Our School Governing Body

What do our school governors do?

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Governors are volunteers who are responsible for overseeing the management side of a school: strategy, policy, budgeting and staffing. They enable our school to run as effectively as possible, working alongside senior leaders and supporting teachers to provide excellent education to children.

 

Being a school governor is a commitment to attending governing body meetings which consider issues such as setting the school vision, mitigating financial risk and scrutinising educational outcomes. They are also involved in our school community, acting as critical friends to the headteacher and senior leaders.

 

Governors bring a wide range of skills and expertise from their professional lives to the governing board and we benefit greatly from working with these skilled volunteers, for example some of our governors have experience of finance, safeguarding, school management and human resources. A governor with business know-how can transform the running of a school.

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Core governor responsibilities

 

Setting the strategic direction

Governing bodies are the key strategic decision makers in every school. Along with the Head Teacher, it is the job of our governing body to set the school’s aims and objectives around how the school will develop and improve. They set the policies, formulate plans and agree targets to help our school achieve these objectives, as well as regularly reviewing their strategic framework in light of that progress.

 

Creating robust accountability

The governing body is there to support and challenge our school’s senior leadership team. They play a crucial role in holding our Head Teacher to account for securing the best possible outcomes for our pupils. By challenging key decisions and asking pertinent questions about the school’s performance data, our governors aim to guarantee high standards in education.

 

Ensuring financial probity

Governing bodies have a strategic role in the financial management of schools. Their key responsibilities include, setting financial priorities through the school development plan, 3 year financial plan and the annual budget. They also decide on how our school’s delegated budget should be spent in accordance with the school improvement plan and statutory curriculum requirement.

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How does our Governing Body work?

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Governing body meetings

We hold full governing body meetings twice a term (we no longer have separate committees).  We send out all the supporting documentation a week prior to these meeting to allow Governors to have time to read and familiarise themselves with the paperwork.  It also gives them time to raise any questions they might have, and challenge the information provided. 

Whilst there are many important aspects of the role of a governor, the most important is the business that takes place at these meetings.

 

School visits

Our Governing body is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of our school and its curriculum. School visits help our governors to understand more about the school and the reality of school life. Governor visits to classrooms are not a form of inspection but serve as a clear monitoring function on the implementation of the school’s strategic planning.

Governor visits are encouraged.

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Link Governors

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The Headteacher, with the support of her leadership team, draft a school development plan (every September).  This document examines all the areas in the school, which require additional focus, to  ensure the best possible outcomes for all the children.  The development plan is created from children's progress data, reviews by the School Improvement Partner, the Ofsted report, and general observance of the school in action.

The Governors have the responsibility of ensuring this plan is effectively targeted,  and that the school performs the actions that are needed.  To help the full governing body with this duty each governor is assigned a role linked specifically to each area of the development plan, and it is this Link Governors duty to report back their observations and findings to the full governors.  A copy of the development plan can be found here.​​​​