School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools. Governors appoint the head teacher and deputy headteacher. It is governors who hold the main responsibility for finance in schools, and it is governors who work with the headteacher to make the tough decisions about balancing resources.
Each individual governor is a member of a governing board, which is established in law as a corporate body. Individual governors may not act independently of the rest of the governing board; decisions are the joint responsibility of the governing board.
The role of the governing board is a strategic one, its key functions are to:
The headteacher is responsible for the internal organisation, management and control of the school and the implementation of the strategic framework established by the governing board.
Almost anyone over 18 years of age can become a governor. There are no particular qualifications or requirements, other than a willingness to give time to the role and a capacity for working with other people.
There are different categories of governor:
co-opted
The type of governor you will become depends on your situation; however all governors have the same roles and responsibilities once part of the governing board.
At Shears Green the Governing Body works as a ‘whole team’, meeting 6 times per year, once in each term, without any separate committees. An agenda for each meeting will include all the tasks which the governing body is required to consider, and the governing body will ‘commission’ assignments or activities arising from the business of the meeting, which will be recorded in the minutes.
In addition to ‘commissioning’ activities or actions on their behalf, the governing body may wish to delegate monitoring activities to ‘monitoring pairs’ or ‘individuals’. This could apply to statutory functions, and/or the priorities of the School Plan.
In each case where a function has been delegated there is a statutory duty to report any action or decision to the governing body at the next meeting.
Meet the Governors
Governing Bodies are under a duty to publish on the website, register of interest. The register sets out the relevant business interest of Governors and details of any other educational establishments they govern. The register also set out any relationships between members of the Governing Body and members of the school staff including spouses, partners and other relatives.
| Name | Category | Term of office began (terms are 4 years)* | Appointed by | Position of responsibility | Relationship with staff member | Governance role at another school | Business or Pecuniary Interest | Attendance record for the last academic year (2020/2021) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Paterson | Headteacher | Ex-offico | NA | NA | NA | None | None | 7/7 |
| Barry Rogers | Foundation | 29/09/21 | Nominated by Northfleet Trust and appointed by Governing Board | Chair of Governors Resources Pay ICT | None | None | None | 7/7 |
| Rosie James | Parent | 4/12/20 | Head Teacher | Vice Chair of Governors Safeguarding | None | None | None | 6/7 |
| Sarah Lamour | Staff | 23/03/22 | Staff | Remote Learning | None | None | None | |
| Annabelle Lear | Foundation | 03/10/18 | Nominated by Northfleet Trust and appointed by Governing Board | Finance | None | None | None | 7/7 |
| Adam Laughton | Co-Opted | 01/10/19 | Governors | Safeguarding | None | None | None | 6/7 |
| Dave Hill | Co-Opted | 03/10/18 | Governors | Resources H&S | None | None | None | 5/7 |
| Martin Avery | Parent | 02/12/20 | Governors | Anti Bullying | None | None | None | NA |
| Lorraine Cave Brown | Co-Opted | 4/12/20 | Head Teacher | Data | None | None | None | NA |
| Governors who resigned in the last 12 months | ||||||||
| Graham Hellyer | Foundation | 28/09/20 | Head Teacher | SEN, Pay | None | None | None | xx |
| Mareesa Wahab | Staff | 03/10/18 |
| |||||
Remote LearningNoneNoneNonexx
* All terms are 4 years except for the Chair and Vice Chair who are elected annually.
Clerk - Sarah Hart