Statement of Governance
This academic year, the Governing Body will aim to meet in person, however, Governors may join via Microsoft Teams if unable to attend in person. Please see below our statement:
Purpose
The purpose of this page is to provide an overview of the role and structure of the Calverley C of E Primary School Governing Body and what is expected of governors in performing their role. This document is specific to the school and should be read in addition to the Governance Handbook and Competency Framework published by the Department for Education.
The Constitution of the Governing Body
The constitution of the governing body is:
- Headteacher
- 1 x Local Authority (LA) governor, recommended by the LA and approved by the governing board
- 2 x parent governors, formally elected by a ballot of parents unless the election is uncontested
- 7 x foundation governors, appointed by the foundation ( Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales)
- 1 x staff governor, formally elected by the staff employed at the school
- We currently have one vacancy for Foundation Governor
- We have two associate Governors with no voting rights
The Composition of the Governing Body:
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Jon Hallas | 05/03/2024 | 05/03/2024 | 04/03/2028 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Rev Lizzie Reynolds | 11/09/2024 | 11/09/2024 | 10/09/2050 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Katie Baldonado | 01/09/2025 | 01/09/2025 | 31/08/2029 |
| Ellie Jobes | 30/04/2022 | 30/04/22 | 29/04/26 |
| Sue Longbottom | 01/09/2025 | 01/09/2025 | 31/08/2029 |
| Andrew Upton | 07/09/2020 | 28/09/2024 | 21/09/2028 |
| Vicky Wainwright | 31/05/2019 | 28/05/2023 | 26/06/2028 |
| Rachel Westwood | 21/09/2020 | 01/12/2024 | 01/12/2028 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Chris Minett | 01/04/2025 | 28/08/2025 | 27/08/2029 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Peter Carlill | 11/05/2022 | 11/05/2022 | 10/05/2026 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Until |
| Nicola Spalding | 01/03/2023 | 01/03/2023 | 28/02/2027 |
| Emma Watson | 27/11/2024 | 27/11/2024 | 26/11/2028 |
| Name | First Appointed | Term From | Term Unitl |
| Owen Bayly | 26/09/2023 | 29/09/2023 | 28/09/2027 |
Governing Body Roles
| Role | Name |
| Chair | Nicola Spalding |
| Vice Chair | Rachel Westwood |
| Clerk | Julie Gaunt |
| Complaints | Nicola Spalding |
| Health and Safety | Ellie Jobes |
| Safeguarding | Ellie Jobes |
| SDP Behaviour and Ethos | Rachel Westwood |
| SDP Buildings and Grounds | Peter Carlill |
| SDP Buildings and Grounds | Vicky Wainwright |
| SDP Data and Assessment |
Ellie Jobes |
| SDP Data and Assessment | Andrew Upton |
| SDP SEND | Rev Lizzie Reynolds |
| SDP Maths | Nicola Spalding |
| SDP Maths | Andrew Upton |
| Training | Vicky Wainwright |
| Wellbeing | Rev Lizzie Reynolds |
Governors who have left post in the last 12 months:
Mrs Nicola Lightfoot (Foundation Governor) (Term began 7/4/21 ends 6/4/25)
None of our Governors hold governance roles in other educational establishments.
There are no material interests between Governors nor between Governors and staff
Governing Body Committees
| Andrew Upton |
| Rachel Westwood - Chair |
| Emma Watson |
| Peter Carlill |
| Rachel Westwood |
| Nicola Spalding |
| Andrew Upton |
| Nicola Spalding - Chair |
| Vicky Wainwright |
| Ellie Jobes |
| Andrew Upton |
| Vicky Wainwright - Chair |
| Peter Carlill |
| Jon Hallas |
| Katie Baldonado |
| Chris Minett |
| Clare Hanna - Admin |
| Owen Bayly |
| Chris Minett |
| Ellie Jobes |
| Rachel Westwood |
| Nicola Spalding |
| Emma Watson |
| Sue Longbottom - Chair |
| Rev Lizzie Reynolds |
| Nicola Spalding |
| Vicky Wainwright |
| Rachel Westwood |
| Chris Minett |
Governors with Specific Monitoring Duties
| Role | Name |
| Complaints | Nicola Spalding, Andrew Upton |
| Safeguarding and CLA | Ellie Jobes |
| SEND/Pupil Support | |
| School Council | |
| Health and Safety | Ellie Jobes |
| Collective Worship | Rev Lizzie Reynolds |
| Sports Premium and PE | Andrew Upton |
| EYFS Reading and Phonics | |
| Training | Vicky Wainwright |
| Equalities | Peter Carlill |
| Well-being of pupils and staff | Rev Lizzie Reynolds |
The Role of the Governing Body
The governing body has three core strategic functions:
- 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.
