November 2001

Membership of the Governing Body 2001/2002

Thanks

Chair’s Report

Admissions Committee

Curriculum Committee

On behalf of the governors of Nonsuch, it gives me great pleasure to present this report on the many activities and achievements of Nonsuch High School for Girls during the past academic year. This report covers the 2000/2001 academic year, but I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all pupils and staff who have joined Nonsuch this term and trust that they will have an enjoyable and successful time at the school.

There has been excellent academic success attained by pupils at all levels in the past year. This, together with the large and varied programme of extracurricular activities, has ensured that the school continues to be a popular choice in our area. In the coming year pupils will see the completion of the current building works on the site and the opening of our new Sports facilities; indeed they can already play hockey on the all-weather pitch. In March, Nonsuch was recognised with a School Achievement Award and in July was given Beacon Status. The School Achievement Award recognises the school’s outstanding academic results compared with similar schools and being a Beacon School provides opportunities for staff to share their ideas and expertise with partner schools in the locality.

The extracurricular programme at Nonsuch provides a wealth of interest and opportunities and in the past year has included: a Junior school production of Pygmalion; Science Week activities; the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme; national recognition and funding for the Astronomy Society; visits to theatres and the exciting opportunity for the Chamber Choir to sing in Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hank’s new serial, Band of Brothers. The activities organised within the House system are growing in number and have included a Drama Festival, Talent Show and an American Day. In addition the school looks to provide opportunities for pupils to experience life in Europe with a study week in Barcelona for pupils taking GCSE Spanish; the exchange visit to Minden for pupils taking GCSE German and a Year 8 visit to Normandy to sample French culture and cuisine. The energetic and adventurous went skiing in America and during August, a Year 8 water-sports week was enjoyed in France.

Recruitment and retention of staff is a national issue that you will have noted in the news. Despite national teacher shortages in some subjects we are fortunate in continuing to have a full complement of subject specialists on the staff. Autumn 2000 saw long awaited improvements to facilities for staff with a refurbished staff room, a workroom and additional departmental offices. Throughout 2000–2001 the staff and pupils have shown considerable patience in coping with a succession of much-needed refurbishments and extensions to the school.

All the achievements of the past 12 months, and developments planned for future require more than a dedicated staff and supportive Governing Body. Participation by both pupils and parents is also essential to the success of the school, and I would like to thank you for supporting the school’s aim of providing excellence in girls’ education. The governors welcome your views on school life and we hope that at the AGM you will join a general discussion to consider some of the opportunities for Nonsuch pupils in the coming years.

If you have a question you would like to raise at the AGM I can assure you of a more complete answer if I receive the question in writing before the meeting. Please forward questions to the Bursar by 26 November.

Donna Evans

Chair of Governors

November 2001

The Admissions Committee meets three times a year and considers all aspects of the arrangements for the admission of pupils to Nonsuch. The school’s Admissions Policy, which covers entry into all years, is reviewed annually. There were no amendments to the admissions arrangements for September 2000.

The Committee pays particular attention to the admission arrangements for Year 7, which are operated jointly with Wallington High School for Girls. The admissions to Year 7 in September 2000 followed criteria agreed in 1995, which are designed to ensure that the greatest number of girls is recruited from the immediate locality of the two schools. This policy has continued to ensure that over 95% of the girls live within 5 kilometres of Nonsuch.

In response to the increasing school population in Sutton, Nonsuch increased the intake at Year 7 from five to six forms of entry in September 1999. Accordingly, 180 girls were selected for entry in September 2000 from just over 700 applications. Despite the increased enrolment, the Governing Body declined to increase the "Top 40" category within the entry criteria. This has further concentrated selection from the school’s immediate locality and reinforced the school’s reputation as a community school.

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

The Curriculum Committee is responsible for ensuring that the school meets the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and monitors the performance of individual departments. It is responsible for setting the school’s annual examination targets and recommending these to the Governing Body. The Committee met on five occasions during the year.

The Committee reviewed two curriculum areas during the year. Mr F Wilson gave a presentation on the organisation and monitoring of work placements for all pupils in Year 11. Work placements provide pupils
with valuable experiences that can benefit them in their evaluation of possible career choices and some 150 companies and organisations participate in the work placement scheme. Each year, contact is made with companies to establish the availability of places and risk assessment visits are organised to companies new to Nonsuch or where there may be obvious safety implications.

