Silchester CE Primary School

What does the Governing Body do?

We are a group of volunteers from the local community whose role is strategic. Our core functions are to:

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction for the school
• Hold the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• Oversee the financial performance of the organisation and making sure it money is well spent

At Silchester, our board consists of 12 people, including two from the school (the Headteacher and a staff governor), plus 10 volunteers from the community - two parent governors, one governor nominated by the local authority, one ex-officio foundation governor from the church, and six other foundation governors. Please see the excel spreadsheet link below for our current members, and those from the previous 12 months.

We operate through two committees, Curriculum and Resources, which meet once every half term.

The Curriculum Committee focuses primarily on the second core function, through for example:

• Reviewing data provided by the school to assess the education outcomes and identify improvements which are built into the School Improvement Plan (SIP)
• Discussing the provision of RE as a Church of England aided school
• Actively developing and monitoring policies and proceduere at the school including Marking and Feedback; Assessment, Recording and Reporting Pupil Data; Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS); Anti Bullying; Attendance etc

The Resources Committee focuses primarily on the third core function, through, for example:

• Overseeing the financial performance of the school through approving, monitoring and reviewing the budget
• Overseeing personnel matters including monitoring staff performance management
• Monitoring health and safety with regular visits to the school

Once each of the committees have met, we convene as a Full Governing Body (FGB) once every half term to focus on core function one, i.e. the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school. At this meeting, we review the Silchester ethos and culture - particularly as a Church of England school - together with the assessments and recommendations from each of the committees. We review the School Improvement Plan (SIP), review policies such as Safeguarding, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), and approve the budget, along with many other topics.

As skilled professionals, we bring a wide range of skills and expertise. Currently, our governing body brings experience in finance, law, premises management, education, and project management. We regulary review the skills set of our governing body and will activley recruit new governors to fill any gaps.

If you have a skill set that you think would be a good fit for the governors we would love to hear from you! We can co-opt people with specific skill sets to help build our vision in a particular area without the time commitment of being a full governor; plus, we are likely to have a position available for a full governor during 2023. Skills that would be particularly useful for us are marketing, finance, HR, health and safety and digital transformation.

Although we like to be involved in the school and to visit regularly, we are not responsible for the day-to-day running of the school. That responsibility lies with the Headteacher.

Whilst governors have an overall responsibility for the staffing structure of the school and are represented on most recruitment panels, staff deployment within the school is delegated to the Headteacher. We are responsible for the appointment of the Headteacher for which we receive professional support from the Hampshire County Council as the local authority, and Portsmouth and Winchester Diocese. Through working alongside our Headteacher and senior leaders, we ensure every opportunity is made to provide the best education for our children.