Board of Trustees:
Our Board of Trustees is responsible for overseeing the running of the school. These volunteers are very dedicated and passionate in ensuring that The Coppice is able to provide the best possible education and support for all of our pupils.
The Chair of the Trustees can be contacted via the usual school communication channels, as outlined on our "Contact Details" page.
Statement from the Chair of Trustees: Kathryn Byng
The Board of Trustees at The Coppice is responsible for helping the school to achieve its aims by overseeing the financial and educational performance of the school. This is done through close scrutiny of its Key Performance Indicators such as pupil progress and attainment data, the school’s accounts and pupil attendance figures. It acts as a critical friend to the Headteacher, who is responsible for the day-to-day leadership and management of the school as well as holding the Headteacher and Senior Leaders to account through ensuring that there is clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction. In addition, it has a crucial role in checking that the school’s pupils are happy, safe and cared for. Finally, the Trustees seek to ensure that the wellbeing of school staff is always a vital component for consideration when the school is implementing new developments.
Due to the variety of roles that are needed to support and challenge the school and its people, it is essential that the Board is made up of individuals with diverse knowledge, skills and work experiences. The Board of Trustees therefore consists of a combination of volunteers who are nominated, appointed, elected or co-opted by the Parish Council, local community, staff and parents.
Each Member of the Board of Trustees aims to attend four Full Trustee meetings a year. At each meeting, the Headteacher and other members of the Senior Leadership Team report on the school’s developments over the course of the term before questions are asked by The Board to quantify and qualify the statements made.
Trustees also work as part of at least one committee alongside the members of the School Leadership Team (SLT). These committees meet three times a year.
The three committees are responsible for:
Pay, Personnel and Finance and Audit Risk Committee (PPF&AR)
Curriculum and Teaching and Learning
Buildings and Grounds (including Health & Safety)
All Trustees are linked to a particular subject area within the school’s curriculum and liaise with the Subject Leader for that subject so that they can be familiar with the developments in that subject and can again support and challenge decisions being made and report back to the whole Board of Trustees.
In addition, all Trustees spend a morning each term visiting the classrooms of the year group they are attached to and observing the children involved in their learning. This is an opportunity to see the school in action and to ask questions of the teachers, Year Group Leaders and of course the children. Through carrying out these visits, Trustees are able to gain invaluable insight into how well the school is achieving its aims and how well the children are being taught and learning.
I can honestly say that, during my ten-year commitment as a Trustee, I have always enjoyed playing my part in helping to shape the school into the successful educational establishment it is today. Without doubt, being a Trustee at The Coppice has been an extremely rewarding experience and we all hugely enjoy our role under the current Headteacher: Mr. Hutt.
Kathryn Byng
Chair of Trustees
Trustee Declarations of Interests
Trustees are required to declare any interests which they have that could interact with school, as these may cause actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
As per DfE requirements, a Register of Interests is maintained and updated at each Trustee meeting.
We can confirm that there are no relevant business or financial interests held by any Members, Trustees or SLT members which could lead to actual or percieved conflict of interest, other than:
Due to the above, we consider that there is no actual conflict of interest.
Presently there are no interests declared that cause actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
This page contains the following Trustee related information:
For all documentation related to Academy finance and Academy creation please click here
The Coppice Eco Committee
The children in our Eco Committee are passionate about their roles and have the very important responsibility of encouraging all children and staff in school to do everything they can to be as green as possible.
A key part of being a part of our Eco Committee is that the children take responsibility for recycling and energy saving in their own class.
The Eco Committee meets every half term to discuss and implement new ideas that they would like to put in place over the course of the year and to evaluate the environmental review of the school. This process will help us on our journey towards achieving the Eco Schools' Award along with a green flag.
The award will recognise our school’s commitment to developing strategies that sustain and enhance the environment. The Eco Schools' programme inspires and influences young people in schools to create and change environmental actions through projects and small changes to everyday behaviours within the school and the local community.
Please also refer to our ‘Climate Action Plan’ section of this website and the associated documents for further information about our school’s commitment to making a positive difference to the world in which we live.
Click here to view our Climate Action Plan
Let’s create a brighter and greener future for The Coppice.
