Our Governing Body

Vision

The Governors at Ingram Road would like to share their vision for the school. We will use this vision to guide our thoughts when making plans for the future with staff, pupils and parents.

“Governors at Ingram Road are committed to ensuring that our school provides an environment that is safe, stable and welcoming as well as being enabling, exciting and challenging for everyone. We believe that Ingram Road can take you anywhere.”

Behaviour Principles

The Governing Board fully supports the school’s approach to promoting positive behaviour at Ingram Road Primary Academy. 

This is a statement of principles, not practice: it is the responsibility of the Headteacher to draw up the Behaviour Management Policy at Ingram Road Primary Academy, though they must take account of these principles when formulating this.

• Every pupil has the right to feel safe, valued and respected so that they can develop a love for learning and leave our school with happy memories.
• All pupils, staff and visitors should be free from any form of threat and or discrimination.
• Everyone at school should feel valued and respected, and we ensure that each person is treated fairly. This may mean that reasonable adjustments are made for some pupils either because of their age or because they have additional needs.
• All pupils learn to develop respect for themselves, others and members of the wider community. 
•  Pupils should feel proud of being well-behaved and a helpful member of our community. 
• We want to support and engage parents and members of the wider community in helping pupils to develop the habit of life-long learning.
• We expect staff to recognise, promote and celebrate good behaviour. 
• Dealing with behaviour is the responsibility of all staff at Ingram Road Primary School.  
• Rewards, sanctions and reasonable force (when necessary) should be used consistently by staff in line with the Behaviour Management Policy.
• Exclusions will only be used as a last resort and in accordance with DFE and local authority guidelines.
• If a pupil’s behaviour is causing serious concern and cannot be addressed in school or with help from the cluster, school should arrange for a multi-agency assessment.
• Staff have the right to search a pupil if they believe dangerous or offensive items have been brought into school.
• Incidents occurring beyond school should be dealt with by parents/carers unless the incident threatens to impinge on school life or the safety of the child. 

The governing board emphasises that violence or threatening behaviour will not be tolerated in any circumstances.

This written statement of behaviour principles is annually reviewed and approved by the Teaching and Learning and Pupil Support Committee.

Annual Governance Statement - Chair of Governors

Ingram Road Primary School: Annual Governance Statement, July 2025

Introduction

The past twelve months at Ingram Road Primary School has been a period of significant change. We have welcomed a new Heat Teacher, Jade Millington, to the school, we have established a new Senior Leadership Team within the school led by our Deputy Headteacher Amy Blasket, who herself has only been in post for a little over a year, we have a new chair of governors and there have been several other changes to the teaching staff and structure within the school.   

A further significant change has been that Ingram Road Primary School joined the Cockburn Multi Academy Trust (MAT) on the 1^st July 2025. This marks the end of a transition process that started following the OFSTED inspection of the school in March 2024.

We are proud to have worked alongside the MAT for the past 12 months during this process and continue to grow relationships with the Cockburn MAT family of schools -    Cockburn John Charles Academy (Secondary School), Rothwell Haig Road Academy (Infants School); Middleton Academy (Primary School) and Cockburn Laurence Calvert Academy (Secondary School), Cockburn REACH Academy (Special School) as well as Cockburn School (Secondary School).

Governors are pleased to contribute to our role within the MAT. We recognise the improvements and benefits that our membership of the MAT has started to bring to life within Ingram Road Primary School. Governors are committed to ensuring that the transition to a MAT school will continue to have a positive impact on everyone involved in our school community, in particular the education of the children at Ingram Road Primary School.

As a result of the conversion to a MAT school, the Board of Governors has become a Local Governing Body (LGB).  Effectively, although not by name, the Local Governing Body is a committee of the Multi Academy Trust Board of Trustees. The roles and responsibilities of the LGB remain focussed on the three roles of Governing Bodies as outlined under the Governors’ Handbook.

1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.

2. Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and it’s pupils.

3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

The LGB at Ingram Road Primary School works hard to ensure that our vision for the school becomes a reality. We do this by providing challenge and supporting senior leaders within school. We also make sure that the schools finances are managed well and that resources and finances within the school are deployed effectively.

Whilst the day-to-day management of the school is the responsibility of the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The Local Governing Body work closely with the management and SLT to support the successful running of the school.

