Woodseats Primary School

The Governing Body

The Role of a School Governor

We are a group of volunteers from a range of backgrounds within the local community who are passionate about children’s education and who want to make a real difference to the school. Our objective is to provide a strategic view, which means deciding, in partnership with the school’s Senior Leadership Team, what the school needs to achieve and agreeing the framework for getting there. We do this by offering advice and support to the Headteacher to ensure that the school continues to raise its standards of achievement, delivers the school’s priorities and secures value for money.

In May 2013 the Governors decided to re-constitute and adopt a more flexible approach to the types of Governors we have at Woodseats. Previously we have been limited to; six Parent Governors, four Staff Governors and four Community Governors. Now we have introduced the role of a co-opted Governor and our structure is; two Parent Governors, one Local Authority Governor, one Staff Governor, the Headteacher and ten Co-opted Governors.

Our Governors:

Sarah Hall - Chair of Governors	Sinead Fox - Headteacher	Eileen Cross - Vice Chair of Governors

Sarah was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 6-5-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.	Has no registered pecuniary interests.	Eileen was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 6-5-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.
Alison Riocreux	Amanda Towers	Heather Vickers	Bruce Laver

Alison was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 6-5-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.	Amanda was appointed by GB as a Parent Governor until 1-11-23 and has no registered pecuniary interests.	Heather was appointed by GB as a Staff Governor until 6-5-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.	Bruce was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 10-7-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.
Frances Blow	Karen Dunning	Cat Arnold

Frances was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 30-11-22 and has registered a pecuniary interest.	Karen was appointed by GB as an Associate Governor until 30-11-22 and has no registered pecuniary interests.	Cat was appointed by GB as a Co-opted Governor until 10-7-21 and has no registered pecuniary interests.

Types of Governors:

Co-opted Governors - are appointed by the governing body and who, in the opinion of the governing body, has the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. As a co-opted governor, they may have an area of specialist knowledge or experience or bring a wide range of skills and experience to the role of a governor.

Parent Governors – are elected by the parents of registered pupils at the School.

LA Governors – have been appointed by the Local Authority.

Staff Governors – must be paid to work at the school and elected by the Staff.

Associate Governors – we benefit from being able to draw on expertise and experience from outside our formal Governor membership.

Our Governing Body meets at least once per term, although we have established three sub-committees who meet on a more regular basis and have their own specific Roles and Responsibilities. The Resources Committee deal with teaching and non-teaching staffing issues, budget setting, Premises and Health & Safety and ensuring the School gets the best value. The Teaching & Learning Committee deal with all aspects of the curriculum, teaching and learning, pupil progress and target setting. The School Improvement Committee play a key role in managing the School and ensuring that committee work is co-ordinated. We also form other Sub-Committees as and when necessary and a recent example of this is our Recruitment Committee. Their specific role was to go through the recruitment process starting from advertising right through to interviewing and the recruitment of a new Headteacher.

Committee Structure

School Improvement Committee	Teaching & Learning Committee	Resources Committee
Sinead Fox	Amanda Towers	Eileen Cross (Vice Chair)
Sarah Hall (Chair of Governors)	Sinead Fox	Sinead Fox
Eileen Cross (Vice Chair)	Sarah Hall	Alison Riocreux
Amanda Towers	Heather Vickers	Sarah Hall
	Mark Lawrenson	Bruce Laver
	Frances Blow
	Cat Arnold

Most Governing Bodies use a committee structure to undertake their monitoring and evaluation roles. Membership and terms of reference of committees must be determined annually. Finance, Staffing, Admissions, Health and Safety, Curriculum and Premises Committees are very common.

Link Governors

Early Years Foundation Stage	Eileen Cross
Safeguarding	Eileen Cross
Training	Sarah Hall
Inclusion	Amanda Towers
Data	Frances Blow
Meadowhead Trust	Bruce Laver
Parental Engagement	Cat Arnold
Writing	Mark Lawrenson
Maths	Frances Blow
Reading/Library	Alison Riocreux
School Parliament	Alison Riocreux

What is a Link Governor?

A link Governor creates a good working relationship between the subject specialist within the school and the subject link governor and will enhance the success of any initiatives.

As a model, the subject link governor, in support of the curriculum team, could undertake some or all of the following:

Become informed about relevant documents and legislation; OfSTED criteria for evaluating the subject provision; local and national issues impacting upon the subject.
Liaise with the subject co-ordinator or head of subject in order to become informed about staffing arrangements and training; the condition and availability of resources; curriculum and timetable arrangements; special needs provision; reference to the school development plan; assessment and recording procedures for the subject; which visits and visitors are planned.
Establish and maintain effective lines of communication between the subject co-ordinator and the Governing Body; report back to Governing Body meetings.

If you are interested in being a Governor you can either contact us by mail shall@woodseats.sheffield.sch.uk or via the School Office.

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