What is a Governor?
What do Governors do?
The role of the Governors is set out clearly in Education Law. Essentially we have a general responsibility for the conduct of the school with an ambitious vision for the school which is to promote high standards of educational achievement, to ensure that our children stay safe, are healthy, enjoy and achieve and make a positive contribution whilst they are in school. There is a range of policy, practice and performance within the school for which the governing body, as a group, is ultimately responsible.
The implementation of policy and practice in the school is carried out by the Head Teacher and his staff. This includes teaching, support and administrative staff utilising their considerable knowledge and skills. As Governors we ask questions, review the impact of policies and practice and assess the progress being made against plans and targets.
The Governors meet twice a term as a full Governing Body.
The key responsibilities of the Governors is to:
- Set Targets for pupil achievement
- Manage the school's budget
- Ensure the curriculum is balanced, broad and in line with National requirements.
- Report National Curriculum assessments to parents
- Appoint and monitor the performance of the Head Teacher and a range of other staff related matters including policies on performance, grievances and pay.
- Ensure provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs.
- Respond to finding of school inspections
The Governors recognise that we are indeed fortunate to have a small village school which is so very well equipped and benefits from wonderful surrounding grounds.
Governors at both Amberley and St James in partnership with all the staff at both schools have defined the School Values that we feel are vitally important to us.
Our School Values
At our schools we understand the importance of every day in each child's life and we believe that all our children have the right to the best possible learning experiences during their time with us.
At our school, children, teachers and parents know that there are high expectations of them in all aspects of school life. We are committed to an exciting curriculum that interests, includes and engages all the children and we know that learning must be enjoyable.
Our Christian ethos encourages kind, thoughtful, responsible behaviour and within a supportive community like ours everyone's contribution is valued.
There are different categories of governor in our school, who are appointed by different bodies. The term of goverance is 4 years for all governors except for the Head Teacher and the Reverend. A brief description can be found below:
Parent governor is a parent of registered pupils at the school, at the time of election. Parent governors are elected by the parents. There should be at least two parent governors but additional governors who happened to be parents could be appointed by the Governing Body as members of the co-opted category.
Staff governor is elected as a governor by persons who are employed by either the governing body or the local authority under a contract of employment providing for those persons to work at the school, and is so employed at the time of election.
Local authority governor is nominated by the local authority; and is appointed as a governor by the governing body having, in the opinion of the governing body, met any eligibility criteria that they have set.
Foundation governor in Church schools are those appointed by the Church authorities and are appointed for the purpose of securing that the character of the school including, where the school has a particular religious character such religious character, is preserved and developed.
Co-opted governor means a person who is appointed as a governor by the governing body and who, in the opinion of the governing body, has the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.
Associate member means a person who is appointed by the governing body as a member of any committee established by them but who is not a governor. Associate members do not have voting rights.