Safeguarding is a priority within the school. The safety of children at the school is everyone’s responsibility. To ensure that the school complies fully with statutory safeguarding procedures, all staff have confirmed they have read and understand Part 1 of the DfE statutory guidance “Keeping Children Safe in Education”. The LGB has also familiarised itself with the KCSIE document and works with the safeguarding lead in school to complete the annual safeguarding audit. All LGB members have completed safeguarding training. The Safeguarding lead governor and the Chair of Governors have also undertaken Safer Recruitment Training.  

The composition of the Local Governing Body

Following our joining the Cockburn MAT, the Governing Board of Ingram Road Primary School changed to become the Local Governing Body. The structure of the LGB has also changed.

The Scheme of Delegation states that there should be 4-9 Governors, plus two parents/carer governors.

Every governor appointed to the Local Governing Body is appointed on the basis of the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. Appointment of governors is subject to the approval of the Cockburn Board of Trustees, based upon the recommendation of the Local Governing Body.

During this academic year we recruited 1 new governor and at the time of this Statement being completed (June 2025), there are 9 governors, including 2 parent governors, two staff governor and the Headteacher.

Although we have 9 governors, and we are confident that we have a good mix of skills, capabilities and experience for the LGB to carry out our duties successfully, we regularly review our performance as the LGB and the structure and profile of the LGB remains under review.

Please see Appendix 1 for the names and terms of office for the governors and the school website for pen-portraits of individual governors.

Meetings of the governing body and Structure

During the academic year 2024/25 the Local Governing Board met on six occasions, with all meetings clerked by a trained professional Clerk.

In consultation with the Cockburn MAT and members of the LGB it was decided to trial a revised structure for the LGB. This resulted in work previously carried out by the Committees (Resources, Pupil Support and Teaching and Learning) being reported on and reviewed within the main Full Governing Board meeting. This has resulted in fewer Meetings. The effectiveness of the new structure will be reviewed in our annual planning meeting in September 2025.  

Attendance at meetings

Governors have had good attendance at meetings overall and we have never cancelled a meeting due to it note being ‘quorate’ (the number of governors needed to ensure that legal decisions can be made). Apologies for non-attendance are considered on an individual basis; governors are aware through the code of conduct that non-attendance, which includes apologies not being accepted, will result in the removal of a governor six months from the date of first non-attendance.

We continue to offer attendance at meetings virtually but generally, all governors attend in person on site at School and this continues to be our overall preference for future meetings.

See Appendix 2 for details of individual Governors’ attendance at meetings.

Ofsted Inspection

The School was subject to an “Inadequate” Ofsted Inspection which was carried out in March 2024.  

This inspection was carried out under Section 5 of the Education Act 2005 and followed two “Requires Improvement” ratings in 2017 and 2020. The Inspection included an interview with Governors and whilst we had a number of issues with the report findings, we agreed that the focus of Governors should remain the education of the children at the school and to respond positively to the OFSTED findings and work towards and improved grading at the next inspection.

It should be noted that despite the overall “Inadequate” rating, OFSTED did find the school to be rated “Good” in both Behaviour and Attitudes and Personal Development section of the inspection.  

School Improvement Plan- 1 Year Operational Plan

A summary of our priorities (not in any order of importance) within the School Improvement Plan for 2024/25 were:

1. Improve Early Reading and Phonics

Success Criteria –

• Pupils achieve age-appropriate reading levels.
• Increased progress in phonics screening check scores.

2.   Refine Curriculum Content Across Subjects

Success Criteria -

• Clearly defined learning objectives for all subjects.
• Progressively building knowledge evident in pupil work

3. Enhance Staff Subject and Pedagogical Knowledge

 Success Criteria

• Improved teaching observed in lessons.
•  Positive feedback from staff and students on teaching practices.

4. Develop Early Years Curriculum

Success Criteria

• Enhanced engagement and attainment in Early Years.
• Measurable improvements in Early Years profile assessments.

