Welcome to the Governors Information page!

The documents below give information about our Governing Body.
If you are interested in finding out what the role of parent representative governor entails, you may find the document below; entitled 'Being a Governor', quite useful.

Being a Governor.

What is the role of a Governing Body?

·         Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

·         Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils,               and the performance management of staff; and

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

What is the role of a Governor?

To ask the right questions, such as:

1. Which groups of pupils are the highest and lowest performing, and why?

2. Do you have credible plans for addressing under-performance or less than expected progress? How will we know that things are improving?

3. Which year groups or subjects get the best and worst results and why? \how doses this relate to the quality of teaching in the school? What is your strategy for improving the areas of weakest performance?

4. How are you going to raise standards for all children, including the most and least able, those with special educational needs, those receiving free school meals, boys and girls, those of a particular ethnicity, and any who are currently underachieving? How will we know if your approach is working?

5. Do we have the right staff and the right development and reward arrangements?

6. What is the school’s approach to implementation of pay reform and performance related pay? If appropriate, is it compliant with the most up to date version of the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document?

7. Is this a happy school with a positive learning culture? What is our track record on attendance, behaviour and bullying? Are safeguarding procedures securely in place? What are you doing to address any current issues, and how we will know if it is working?

8. How good is our wider offer to pupils? Is the school offering a good range of sports, arts and voluntary activities? Is the school food healthy and popular?

9. Do we listen to what pupils and parents are telling us?

What does being a Governor involve?

·         Two full Governing Body (FGB) meetings a term, including reading papers beforehand

·         Involvement in one or more sub-committees

·         Linking to a particular curriculum are or other area of activity

·         Visiting the school to observe lessons and talk to staff and children

·         Undertaking relevant training

·         Supporting school activities

What does being a Governor not involve?

·         Being an education specialist – just an interest in teaching and learning in its widest sense.

·         Raising personal ‘hobby-horses’ or your own child-related issues – ‘Hobby-horses’ have no place and your child-related issues should be discussed with their teacher.

·         Being a spokesperson or lobbyist for parents – you’re not required to represent the views of every other parent, just to share your perspective as a parent in the discussions and decisions.

·         Sharing the ‘insider’ story – there are some items on the agenda within the confidential section which might affect a pupil or staff member and must remain confidential. The general minutes are publicly available

St Stephen’s Church of England Primary School

GOVERNING BODY STRUCTURE

Reconstituted   04/03/2015

12 governor places

Headteacher                                                                          1

Staff                                                                                        1

Appointed by the London Borough of Lewisham            1

Elected parents of pupils attending the school                2

Foundation                                                                            7                                                                                                                                                         

COMMITTEE STRUCTURE

Strategic

Finance and personnel

Curriculum and Achievement

Children Family and Community

Admissions

Premises

Pupil Discipline Committee / Staff Discipline Committee / Staff Discipline Appeal Committee / Pay Appeal Committee / Complaints Committee

These committees meet as and when required, with a minimum of three eligible governors to be drawn from a pool of all members of the Governing Body, subject to availability and with regard to any declared conflicts of interest.

Clerk to the Governing Body:  Jane Smith    jsmith515.209@lgflmail.org

St Stephen’s C.of E. Primary School Governing Body 2019/20

Governors’ details (for each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months)

(Names and details of former governors are given in italics)

GOVERNORS’ ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS 2019/20

ü = present, A = apologies sent and accepted, --- = not applicable

Governors Register of Interests

As a school we are required to publish the register of interests for governors of our school on our website.

All other Governors have signed to state that they have no interest to declare.

Parent Governor Vacancy

To all parents and guardians of pupils attending St Stephen's C E Primary School

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Parent Governor Vacancy

St Stephen's C E Primary School Governing Body

There is an upcoming vacancy on the governing body, from 30^th November 2019, for one elected parent governor. All parents and guardians with children at the school are eligible to stand for election and to vote for a candidate if there is more than one nomination. Parent governors serve for four years from the date they are elected and are not required to stand down if their child leaves the school before the end of their term of office.

The Role

As you may know, the Governing Body of St Stephen’s School plays and important role in the day to day running of the life of the school. A governor’s main role is to:

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Hold executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
• Oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent.

As part of a regular skills audit the Governing Body is seeking to recruit a Governor who is able to assist in the following areas:

• Community Links
• Property and Estate Management
• Finance
• Human Resources

Can you offer skills and expertise in one or more of these areas? In addition to regular meetings Governors are expected to take part in the life of the school. Governors regularly assist in the life of the school in the following important ways:

• Listening to readers as part of intervention groups.
• Going on school trips.
• Membership of different Governing Body sub-committees.
• Joining in with fundraising and advocating for the school.

Please consider whether you might be able to serve our School in this important way. You can find out more information about the role of a Parent Governor via https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/volunteer-as-a-school-governor, or if you would like to discuss the role further please do not hesitate to be in touch with me. I can be contacted by email at pratcliff1.209@lgflmail.org 

The Process

You are invited to submit nominations for the election on the attached form and return this to the school by 12 noon Tuesday 29th October 2019. No nomination will be accepted after that date. You may nominate yourself or another parent who has a pupil at the school, but if you are nominating someone else, please first check that they are willing to stand for election.

Those nominated to stand as parent governor should supply with their nomination form, a short personal statement about themselves of not more than 100 words, for circulation to the parents.  If only one nomination is received that parent will be appointed without a ballot.

Key Dates

If an election needs to be held, the timetable for the election will be:

1^st Nov                    Ballot papers sent out if necessary

18^th Nov        Closing date for receipt of ballot papers (midday) and count

21^st Nov        Notification of result

Nominations

Nominations must be submitted to the school office, in a sealed envelope addressed to Philip Ratcliff, marked Parent Governor Election, by 12 noon Tuesday 29th October 2019. Please also supply a passport sized photograph of the nominee.

If you require further information about being a Governor you can find more details online at
https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/volunteer-as-a-school-governor or pick up a leaflet from the school office.

If you have specific questions about being a Governor you can also email myself (pratcliff1.209@lgflmail.org) or Ken Kitson (kkitson1@lgflmail.org)

Yours sincerely,

Philip Ratcliff

Chair of Governors

NOMINATION FORM

To be submitted FAO Philip Ratcliff, Chair of Governors

No later than 12 noon, 29^th October 2019

I wish to nominate myself for election as a parent governor of St Stephen’s C of E Primary School, SE8

Name and address (BLOCK CAPITALS)

or

I wish to nominate the person named below as a parent governor of St Stephen’s C of E Primary School, SE8

(You must check that they are willing to stand and ask them to sign the form below and complete their personal statement)

Name and address (BLOCK CAPITALS)           

Nominee's Personal Statement

For the role of Parent Governor of St Stephen’s C of E Primary School, SE8

(not more than 100 words)

THIS FORM MUST BE RETURNED BY NOON ON TUESDAY 29^th OCTOBER 2019.