School Governors

A school’s governing body is a group of public-spirited volunteers whose main responsibility is to determine the aims and conduct of their school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement. Individual governors bring their own experience and expertise to the group, and the best governing bodies use and benefit from the skills of all their governors.
The governing body holds the school to account for the quality, standard and effectiveness of the teaching and learning. Through the governing body, the school is accountable to the local education authority, the parents of the pupils and to the wider community. In practice, the governing body works with the headteacher to determine how the school should develop to ensure continued improvement, and with the head and staff agrees plans, policies, targets and procedures that work towards that development.
The governing body is also responsible for ensuring that the school fulfils its legal obligations, for the provision of the curriculum, managing the school budget, staffing, the social care and development of the pupils, and other statutory requirements such as developing school policies, setting targets, managing performance and so on. The governing body is also responsible for evaluating the progress of the school, making sure that effective monitoring is taking place and making strategic decisions on the basis of this evaluation.
Governors are most useful to the school by being supportive yet challenging, neither blindly accepting nor entirely critical of the way the school functions. If the governing body gets the balance right it can both support the school and promote its improvement effectively.
We welcome the involvement of parents, both as Parent Governors and through feedback. For more information, contact Pam Langmead, Chair of Governors, via the School Office.