Governors' Information

Introduction

Our current Chair of Governors is Mrs. Katherine Jarrett: kjarrett@st-faiths.net

As school governors, we have three key responsibilities:

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

In our school, there are four categories of governor:

• Foundation governors are appointed by the PCC and Diocese and normally include the local priest as an ex officio member.
• Staff governors will usually include the Headteacher and one other member of staff elected by the staff.
• Parent governors are elected by the parents
• Local Authority governors are appointed by Hampshire County Council.

Structure and Meetings

As a Full Governing Board (FGB), we typically meet twice a term. All governors attend these meetings. We often give time before the meeting for training sessions from external experts in the given topic. Reporting to the FGB are our committees; School Improvement and Curriculum Committee (SIACC), Finance Committee, Personnel Committee, and the Safeguarding Committee. Safeguarding is the responsibility of all governors and our safeguarding lead reports directly to the FGB at every meeting.

Our School Governors

Terms of office

Apart from the Head Teacher and ex officio, all governors serve a fixed term of office of four years. Governors may be re-appointed/re-elected to serve additional terms of office.

Our instrument of governance requires us to have twelve governors – seven foundation; two staff; two parent and one Local Authority governor

Effective governance

Effective governance requires the Board to have:

• The right people with the necessary skills, time and commitment, and sufficient diversity of perspectives to ensure internal challenge, all actively contributing in line with clearly defined roles and responsibilities under an effective chair and an explicit code of conduct, and with active succession planning;
• Clear governance structures with tightly defined remits, particularly in relation to functions delegated to committees or other bodies;
• Clear separation between the strategic and operational in terms of the role of the board and its school leaders;
• A positive relationship between the board and its school leaders enabling robust constructive challenge based on a good understanding of objective data particularly on pupil progress, staff performance and finances;
• The support and advice of an independent and professional clerk;
• Robust processes for financial and business planning and oversight and effective controls for compliance, propriety and value for money;
• Processes for regular self-evaluation, review and improvement including; skills audits, training and development plans, and independent external reviews as necessary.

What does the Governing Body not do?

Governors do not get involved in the day to day running of the school. This is entirely the responsibility of the Headteacher and his senior management team.

Code of conduct

All members of the Governing body are expected to comply with the following code of conduct:

Role & Responsibilities

• We understand the purpose of the board and the role of the Headteacher.
• We accept that we have no legal authority to act individually, except when the board has given us delegated authority to do so, and therefore we will only speak on behalf of the governing board when we have been specifically authorised to do so.
• We accept collective responsibility for all decisions made by the board or its delegated agents. This means that we will not speak against majority decisions outside the governing board meeting.
• We have a duty to act fairly and without prejudice, and in so far as we have responsibility for staff, we will fulfil all that is expected of a good employer.
• We will encourage open government and will act appropriately.
• We will consider carefully how our decisions may affect the school and its wider stakeholder community.
• We will always be mindful of our responsibility to maintain and develop the ethos and reputation of our school. Our actions within the school and the local community will reflect this.
• In making or responding to criticism or complaints affecting the school we will follow the procedures established by the governing board.
• We will actively support and challenge the Headteacher.

Commitment

• We acknowledge that accepting office as a governor involves the commitment of significant amounts of time and energy.
• We will each involve ourselves actively in the work of the governing board, and accept our fair share of responsibilities, including service on committees or working groups.
• We will make full efforts to attend all meetings and where we cannot attend explain in advance why we are unable to.
• We will get to know the school well and respond to opportunities to involve ourselves in school activities.
• We will visit the school, with all visits to school arranged in advance with the staff and undertaken within the framework established by the governing board and agreed with the Headteacher.
• We will consider seriously our individual and collective needs for training and development, and will undertake relevant training
• We accept that in the interests of open government, our names, terms of office, roles on the governing body, category of governor and the body responsible for appointing us will be published on the school’s website.

Relationships

• We will strive to work as a team in which constructive working relationships are actively promoted.
• We will express views openly, courteously and respectfully in all our communications with other governors.
• We will support the chair in their role of ensuring appropriate conduct both at meetings and at all times.
• We are prepared to answer queries from other governors in relation to delegated functions and take into account any concerns expressed, and we will acknowledge the time, effort and skills that have been committed to the delegated function by those involved.
• We will seek to develop effective working relationships with the Headteacher, staff and parents, the local authority and other relevant agencies and the community.

Confidentiality

• We will observe complete confidentiality when matters are deemed confidential or where they concern specific members of staff or pupils, both inside or outside school
• We will exercise the greatest prudence at all times when discussions regarding school business arise outside a governing board meeting.
• We will not reveal the details of any governing board vote.

Conflicts of interest

• We will record any pecuniary or other business interest (including those related to people we are connected with) that we have in connection with the governing board’s business in the Register of Business Interests, and if any such conflicted matter arises in a meeting we will offer to leave the meeting for the appropriate length of time. We accept that the Register of Business Interests will be published on the school’s website.
• We will also declare any conflict of loyalty at the start of any meeting should the situation arise.
• We will act in the best interests of the school as a whole and not as a representative of any group, even if elected to the governing board.

Breach of this code of conduct

• If we believe this code has been breached, we will raise this issue with the chair and the chair will investigate; the governing board will only use suspension/removal as a last resort after seeking to resolve any difficulties or disputes in more constructive ways.
• Should it be the chair that we believe has breached this code, another governor, such as the vice-chair will investigate.