Annual Governance Statement for the Governing Body of Leverton Primary School

February 2025

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 individual brings different skills and knowledge to the Governing Body. 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.

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.

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.

OFSTED

In October 2024, the school received a visit from Ofsted, as part of their inspection process.  During the inspection, governors met with the inspector, who questioned governors on a range of areas.

Following the inspection, Ofsted sent out their report, that noted “Governors and school leaders have a secure understanding of the school’s context and challenges.  Governors present clear rationales for the actions they take and the key priorities identified”.

Governors were delighted that the school maintained the standards identified in the previous inspection, which was graded as “Good” and the inspection highlighted the considerable work undertaken by the school, since the last inspection.

A full copy of the Ofsted inspection report is available on the school website.

Governor Monitoring Visits

Alongside regular monitoring visits related to a governor’s link role, governors are also given the opportunity to attend two governor days during the academic year, in the spring and autumn term.  Governors spend the day seeing all areas of the school, meeting with school councillors and meeting with staff, to discuss progress on key areas of the school development plan.

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.

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 or via email at cofg@leverton.essex.sch.uk. 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.