Governors 

Mrs D Scott (Clerk to Governors)

Mr P Nelstrop - Full Governing Body Chairperson (Partnership Governor)

Mrs K Seddon - Full Governing Body Vice-Chairperson/Safeguarding Governor (Partnership Governor)

Mr C Wilson (Headteacher)

Mrs R Geeson (L.A Governor)

Miss R Hill (Staff Governor)

Mr I Whitehead (Co-Opted Governor)

Mrs K Thomas - SEND Governor (Co-Opted Governor)

Miss D Hardbattle (Co-Opted Governor)

Mrs C Mulhall (Co-Opted Governor)

Mrs J Slack (Parent Governor)

Mr C Porter (Parent Governor)

Mrs L Short (Parent Governor)

Mrs S Clark (Associate Governor)

TBC (Parent Governor)

Click here for DFE Website 'Get Information about Schools'

Governing Body Constitution

Governors are appointed for four years; the Chair and Vice Chair are elected annually. 

Full Governing Body meetings are held a minimum of once a term (6 a year).

Categories of Governor explained

Parent governors – Parent governors are elected by other parents at the school.  Any parent, or carer, of a registered pupil at the school at the time of election is eligible to stand for election as a parent governor.  Parent governors may continue to hold office until the end of their term of office even if their child leaves the school.

Local authority governors – Local authority governors are nominated by the governing body following a skills audit. Their nomination must be agreed by the Local Authority. 

Staff governors – Teaching and support staff who, at the time of election, are employed by either the governing body to work at the school under a contract of employment, are eligible to be staff governors.  Staff governors are elected by the school staff.  They cease to hold office when they cease to work at the school.

Head teacher – The head teacher is a member of the governing body by virtue of their office.

Partnership Governors - Are appointed by the Governing Body to ensure the Foundation Status of the school is represented. They must ensure compliance to the trust deeds/Instrument of Governance, and ensure the ethos and character of the school is maintained.

Co-opted governors – Co-opted governors are appointed by the governing body.  They are people who in the opinion of the governing body have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

Our Governing Body shall consist of:

4 Parent governors

1 Local authority governors

1 Staff governor

1 Headteacher

2 Partnership Governors

4 Co-opted governors

Below shows governor attendance at the Full Governing Body meetings:

The Role of the School Governor

School Governing Bodies

All Foundation maintained primary schools are accountable to their governing bodies, which in turn are accountable to parents and the community.  Parent and staff representatives are elected to the governing body along with a local authority governor, elected by the Governing body.  In addition, the governing body can appoint its own Co-opted governors and it is traditionally these posts which the governing body uses to cover skills gaps, hence these posts often being offered to governors from the business/ local community. 

The Value of School Governance

Governing bodies make decisions which are in the best interests of the children and young people.  Keeping the decision making as close as possible to those that are affected by the decisions makes for sound and efficient leadership and governance. 

Fulfilling the role of a school governor is, therefore, both a serious undertaking and enormously rewarding.  Not only do governors bring their own knowledge and skills to the role, but, in learning how schools are run, they often develop their understanding of leadership.  The majority of employers appreciate this and are supportive of their staff taking on the responsibility.  In addition, contributing to the growth and development of a school and seeing tangible improvements in the attainment and well-being of the children is a satisfying and important contribution to the local community. 

The governing body is responsible for the conduct of its school and must promote high standards of educational achievement at the school.  It is the school’s accountable body and as such:

• provides a strategic view of the school by establishing a vision and setting the purposed and aims of the school within an agreed policy framework.  It appoints and performance manages the head teacher, agreeing the school improvement strategy which includes setting statutory targets with supporting budgets and staffing structures;
• monitors and evaluates the work of the school by reviewing the performance of the head teacher, the effectiveness of the policy framework, progress towards targets and the effectiveness of the school improvement strategy;
• signs off the self evaluation process and responds to school improvement service and Ofsted reports as necessary.  In addition it holds the head teacher to account for the performance of the school and ensures that parents are involved, consulted and informed as appropriate, with information to the community being made available as required.
• In order to do this, governors need to gain knowledge of how their school operates through training, by attending meetings and by getting to know their school community, for example through a small number of visits to the school during the school day.

Governors need to work as a team, under the leadership of the Chair of the governing body.  All Cranwell Primary School governors sign a code of practice.

Financial Benchmarking

All schools are required to publish certain financial information online.

Firstly, we are required to publish the number of school employees who have a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more in increments of £10,000.

• We can confirm that we have no employees have a gross annual salary of £100,000 of more.

We must also provide a link to the webpage which is dedicated to our school on the schools' financial benchmarking service.

This link will take you to this information.

Meetings

Governor Meetings occur six times per Academic Year. Meeting dates are usually set well in advance and meetings generally last between two and three hours.  Governors are expected to be well prepared for these meetings and attendance is expected, with apologies only for good reasons.

Other Commitments

Many governing bodies meet more frequently than this and most also delegate work to committees and /or working parties and task groups which meet between the governing body meetings.  Governors will be expected to play a full role in agreeing how their governing body works and then in supporting this.  In addition some governors volunteer to fulfil specific roles, such as being the Special Educational Needs governor, or the Health and Safety governor, or the link governor for a particular year or subject.

Most governors arrange a couple of shorter visits to school and classrooms focusing on key priorities so that they can see how the school is addressing issues identified for development.  In addition, informal visits to special events such as drama productions and sports day are generally encouraged.

Skills and Training

Governors do not need specific skills, but many of the tasks they are required to undertake can benefit from general business knowledge such as understanding management systems, budget planning and HR functions.

Clerk to the Governors - Mrs Debbie Scott