected to achieve Level 2 in
Reading, Writing and Maths. At Queen Edith in 2011, 88% of our pupils achieved at least
Level 2 in Reading and 84% achieved it in
Writing (both these scores are higher than the national average). In Maths, only 81% of pupils achieved at least a Level 2, which was a smaller proportion than in previous years.
N ews from the Queens’
Federation Governing Body
BUMPER EDITION! December 2011
This was due to an unusually large group of weak mathematicians in the year group. We are supporting these children closely at the start of Key Stage 2. The percentage of pupils achieving the higher Level 3 rose slightly this year in Reading, and fell slightly in Maths and Writing.
Key Stage 2
By the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6), most children are expected to achieve Level 4 in
Reading, Writing and Maths, with high achievers expected to achieve a Level 5. In
2011, our results at the end of Key Stage 2 remained strong, with 79% of Year 6 pupils achieving at least Level 4 in both English and
Maths (4% above the national average).
Whatever their starting points from the end of
Year 2, most pupils at Queen Edith (87% in
English, 88% in Maths) made at least the expected 2 levels of progress during their time with us in Key Stage 2.
Our results in Maths have remained consistently high for the past 5 years, with
87% of Year 6 pupils achieving at least a
Level 4 and 45% achieving a Level 5 in 2011
(both well above the national average). Our
Level 4 Reading results rose again this year
(after a slight dip last year) to 87% and were once again above the national average. An impressive 55% of pupils achieved a Level 5 in Reading. Our Writing results were more mixed, with a slight drop at Level 4 (to 69%) but a rise at Level 5 (to 22%). Key Stage 2 teachers are continuing to make a concerted effort to raise standards in writing, with a particular focus this year on helping children to plan and organise their work and to write at greater length.
SCIENCE LEARNING SATURDAY – 28 JANUARY 2012 – QUEEN EDITH SCHOOL – ALL WELCOME banana DNA... bees... birds of prey... brains... cooking... felt-pen chromatography... ice cream... Inspector
Clueless (theatre show)... insect habitats... medicine... polar ice... rocket launching... seeds... a solarpowered car... sweets... tools and construction... yoga... zumba

For 2010-11, our overall attendance rate for children from Years 1-6 at Queen Edith was
95% which is higher than the national average. This (2011-12) year we hope to improve on this by achieving a 95.5% attendance rate.
Good attendance has a huge impact on a child’s progress and achievement at school and therefore on their life chances.
At Queen Edith, school starts at 8.55am and all children should be in the playgrounds by then, ready to come into school to start the first lesson promptly. A late child will miss essential information given out at the start of the day and delay the first lesson for the whole class.
If you know in advance that your child will be absent from school (e.g. for a hospital appointment), please let the office know as soon as possible. Teachers may then be able to plan to ensure that your child does not miss a vital lesson, such as the start of a new maths or literacy topic.
On the first day of a child’s absence, please contact the office to give the reason for the absence.
What the school is doing to promote good attendance
The School monitors attendance and lateness in detail and so is in a good position to follow-up individual children and parents if necessary.
N ews from the Queens’
Federation Governing Body
BUMPER EDITION! December 2011
You’ll help us keep effective and accurate records if, when reporting an absence to the school office, you give the reason why your child is away so that we can attribute the appropriate absence code (we have 18 of them!)
We have an Educational Welfare Officer
(EWO) who will write to or meet parents of children for whom lateness or absence has become a significant issue.
An incentive to encourage children to be aware of the importance of good attendance and punctuality was introduced last year. You may have heard of the adventures of Snowy the Bear, a cuddly toy, looked after by the class in school which has the best current attendance record.
What else can parents do to promote good attendance?
You can continue to help by

only keeping children off school for genuine illness

not taking holidays in term-time

where possible, arranging medical and dental appointments after school and in the holidays

establishing good routines in the morning so getting to school on time is a priority, not a rush

not allowing children days off for shopping or birthdays
For further information, please see the
Attendance Policy on the school website http://queenedithschool.org.uk/uploads/Policies/At tendance%20Policy%20Nov%202011.pd
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SCIENCE LEARNING SATURDAY – 28 JANUARY 2012 – QUEEN EDITH SCHOOL – ALL WELCOME banana DNA... bees... birds of prey... brains... cooking... felt-pen chromatography... ice cream... Inspector
Clueless (theatre show)... insect habitats... medicine... polar ice... rocket launching... seeds... a solarpowered car... sweets... tools and construction... yoga... zumba