Governing body powers
The governing body is recognised in law as a corporate body, which means it has a legal identity separate from that of its governors. It also means that individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the governing body except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific duty to that individual. The governing body can also decide to delegate certain responsibilities to committees that it has established. Governors will, therefore, take collective responsibility for the decisions reached by the governing body to publicly support decisions.
Effective Governance
The purpose of governance is to provide a confident, strategic leadership and to ensure that there is robust accountability, oversight and assurance for the educational and financial performance for the school.
Effective governance is based on six key features:
- Strategic leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy.
- Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance.
- People with the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity.
- Structures that reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
- Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements.
- Evaluation to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance.
The first two features are the core pillars of the board’s role and purpose. The second two are about the way in which governance is organised, and the last two are about ensuring and improving the quality of governance.
Structure of the Calverley CE Primary School Governing Body
The Governing Body of Calverley Church of England Primary School meets once or twice a term in a full governing body.
In addition, each governor will be allocated to a sub-committee and/or a Specialist Governor Role to support delivery against the school improvement plan and to oversee specific areas of learning or focus.
Outputs from sub-committee and Specialist Governor meetings should be shared with the Governing Body at least 1 week prior to the next full governing body meeting.
Committees operated by the Governing Body
Teaching and Learning and Pupil Support Committee (TLPS)
This committee is responsible for teaching and learning matters including target setting, standards and achievement, SEN( including an annual report on the success of the SEN policy, monitoring teaching and learning and curriculum provision, ensuring that the governing body is represented at school improvement discussions. It is also responsible for the behaviour, safeguarding, attendance, children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, children, parent and staff voice, extra-curricular activities, cluster and other partnerships
The TLPS will meet 5 times a year in school. Each meeting will focus on a subject area and then on the SAT’S results. In addition, at every meeting, there will be a review of the progress of Disadvantaged (Pupil Premium) children and the More and Most Able children.
After each meeting, some members of TLPS may take part in a visit to school to do an evidence walk. This should take place within 4 weeks of the original meeting.
Output from the meetings will be fed back to the main governing body, where most of the teaching and learning policies will be reviewed.
Resources Committee
Responsible for staffing including the role of SENCO, equality and diversity, finance, property management, health and safety and nutritional standards. Members of resources committee are also responsible for pay review.
Resources meet once or twice termly normally before governing body meetings. It will be the resources committee’s responsibility to review all policies relating to the above at their meetings, as well as review the budget.
The Strategy Committee
This meets as required and is comprised of the Chairs of the Teaching and Learning and Resources committees, the SEND governor, the Chair and Vice Chair. It looks at the overall strategy of the school to meet its long-term goals.
The Admissions Committee
As a Voluntary Aided School, the school is responsible for its own admissions. The committee is there to:
- Implement any changes that may be required to the admissions policy
- To review the admissions criterion of each child who applies for a place in Reception class. The rankings of applicants are independently checked at least 3 times to ensure accuracy.
The Performance Management Committee
This committee is responsible for target setting and evaluating the performance of the Head teacher on achieving those targets. This is done with the help of the School Improvement Advisor, who reviews evidence provided and helps evaluate the success of the HT. Members of the PMC committee meet with the HT on a rolling termly cycle to review progress and address any issues.
A member of the Performance Management Committee will meet with the Head teacher termly to discuss progress and issues arising in relation to the targets set.
