Governors

About the Governing Body

Twelve volunteers make up the governance team for our School. They play a vital and demanding role that requires a wide range of skills and professionalism. The Governing Body is accountable to Ofsted for its effectiveness. Governors are appointed by the full governing body. Frogmore Infant School board comprises several types of governor:

· Two Parent governors -vacancies are filled by parents, where an election is held if there is more than one candidate for a post.

· A staff governor - elected by members of the school staff.

· Seven Co-opted governors are appointed by the Governing Body for the skills they bring to the effective governance and success of the school.

· A Local Authority governor is nominated by our Local Councillor and appointed by the Governing Body

· The Head Teacher

The full governing body (FGB) meets nine times a year. In addition to the FGB,  there is a Pay Committee.

The document below sets out the work of the FGB:

What is the Governors’ Role?

The role of the Governing Board is to provide non-executive leadership. The Governing Body operates collectively and at a strategic level. The Head Teacher and senior leadership team (SLT) are accountable to the governing body for the operational day to day running of the school. Each governor serves for a period of four years. The Full Governing Body (FGB) meets approximately twice every term (9 meetings across the year).

Governors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but are also expected to attend a training course relevant to their specific duties. This entails governors making pre-arranged monitoring visits (usually two) to the school to monitor progress and attainment and the impact on outcomes for children

A clear understanding of, and distinction between, the role of the Governing Body and the Head Teacher is crucial to effective governance. The Head Teacher is responsible for the day to day running of the school and its performance as well as the performance of the staff. The Governing Body’s role is to provide a strategic overview of the school’s performance, to performance manage the Head Teacher and to hold the HT to account in exercising professional judgement in the performance of their duties.

The Governing Body of Frogmore Infant School focuses on three core functions:

· Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and direction

· Holding the Head Teacher to account for the school’s educational performance and the performance management of its staff

· Overseeing the financial performance of the school and ensuring its money is well spent.

Governors are expected to demonstrate robust processes and frameworks for setting priorities, creating accountability and monitoring progress. This means governors need to ask challenging questions on the basis of robust objective data. Governors obtain data, information and feedback from the Head Teacher, review national data at least once a year, participate in visits to the school to verify what they have been told and ensure the Head Teacher’s regular reports provide appropriate and sufficiently detailed information.

The governors at our school adhere to and follow the National Governors Association Code of Conduct: including the seven principles of public service.

All governors are required to be DBS checked for safeguarding of children and are expected to read the DfE’s Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance and acknowledge same.

To find out more about becoming a School Governor, please contact the school directly or the chair of governors via the school admin office or contact the Clerk to governors at L.Beresford@frogmore-inf.hants.sch.uk or Hampshire Governors at http://www3.hants.gov.uk/education/governors/gov-volunteer.htm

Governor details

All governors have been appointed (in accordance with the governing body's instrument of governance) via the governing body except the Local Authority Governor who is appointed by the local authority.

Governors whose term of office has been completed or have stepped down in the past 12 months:

Martin Smith, Brenda MacCormack, Mark Ellul

Governor Interests

No governors have any relevant business/financial interests.

No governors have any material interests arising from relationships between governors or between governors and school staff. .

No governors have roles in any other educational institutions.

Governor attendance

All governors are expected to attend every meeting except in exceptional circumstances which are explained to the governing body. As a result, all non attendance has been approved by the governing body.

Governors are required to send questions and comments in advance so they still contribute to the meeting even if physically absent.

Interested in becoming a governor? Check out the information from Hampshire below...