Governor Visit - 14th October 2011

My name is Valerie Thompson, I am a school Governor and I visited the John Bramston on Friday 14th October 2011 to look at one of the School Improvement Priorities – Emotionally healthy pupils ready for learning.

The school has highlighted two success criteria, one being that lesson observations will show that pupils reflect on their learning and are willing to take risks and demonstrate resilience and secondly that pupils say that they feel safe, valued and cared for.

I began my visit by attending the sharing assembly with a large number of parents. We were treated to a variety of items including dancing from one class and a song from another. Each form teacher gave out awards for the week and I certainly saw many pupils feeling valued and praised. It was also an opportunity to observe that the pupils who did not receive an award at the assembly were very pleased for their classmates and supported them in their pleasure of winning.

During the morning, I visited years 2,3,4,5 and actively looked for the success criteria. I saw a variety of pupils, eagerly taking risks with their learning, by offering answers to difficult questions. Staff were encouraging all pupils in the class to stretch their comments and expand their answers to questions; to move them on to the next level of learning.

None of this is possible without an atmosphere of trust within a classroom and I feel that the pupils at John Bramston are in a very supportive environment, where they do feel safe, valued and cared for.
I look forward to working with the staff to ensure that this priority is achieved this year.I would like to thank all of the staff and children for making me feel so welcome during my visit.