Governing Body

What do governors do?

School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools. Governors appoint the head teacher and deputy headteacher. It is governors who hold the main responsibility for finance in schools, and it is governors who work with the headteacher to make the tough decisions about balancing resources.

Each individual governor is a member of a governing board, which is established in law as a corporate body. Individual governors may not act independently of the rest of the governing board; decisions are the joint responsibility of the governing board.  

The role of the governing board is a strategic one, its key functions are to:

• set the aims and objectives for the school

• set the policies for achieving those aims and objectives

• set the targets for achieving those aims and objectives

• monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making towards achievement of its aims and objectives

• be a source of challenge and support to the headteacher (a critical friend)

The headteacher is responsible for the internal organisation, management and control of the school and the implementation of the strategic framework established by the governing board. 

Who can become a governor?

Almost anyone over 18 years of age can become a governor. There are no particular qualifications or requirements, other than a willingness to give time to the role and a capacity for working with other people. 

There are different categories of governor:

• parent

• staff

• foundation

• partnership

• local authority

• co-opted

The type of governor you will become depends on your situation; however all governors have the same roles and responsibilities once part of the governing board.

How we Work

At Shears Green the Governing Body works as a ‘whole team’, meeting 6 times per year, once in each term, without any separate committees.  An agenda for each meeting will include all the tasks which the governing body is required to consider, and the governing body will ‘commission’ assignments or activities arising from the business of the meeting, which will be recorded in the minutes.

In addition to ‘commissioning’ activities or actions on their behalf, the governing body may wish to delegate monitoring activities to ‘monitoring pairs’ or ‘individuals’. This could apply to statutory functions, and/or the priorities of the School Plan.

In each case where a function has been delegated there is a statutory duty to report any action or decision to the governing body at the next meeting. 

Meet the Governors

Governing Bodies are under a duty to publish on the website, register of interest.  The register sets out the relevant business interest of Governors and details of any other educational establishments they govern.  The register also set out any relationships between members of the Governing Body and members of the school staff including spouses, partners and other relatives.

Current Governors 

*  All terms are 4 years except for the Chair and Vice Chair who are elected annually.

Clerk - Janet Farrel

Governors Attendance 2021/2022

P=Present, A=Apologies, N/A = Not a Governor at this time