Meet the Governors
What is the purpose of the governing body?
The school governors have responsibility for guiding the school in its aims and for overseeing the budget which has been allocated by the Borough Council. We do this by maintaining close contact with the headteacher and working with the staff to ensure that, as far as possible and practicable, they all have the facilities and resources needed to do their jobs effectively.
Who are the governors?
Governing bodies are a mixture of elected and appointed persons representing various aspects of the community. So there are parent governors elected by parents of pupils who attend the school, co-opted governors appointed by the existing governors and there are governors delegated by the Local Authority to represent the Authority’s interests. If you are interested in becoming a governor, please enquire at the school office.
Governors
Lucinda Duffy, Co-opted – Chair Person; link governor for leadership and management; Lucinda can be contacted at the school address or through our clerk, Maxine Hughes, via [email protected]
Maureen Banner, LA appointed - Vice Chair
Marcia Atherton, Staff – Headteacher
Kirsten Matthews, Staff – Deputy Headteacher
Kayleigh Rees, Parent - link governor for safeguarding
Sue Melville, Co-opted - link governor for SEND; and link governor for personal development
Rachael Ellison, Co-opted - link governor for quality of education; and link governor for health and safety
Louise Carroll, Co-opted - link governor for data protection
Alison Brown, Co-opted
There is currently one parent governor vacancy
Governor resignations within the last 12 months: 1) 30.11.23 - Amy Graham, Parent Governor; 2) 26.03.24 - Maureen Banner stepped down as Chair of Governors to become Vice Chair with effect from 27.03.24; 3) 26.03.24 - Val Stoddart-Cross stepped down as co-opted governor to become an associate member with effect from 27.03.24; 4) 05.07.24 - Alana Perrin, Parent Governor
Associate member, Val Stoddart-Cross, does not have any voting rights.
How do we do our job?
Governors, who are unpaid, are people who give up their spare time to help in managing the school. This is done by meeting together at least once each term and by forming a number of committees to monitor and guide various areas of activity. At Sandy Lane Nursery and Forest School, we have condensed the number of committees from three to two with effect from the 2019-20 academic year. The Resources Committee is responsible for health and safety; our building programme; personnel; budget; and performance management. The Teaching and Learning Committee is responsible for curriculum; pupil progress; safeguarding; and CPD (continuous professional development). Each committee meets once per term and reports to the governors as a whole on what is happening, what decisions have been taken and recommend courses of action which may be outside the terms of reference of the committee. For example, the Resources Committee will work with the headteacher to set a budget each year but the budget has to be ratified by the whole governing body before being sent to the Borough Council. Minutes for committee meetings are available on request.
Another important aspect of the governors’ role is in setting targets and monitoring the progress that the school makes in achieving them. The School Improvement Plan is a working document which sets out what the school aims to do in the academic year, who is to do it and how it will be monitored and achieved.
Governors also set and agree policy documents relating to such things as staff pay, behaviour, health and safety, financial management and several others. Each of these documents may be seen by enquiring at the school office.
Register of Pecuniary (Business) Interests
The governing body of each school must have in a place a register that lists any business interests that governors, staff and their immediate family have, including details of any other educational establishments at which they may govern. Declarations are listed on the downloadable Committee Structure.
How you can contact us
You can contact us by emailing our clerk, Maxine Hughes, or calling in at the school office and requesting a meeting with one of our governors; Maxine's email address is [email protected]. We will always respond as soon as we hear from you but please remember that if you have a complaint, it should first be raised with a member of staff or the headteacher.
