Governors
School governors are people who want to make a positive contribution to children’s education. It is an immensely rewarding role that allows you to be involved in raising standards within school and setting the strategic vision alongside the Headteacher.
The role of the Governing Body:
- Ensures clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- Holds the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
- Oversees the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
We do this by getting to know the school and the wider educational context, reading meeting paperwork and attending meetings where we ask questions to ensure that the best possible decisions are made for the benefit of the children in the school, attending training and development events to improve our skills and knowledge and adhering to the Governors’ Charter.
The minimum commitment expected of a governor is that they attend termly Full Governing Body meetings. Alongside this, Governors will also sit on one committee which also meets termly. Most of our meetings begin after lunch or after 3.30. We aim for all of our meetings to be no more than 2 hours long, depending on business to be discussed. Most governors also take on additional responsibilities, eg Safeguarding governor or Pupil premium governor. Some of us also enjoy being a class link Governor. You can never undererestimate the rewards of receiving written letters through the post from children in your link class. We are very lucky here at JH Godwin to be part of such a great team. All staff make us feel very welcome, they recognise and value our role and we are able to carry out our duties alongside them.
In addition to being over 18 years of age, governors need a strong commitment to the role and to improving outcomes for children, the inquisitiveness to question and analyse, and the willingness to learn. Governors need good inter-personal skills, appropriate levels of literacy in English, and sufficient numeracy skills to understand basic data. There are certain circumstances in which a person is disqualified from holding or continuing to hold office as a governor and they are listed in the documents to be found on the Governors page.
If a governor incurs reasonable expenses such as travel costs as a result of performing their duties as a governor, they can be reimbursed in line with the Governors Allowance policy available via the school office.
The categories of governor are appointed as follows:
- The Headteacher is automatically entitled to be a governor
- Parent Governors are appointed by the parents at the school
- Staff Governors are appointed by the staff at the school
- Local Authority Governors are appointed by the Local Authority
- Co-opted Governors are appointed by the Governing Body
You can find out more about the role of a governor on the National Governors’ Assocation website.
Are you interested in becoming a governor?
We currently have 1 vacancy for a Parent Governor here at JHG. As a result of a recent skills analysis we have identified that we are lacking in areas of expertise such as Media and Law. Of course there are many more skills and attributes we are looking for, but if you have experience in these areas and are considering a Governing body role, we would love to hear from you.
If you are interested in joining our governing body or would like more information, please contact the Chair of Governors at chair@jhgodwin.cheshire.sch.uk.
Governors with areas of responsibility
Chair of Governors - Carol Gahan
Vice Chair of Governors - Danny Woolley
Chair of Business Resource and Wellbeing Committee - Julie Anderson
Chair of Aspirations and Achievements Committee - Nic Harrison
SEND, Vulnerable Register, HT Appraisal, Pay Panel - Carol Gahan
English & Word Aware - Belinda Tyler
Maths, Health & Safety, Computing - Danny Woolley
Behaviour, Exclusions, Finance, HT Appraisal, Pay Panel - Julie Anderson
Early Years, LAC, HT Appraisal, Pay Panel - Caroline Thompson
Foundation Curriculum, Greater Depth - Daniel Gallagher
Pupil Premium, Safeguarding - Nic Harrison
If you would like copies of our Governing Body Meeting minutes please contact the office and copies will be supplied free of charge. The executive Summary of each meeting can be found below.
