All governing bodies are legally constituted and have an Instrument of Government which sets out their size and representation. The size of the governing body at our school is eleven and is broadly representative of our main stakeholders: the community, the parents, the staff, the local authority and the church.

The Law states that:

“The governing body has general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement” (Section 21 of the Education Act 2002)

The governing body is accountable for the performance of the school and it fulfils that by setting the aims of the school and its priorities for improvement. It agrees, monitors and evaluates the policies, targets and actions by which the school will move forward, including setting and monitoring the school budget.

The governing body’s role is strategic. Governors are not expected to be involved in the detail of the day-to-day management of the school. The head teacher has responsibility for the internal organisation, management and control of the school and for implementation of the strategic framework established by the governing body.

Parent and staff governors are elected onto the governing body, the local authority and the foundation governors are appointed from outside the governing body with Co-opted governors being appointed by the governing body itself.

The current governors are as follows:

All governing boards, no matter what type of schools or how many schools they govern, have three core functions:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

In our school the full board meet once every half-term and are supported by two committees, both of which have delegated authority. These are the Resources Committee, which monitors the school finances, and the Teaching and Learning Committee, focusing on standards and attainment. Any work undertaken by the committees is reported back to the full board.

An Action and Evaluation Group is a sub-committee that reports to the Teaching & Learning Committee. This group has a role to challenge and scrutinise attainment results, examining how assessments are formed, measured and triangulated across the school.

In addition the board has a Pay and Performance Committee, which meets at least twice a year, with delegated responsibility for ensuring that staff appraisal is appropriately carried out.

There are two further committees which only meet if there is a need for them to do so. These committees are convened to consider any formal proceedings, such as a staff disciplinary issue or the permanent exclusion of a pupil.

The terms of reference for each of these committees explains what delegated authority the committee has been given to make decisions on behalf of the board.