What Governors do

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES:

All governing boards, whether in the maintained or academy sector, and no matter how many schools they are responsible for, have three core functions:

  1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction for the school
  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 well spent

This includes responsibility for the strategic development of the school in the areas of safeguarding, finance, curriculum, inclusion, welfare and discipline, health and safety, premises, staffing and school meals.

HOW WE WORK:

Governors do not get involved in the day to day running of the school. This is the responsibility of the Headteacher, Leadership team and staff. The only operational role governors may have is to form a Complaints Panel should a complaint not be successfully resolved by the school or if a complaint is about the Headteacher.

Instead governors take a non-executive role and use a mix of reports, visits, reviews and discussions to understand how the school is meeting its obligation to ensure every child has the best possible experience and education. They use their variety of backgrounds and experiences collectively to help explore both issues and opportunities and ensure the school keeps building on its successes and is equipped and supported for the future.

The authority of the governing body lies with the board collectively and not with any individual governors.

SPECIFIC ROLES WITHIN THE GOVERNING BODY:

  • Curriculum committee – a sub set of governors sit on the curriculum committee, ensuring our curriculum best supports children’s learning and development. Meets at least once per term
  • Resources committee – a different sub set of governors is responsible for overseeing the school’s finances and resources, ensuring the school has the resources to deliver the best possible education and that we have a realistic and sustainable budget. Meets at least once per term
  • Link governors – most governors also have a ‘link’ role, where they periodically visit the school to review their link specialty (e.g. maths, safeguarding, finance etc)
  • Full Governing Body – Reviews reports from the committees and covers the wider responsibilities of the governing body

FIND OUT MORE:

If you would like to learn more about the role of governors or are interested in becoming a governor, the link below contains UK government guidance on governance for maintained schools like ours.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/governance-in-maintained-schools

If you have specific questions, you can email the Chair of Governors at: ChairofGovernors@grasmere.hackney.sch.uk