In May, the Committee discussed with Mr Sides, the Head of Languages, the report of an external review of his department. The Committee was pleased to receive an excellent external report which stated that at all levels pupils show very positive attitudes to language study, working enthusiastically and intensively on a wide range of tasks. The report also observed that there is an exceptional level of quality of teaching from a highly committed team of teachers and that the leadership and management of the department are excellent.

The results of the examination in 2001 can be found in Appendix 2. The published targets were met with 100% of pupils achieving five A*–C grades with an average point score per pupil of 70.57. The average point score per pupil exceeded the target set of 64.5 and represents a notable achievement by the pupils and their teachers. Two pupils were particularly successful and achieved marks in the top five scores for all entrants in the subject.

The A-level results for 2001 (Appendix 3) show an improvement on 2000, with a substantial 51.3% of passes being at A or B grades and an average score of 6.76 points per entry (excluding General Studies). Results for General Studies showed a pleasing improvement on the previous year. Nearly all pupils achieved their UCAS offers or accepted alternative offers resulting in university places on a wide variety of courses for all that wanted them. Oxbridge colleges accepted a record eight pupils and four pupils begin at medical school this autumn. The Curriculum Committee acknowledges the hard work put in by all the staff to keep up the high standards of achievement and congratulates all the pupils involved in public examinations last year for their endeavour and efforts.

The Finance Committee is responsible for all financial matters and recommends the annual budget to the Governing Body. It is also responsible for monitoring the monthly management accounts prepared by the Bursar and for regular reviews of the school’s three-year financial forecast. The Committee meets more frequently than the other standing committees and met on seven occasions during 2000/2001.

Monthly meetings follow an established agenda which includes a review of the monthly management accounts, consideration of reports on the coming year’s budget forecast and regular reviews of various income and expenditure items within the budget.

At the end of the 2000/2001 year, the revenue account (which includes government grants to meet the school’s day-to-day running costs) showed a surplus of £215, which was in line with expectations and the break-even budget agreed by the Governing Body. The amount taken to reserves was £81,837, which was almost totally within private funds. The financial statements for 2000/2001 are presented in Appendix 11.

The Committee is pleased that the well-established budgeting and financial reporting procedures enable continuing prudent control over the school’s income and expenditure. This has allowed the Governing Body to target significant funds towards computer hardware and software in support of the school’s cross-curricular approach to Information and Communication Technology. All three ICT rooms are now equipped with modern high specification workstations running industry standard software which is compatible with the computers that many students now have access to at home.

The school’s Leadership Group has also been able to introduce targeted funding in response to bids from heads of curriculum departments for items identified in their departmental development plans. The targeted funding, which is in addition to formula-based funding for departmental consumable expenditure, totalled £20,000 in the 2000/2001 financial year and is expected to double in the current financial year.

It is hoped to enhance the school's finances through the exploitation of the school's sports facilities currently being completed by David Lloyd Leisure. Proposals for commercial lettings, which will provide additional rental and lettings income are in the process of being evaluated. These additional funds, together with the invaluable School Fund resources, will allow the Governing Body to ensure that education for pupils at Nonsuch is supported by excellent equipment in pleasant and well-maintained surroundings.

The Personnel Committee is responsible for ensuring that the Governing Body’s responsibilities as an employer are properly discharged and also considers all staffing issues. Members assist with appointment interviews where appropriate and are pleased to report that the school is fully staffed with highly qualified, subject specialists, despite the well publicised problems in teacher recruitment.

Ongoing review and updating of policy notes represents a major part of our work. The Whole School Pay Policy was revised to take account of changes to the Teachers’ Pay and Conditions; the Leave of Absence Policy was revised to include new parental leave entitlement, maternity and paternity regulations. New Performance Management Policies were considered and approved for teaching and non-teaching staff. They are now operating successfully and staff have welcomed the increased professional development opportunities which have arisen out of these discussions. A Recruitment and Selection Policy incorporated current good practice in school and a policy on Governors’ Allowances was recommended, based on the London Borough of Sutton’s model.

The staffing structure is reviewed annually taking into account curriculum requirements and budgetary restrictions. Support was given to the restructuring of the catering staff with revised working arrangements.

Progress with Health and Safety issues was reviewed, particularly in relation to risk assessments for all job descriptions. Following national guidance, a clause relating to the use of ICT by staff was also included in staff job descriptions.

Governors are currently considering possible ways of relieving the administrative burden on teachers and will be making recommendations shortly. There is also ongoing discussion on the best use of the recruitment and retention grant.