Specialist Governor Roles
SEND Governor
Oversees the provision throughout school for children identified as having addition educational needs, both physically and academically. This Governor has to undertake relevant training and be able to familiarise themselves with the SEN provision in school. Ensure that the website is fully up to date and compliant. Termly meetings with the teacher with SEN responsibilities to discuss progress and impact. Ensure that there is a report to Governing Body annually summarising the above.
Safeguarding Governor
Oversees the safeguarding provision in the school. Undertake mandatory training every 3
years and ensure that the staff training procedures are rigorous and compliant. Ensures that all governors have undertaken basic Safeguarding and PREVENT training. They will also check the website and make sure we are compliant. Liaise with the Safeguarding Lead in school and ensure that any cases that arise are dealt with appropriately and effectively.
School Council Governor
Attends the school council meetings half termly and feedbacks to the governing body at each meeting.
Collective Worship Governor
The Collective Worship Governor oversees the delivery of the school’s religious education. As Calverley C of E is a Voluntary Aided Church school it is assessed on the quality of this provision. The governor should attend a number of assemblies annually and also liaise with the RE curriculum leader.
Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare
It must be understood that the position of Governor is one of confidentiality and all Governors are required to sign a Code of Conduct to confirm they understand this.
A Declaration of Interest must be signed annually.
Each Governor at Calverley C of E would ideally be required to:
- Undertake Induction training within 6 months of being appointed.
- Attend meetings which are planned yearly in advance. If 2 consecutive meetings are missed the Governing Body may decide not to accept apologies and the Chair should have a meeting with that Governor to discuss their continued membership of the Governing Body.
- Read all relevant documents prior to the meeting to ensure that robust conversations can take place regarding the information provided to the Governing Body.
- Understand the School Improvement Plan.
- Join a committee and attend regular committee meetings.
- Visit school during school hours, know the staff and be interested.
The remit for the governing body and its committees:
Our Improvement Priorities
The following plan encompasses a range of improvement planning. However, our main foci for overall school improvement this academic year are:
- Ensure QFT, appropriate interventions and tutoring programmes maximize the progress made by all children in Maths
- Ensure QFT, appropriate interventions and tutoring programmes maximize the progress made by all children in Phonics, Reading & Writing
- Refine and develop our wider curriculum, including the development of subject leadership and the implementation of the new EYFS curriculum, to ensure we provide a vibrant and balance curriculum
- To ensure our vulnerable children including those with SEND, those who are CLA & Recently Adopted, those who qualify for the Pupil Premium, children who achieve in the lowest 20% of their class and those displaying any mental health concerns have all their barriers to learning minimized
- To ensure school continues to provide opportunities for spiritual development & meets areas for development from SIAMs Inspection (2019)
Attendance Record
| Name | September | December | |
| Chris Minett | Present | ||
| Jon Hallas | Present | ||
| Nicola Spalding | Present | ||
| Andrew Upton | Present | ||
| Sue Longbottom | Present | ||
| Katie Baldonado | Present | ||
| Vicky Wainwright | Present | ||
| Rachel Westwood | Present | ||
| Cllr Peter Carlill | Present | ||
| Ellie Jobes | Present | ||
| Emma Watson | Present | ||
| Julie Gaunt - clerk | Present | ||
| Owen Bayly | Apologies | ||
| Rev Lizzie Reynolds | Apologies |
| Name | November | |||
| Chris Minett | Present | |||
| Jon Hallas | Present | |||
| Andrew Upton | Present | |||
| Vicky Wainwright | Present | |||
| Katie Baldonado | Present | |||
| Peter Carlill | Present | |||
| Clare Hanna (SBM) | Present | |||
| Ellie Jobes | Apologies |
| Name | October | ||||
| Chris Minett | Present | ||||
| Owen Bayly | Present | ||||
| Emma Watson | Present | ||||
| Rev Lizzie Reynolds | Present | ||||
| Nicola Spalding | Present | ||||
| Sue Longbottom | Present | ||||
| Ellie Jobes | Present | ||||
| Rachel Westwood | Present |