Governors

Welcome to the section of the website where you can find out more about the school’s governors, and the work that we do. You can also read the minutes of our meetings and the annual statement which we prepare for parents at the end of the school year.

Our main role is to support the Head Teacher and staff. The phrase often used to describe this is ‘a critical friend’. We help them to set and reach targets and to strive for excellence across the whole spectrum of school life. The two key documents used for this are the School Self Evaluation (SEF) where we analyse our effectiveness against national standards and the School Development Plan (SDP) which identifies those areas which require improvement and how we will improve them.

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the three core strategic functions are:

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

The Governing Body was reconstituted in September 2014. It consists of eleven governors:  one Local Authority Representative Governor, two Foundation Governors, four Parent Governors, two Co-opted Governors, the Head Teacher and one Staff Governor. There is one Associate Governors. Associate Governors may not vote.

There are six full Governing Body meetings each year, one each half term and the majority of business is conducted at these meetings. Panels of Governors will deal with duties such as the performance management of the Head Teacher.

All meetings are minuted by the Clerk to Governors, Mrs Val Brown.

In addition governors may take on monitoring roles in school, for example, Special Educational Needs, Safeguarding or an aspect of the School Development Plan.

Governors attend training sessions to keep up to date with changes in schools and education. They visit school regularly to meet with the Head Teacher, members of staff and pupils.

Experience in education, finance, personnel, management and health are valuable to the Governing Body, however, the key attributes that Governors need are time, enthusiasm and an interest in education.

If you are interested in becoming a school governor please contact the Head Teacher or Clerk to Governors.

Governors

September 2018

Name	Type of Governor	Date of Appointment	Term of Office	Responsibilities	Business or Pecuniary Interests/  Governance roles in other schools	Relationship to other Governors/ school staff
Mrs Alison Russell	Co-opted Appointed by GB	September 2018	1 Year	Chair of Governors.  Link Governor for Staffing, Leadership and Management and Quality and Standards of Education.	None	None
Vacancy	Foundation Appointed by Diocese
Mrs Viv Waugh	Foundation Appointed by Diocese	December 2017	4 Years	Link Governor for RE and Collective Worship and Leadership and Management	None	None
Mrs Luci Jewkes	Parent Elected by parents	September 2018	4 Years	Link Governor for School Improvement	None	None
Mrs Julia Clarke	Parent Elected by parents	October 2017	4 Years	Vice Chair of Governors Link Governor for School Improvement and Leadership and Management	None	None
Mrs Michelle Patterson	Parent Elected by parents	September 2016	4 Years	Vice Chair Resources and Pay Performance. Link Governor for Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare	None	Yes
Mrs Denise Wilson Bainbridge	Parent Elected by parents	September 2016 Resigned January 2019	4 Years	Link Governor for Special Educational Needs, Pupil Premium and Early Years	None	None
Vacancy	Local Authority
Mr Derek Blenkharn	Co-opted Appointed by GB	September 2017	4 Years	Link Governor for Buildings, Health & Safety, PE and Sports and Safeguarding.	Architect	None
Mr Simon Robson	Headteacher	January 2015	Ongoing	Overarching responsibility for Resources, Pay Performance and School Development	None	None
Mrs Gemma McManus (Mr Tony Williams)	Staff Elected by staff	September 2013	Annual	Link Governor for Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment	None	None
Rev Jenni Lane	Foundation Ex Officio Appointed  by Diocese	September 2014	Resigned February 2016	Link Governor for RE and Collective Worship	None	None
Mr Philip Thompson	Parent Elected by parents	September 2013	4 Years Resigned August 2016	Vice Chair of Governors. Link Governor for Global Dimension.	None	None
Mr David Smith	Parent Elected by parents	March 2013	4 Years Resigned August 2016	Link Governor for Special Educational Needs.	None	None
Ms Susan Thornton	Parent Elected by parents	September 2013	4 Years Resigned April 2017	Link Governor for Quality and Standards of Education.	None	None
Mrs Jean Evans	Associate Governor Appointed by GB	September 2015	4 Years Resigned September 2017	Link Governor for Literacy and Early Years	None	None
Ms Georgie Sale	Associate Governor Appointed by GB	April 2016	4 Years Resigned January 2017	Co – Chair of Governors , Link Governor for Quality and Standards of Education and Pupil Data.	None	None
Mr Paul Knapp	Parent Elected by parents	September 2014	4 Years Ended August 2018	Link Governor for Safeguarding, SRE and Drugs Education and PSE	None	None
Mrs Kath Jones	Associate Governor Appointed by GB	January 2018	1 Year Resigned March 2018	Link Governor for RE and Collective Worship	None	None

 

Governing Body attendance at meetings 2017 – 2018

Governor	Full Governing Body (6)
Alison Russell	6
Michelle Patterson	4
Paul Knapp	5
Denise Wilson- Bainbridge	4
Julia Clarke	5 (Appointed Oct 17)
Derek Blenkharn	5
Viv Waugh	5
Kath Jones	2 (Resigned June 18)
Simon Robson	6
Gemma McManus	3 (Maternity Leave April 18)
Georgie Sale	2 (Resigned March 18)

 

You can contact the Chair of Governors by email Cofg@croft.dalesmat.org or by post to the school address.