Welcome to our Governors’ section. 

Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.

What do Elkesley School Governors do for your children and the school?

About the Governors

The Governing Body of Elkesley Primary and Nursery School is a committed group of people who care about the young people in their community, and the education that they receive.  The Governing Body work in partnership with the Head Teacher and staff, to help shape the future of the school and improve the outcomes and standards of achievement for its pupils, so they can do the best that they can.

The Governing Body meets regularly and works with the Head Teacher and the staff to decide the school's aims and policies, and to oversee the efficient running of the school.

The Governors work in partnership with the Local Authority and have particular responsibility for:

• Setting aims and planning for the future of the school
• Agreeing targets to raise standards of achievement
• Ensuring the curriculum for the school promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of the pupils
• Managing the school budget by providing the Head Teacher with guidance, setting priorities and budget monitoring
• Staffing issues including appointing the Head Teacher and other staff and determining salaries
• Deciding the school's policies on issues including admission and the length of the school day
• Making sure all pupils have equal opportunities within the school and providing for pupils with special educational needs
• Ensuring the school's premises are maintained to a high standard
• Dealing with complaint's about the school

What does the Governing Body do?

Governors have three main roles:

The strategic role, the school improvement role and the accountability roles:

Strategic Role

• Vision for the school
• Developing aims for the school
• Planning so that all pupils can achieve the very best they can

The Governors' Role in School Improvement - the 'Critical Friend' role, and in this role they:

• Monitor and evaluate the school's work
• Visit the school
• Ensure that all meetings are effective by reading all papers prior to the meeting and preparing their questions for areas that they would like to discuss at the meeting

The Accountability role of the Governing Body which is concerned with:

• Reporting on learning and progress
• Shared accountability between school leaders and governors
• Disciplinary issues
• The accountability to parents and the community they serve

Governors are appointed to provide

• Strong links between the school and the community it serves
• A wide experience of the outside world
• An independent view
• A visible form of accountability for the Head Teacher and staff of the school
• A team focusing on long term development and improvement
• Accountability to the community for the use of resources and the standards of teaching and learning in the school
• Support for the Head Teacher and staff

School governors are expected to

• Attend the regular and special meetings of the Governing Body
• Work as a member of the Governing body (not as an individual) in the best interests of the school
• Show an interest in school activities
• Become well-informed about education in general and about their school in particular
• Become familiar with the rules of school governance
• Attend necessary training courses, i.e., Community Cohesion

School governors are drawn from different parts of the community, i.e., parents, staff, the Local Authority, the community and other groups.  This helps to ensure that the governing body has sufficient diversity of views and experience but does not mean that governors of a particular category "represent" that group on the governing body.  For example, parent governors do not act as a representative of the parents at the school and do not report back to them.

In addition, individual governors will usually be involved in some of the following activities often through groups or committees which report back to the main body

• Staff appointments
• The financial management of the school
• Pupil discipline
• The curriculum
• The training of governors
• Liaising with parents and other stakeholders on behalf of the governing body community links

Categories of Governors

The governing body is to be made up of different numbers and categories of governors:

• Parent governors - selected by election (or appointment if insufficient people stand for election) and drawn from parents and carers of children at the school
• Staff governors - selected by election from teaching and support staff paid to work at the school
• Community governors - appointed by the governing body to represent community interests
• LA governors - appointed by the LA
• Associate members - (not governors) - appointed by the governing body to attend committee meetings and/or full governing body meetings due to their particular skills or experience

Contact the Governing Body

The Governing Body are keen to hear from parents and other community members who wish to:

• Learn more about the school
• Ask a question about the school
• Share with them a view about the school
• Become a member of the Governing Body

The Governing Body encourage parents and the wider members of the community to become active members.