Governing Body
The Governing Body at Our Lady & St Swithin’s Catholic Primary School
The Governing Body are the strategic leaders of our school and have a vital role to play in making sure every child gets the best possible education. We are fortunate enough to have a keen, committed and knowledgeable Governing Body. They have responsibility for raising school standards with a strong focus on three core strategic functions:
1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
2. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is spent well.
These functions are reflected in the criteria OFSTED Inspectors use to judge the effectiveness of governance in both maintained schools and academies.
At Our Lady & St Swithin’s the teachers do, the headteacher monitors and leads and the governors evaluate (some would say with a fine tooth comb!)
Our Governors:
Agree school improvement priorities
Monitor and evaluate the performance of the school
Set school targets
Make sure the curriculum is balanced
Agree school policies
Agree an annual budget detailing planned spending and staffing
Appointment of Headteacher and other senior staff
Makes sure that we meet our statutory duties
Being a governor means being committed to giving your time and energy to the role. Each governor, as a volunteer, contributes to the work of the Governing Body and shares the workload. Governors are asked to take part in regular meetings and read ‘lots’ of papers to find out about the issues being discussed. In practice, this means going to one full Governing Body meeting each term, together with one or two committee meetings, lasting approximately 2 hours each, plus regular visits to the school during the school day. Governing Body meetings are held in school usually on a Thursday night at 4pm.
Governors receive training and full support to help them in their role.
Foundation governors (7 governors) are nominated by the Parish Priest and appointed by the Archdiocese. The primary purpose of the Foundation Governors at a Catholic school is to ensure the school is governed in accordance with the directives of the Archbishop.
Parent governors (2 governors) are elected by parents of children at the school. Although they are there to represent parents’ views, they are not delegates, and other parents cannot order them on how they should vote, or what they should say in Governing Body meetings.
Staff governors (1 staff governor plus Headteacher) one staff governor position is reserved for the Headteacher. The other staff governor is elected by the school staff. Both teaching and support staff paid to work at the school are eligible for staff governorship.
Authority Governors (1 governor) are appointed by the Local Authority and sometimes are a member of the council such as a county councillor.
