Our Governing Body
REMIT and STRUCTURE
Our Governors come from a range of backgrounds, and bring different areas of expertise to the school. Governors contribute to ensuring high standards of achievement for all children in the school by:
- setting the school’s 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.
A Governor’s role is to support and challenge the senior staff to continue to improve the school. It is largely a thinking and questioning role and Governors are not there to manage the school or do the jobs of school staff. Governors fulfil their role by regularly attending Governing Body meetings, providing strategic guidance and by asking probing and challenging questions of leaders within the school. They also undertake visits, serve on relevant committees and oversee the Headteacher’s performance management.
Governor person specification for St Thomas' CE Primary School
We expect all governors to be able to demonstrate the following essential qualities and attributes:
- commitment to improving education for all pupils;
- ability to work in a professional manner as part of a team and to take collective responsibility for decisions;
- willingness to learn and to engage in training and development;
- commitment to the school’s vision and ethos and to the democratic values of freedom, tolerance and respect for the rule of law;
- literacy, numeracy and IT skills, sufficient to deal with governing body papers and school data.
Across the Governing Body as a whole, we are also looking to ensure that a range of specialist skills are covered (but we do not expect any individual governor to have all of these), including: understanding and experience of governance; strategic planning; human resources and performance management; data analysis; financial planning/budgeting; community engagement and volunteering; legal understanding; premises and property management; and experience of working in education/social care/health settings.
The Governing Body may also decide to appoint Associate Governors to serve on a particular committee if they provide a specific skill that the committee requires. Associate Governors can vote at committee meetings. They can also attend full Governing Body meetings in a non-voting capacity.
We expect all governors to uphold the seven principles of public life (the Nolan principles) which form the basis of the ethical standards expected of all public office holders: selflessness, integrity; objectivity; accountability; openness; honesty; and leadership.
Our Governing Body is made up of 14 Governors:
2 x parent governors
1 x local authority governor
1 x staff governor
1 x headteacher
8 x foundation governors
1 x co-opted governor
Governor Prayer
Heavenly father,
May your strength support us in our leadership,
May your grace open our hearts and minds,
May the light of your spirit enter our discussions,
May your wisdom inspire our decisions;
May your mercy bring compassion and understanding in to our relationships.
May your forgiveness bring us humility:
And may Christ’s love be at the heart of all we do in His name.
Amen