Skip to content ↓

Borough Green Primary School

Learning Together with Kind Hearts and Determined Minds

Learning Together with Kind Hearts and Determined Minds

In this section...

Governance Statement

ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/23

Whole School Aim

'Learning Together with Kind Hearts and Determined Minds'.

School Value

‘Belonging – Generosity – Mastery – Independence’

Governors’ Role

The Governing Body is key to the leadership of Borough Green Primary School. The Governing Body supports and challenges the Headteacher to continually improve the school and provide the best education for every child. This Annual Governance Statement is one way in which the Governing Body communicates its work and the impact we have had on school improvement to our stakeholders.

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the three core strategic functions of the Governing Body at Borough Green Primary School are:

  • Ensuring clarity of 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 Structure

The Governing Body is made up of a group of committed volunteers who bring a range of skills and expertise and come from a variety of backgrounds. Governors are committed to improving the education of every child in our school and invest a huge amount of good will, hard work and time.

Borough Green Primary School had a Full Governing Body throughout the 2022/23 academic year, with all twelve positions filled as per the following structure –

  • 2 Parent Governors appointed by ballot of the parents at the school
  • 1 Local Authority Governor appointed by the Local Authority
  • 1 Staff Governor appointed by ballot of the staff
  • 1 Headteacher
  • 2 Partnership Governors appointed by the Governing Body
  • 5 Co-opted Governors appointed by the Governing Body based on a skills audit

The Governing Body appoints a professional clerk who is responsible for arranging meetings, taking minutes and following up on all actions. The clerk also advises on procedural matters and plays a key and crucial role in the work of the Governing Body.

Four new governors joined the Governing Body during 2022/23, replacing two Co-opted, one Local Authority and one Partnership Governor whose term of office had been completed. The chair and vice chair are elected by the Governing Body and work closely with the Headteacher and the clerk. In June 2022, the Governing Body elected George Booth and Richard Pearce as Co-Chairs of Governors and Stephen Cole as Vice Chair.  In June 2023, George Booth completed his term of office Stephen Cole was elected as interim Co-Chair over the Summer 2023 period.

Attendance of each Governor is monitored and recorded. The table below is a summary of the attendance for each Governor during the 2022/23 year.

Name of Governor

Attendance

Alistair George Booth

Co-opted Governor

 

10 out of 11

Jemma Butterfield

 Staff Governor

 

6 out of 9

Alison Chugg

Co-opted Governor

 

10 out of 11

Stephen Cole

Parent Governor

 

10 out of 11

Charles Copping

Co-opted Governor

 

8 out of 9 (New Governor)

David Cushway

LA Governor

 

0 out of 2 (Term Ended)

Julie Harvey

Co-opted Governor

9 out of 11

Heather Kiely

Partnership Governor

 

7 out of 9 (New Governor)

Chloe McMenamin

Partnership Governor

 

7 out of 11

Claire Nash

Co-opted Governor

 

8 out of 9 (New Governor)

Richard Pearce

Parent Governor

 

7 out of 11

Karen Sandberg

Ex-offio Governor

4 out of 4

Ben Taylor

Local Authority Governor

 

2 out of 4 (New Governor)

Training

To effectively fulfil its role, the Governing Body must ensure that all its governors have the required skills and knowledge to support the achievement of the school’s priority objectives. All members of Governing Body have undertaken extensive training and, supported by the training governor, continue to do so.

Mandatory training such as Safeguarding and PREVENT were carried out during the academic year.  The Governing Body used a mixture of online and in person courses/training sessions to further their knowledge and understanding for the monitoring areas they are responsible for such as finance training, health and safety training and safer recruitment training.

The impact of this is that the Governing Body has kept up to date regarding the latest requirements and expectations from the Department for Education, vital during this period of uncertainty with policies and plans changing rapidly, and governors are able to understand and challenge the information and data presented to them by the school.

Impact of Full Governing Body Meetings

The Full Governing Body met eleven times over the 2022/23 academic year to inspect, review and agree school policies and monitor progress against the School Improvement Plan which identifies the key areas on which the school and the Governing Body wish to focus during the academic year. The School Improvement Plan includes measures and milestones that the Governing Body uses to satisfy itself that progress is being made against objectives and that all actions being taken are improving teaching and learning outcomes for all children.

The Governing Body met either virtually or face to face over the 2022-23 period.  Two meetings were conducted virtually with the rest in person. Every meeting was quorate and overall attendance and commitment by governors remaining high.

With COVID restrictions lifted, all Governing Body meetings were able to happen in person, with the occasional governor joining virtually due to work or personal commitments. All meetings were quorate and overall attendance and commitment by governors remained high.

During the 2022/23 academic year, the Governing Body received and accepted the resignation of the longstanding Headteacher and worked closely with the school to appoint an interim Headteacher to provide stability for pupils and staff. The Headteacher Report (presented to governors at Governing Body Meetings) facilitated the questioning of the school's decisions and actions with standards and expectations of pupils remaining high.

Monitoring Focus Areas in 2022/23

The governors on the Borough Green Primary School Governing Body divide into pairs to monitory priority areas (detailed below) within the school throughout the year. These are also known as monitoring pairs. Across the 2022/23 academic year, the monitoring pairs visited the school at least three times a year to establish how the school was meeting the objectives within the School Improvement Plan including meeting with school staff and conducting Learning Walks. A monitoring visit report is prepared and presented at the Governing Body meeting following the visit, allowing other governors to ask questions.  

In 2022/23 the governors conducted a total of 21 monitoring visits which included the mandatory focus areas of Finance, Safeguarding, SEND and Health & Safety.

Specific governor monitoring areas identified for 2022/23 were:

  • Early Years and Nursery 
  • Health & Safety
  • Safeguarding
  • Finance
  • SEND and Pupil Premium 
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Website Compliance
  • Governor Training & Development
  • GDPR
  • Wellbeing – there is no separate wellbeing monitoring pair, as all governors looked at staff and pupil wellbeing on every visit.

A Pay committee was established as well as appraisals being conducted for the Headteacher and Clerk.

Appraisals were also conducted for the Headteacher and Clerk and Pay committee conducted.

A skills audit was conducted to identify the breadth and depth of skills within the Governing Board as well as areas that needed strengthening and enabled the Board to recruit suitable governors.

Governor focus areas for 2023/24

With the resignation of the longstanding Headteacher, the Governing Body appointed a interim Headteacher who started working at the school in June 2023.

Over the summer period the Governing Body worked with the interim Headteacher to devise the 2023/24 School Improvement Plan which focuses on:

  • The Quality of Education
  • Behaviour and Attitudes
  • Personal Development
  • Leadership and Management
  • Early Years Provision
  • SEND

With several new appointments within the Governing Board, governors are committed to personal development (including training) to appropriately challenge the interim Headteacher, SLT and staff.

Governors will work to improve communications with parents and careers and are committed to attending monitoring visits throughout the year to establish how the school is providing a safe and nurturing environment for Borough Green pupils.