Review and approval of policies

One of the roles for the governors is reviewing and agreeing school policies and this year we have considered a number of key policies, wherever appropriate approving and adopting MAT policies and approved /noted the following:-

Policies approved or noted:

• Safeguarding Child Protection Policy
• Complaints Policy
• Governor Expenses Policy
• Capability of Staff Policy
• Teacher’s Appraisal Policy
• Managing Attendance Policy
• Leave of Absence and Annual Leave Policy
• Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions Policy
• Relationships and Sex Education
• Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) policy and the SEND information report
• Behaviour principles written statement (policy needs to be developed)
• Data protection//GDPR policy
• Freedom of information policy
• Whistleblowing policy
• Work and families policy for school-based staff
• Equalities

The effectiveness and impact of the governing body 2024/25

All Governors continue to take an active role in supporting the school and a significant number of visits were carried out over the year, with reports being submitted to LGB for approval (see below)

As much as has been possible we have continued to carry out our three main roles referred to earlier i.e.

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
• Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils.
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

With regard to ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction, Governors undertook Monitoring Visits, Learning Walks; Monitoring of Priorities in the School Improvement Plan; involvement in attendance reviews, these were shared by the link governors.

Whilst the number and frequency of monitoring visits was lower than we would have liked, this reflected a conscious decision on behalf of the LGB to allow the headteacher and SLT time to adapt to the enormous changed that has taken place within the school during this academic year as a result of the conversion to the MAT and change in the headteacher and SLT.  Nevertheless, the monitoring that was undertaken was completed successfully. with 10 reports presented to the LGB during 2024/25.

Reports submitted to LGB were:

• Parents evening monitoring
• Attendance (twice in the period)
• Safeguarding
• Maths
• PE
• English, Reading and Phonics
• Science
• PSHE
• Early Years and Foundation Stage
• Finance / Local Authority Finance Visit

In addition to the formal monitoring undertaken by governors, the Chair has continued to visit school on a fortnightly basis to check on progress towards the School Improvement Plan, increase visibility within the school, undertake learning walks and increase awareness of what is happening in the school.  

For the coming year, the LGB will target a minimum of 1 monitoring visit per term into school by each individual governor. A monitoring calendar, including roles and responsibilities will be agreed in the planning meeting scheduled for September 2025.  

In terms of “Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils”, Governors have been provided with data showing attainment and progress.

Governors were disappointed with the assessment data for the 2023/24 academic year and had expressed their concerns to the Senior Leadership Team at the time.

We are reassured by the more recent assessment data provided by the school which have shown marked improvements in reading, writing and phonics, in particular. We acknowledge that the strategies which were put into place have started to show results with improved performance for the pupils of Ingram Road Primary School.

Clearly there is more work to be done in this area and Governors are very confident that our new Leadership Team within the school Jade Millington (Headteacher) and Amy Blaskey (Deputy Head) and the Senior Leadership Team will put appropriate plans in place to target improved attainment and development in these areas.

Governors are aware that Ingram Road Primary School are at the beginning of a journey, and we are really pleased at the initial, significant improvement demonstrated within the school. As a result of which we would like to acknowledge the excellent work carried out by our Senior Leadership Team and the Teaching Staff. We have utmost confidence the teaching staff engaged at the school.

It is also opportune to mention the marked progress that our children make from the moment that they first attend School, significantly below national expectation, to when they leave us at the end of Year 6, with our children being well prepared for their move on to Secondary School.

Finally, it is appropriate to remind Trustees of the open invitation to come along and see our School in action and witness for themselves the excellent work which is carried out each and every day and we would be delighted to see this invitation taken up.

Our role in terms of “overseeing the financial performance of the school” has changed insofar as responsibility for setting the budget and for overall budget management now sits with Cockburn MAT. Prior to our transfer to the MAT on the 1^st July 2025, Governors retained responsibility for budgetary oversight and had reviewed the budget six times in the academic year. The forecast approved budget for the next financial year showed a surplus and the good financial management of the school is something we are both focussed on and proud of.

Following the MAT transfer, Ingram Road Governors retain a role in making decisions over budget allocation and spending. and in receiving and noting financial reports and the state of the budget and budget forecasts.

Ingram Governors are particularly keen to ensure that they are involved in all major decisions but especially those which may have an impact upon school resources, staffing levels and proving value for money.

Impact

Typically, children entering Ingram Road Primary School are significantly below national expectation. Governors, School Leaders, Teaching Staff and the Cockburn Mat are working hard to put the structure in place to ensure that the curriculum and quality of teaching and learning ensures this gap is narrowed as children progress though school.

