Our annual Governors Day 2020 took place on Tuesday of this week.Physical in-person and virtual online meetings took place with our hardworking Heads of Faculty and also with a selection of Student Leaders in each subject area. In addition to this some Governors also took the opportunity to go on informative tours of the school with our newly appointed Student Covid-19 Champions. Student Voice as always was heard loud and clearly throughout the day and all the Governors I spoke to really enjoyed their time at the school connecting in with staff and students.

Feedback from the PE and Health Faculty

The Governors Day on Tuesday 10th November was a very positive experience for the PE and Health Faculty. It was great to meet the new PE Link Governor Mr Haines who clearly has a passion for sport and physical activity. It was an excellent opportunity for Mr Cartledge to discuss the many challenges that the Covid situation has brought to PE and how the PE staff have strived to make sure all BMS students continue to lead a healthy, active lifestyle. Mr Haines was particularly impressed with how the summer activity challenge had inspired many of the students to participate in sport with their families. It was also an excellent opportunity to update Mr Haines on the various courses we offer in KS4 and KS5 and the progress that students are making. The latter part of the meeting saw students from Years 7 – 12 discuss the impact the lockdown has had on their participation in sport. All of the students were really positive about the systems put in place in school to ensure they could continue playing sport in a safe learning environment. The issue of lunchtime sports opportunities was discussed with some proposals made. All in all it was a very worthwhile event.

Mr Cartledge, Head of PE and Health Faculty

Feedback from the More Able Link Governor Session

The student leaders who met with Mrs Luxton were Cameron, Megan, Vikyrthan, Yehen, Kavya and Vritika. The students spoke about their experiences and opportunities during the last four years being part of the More Able programme throughout this time. Yehen said “It’s nice that we don’t get to become overly confident as there is always something else to learn about – you can never think you know it all.” Cameron spoke about how lockdown led to varying experiences and he really missed having the teacher actually in front of him. Megan was keen to draw out the positives from the whole covid experience and said she had developed greater independence and felt more confident about teaching herself new things. Mrs Luxton asked about how the students were feeling about their PPEs and Vritika explained that the school was being very supportive and giving them the right messages, her favourite being “Don’t stress, do your best, forget the rest”. The key message here being not to worry about the things you can’t control, really trying your best with the things you can control and allowing yourself to be really proud of that.

Mr Varsani, Assistant Headteacher

Feedback from the MFL Faculty

As the Head of Faculty I had a positive virtual meeting with Mr Frederick, the Governor for MFL, who enjoyed hearing about our students’ progress and the creativity of MFL teachers with regard to interactive online resources. The MFL student leaders chatted confidently about their enjoyment of the subject and the importance of languages with regard to future employment opportunities.

Mrs Charles, Head of MFL Faculty

Feedback from the Maths Faculty

The Maths Student Leaders enjoyed meeting the Link Governor and Vice Chair of Governors Mrs Raymond and spoke about the recent challenges and how they and the school are overcoming them. They also spoke about their learning in Maths and the areas they feel they are benefitting from, as well as giving some excellent ideas on how to improve further.

Mr Donovan, Head of Maths Faculty

Feedback from the English Faculty

The English Faculty had a productive meeting with the Chair of Governors and Link Governor for English, Ms Hoeksma. The discussion focussed on the challenges faced through the lockdown and beyond and the strategies put in place to manage these and move forward. They will be meeting again in a couple of weeks to talk further about our ideas for the future.

Ms Court, Head of Faculty English

Feedback from the Humanities and Social Sciences faculty

During my face-to-face meeting with Mrs Georgiou our Link Governor we talked about how the faculty kept students moving forward during lockdown and whether there had been much staff or student absence yet this term. The discussion was very much about the impact and how we were bridging the gaps and keeping everyone safe. When the six student leaders joined us, each student provided a different perspective of their lockdown experience and school life this term, as each were from a different year group. Students also discussed what they felt was going well but shared some EBI suggestions.

I would like to thank everyone involved in making the day such as success. I know our hardworking and dedicated Governors really appreciated the effort made in these somewhat challenging times. It definitely helps them gain an even fuller and deeper understanding of our great school and supports them with the important work that they do in all the Governor Committee Meetings that take place throughout the year to support out journey of ongoing school improvement.