Have you ever wondered what the School Governors do? Why do we have a School Governing Body? How often does it meet? We will try to answer some of those questions here, but please also ask your governors.

 

Schools have governing bodies to help them fulfil the school’s mission to provide the best education possible for their pupils. The governing body is made up of a number of individuals:

 

• 2 Parent governors – elected by parents of the pupils
• 7 co-opted governors – elected by the Governing body
• 1 Staff governor – Teachers from the school
• 1 LA (Local Authority) – appointed to the board
• The head teacher also attends the governing body meetings

 

The governing body has a strategic role in ensuring the school fulfils its mission by:

 

• Thinks and works strategically to help raise standards
• Monitors and evaluates progress towards the school’s priorities and targets
• Supports the Headteacher and staff and challenges them
• Is accountable to all stakeholders for the school’s overall performance and for the decisions they have made
• The Governing body is not responsible for the day to day management of the school but it must ensure that systems are in place for the school.

 

The key words for describing the Governing Body is as a critical friend – somebody who encourages, supports and challenges. We have to be able to recognise when:

 

• The school deserves recognition and celebrate achievements
• Supporting and challenging the school

 

 Some of the things we do as a governing body include:

 

• Visits to the school
• Attend school events
• Linking to particular areas of the curriculum such as literacy, numeracy, sport
• Having a governor notice board in the school
• Social events
• Inviting staff to give presentations to the governing body so that they can tell us what is happening in their area

 

Ingram Road Primary School Governing Body is committed to:

 

• Working as a team
• Having a good relationship with the Headteacher
• Knowing our school
• Having effective meetings
• Attending training and development events to make sure we have the skills to perform well

 

Future newsletters will include details of all your individual governors.