The Governing Body
Register of Business Interests Autumn 2023
Governors have an important role as a 'Critical Friend' to the school, working in partnership with the school community to help provide the best possible education for our pupils. This is achieved by:
- Setting the school's values, vision and strategic aims, agreeing plans and policies and making making good use of resources.
- Monitoring and evaluating performance, acting as a critical friend to the headteacher to support and challenge them in managing the school.
- Ensuring that the school is accountable to the children and parents it serves, to its local community, to those who fund and maintain it as well as to the staff it employs.
Types of Governor
- Local Authority (LA) Governor - nominated by Birmingham City Council.
- Co-Opted Governor - a person appointed by the Governing Body.
- Parent Governors - are elected by and from the parents
- Staff Governors - elected by and from the staff
- Ex-officio Governors - Governors by virtue of their office, i.e. the Headteacher
Committees
The responsibilities of the Governing Body are shared between three committees, each with a specific responsibility. Our Finance and Personnel Committee oversees the budget and staffing, our Teaching and Learning Committee monitors safeguarding, curriculum provision, attainment and achievement of all pupils and provision made for groups such as SEND, Gifted and Talented, etc. Our Premises Committee oversees the health and safety, the school buildings, statutory testing and resources.
Further smaller sub committees convene to address such matters as Head Teacher's Performance Management, Staff Pay Reviews which are conducted annually and, should the need arise, Discipline and Grievance.
Link Governors
Link Governors are those who have been assigned to a specific focus of school life. There are Link Governors assigned to areas of the curriculum; Literacy, Numeracy and SEN. The role of the Link Governor is:
- to take an interest in and gain a more detailed knowledge of their area
- to know what is contained in the School Development Plan (SDP) for their area
- to be involved in the review of the SDP for their area and to be part of the planning process
- to help the governing body in its critical friend role by asking questions about progress and challenging appropriately about attainment in their area
- to report back at agreed intervals either to the appropriate committee or the full governing body
- to work in full partnership with the headteacher
