Vision and Strategic Plan
Felsted Primary School Vision, Strategic Plan and School Improvement Plan (2025-6)
Introduction
Every Governing Board has the important role of agreeing the Vision for their school and then planning how to use its available resources to realise the Vision. This includes staffing, finances, community and estate.
One of the key functions of the Governing Board is to set the strategic direction for Felsted Primary School and to undertake long term development planning for the future. The Governing Board is accountable for all strategic decisions and the Headteacher for operational matters. The Strategic Plan should be what sets the school apart from its competitors.
The School’s Strategic Plan was originally devised in 2022 by the Governing Board and Headteacher after consulting with staff, children and parents. This was re-visited in 2024 and there was agreement that the six Strategic Pillars of the Strategic Plan continued to be relevant, and monitoring visits have been linked to these, with governors taking responsibility for certain aspects of each pillar. The six strategic pillars are as follows:
• Safeguarding
• Curriculum Teaching and Learning
• Leadership
• Inclusivity
• Health and Emotional Well-being
• Sustainability
There have been various changes in the formation of the Governing Board since the Strategic Plan was first developed, and it is now considered a pertinent time to revisit both the School’s Vision and Strategic Plan to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
From September 2026 the plan of action will be to link specific governors to each agreed pillar of the Strategic Plan for monitoring purposes. The Governor/s linked to the pillar will be responsible for monitoring that aspect of school life, writing reports in relation to that area and sharing their findings with the full Governing Board.
Implementation
The Headteacher, working with their Senior Leadership Team (SLT), is expected to implement the strategy through their operational planning and day-to-day management.
Effective monitoring by the governing board will provide assurance that:
• plans align with the strategy
• ownership and responsibility are clearly defined
• implementation is supported
• implementation is linked to performance management
Our Values
• Be respectful
• Be kind
• Be safe
School Ethos
The school is:
• Caring and inclusive of all children
• Forward thinking and outward looking with respect for our place in the worldwide community
• A positive environment which encourages everyone to flourish and reach their full potential
Monitoring Visits
Governor monitoring visits are essential, pre-arranged and purposeful visits aimed at enabling the Governing Board to monitor strategy implementation, policy effectiveness and the School Improvement Plan (SIP). The Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team are responsible for developing the SIP. They are responsible for analysing data, identifying areas for improvement, devising strategies for addressing them and reporting back to the Governing Board.
Monitoring visits are an essential part of the governor role. Feedback and learning from these visits allow the governing board to monitor how the strategies/pillars of the Strategic Plan are being implemented, how policies are working and to look for strengths and areas for development.
Monitoring visits raise the profile of the Governing Board and are a useful insight into school life. While there is no requirement for Governors to visit during the school day, it is considered best practice.
Some governors may visit the school regularly to monitor statutory aspects of the school’s work around finance, safeguarding and special educational needs provision.
Throughout the year monitoring information is collected so that the board can evaluate the impact of the SIP and any statutory responsibilities.
Governor monitoring
The board monitors a range of evidence including:
• Information from the whole school community
• Staff, parent and student surveys
• Assessment data
• Learning walks
• Classroom visits
• Meetings with Headteacher
• Staff presentations
This allows the board to triangulate evidence to ensure that it has an accurate picture of what is going on in the school and pupil progress. In this way, the school can be effectively held to account.
Governance is corporate, so all governors need to be aware of key information. All monitoring records are therefore uploaded onto the Governor TEAMS site to support this shared approach and key findings are reported to the Full Governing Board (FGB) at their regular meetings.
Risk register
This document allows the SLT, Business Manager and Governing Board to plan for, track and monitor key risks for the school. It has been developed recently to ensure that risk management is seen as a continuous cycle that helps ensure Strategic Plans and School Improvement Plans are maintained and met. It is revisited regularly at FGB meetings and any risks discussed and opportunities to reduce them considered.