The aim being that by the time children leave our school the attainment gap has been significantly narrowed and for some pupils closed. Pupils at our school make progress better than national expectations and this applies to all our pupils including SEND, FSM.

Attendance and punctuality have varied greatly over the last 3 years and continues to be a key focus and expectation. For the year 2023/24, our attendance was 92.7%, against our target of 96%.

For 2024/25 our attendance was 93.2% against our target of 96% - so, a slight improvement, but nevertheless a step in the right direction. The latest figures available at the time of preparation of this report show that the National Average for Primary Schools was 94.8%

Future Plans for the Governors

The SIP (School Improvement Plan) has featured regularly on the agenda for our Local Governing Board meetings.

A number of monitoring visits were made to school by Governors over 2024/25 and it is our intention to continue with these and increase the number and frequency. Hopefully this will enable us to continue to get a real feel for how school is run and to more closely monitor the progress of actions identified in the School Improvement Plan.

Our aim going forward is to continue to closely scrutinise the SIP (School Improvement Plan), monitoring progress against priorities; and checking that the actions identified are being carried out and that the results for the attainment and progress of our pupils are in line with expectations.

More Change

This year saw the retirement of Sam Williams, our Acting-Headteacher following agreement to switch to the Cockburn Mat in May 2024 years and governors wish to take this opportunity to record their appreciation and thanks to her for all of her dedication and hard work in moving Ingram Road Primary School to the position that we are now in.

We also wish to warmly welcome our new Headteacher Jade Millington who joined us in March 2025 who was previously a class teacher at Ingram Road until 7 years ago, where she moved to be Senior Assistant Head at New Bewerley. Jade has already had a significant impact on the performance of the school and improvements that have been noted above.

This year has also seen the retirement of the school’s long-standing Caretaker Mr Bamford who served at the school for 35 years. The Governors would like to record our thanks for the hard work during his time at the school and wish him well in his retirement. As a result of this change we would also like to welcome our new caretaker Mr Thorpe to Ingram Road Primary,   

Finally, we also wish to record our thanks to all of our staff, no matter what their role, for of all their continued hard work carried out each and every day and we acknowledge their vital contribution to the success of Ingram Road Primary School.

Governors always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents and carers. Please contact the Chair of Governors via the School Office, should you wish to put anything forward

Howard Metcalf

Chair of Governors

Date: 01 July 2025

Howard Metcalf - Chair of Governors

Business owner, family man, runner, musician, ardent Leeds Utd and Yorkshire CCC supported and Leeds resident.

Howard has spent the last 22 years making a difference to the built and social environments in the communities  within which he has lived and worked, including the international cities of Tripoli, Libya and Cairo, Egypt. Howard is part of a team that runs a Project Management company based in Leeds and supports the delivery of complex construction and development schemes. He is a passionate advocate for his home city of Leeds and it is the thought of improving the city he loves and making sure it remains the best city in the world that gets him out of bed in the morning, (alongside his children who love nothing more that disturbing a lie-in!) 

Howard has well established links with the communities of Holbeck and Beeston. Howard's Mum worked as a teacher locally for many years and his appreciation of the impact him Mum had on the community along with his commitment to making a difference in Leeds means he is proud to have been given the opportunity to be the Chair of Governors at Ingram Road and support the amazing work that goes on within the school. 

Mrs Deryn Porter – Vice Chair of Governors

I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Deryn Porter and I am the Vice Chair of Governors at Ingram Road Primary School.

I was brought up in a tiny village in Wales called Talgarreg and I am bi-lingual in Welsh and English, although English is my first language. My family moved to Talgarreg when I was 11 years old and I only spoke English at the time but everyone in the village spoke Welsh. This experience has given me a real insight into what it is like to be surrounded by people who are speaking a language you don’t understand and I have always used this insight in my job as a teacher. I feel privileged to have had an opportunity to learn Welsh as I believe that our mother tongue, whatever it is, is a key part of our culturally heritage and should be treasured.

I have worked in many high schools in Leeds, teaching English, since the mid-eighties: John Smeaton, Wortley High School, Farnley Park, Swallow Hill and Mount St Mary’s; so, if you think I have taught you, do say hello.