The Premises Committee considers all matters relating to the buildings and grounds and is responsible for recommending repairs, improvements and developments to the Governing Body. The committee met on four occasions during the academic year and members of the committee visited the school on numerous other occasions. The Committee made a particular point of inspecting the safety procedures operated by the main contractor undertaking the works to the David Lloyd Leisure development.

The year has been marked by the notable increase in capital funding by the government, which has allowed the Governing Body to address some major refurbishment projects. The school will now benefit from the following major developments.

During the year, Mr Cliff Haynes, a parent governor, worked with the school’s Site Manager, Mr Graham Cowan, to plan a complete refurbishment of the school’s canteen and kitchen. Work commenced immediately after the end of the summer term, and despite the unexpected need to fill in an old air-raid shelter that was discovered under the canteen, the team completed the project within budget. In spite of tight deadlines and the almost inevitable difficulties with contractors, the work was completed in time for the start of the autumn term. I congratulate them on your behalf for a greatly improved facility that is much appreciated by students and staff alike.

Notification of a capital grant to replace the school’s ageing oil-fired heating boilers was received in June. An unexpected requirement was that the grant should be spent before the end of the financial year, and this necessitated urgent and at times, frantic negotiations, to ensure that the work could be completed before the onset of colder weather in the autumn. At the time of writing, the work is well advanced and we look forward to efficient gas-fired boilers becoming operational by the autumn 2001 half-term.

A further government grant allowed governors to approve the installation of an entirely new fire-alarm system during the summer 2001 holiday period. The addressable system incorporates call points throughout the school and includes heat and smoke detectors in higher risk areas such as boiler houses, laboratories and storage areas. The system incorporates magnetic hold-backs on fire doors, and this has greatly aided circulation throughout the school during lesson changes.

A third government grant allowed the task of refurbishing a third chemistry laboratory to start during the summer holiday period. Problems with furniture supply delayed completion of the work until after the start of the Autumn term 2001 and some remedial work will be necessary until after half-term. We are pleased to have had three of our laboratories refurbished in the last two years.

After more than two years of negotiations, work on the David Lloyd Centre and associated school facilities finally started in late-March. Despite the size of the project, work has continued with relatively little inconvenience to the school. We are, however, grateful to Mrs Cohen and the Music Department who have operated throughout the summer and autumn terms in a variety of temporary buildings and to Mrs Brameld and the Drama Department who have also relocated to temporary accommodation.

Building work is now well advanced and the school’s new sports hall, changing rooms and PE classroom are rapidly taking shape adjacent to the new classroom block. The all-weather pitch has already been handed over to the school the PE department and students alike are enjoying the benefits of a top class facility.

The new music suite, which is being built above the existing main school hall, is even closer to completion and will be ready in late November. We are very excited at the prospect of the new music suite that is built to the latest DfES acoustic standards and will provide two large music classrooms, nine music practice rooms, a recording studio, office and musical instrument store.

In conclusion, the Committee is delighted with the considerable progress that has been made during the year with a number of major refurbishment and improvement projects.

The school’s Leadership Group and the Site Management team routinely review security. Formal responsibility rests with the Governors’ Premises Committee, which regularly reviews various aspects of school security.

During the year, work commended on a major initiative to introduce personal identity cards for staff and students. Work started in the early spring to identify a suitable system that was flexible enough to include functions such as library issuing control, cashless catering and controlled door entry. A "smart card" system was eventually selected and to date, all staff and students have been photographed and the new cards printed. Issuing of the cards is scheduled to begin in mid-autumn 2001. Students will be required to carry their personal identity card at all times whilst on school premises and all teaching and support staff will be required to display their cards at all times. Looking to the future, it is intended to introduce cashless catering which will improve security by removing the need for girls to carry cash for use in the school canteen.

During the academic year, the school received an additional grant from the Government’s School Security initiative and this was used to fund a further extension to the school’s CCTV system. All exterior doors are now under constant CCTV surveillance and the number of internal monitors has been increased to improve the level of supervision by support staff.

An important part of staff and student security is the fire evacuation practice and termly evacuations take place without warning. The works to the main playing field have, of necessity, required the fire assembly point to be moved to the school’s netball courts. Access to these is currently being improved to facilitate safe and efficient assembly following a fire evacuation.

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The Governing Body is committed to ensuring that all students and staff operate within a safe working environment. The Governor responsible for Health and Safety is Mr Brian Doonar and he has worked with the Bursar and Site Manager in continuing to raise awareness of Health and Safety related issues.

