Governors’ Roles and Responsibilities
The role of the governing body is to promote the highest standards of educational achievement at the school. It is the school’s accountable body and is responsible for holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school. It oversees the financial performance of the school, making sure that money is well spent. It provides a strategic view of the school by establishing a vision and setting the purpose and aims of the school within an agreed policy framework.
The Governing Body is made up of:
- The headteacher
- Parent Governors: selected and elected by parents and carers.
- Staff Governor: selected from teaching and support staff.
- Local Authority Governor: appointed by the local authority
- Co-opted Governors: appointed for the skills they bring to the governing body
Governors (with the exception of the headteacher) are appointed for a period of four years, following which they may be reappointed/re-elected if they still qualify. They form important links between the school, parents and the local community.
Governors aim to be:
- Supporters of the school — critical friends providing encouragement and frank, but sympathetic feedback
- Watchdogs — ensuring public interests and individual rights are not overlooked
- Ambassadors — explaining the school to parents and the local community and vice versa
- Adjudicators — settling disputes and helping to set aims and values
- Managers — helping the headteacher decide how the school should be run
Meetings
The full governing body meets six times a year. Working with the headteacher, there are three sub committees who meet twice a term, and report to the full governing body. They are:
- Curriculum Committee
Responsibility includes the oversight of the curriculum, monitoring standards and setting targets. Each governor has a subject linked to them and will, wherever possible, arrange to visit the school to see it in action. - Personnel Committee
Responsibility includes interviewing and monitoring the appointment and performance of staff. - Resources Committee
Responsibility includes monitoring the management of the school’s finances and ensuring money is well spent, and monitoring the maintenance and repairs of the and Health and Safety.
All committees’ duties include the oversight and adoption of policies.
In addition there are governors who oversee other areas such as Special Educational Needs (SEN), Safeguarding, Pupil Premium, and the Sports Premium.
The governors attend training courses throughout the year, both collectively and individually. Governors give of their time freely and are not paid.
Natalie Knight-Wickens (Chair of Governors)
Natalie has been a governor at Sheredes Primary & Nursery since 2014, and was elected as Chair of Governors in 2016.
Having grown up and been educated in the local area before embarking on a career in law, Natalie is passionate about ensuring excellence in education for children, and she sits on the school’s Curriculum Committee and is the Special Educational Needs and Pupil Premium Governor.
Natalie has attended a number of sessions where independent external advisers have visited the school to challenge and review our results. She has also attended a number of training sessions, for example on assessment data and OFSTED.During her time as Chair of Governors and through her work on the Resources Committee, Natalie has overseen the current development of the school’s woodland area.
Outside of her role as Chair of Governors, Natalie is a corporate solicitor in the City of London, and has a young daughter
Correspondence
The Chair of Governors can be contacted through the school office.