Governors

Annual Governance Statement for the Governing Body of Leverton Primary School
September 2023

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the 3 core strategic functions of Leverton Primary School Governing Body are:

  1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic vision.
  2. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils.
  3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

Governance arrangements

Our Governors are all volunteers, and the Governing Body comprises of parents, staff and members of the community and local authority. Each different individual brings different skills and knowledge to the Governing Body. Some governors are elected by parents, some are appointed by the Governing Body itself or the Local Authority. This is to help the Governing Body reflect the community they serve. They all work together as part of a team to do the best for the school; they share their skills for the benefit of the children’s education. The Governors are people who wish to make a positive contribution to children’s education. Our Governors have considerable life experience, and many have professional experience, both of which can be a real asset to the school. They support the school, and the staff who work within the school.

The full Governing Body meets once each term, and we also have a number of committees to consider different aspects of the school in detail. At Leverton Primary School we have a Curriculum Committee, a Pay Committee and a Finance, Premises and Personnel Committee. We also have committees that meet, if required, to consider pupil discipline and staffing matters.

See Register of Business Interests for a list of the Governing Body, the committees on which they serve and their responsibilities.

Attendance record of governors

Governors have excellent attendance at meetings, and we have never cancelled a meeting because it was not “quorate” (the number of governors needed to ensure that legal decisions can be made). See Register of Business Interests for details of individual governors’ attendance at meetings.

The work we do on our committees

The Curriculum Committee spends time considering how well prepared the children are to meet the end of key stage requirements. Governors also discuss key data giving the results of pupil achievement and progress, so that we can be sure that the school is on track to fulfil its ambitious targets for all pupils. We are also concerned about our “vulnerable groups” of children and focus on how the Pupil Premium Grant is being spent by the school and what impact this has on their outcomes.

The Finance, Premises and Personnel Committee looks at the maintenance and development of the school premises and makes decisions about how the school should use the budget. The committee also ensures that staff members employed at Leverton Primary School are deployed effectively to raise standards at the school. They also monitor the quality of teaching and learning, review and agree school policies. Governors are particularly concerned too about safeguarding and we have a Nominated Governor for Safeguarding, who gives a termly report to the governors about any safeguarding matters.

Early in the summer term, the Full Governing Body approves the budget plan for the school.

Governors are also assigned key areas of responsibility, such as safeguarding, health and safety and literacy. A full list of governors’ responsibilities is available on the school website. These responsibilities will help to form the focus for the termly visits when governors arrange to meet with school staff to discuss progress against targets or any areas for improvement.

Minutes of Governing Body and Committee meetings are public documents – you can ask at the school office if you would like to see any of the minutes of our meetings.

How you can contact the governing body

We always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents – please contact the Chair of Governors, Mrs Jo Tredgett, via the school office. You can see the full list of Governors; their attendance at meetings and more information about what we do, on the Governor section of the school website.