Governors

Sherington Primary School Governing Board

Sherington Governing Body

The Sherington Governors share the enthusiasm and excitement for learning that pupils and staff have and are proud of Sherington’s outstanding achievements. We are committed to the Sherington vision of “Aspire, Believe, Create, Achieve” and between us we bring a wide variety of skills and experience to our role.

To get in touch, you can email governors@sherington.greenwich.sch.uk, leave a message in the school office or catch us in the playground – questions, ideas, comments all welcome! (Please note that the first point of call for any issues relating specifically to your child is your child’s class teacher.)

Have you ever thought about volunteering as a school governor? We have two co-opted governor vacancies, see attached letter. Deadline for applications end of Tuesday 22nd January 2019.

So what do governors do?

The role of the governing body is strategic (not operational – the headteacher is responsible for the day-to-day running of the school). The governing body acts as a “critical friend” to the school and its leadership.  Governors focus on three core strategic functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos, and strategic direction
• Holding the head to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure that its money is well spent.

All state maintained primary, secondary and special schools, are accountable to their governing bodies, which in turn are accountable to parents and the community. Governing bodies consist of:

• Parent governors – have a child in the school, are elected by parents/carers of the school
• Staff governors – work at the school as teachers or support staff, are elected by staff
• Head teacher
• Local education authority governors – appointed by the Local Education Authority (LEA) from the political parties and the community
• Co-opted governors – appointed by the governing body from the local community for the skills and experience that they can bring to the governing body

How do we do it?

We have a full governors meeting once a term, with three sub-committees which meet at least termly:

• Finance and Personnel
• Premises
• Learning and Achievement

At these meetings we review levels of achievement across the curriculum, monitor how children’s needs are being met and how the pupil premium is being used to narrow attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, contribute to the school’s evaluation procedures and development plan, agree the schools budget and monitor its implementation.

We make regular visits to develop a fuller understanding of how Sherington works as a school. Visits can be very informal (e.g. attendance at school concert or assembly) or may be planned with a specific focus.

We play an important role in the appointment of new staff, particularly those at a senior level.

Governing bodies are supported by the Local Authority through the provision of training and advice.  OFSTED evaluate how effectively governors challenge and hold senior leaders to account for all aspects of the school’s performance and ensure financial stability, and will judge the effectiveness of governance against the three core strategic functions.  

Impact

Over the last few years we have focussed on becoming a more effective governing body, becoming more skills focussed and recruiting new governors to strengthen key areas. We have worked closely with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that the governing body has the information available at the right level to perform its core functions, for example through well structured reports, data analysis and staff presentations at governors meetings. We have revamped the terms of reference for all committees, clarified the delegation of authority, and introduced a governors code of conduct.

Some examples of impacts over the last few years:

• We have supported the school in a complete review and overhaul of all policies
• We promoted and supported the development of the dedicated school website
• We undertook a parent/carer survey of the provision of afterschool clubs, which the school was able to respond to by increasing the range and number of clubs provided across all year groups
• Governors have a statutory duty to provide performance management for the Head Teacher. When we and the Head found the existing process unsatisfactory, we developed a new review structure that provides space for a much broader creative and strategic approach, while also providing rigorous challenge.
• We supported the school in the building of the “Creation Station”: investigating options, identifying needs, developing an initial brief, engaging an architect, running a formal tender process on the school’s behalf, and then retaining oversight of the project until completion.
• We have provided additional support at times of transition, for example: new National Curriculum in Sep 2014, “life without levels” in Sep 2015, new contract for provision of Children’s Centre services
• We have provided an increased focus on financial planning, for example by initiating a change to service provider for bursarial services that better suits the needs of the school, and supporting the development of a 3 year plan.

Here is a summary of our impact over 2016/17: Governance Review 2016-17

You may be aware that we are currently reviewing how we engage with the school community. Our new parent governor, Kelly Powell, has a specific “communications” focus.

Our drop-in session for parents/carers in June was a great success and looks set to become a regular feature. Thank you for all your responses to our governors surveys. Your feedback on the survey about the governing board is included the attached presentation, together with answers to specific questions raised (our intention was for this to be running during the drop-in session, but IT got the better of us): Sherington Governing Board Survey

A huge thank you for everyone who responded to the Communications Survey earlier this term – your feedback and our next steps are outlined in the Governors’ Newsletter, which you should have received in your book bags: Newsletter Summer 2017

Table shows meetings attended / total possible number of meetings for the last completed school year 2017/18. *indicates apologies received for meeting.

All terms of office are 4 years unless otherwise noted.

Our Clerk is Liane Dell, provided by Bexley Governor Services.

F&P = Finance & Personnel, L&A = Learning & Achievement, P= Premises, Pay=Pay Committee

The Governing Body including the Head are required to register any business interests on appointment and at every Full Governors Meeting.  The Register of Interests is held in the school office. Click here for a copy.

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