Limes Farm Junior School

ROLE OF GOVERNANCE:

Governors are responsible for helping to provide an environment in which a good quality education can be delivered.  Our Governing Body works in Partnership with the Headteacher in order to fulfil its' responsibilities for the general oversight of Limes Farm Junior School's progress.

1. Contribute to the strategic discussions at governing body meetings which determine:

• the vision and ethos of the school;
• clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school;
• that all children, including those with special educational needs, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum;
• the school’s budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation;
• the school’s staffing structure and key staffing policies;
• the principles to be used by school leaders to set other school policies.

2. Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance; this includes:

• agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan;
• considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance;
• asking challenging questions of school leaders;
• ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits;
• ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies;
• acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing body on the progress on the relevant school priority; and
• listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community, including local employers.

3. Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well, including the necessary expertise on business management, external advice where necessary, effective appraisal and CPD (Continuing Professional Development), and suitable premises, and that the way in which those resources are used has impact.

4. When required, serve on panels of governors to:

• appoint the headteacher and other senior leaders;
• appraise the headteacher;
• set the headteacher’s pay and agree the pay recommendations for other staff;
• hear the second stage of staff grievances and disciplinary matters;
• hear appeals about pupil exclusions.

 The whole Governing Body meets every term, and included on every agenda is a full report from the Headteacher, which gives the Governors a clear insight into our school's work and activities.  Governors are responsible for a particular area to look into in greater detail, and report back to the whole Governing Body.  Minutes of all Governors’ meetings are kept at Limes Farm Junior School, and are available for you to read at any time.

Limes Farm Junior School has two Parent Governor positions and presently, we have one recent vacancy.  If you have a child at our school, you are entitled to participate in the election of Parent Governors; perhaps even standing for election yourself.