Hey with Zion CofE / Methodist Primary School

Governors

Roles & Responsibilities

The three core functions of a school governing body are:
1/ setting the vision,
2/ holding the headteacher to account for the school’s educational performance and
3/ ensuring money is well spent

“Governing boards are the strategic decision makers and vision setters in every school and academy. They play a vital role in ensuring the best possible education for every child by creating robust accountability for school leaders. Crucially, that means using and being familiar with objective data on the performance of pupils, teachers and finances to ask the right questions and ensure resources are allocated to school priorities. It also means ensuring that schools prepare pupils for life and the workplace by building their character and resilience and by implementing their Prevent duty to protect them from the risks of extremism and radicalisation. As we move towards an increasingly school-led system, the importance of boards’ role will only continue to grow.” –
John Nash  Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools

There are three committees, each of which meets termly and reports to the full governing body.
The committees' terms of reference are as follows:

Finance, Premises and Staffing Committee
· To oversee the financial stability of the school
To ensure full adherence with all relevant financial regulations.
· To oversee full compliance with S.F.V.S.
To oversee the sound management of the building and grounds
To oversee and preserve an effective school staff
To agree an action plan for the committee each year
· To report to full governing body termly of actions made
· The business manager may attend the meeting to take minutes and to contribute to reports to governors on matters of relevance.
· Other personnel may attend e.g. the site manager to report on specific developments
· To oversee the implementation and development of the following policies:
a Admissions arrangements
a Charging and remissions
a Register of pupils’ admission to school and attendance
a Capability of staff
a Newly qualified teachers
a Staff discipline, conduct and grievance
a Statement of procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against staff
a Teachers’ pay
a Health and Safety
a Premises management documents
a Governors’ allowances (schemes for paying)
a Register of Business Interests of headteachers and governors

Safeguarding and Ethos Committee:
· To oversee robust safeguarding practices throughout the school
· To oversee and contribute towards the ethos of the school in accordance with the school’s vision statement
· To agree an action plan for the committee each year
· To report to full governing body termly of actions made
· The business manager may attend the meeting to take minutes.
· Other personnel may attend e.g. the learning mentor, L.A. safeguarding representatives or church personnel to report on specific matters of relevance to the school safeguarding practices or ethos
· To oversee the implementation and development of the following policies
a Data protection
a Protection of biometric information of children in schools and colleges
a School complaints
a Single central record of recruitment and vetting checks
a Accessibility plan
a Child protection policy and procedures
a Children with health needs who cannot attend school
a Designated teacher for looked after and previously looked after children
a Special Educational Needs and Disability
a Supporting children with medical conditions
a Relationships, Health and Sex Education
a Behaviour in Schools
a Behaviour principles written statement
a Exclusion
a First Aid in schools
a Equality information and objectives (public sector equality duty) statement for publication)

Curriculum and Standards Committee:
· To oversee the curriculum provision throughout the school
· To oversee and support the school in maintaining high standards of attainment for all groups of children in the school
· To agree and action plan for the committee each year
· To report to full governing body termly of actions made
· The business manager may attend to take minutes.
· Other staff may attend such as subject leaders to report on developments in particular curricular areas
· To oversee the implementation and development of the following policies
·a) School information published on the website
b) early years foundation stage
c) school curriculum
d) teaching and learning