During the year, the Site Manager started the introduction of room risk assessments. This is conducted on a departmental basis and individual teachers are being inducted into the process of assessing potential risks within their own working environments. The results are documented and will contribute to the school maintaining its safety conscious attitude.

Risk assessment statements have also been incorporated into the school’s formal documentation for School Visits, which was formally approved by the Curriculum Committee. Staff leading either day or residential visits are now required to complete a risk assessment statement which is intended to identify and address potential risks prior to the start of the activity.

The school’s Health and Safety Committee meets half-termly and the minutes of these meetings are reviewed regularly by the Personnel and Premises Committees.

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Other main providers of training included the Universities of London, Oxford Brookes, and Surrey. Links with Oxbridge have been maintained and extended.

Other providers have included MDL; SfE; Cornwall College; Sovereign Education; the English and Media Centre; The Institute of Education, SWELTEC and King’s College. Expertise from other schools has been accessed, for example, by Jan Moncrieff in using ICT in Art, Jenny Singleton attending ICT in D&T and from local Heads of Sixth Form meetings.

Training in the electronic admissions system of UCAS was undertaken and a pilot will be run this autumn with one tutor group. The Key Skills initiative has been the subject of several courses as we prepare to offer an ICT Key Skills qualification in Y13. Preparatory training has also been undertaken for the introduction of Citizenship. We have kept abreast of developments in funding of sixth forms when the Learning Skills Councils take over 16+ organisation of education and training.

Each newly qualified teacher (NQT) received a full programme of guidance in school and the opportunity to attend courses off-site, which were useful to their development. All will complete their induction year successfully. One part-time NQT left at Easter to continue her induction differently; we made a satisfactory initial report with targets for improvement clearly indicated. In addition we have had five student teachers from King’s undertaking Post Graduate Certificate of Education placements in ICT, Biology, and Religious Studies.

The on-site meetings with A-level examiners arranged by the Head of Mathematics for her department have been well attended by local schools. Under the New Opportunities Funded ICT training, the Science Department has several staff who have successfully completed the Association of Science Education training. Three members of the Science department also attended the ASE conference at Surrey University. On-site training by James Garnett and Philip Bird in Information Technology under the New Opportunities Fund initiative has been valuable and supplemented by off site courses.

INSET days in school have focussed on classroom observation, Development Planning and Performance Management, as well as providing departments with time to review achievements against targets.

The science technicians have been trained in microscope maintenance and on an INSET day all technicians had on site training in electrical equipment. Our previous librarian, Jackie May undertook ICT training for the introduction of a new system of issuing books.

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At the beginning of each academic year the progress of girls with known special needs is reviewed. Initiatives are developed for supporting individual pupils and arrangements made for testing so that applications for special consideration can be made for public examinations. The Educational Psychologist provides valuable professional advice on those girls with special needs.

Regular discussion takes place with staff concerned throughout the school and particularly through the school’s well-established pastoral system. Most importantly, communication is maintained with parents so that strategies for monitoring pupils with special needs are clearly understood by both home and school.

All students diagnosed as dyslexic have Individual Education Plans that are subject to termly review. Parents are invited to attend review meetings and each student is withdrawn from a single period to enable the appropriate attention to be given to the review process. After review a new IEP is drafted with appropriate targets. A Guide for Students and Parents on Dyslexia has been prepared and distributed and is on display in the staffroom. Staff have been briefed by the Dyslexia Co-ordinator on appropriate teaching methods and are updated, as relevant, on the progress of dyslexic students.

Support for students whose first language is not English is now being provided through tutoring after school. The ‘EAL’ club for lower school pupils is held on Thursdays and senior pupils meet on Mondays. This is a developing area providing much needed language support for a defined group of pupils.

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The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA 1995) defines a disabled person as one who has "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities". This would include, for example, sensory impairments affecting sight and hearing, learning disabilities, severe disfigurements and progressive conditions where impairments are likely to become substantial.

The school’s current admission arrangements include a provision for parents to make statements drawing attention to any medical condition requiring special consideration by the Admissions Committee. The school’s pastoral system through the Heads of Year is then responsible for making any necessary preparations for the admission of a pupil with either special educational needs (SEN) or a disability within the terms of the Act. The school’s SEN co-ordinator assumes responsibility for monitoring progress and regular reviews of pupils with disabilities.

The Governing Body is fully committed to the provisions of the DDA and will ensure that all pupils with special needs are able to join in, as far as is practical, everyday activities with other pupils. This commitment extends to ensuring that pupils with disabilities have access to the curriculum.

