Our Governors

Responsibility of the Governing Body

The Governing Body at Engaines Primary School and Nursery ensures high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the school by:

• setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction holding the Headteacher to account
• for the educational performance of the school and its pupils overseeing the financial
• performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

The Governing Body at Engaines plays the role of critical friend as well as contributing to the strategic direction of the school working with the staff.  As a Team we support decision making on:

• Vision, Values and Standards
• Finance
• Curriculum
• Health & Safety
• Premises
• Welfare and discipline
• Staffing
• Admissions
• Special Needs and Pupil Premium

As part of the governing board team, a governor is expected to:

• Contribute to the strategic discussions at governing board meetings which determine: the vision and ethos of the school; clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school ; that all children, including those with special educational needs, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum; the school’s budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation; the school’s staffing structure and key staffing policies; the principles to be used by school leaders to set other school policies 
• Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance; this includes; agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan; considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance; asking challenging questions of school leaders; ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits; ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies; acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing board on the progress on the relevant school priority; listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community, including local employers
• Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well, including the necessary expertise on business management, external advice where necessary, effective appraisal and CPD (continuing professional development), and suitable premises, and that the way in which those resources are used has impact.
• When required, serve on panels of governors to: appoint the Headteacher and other senior leaders; appraise the Headteacher; set the Headteacher’s pay and agree the pay recommendations for other staff; hear the second stage of staff grievances and disciplinary matters; hear appeals about pupil exclusions

The role of a governor is largely a thinking and questioning role, not a doing role.

A governor does NOT:

•  write school policies
• undertake audits of any sort – whether financial or health and safety, even if the governor has the relevant professional experience
• make judgements on the quality of teaching.
• do the job of the school staff – if there is not enough capacity within the paid staff team

The governing board monitors the quality of teaching in the school by requiring data from the senior staff and from external sources.

Important Documents

Instrument of Governance

Statement of Behaviour Principles

Governor Structure

Governor Monitoring Policy 2023-2025

Governor Responsibilities 2022-2023

Governor Responsibilities 2023-2024