PTA (Parent and Teacher Association):
The Coppice PTA is a group of friendly, like-minded parents and teacher representatives. Our main aim is to raise funds for our children’s school by organising fun events throughout the year. In order to achieve this aim, they meet on a regular basis at the school to discuss and plan forthcoming events.
Our PTA has an incredible track record of raising money (usually around £10, 000 - £12,000 annually) and putting this back into the school, thereby enabling us to continue to provide the very best resources and facilities for our children at The Coppice. For example, in recent years, they have contributed to our school library, sensory garden/quad areas, Adventure Zone, Multi-Use Games Area and our recent OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) provision. None of these wonderful additions would have been possible without them!
If you want to get involved and help to support your child’s school achieve even more, please contact them using the link below:
https://www.pta-events.co.uk/coppice/index.cfm?event=contact-us
Our PTA are happy for help of any kind, ranging from a bi, longer-term commitment to just the occasional few hours or support at a fundraising event – every bit of support helps and is very much appreciated!
The PTA also has a separate website page which is kept up to date with upcoming events, contact details for the team and facilitates payments for events.
https://www.pta-events.co.uk/coppice/
Easyfundraising
School budgets have never been tighter so maximising our available funding for pupil development is critical.
Easyfundraising is a great way of doing this. If every parent registered and remembered to use this (i.e. visit online retailers via the easyfundraising site: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/) it could raise hundreds of pounds for us without any cost to parents. We are listed with easyfundraising as: The Coppice Primary School PTA, Hollywood.
Further information from Easyfundraising is below:
Q: How does easyfundraising work?
A: We work with over 2000 retailers who have all agreed to pass a donation to your cause when you shop with them. The donation is usually a percentage of how much you spend with them but it can also be a set amount, such as £30 for a new car insurance policy from Aviva. Our retailers include Amazon, M&S, Boden, John Lewis, Argos and 2000 other well-known names.
Q: What do you need to do to raise money?
A: Firstly register with us and tell us who you want to support (if your cause isn’t listed yet, you can either register them yourself or ask someone within your cause to do it). It’s free for both shoppers and causes to register and use.
To raise money, instead of going directly to the retailer website, log into easyfundraising first and click on the retailer you want to shop with. You’ll then be taken to the retailer’s website where you shop as you would normally. But because you visited easyfundraising first, your cause gets a donation. It really is that simple.
Q: What's the catch?
A: No catch. Whatever you buy costs exactly the same as it would if you visited the retailer site directly. We don’t take any financial information from you as all your transactions are with the retailer. We won’t sell your information on and we won’t spam you. And it doesn’t cost you or your cause anything.
The Coppice Primary School Council comprises three representatives from each year group in Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6). A Councillor represents each class and the team of Councillors also visit Key Stage One classes in order to involve them and gain their thoughts and ideas.
The Councillors are elected through a democratic process which involves two weeks of preparation time for the candidates and one week for year group elections. These elections allow each candidate to perform a speech in front of their peers. Children are voted for using a closed ballot.
The Council is a key part of how The Coppice honours pupil voice. Children have the chance to feed their ideas to their Councillors through suggestion boxes and Council playtimes. These ideas are then raised in meetings which take place every three weeks. Councillors enact change throughout the school by arranging meetings with other members of staff, sending communication through the link teacher and creating their own posters for display. So far, the Council has been considering ways to improve our access to the library, to make sure that school lunches cater to the interests of each child and to raise money for our link school in Zimbabwe: The Mizpah Primary School.
Year 6 Councillors meet prior to each meeting to write an agenda. During each meeting, the Council’s secretary also writes minutes which are shared on our School Council board in the hall and on the school’s newsletter.
At The Coppice we have four teams that our children belong to.
Our team point committee consists of twelve Year 6 children, three representatives for each team; two team captains and a vice captain for each.
The children are selected as they demonstrate exemplary behaviour and are positive role models across the school. They are actively encouraged to build good relationships with the younger members of their team and to motivate and encourage them during organised team events.
They meet with the Deputy Head once a half term and are responsible for updating the visual team point tracker.
Sports day is always our biggest team point event but there are also other organised team events we run throughout the year.