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The department has continued to offer pupils a wide variety of extra-curricular opportunities and extended the number of activities offered to students to appeal to the widest range of pupils. Netball clubs were restructured to allow for squad selection with a separate club for girls wishing to participate but not compete for the team.

Dance club thrived and participation increased. The girls had the opportunity to choreograph their own work and they performed a discrete show called "A Celebration of Dance" in a lunchtime session, raising money for charity.

Extra-curricular clubs have been fairly well attended and the girls have represented the school at a number of sports. The netball teams contested a number of fixtures, which culminated with the Borough and Surrey tournaments in the spring. In the Sutton School’s tournament the Year 9 team finished 1^st in their section and the seniors came 2^nd in their section. The year 10 netball team was runner up in the Borough Cup competition and only lost the game in extra time.

Cross-country club attracted a number of girls who attended regularly. This resulted in the team achieving 2^nd place in the Borough Championships. The gymnastic team also achieved success in the Borough Tumbling competition, in which the U13 team came 1^st and the U19 team came 3^rd in the Sports Acrobatics competition.

Following links with Sutton and Epsom Rugby club and pupil pressure, a senior rugby club was formed. The club attracted girls who would not normally have attended a PE club and has been very successful. Some of the seniors went on to join the new Women’s Rugby team at Sutton and Epsom rugby club and have been preparing for matches.

During the summer, Cheam Sports tennis club sent their coach to school to provide 12 weeks free coaching, which was well received. We competed in a number of tennis matches enjoying several successes.

Unfortunately, because of the works to the playing fields, we were restricted in the events that the athletics team could practise so we did not enter a full athletics team into the Borough Championships. We did not win a team event but a number of girls achieved 3^rd place or higher in individual events. The ball girls again performed exceptionally well at the Stella Artois Championships and experienced 9 glorious days at Queens Tennis club.

Sports Day could not take place this year, an event sorely missed by the girls, due to the levelling of the front field. The girls will look forward to competing on a level track once the improvements have been finished. Pluto won the year 7 and 8 sports trophy but the senior event could not be completed due to rain delaying all the competitions.

Individually, a number of girls have had great success outside Nonsuch including representation at County and National level in several sports. Sport and physical education at Nonsuch continues to thrive and the girls should be proud of their achievements and try to maintain the high standards next year.

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The School Standards and Framework Act requires that membership of the Governing Body should include seven elected Parent Governors. These include any individuals who at the start of their term of office are the parent of a child in the school, but generally exclude any person who would qualify as a governor under another category or is an employee of the local education authority.

The seven Parent Governors currently serving are:

Mr C Cousins 13/4/01 - 12/4/05

Mrs H Edwards 1/9/99 - 31/8/03

Mrs D Evans 16/11/98 - 15/11/02

Mr C Haynes 1/9/99 - 31/8/03

Mrs M Maguire 1/9/99 - 31/8/03

Mrs S Maynard 13/4/01 - 12/4/05

Mrs A Raine 1/9/99 - 31/8/03

The next election of Parent Governors falls due in November 2002 when Mrs Evans completes her term of office. Information on the election will be circulated to all parents during autumn 2002.

Governors fulfil an important role and often bring skills that are valuable for both strategic planning and for addressing day-to-day issues and meet regularly to discuss and monitor items relating to the Curriculum, Finance, Admissions, Personnel and Premises. The Governing Body is anxious to consolidate the broad range of skills that it currently embraces and would particularly encourage parents with either an educational or legal background to consider standing for election when the opportunity arises.

Copies of a leaflet called "Shape our Future – Become a School Governor" are available from The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) on 020-7925-5641.

Alternatively, further information is available from the official DfES website at www.dfes.gov.uk/governor/governor.htm.

I am pleased to report that all aspects of the OFSTED Action Plan have been implemented.

A summary of further developments within Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is detailed below:

• Sixth Form access to ICT extended with new resources area;
• Facilities for staff updated and expanded;
• On-going replacement of old hardware in Room IT1;
• Improved access to the internet for students and staff;
• All Year 11 pupils completed a half course in ICT;
• Full GCSE ICT course introduced as an extra-curricular activity.

APPENDIX 5.1 - Nonsuch 2000/2001 Key Stage 3 Results

These tables show the percentage of Year 9 pupils achieving each level this year

These tables show the percentages of Year 9 children achieving each level nationally in 2000