Governors

The Governing Body

The work of a Governor in leading a school in the 21^st century is complex, interesting, often challenging but always rewarding.  Above all, Governors provide support and challenge to help ensure the school continues to meet the needs of the students and community it serves.

Our Governing body comprises of 18 board members including the Head teacher and is made up as detailed below:

Governing Body Status	Number of Governors
Parent	2 (elected)
Staff	1 (elected)
Local Authority	1
Co-opted	13

Co-opted Governor Membership allows school to appoint individuals based on their skills and who have a particular interest or expertise, as well as being able to bring to the school an outside perspective.

The Governing body members are:

Chair - Mr. Steve Scott

Vice Chair – Mr Neil Millican

Staff Governors -

Mr Garry Hancock (Head teacher)

Mrs Michelle Wormald

Parent Governors -

Mr Alan Banks

Mr Neil Millican

Co-Opted Governors -

Mr David Hawkridge

Mrs Sue Sayers

Mr Steve Scott

Mr Steve Rudd

 

Clerk to the Governing body - Mrs Jaine Bickerdike

If you wish to contact the Governing body please write or email;

Clerk of the Governing body

Graham School

Woodlands Drive

Scarborough

YO12 6QW

Clerk@grahamschool.co.uk

*The Governing body and all governors are members of the National Governors' Association (NGA), the representative body for school governors in England.

**Graham school and the Governors are committed to the Safeguarding and protection of our students. All Governors must to submit to a Criminal Records Bureau check.  There is also mandatory training which includes Child protection awareness, Safeguarding & promoting child welfare and safer recruitment training.

Leadership and the Role of Governors

Governors have an essential role as part of effective leadership and school self-review.  Governors give strategic advice to the governing body and senior management Team.  They act as a ‘critical friend’.

It is not a requirement, or appropriate for individual governors or the governing body to become involved in day-to-day management of school, this is responsibility of head and the senior management team.

The senior management team is made up of the schools key leaders which include the Head teacher, two deputy head teachers and five assistant head teachers. They meet regularly to monitor and evaluate the work of the school and determine school improvement priorities.

Governors attend termly full Governing Body meetings.  In addition Governors are organised into two main committees that meet regularly (usually once per term) they are, Teaching & Learning and Finance & Premises. Each committee has a specific membership and outline of responsibilities. Other committees such as Pupil discipline, Staff selection/recruitment, are convened as and when required.  They work through the fine detail of various issues and each committee reports separately at full Governing Body meetings.

Teaching & Learning

Chair -    Mr David Hawkridge       Vice chair – Mrs Sue Sayers

Finance & Premises

Chair -  Mr Steve Scott                   Vice chair - TBC

The key time requirements are:

A school visit per annum	At minimum 1 day (8 hours)
Termly full governing body meetings	Approximately three hours per meeting
One or two sub committee meetings per term	Approximately two hours per meeting
Training and development	- LA face to face;  Governors opt in where they feel training is beneficial, sessions approximately two hours - Online learning;  Governors undertake modules to enhance the learning/competence via the internet at home or work. - Access to various sources of information to support them in their role.
Governors need to allow time to read papers and reports before meetings

Governors also undertake a variety of ‘Link’ roles

Many Governing Bodies link Governors to areas, subjects or year groups as a way of monitoring and reviewing in detail an aspect of the School. All Graham School governors commit to undertake Teaching & Learning monitoring visits.

This will involve individual Governors visiting the school and classrooms and taking the opportunity to discuss issues with the Head teacher/ senior leaders and relevant subject coordinators. These visits are a very important part of our review process.

However, a number of Governors have other specific responsibilities; these include Child protection & Safeguarding, Attendance, Literacy and Numeracy, Health and Safety, SEND/SpLD.

Current link roles;

• Mr Neil Millican - Child protection & Safeguarding
• Mr Alan Banks -  SEND/SpLD
• Mr David Hawkridge – Attendance, Literacy
• Mrs Sue Sayers - Literacy and Numeracy
• Mr Steve Scott - Health and Safety

Further information

Vacancies on the Governing body occur from time to time. Anyone who would wish to be considered for appointment is invited to complete a Standard Form and return it to the Clerk to the Governing body.

Any voluntary body who may be interested in nominating a co-opted member of the Governing body is also invited to write accordingly to the Clerk to the Governing body setting out details of the body and the reasons for their interest.

Documents available from the Clerk to the Governing body:

• Job Description for Governors
• Person Specification for Governors
• Skills matrix
• Register of Interests Form
• Guidance on Completion of Register of Interests Form
• Appointment of Governors and Related Issues.
• Standard Form to be completed by Persons Interested in Appointment