The Local Authority have recently given us a firm commitment that following the re-development of the school site, they plan to refurbish the Early Years building and turn it into a state funded nursery.   The governors have agreed that in principal, provided there is suitable investment, Morley would be very interested in submitting a tender to run the nursery.  Click here for more details about the proposed re-development.

Improving the outdoor space is a priority for children, staff, parents and governors. Last academic year, our plans to develop the playground were unexpectedly delayed due to issues around drainage. There were big implications for cost and the various suggested solutions impacted on how we could use the space. We now have enough information from surveyors to be able to move ahead with developing firmer plans. A playground working party with representation from staff, governors, parents and Friends of Morley was set up last term. It is developing a clear design brief based around our vision for the school. The design brief will be formally agreed by governors later this term and we will then ask a number of playground designers to come up with some initial thoughts. We will ask the designers with the most exciting ideas to present more detailed plans, from which we will choose the best. We are looking forward to have something concrete to show parents and children in the near future.

Governors have been looking again at how we inform parents about what governors have been up to.   Instead of a governor newsletter, we will be using the website, weekly newsletters and noticeboards as our main methods of communication.  We hope this will enable parents, carers and the wider community to better understand what we do, who we are and how to contact us.

Website

The school website is the main method of providing up to date communication between governors and parents.
On the website you can find the following information about the work of the Governing Body.

• Minutes of recent Governing Body meetings.
• Information about key decisions governors have taken. For example, you can find info about the proposed re-development work and the recruitment of a new head teacher. You can also find information about the parental questionnaire and the vision for the school.
• Governor blog.   New blog posts are posted on the home page and are then archived under “Governor News“.   The blog was introduced in Summer 2014 and the intention is to use it to provide more regular updates about the work of the governing body.
• Details of who the governors are, what our role is and how to get in touch.
• The annual governance statement, which summarises the work of the Governing Body over the previous academic year.
• A summary of how the Governing Body aims to communicate with parents.

Weekly Newsletter

Governors will use the weekly newsletter to give brief governor news and to inform parents that they can find further details on the school website. We hope to include a clickable link for those receiving the electronic version of the newsletter that will enable parents to click straight through to the relevant page on school’s website.

Noticeboards

There is a “Governors News” section on the noticeboard outside the main office with pictures and names of all the governors, information about how to contact us and the latest governor news.

Letters and Parentmail

Where appropriate, governors will use Parentmail and letters in book-bags to keep parents informed of particularly important pieces of information.

Face to Face

Governors sometimes meet with parents face to face to discuss particular issues. For example, in February 2014, governors were available on three separate occasions to talk to parents about the proposed re-development work.

Morley Matters Newsletter

In the past, the main method of communication between governors and parents was via Morley Matters, the governors’ newsletter.  The governors have decided to replace Morley Matters with communicating primarily through the website, weekly newsletter and noticeboards. We believe this will enable news to be given to parents more frequently and will provide a more rounded picture of the work of the governing body.

Back copies of Morley Matters are available to view here. Scroll down to the section on “Morley Matters”.

Future developments

The governing body regularly evaluates our practice and actively thinks about how we can introduce improvements. If you have any suggestions or ideas about how governors could improve our communication with parents, please feel free to get in touch by emailing chair@morley.cambs.sch.uk