One of the things I love about living in Leeds is the diversity of our city where it is possible to meet people from all over the world. Over the generations, members of my own family have worked in India, the United States, South Africa and New Zealand and, at the moment, both my sons live and work in Australia. I am looking forward to hearing all about your families and where they come from.

Since I retired a few years ago, I have been on the governing body at Cobden Primary school and have enjoyed this so much I decided to join the governing body at Ingram Road.

Mrs Jean Birch - Co-Opted Governor

I have been a governor at Ingram Road school for many years. Previously I had been a governor and Chair of Governors at 2 other South Leeds primary schools but I particularly wanted to get involved at Ingram Road when my church, Holbeck Christian Fellowship, met at the school for several years.

In my professional life I was a teacher/advisor with responsibility for literacy and I ran a project to improve reading in inner city schools, so naturally I was happy to have oversight as a governor for literacy at Ingram Road and I have made many enjoyable visits to speak with the staff and observe lessons.

As part of my commitment to the school and the area I represent Ingram Road school on the “Voice of Holbeck” group. This is a voluntary group made up of representatives from various organisations in Holbeck. It’s purpose is to make Holbeck a better and safer place for people to live and work. To this end the group meets council officials, councillors for the area and police to discuss issues raised by residents. I think it’s important that the parents and staff of the school can bring any concerns or suggestions they have and I can raise them at the meetings. In this way we can work together to make Holbeck a good place for the pupils at Ingram Road.

Catherine Peacock - Co-Opted Governor

I work for Kidz Klub Leeds as the Community Pastoral Worker for Holbeck. As part of this role, I run after school clubs in Holbeck, visit families at home, lead assemblies at Ingram Road and other local schools and am involved in lots of other activities helping the children of our community be the best they can be. I live locally and am involved in many community activities in Holbeck and Beeston and attend Mosaic Church. Before moving to Leeds in 2016, I worked in China for 13 years as an English teacher and I speak Mandarin Chinese.  

Joanna Resnick - Co-Opted Governor

I am the Executive Producer for Slung Low, a theatre company based in Holbeck. We make large scale people’s theatre shows and films and run two Pay What You Decide arts and community venues in Holbeck. 

I come from a family of teachers and love learning new things. I am currently learning to speak Polish.   My favourite subjects at school were Maths and Science. I am delighted to be the lead governor for Science and chair for the Resources Committee which oversees the money, building and people at the school.

Gloria Tachie - Parent Governor

My name is Gloria and I am a mum of 5. I work as a customer service officer for the Council after many years as an office administrator. I love spending any free time with my family especially Sundays in church.

I took the opportunity to become a school governor as soon as I was informed about it and I am glad I did. It is an honour and a great privilege to be part of the governing board.

All my children attend Ingram Road Primary School and it’s reassuring to see them eager to go to school each morning.

My family has been greatly supported by the school since we moved in Leeds 6 years ago and by taking this role I’m hoping to give something back.

Years back my husband took his first Math and English ESOL classes at Ingram Road which gave him the confidence to do functional skills, then GCSE and finally a level 3 diploma as HGV technician.

I myself got my current job thanks to the much appreciated help of Michelle from the office. Every time I have had to go to the office with a query or seek for help the staff was always available and of great help.

In these years have witnessed the great improvement in the school especially curriculum wise.

I joined the governing board because the school really plays a central role in my family’s life. I hope to be of help to the parents especially those with the language barrier and to contribute to the further improvement of the school.

Laura King - Parent Governor

My name is Laura. I am a parent to 8 children, currently expecting my 9th in November. As well as being a parent I also work part time as a cleaner in my spare time, I enjoy doing arts and crafts and attend my children's football matches with Holbeck MoorJFC which is good for the children of the community and my children love attending.

I decided to become a parent school governor as I have faced challenges in life and the staff at Ingram road helped me throughout. They have been brilliant with my children and helped them in the best possible way and catered for each of their needs. Now I want to show my gratitude and help them. I want to be the voice of other parents if they are not able to express their own  concerns , just as I, myself a few years ago, was afraid of doing. Now I want to help the school and  help the parents, as well as the children, to keep growing.

Terms of Office

Declaration of Interests

Attendance Academic Year 2024/2025