About Our Governing Body

The Governing Body has three primary functions:

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

Principles and personal attributes

The principles and personal attributes that individuals bring to the board are as important as their skills and knowledge. These qualities enable board members to use their skills and knowledge to function well as part of a team and make an active contribution to effective governance.

All those elected or appointed to boards should fulfil their duties in line with the seven principles of public life (the Nolan principles). They should also be mindful of their responsibilities under equality legislation, recognising and encouraging diversity and inclusion. They should understand the impact of effective governance on the quality of education and on outcomes for all children and young people. In addition, all those involved in governance should be:

• Committed
  Devoting the required time and energy to the role and ambitious to achieve best possible outcomes for young people. Prepared to give time, skills and knowledge to developing themselves and others in order to create highly effective governance.
   
• Confident
  Of an independent mind, able to lead and contribute to courageous conversations, to express their opinion and to play an active role on the board.
   
• Curious
  Possessing an enquiring mind and an analytical approach and understanding the value of meaningful questioning.
   
• Challenging
  Providing appropriate challenge to the status quo, not taking information or data at face value and always driving for improvement.
   
• Collaborative
  Prepared to listen to and work in partnership with others and understanding the importance of building strong working relationships within the board and with executive leaders, staff, parents and carers, pupils/students, the local community and employers.
   
• Critical
  Understanding the value of critical friendship which enables both challenge and support, and self-reflective, pursing learning and development opportunities to improve their own and whole board effectiveness.
   
• Creative
  Able to challenge conventional wisdom and be open-minded about new approaches to problem-solving; recognising the value of innovation and creative thinking to organisational development and success.

Handling Complaints & Concerns

Governors are not involved in the day-to-day running of the school, it is important that school staff are given appropriate opportunities to resolve concerns before the Governors provide additional external scrutiny. The usual format for escalating concerns, if matters are not resolved, is as follows:

• Initial concern is raised with the subject teacher/subject leader and/or Form Tutor/Head of Year
• Subsequent correspondence may include emails, telephone calls and face to face meetings
• If matters are unresolved, the concern is then raised with the Assistant Headteacher responsible for the Key Stage
• If you still feel matters need further attention, the concern may be raised with the Headteacher

In most instances, good open communication ensures concerns are resolved effectively. If, having been through the stages laid out above, matters remain unresolved, then you may consider a formal written complaint to the school. Even then, it is only if you are not satisfied with the Headteacher’s response, that Governors will become involved. For full details, please see the school’s complaints policy here.