Governors

Welcome to the Governor section of the website. What do we do?

All schools in England have a Governing Body which is responsible for overseeing many of the strategic decisions of the school. The Governing Body works in close partnership with the Headteacher, staff and the Local Authority. Whilst Mrs McGuigan, alongside the Senior Leadership Team, is responsible for the day to day running of the school, the governors provide support and hold leaders to account for achieving the best outcomes for the children. Throughout the year, we pay attention to how well the school is delivering on its objectives as stated in the annual School Improvement Plan. We meet at about six times a year and visit the school regularly as individuals to monitor aspects of the school such as pupil progress meetings, health and safety compliance, staff wellbeing, safeguarding and provision for children with special educational needs.

This year, we have supported the school leadership in planning and implementing projects to provide more accommodation for small group learning and to provide the Daily Mile running track. We are currently helping to specify requirements for a potential roof replacement in the next year or two. As always, one of the priorities for the school is high levels of progress and attainment in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. This year there has been a concerted focus from all staff on the methods used for Phonics. Our Hertfordshire Improvement Partner, an expert external adviser who works with us, told governors after a recent visit that, “This initiative is showing great promise in having a real impact on children’s reading skills”. We also regularly monitor the progress of Pupil Premium children and the impact of their funding, which is having very positive consequences. As a school, we were all very pleased with the latest SATs results, which were higher than the national average. The results clearly showed that the remote teaching and learning provision during the Covid lockdown periods had been effective and that the school had maintained its high expectations for learners.

Alongside the focus on the core subjects, we have been working on developing the wider curriculum, with teachers sharing responsibilities for the development of approaches to learning in different subjects. A group of governors visited classes in late June to observe how Religious Education and Design and Technology are being taught throughout the school. They were impressed to see all the children being engaged in the lessons, how they were keen to answer questions and how well their teachers kept up their interest and enthusiasm through a range of resources,

We very much value the children’s opinions and gain regular feedback from them. Similarly, parental feedback, formally and informally, helps us all to work closely together to ensure that all children, whatever their needs, are receiving the best possible education.

If you are interested in being a governor, please contact the school office to find out if we have any vacancies. If you would like to contact a governor, this can be done through the school office. Letters marked for the attention of a governor will be passed on in confidence.

 

Who are we?

Chair of Governors: Phil Murray (Co-opted Governor)

Vice Chair: Judy Bayliss (Co-opted Governor)

Headteacher: Emma McGuigan

Co-opted Governor: Paul Heskin (Deputy Headteacher)

Staff Governor: Elizabeth Deacon

Local Authority Governor: Alina Mone

Parent Governor: Grant Shipton

Parent Governor: Gemma Cunningham

Co-opted Governor: Mark Bilsdon

Co-opted Governor: Pat Stell

In line with regulations, our Governing Body was reconstituted in January 2015 to consist of the Headteacher, two parent governors, one staff governor, a local authority governor and five co-opted governors. The standard term of office for a governor is 4 years. The Chair and Vice-Chair are elected annually at the first meeting of the academic year. Until recently, much of the work of the Governing Body was done by committees: the Resources Committee and the Teaching and Learning Committee. From September 2022, the Governing Body has adopted a Circle model, with the removal of committees. The full Governing Body will now meet six times each year. This means that all governors will have the same knowledge, which should encourage questioning and eliminate repetition. The agenda, as well as covering all the statutory elements, will have a different focus each meeting, providing coverage of all aspects of the school.

Governor Responsibilities

Name Category Appointed by Responsibility Previous role 21/22 Term of office Register of business interests
Judy Bayliss Co-opted Full GB Vice Chair

Safeguarding Lead

Inclusion

HT Pay & Performance Panel

Vice Chair

Chair of T&L

Safeguarding

Inclusion

HTs Performance Appraisal panel

Pay Review Committee

1/7/20-

30/6/24

Mark Bilsdon Co-opted Full GB Safeguarding understudy

Pupil Premium

Resources Committee 23/5/22-

22/5/26

Elizabeth Deacon Staff Staff 4/5/22-

3/5/26

Paul Heskin Co-opted Full GB Resources Committee 1/11/20-

31/10/24

Emma McGuigan Head Teacher Full GB 1/1/13-
Alina Mone L.A. L.A. Health and Safety

English

Social Development

English

Resources Committee

27/9/21-

26/9/25

Resigned

Phil Murray Co-opted Full GB Chair

Use of Technology

Governor Training

HT Pay & Performance Panel

Chair

Resources Committee

Health & Safety

Governor Training Wellbeing

HT’s Performance Appraisal  Panel

Pay Review Committee

1/10/19-

30/9/23

Reyhan Rawles Parent Parents  N/A Teaching & Learning Committee Resigned

11/7/22

Sarah Robson Parent Parents N/A Teaching & Learning Committee Resigned

28/3/22

Grant Shipton Parent Parents Finance Lead

HT Pay & Performance panel

Maths

Chair of Resources

Maths

HTs Performance Panel

Pay Review Committee

16/1/19-

15/1/23

Pat Stell Co-opted Full GB Premises Lead

Wider Curriculum

Resources Committee

Health & Safety

27/9/21-

26/9/25

Vacancy Parent