As Easter fast approaches I felt it would be useful to update parents and carers on the recruitment arrangements for a new Headteacher.  Firstly, I would like to thank Mrs Boughen for supporting the school and guiding Whittlefield over the last couple of months.  I am sure, like me, you will appreciate the work being undertaken by Mrs Boughen whilst Mrs Hulme is on maternity leave with baby Logan.   Mrs Hulme remains in touch with the school and has a number of planned “keeping in touch” days scheduled throughout her leave period.  We look forward to her return and I am sure children will also have missed her.

Recruitment for a Headteacher is progressing and several Board members supported by Lancashire County Council will undertake interviews and assessment during this month of prospective candidates.   We hope to be able to update parents and carers prior to the Easter break on what we hope will be a successful appointment process.

Our Board continues to meet, and since the new year we have held two Board meetings where we have considered a variety of issues.  In January we received a report from the Acting Headteacher, an update on both safeguarding and our premises and reviewed Board action plans, which had been set in previous years as part of our journey of continuous improvement and also as a result of revised arrangements due to the pandemic.

Our meeting in March will very much focus on the finances of the school as we review spend and set the budget for the forthcoming year.  To supplement this, we will also consider the School Improvement Plan looking at the position of the school against our pre-determined targets.

Finally, we are always happy to consider future Board members who can demonstrate skills and expertise that add to the current make-up of the Board, we would be particularly interested to hear from individuals who are engineering/science/or education specialists at this current time.

Pauline Lucarz, Chair of Governors