Staple Hill Primary School’s Governing Body is the group of parents, staff and people from the local community who guide the management of Staple Hill School, supporting and challenging the school management team to make sure that Staple Hill School is as effective a school as it can be.
Governors have three main roles:
Strategic – They ensure our school has clear aims and values. They focus on raising standards of achievement, ensure resources are prioritised and linked to the School's Development Plan, set out and review policies and procedures, review targets and measure achievement against those.
Critical Friend – They monitor and evaluate how the school is progressing, providing support where strategies to bring about improvement are being explored and strike a balance between support and challenge.
Accountability – They account to the whole school community for the performance of the school. They question and refine proposals while respecting the professional roles of the Head teacher and staff. They account for the school's performance and explain decisions and actions to anyone with a legitimate interest.
They do this by:
Making decisions about how the school budget is used.
Setting standards of behaviour
Making sure that the National Curriculum is being followed
Interviewing and selecting staff for the school
Drawing up the School Development Plan to ensure the school maintains its efficiency
The Governors are, ultimately, legally responsible for the quality of education at Staple Hill School, and the welfare and safety of pupils and staff. At Staple Hill School, our Governing Body has 16 members, made up of: parent governors - who have children at school, and are elected by the parents; staff governors - who represent the teaching and non-teaching staff and are chosen by the staff; LEA governors - who are appointed by the education authority, and nominated by local politicians; and Community Governors, who are invited to join the Governing Body, often to bring needed skills and expertise.
At Staple Hill School, governors serve a term of office of three years from when they start. The start date can be at any time in the academic year. Names and photographs of current governors are displayed in reception.
The Governing Body manages the school through two main committees – the staffing and curriculum committee, which is responsible the education of the pupils and any staffing issues; and the finance and buildings committee, which is responsible for managing the school budget (roughly £1.2m a year) and the upkeep of the school’s premises.
The school governors meet as a Full Governing body at least once a term. The two sub-committees meet three times a year.
People have many reasons for becoming Governors, and are not all governors for the same reasons. Governors come from different backgrounds and have a wide range of skills and experience which are used when working with the school. As governors, people give up their time on a voluntary basis. What they all share, though, is a passion for making Staple Hill School the best place it can be for children to learn, for staff to work, and above all for everyone to enjoy coming here.
